The story of a parish is the story of the people who are that parish. Just as people have a birthday, important event, and other dates so do parishes. The parish of St. Patrick came to life with the establishment of this territory into a parish. Parts of this territory were taken from St. Thomas More Parish and St. George Parish. Archbishop Hannan, the administrator of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, established St. Patrick as a parish on July 21, 1974 and named Fr. Nicholas Martrain as the founding pastor.
A founding pastor needs founding parishioners. St. Patrick began its life with family of some four hundred fifty families, more or less. As with any new family it needed a new home. With nothing but love and determination a "rented" home was found out of the kindness of Episcopal High School who loaned us the use of their Chapel. This became our temporary home until we moved into our present facility.
Immediately, a Parish Council was formed to help in the growth of the parish. One of the first concerns of the Council was Religious Education. The Council hired Mrs. Billie Bourgeois to be the first Religious Education Coordinator. Mrs. Bourgeois was ably assisted by Pattie Ragusa as elementary school and Mike Grimley as High School coordinators. St. Thomas More Parish generously donated the use of their school facilities for our school of religion.
The various committees and organizations began to organize and choose their officers. The first chairpersons of the Liturgy Committee were Duncan and Donna Tooley which they ably guided for many years. Mr. Sam Scurria was chosen to be the first president of the Ushers.
August saw the first child baptized in St. Patrick Parish in the person of Sean Anthony MacKendrick. As the parish became organized the Parish Council saw the need for an accurate census. Mr. Earl Claiborne was the chair for the census. They discovered that there were over seven hundred families within the boundaries of St. Patrick, not the four hundred fifty families handed over to them by St. George and St. Thomas More. Sister Maria Rabalais was hired as the first full time Religious Education Coordinator. Mrs. Celie Linden became the elementary school, Mike Grimley high school and Rosemary Kirsch the pre-school administrators.
With the census in hand the Council determined a course of action. They made it their priority to assist Father Martrain in finding property for a home and for planning and funding that home through a fund drive. Property was eventually found. The parish bought the home and property from Jean and Steve Guidry. Immediately, an architect was hired to design a church and under the chairmanship of Mr. Jay Titone a fund drive was initiated in which over three hundred thousand dollars was pledged for the building of the Church.
In May of 1976, Bishop Sullivan gave permission to St. Patrick's to begin renovations of the house to convert it into an Administration Building/Rectory. Also, daily mass was celebrated in our new home.
In July of 1976, the first elected Parish Council and Board of Education replaced the interim appointed bodies. The first elected members of the Parish Council were Jay Titone, Terry Messenger, James Bernhard, Paula Grimley, Maurice Saale and John Mouton. They joined Norris Decoteau, Hugo Andricain, Ted Arthur, Don Gonzales, Michael Buisson, Mary Lawless, Earl Claiborne, Damon Casemore, Dianne Kirsch and Mary Gilbert from the Temporary Council. Hugo Andricain was elected the Chairperson. Don and Gerry Daigle and Benny and Michelle Vanecek formed the first elected Board of Education.
In January of 1977 the low bid of $445,581 for the building of the church was received and accepted from Comeaux Brothers with completion contemplated for Christmas 1977. Along with that joyous news the parish installed its first women Eucharistic Ministers to join men who had been appointed the year before. The first use of the rite of reconciliation began at St. Patrick's in February 1977. The fruits of the reforms of Vatican II began to show up in the ordinary life of the parish.
In April the Parish hired its first music coordinator, Mr. Derek Gordon. The strengthening and participation in the music of the liturgy was the aim of the council for encouraging this move. The liturgy committee in a continuing preparation for the dedication of the new church conducted an education program to keep the parishioners informed and abreast with the interior design of the new Church. They along with the pastoral staff were aware that the innovations following the liturgical developments arising from Vatican II needed to be expansively explained.
On December 18, 1977 the parish celebrated the Sunday liturgy in its borrowed quarters at Episcopal Chapel for the last time. The First masses said in our new home, St. Patrick Church, were on Christmas 1977. Bishop Joseph Sullivan had the solemn dedication of the new Church on January 8, 1978. The parishioners pitched in to do the landscaping of the grounds. The crowning touch was the installation of the Pieta by Frank Hayden which was unveiled on Easter 1978.
The new parish council under the chairmanship of Ed Hiller at their October 1978 meeting with the completion of the church immediately began the discussion of the construction of a parish hall. Mr. Norris Decoteau was chairman of the building committee to study this work. Mr. Milton Pounds was chosen to complete the stained glass for the church.
This year saw the inauguration of a christian singing group under the direction of John and Marily Valiquette to be called the "Lifegivers" who performed their first celebration "Witness" in our church. Also this year saw the parish embracing the concept of Stewardship in the conduct of their lives. Accepting the challenge to give to God in proportion as received from Him.
On March 23, 1980 Mr. Charles Bragg a parishioner completed his three years of formation and was ordained a Permanent Deacon. He was assigned by the bishop to serve in St. Patrick Parish. December 1980 was the completion of some two years of study and planning and a contract for $419,000 was signed with Comeaux Brothers to build the Parish Family Center.
Easter 1981 saw the culmination of the first catechumenate class with the baptism, confirmation and reception of nine new members into our church. Mrs. Jean Jaubert was hired as the first full time lay Religious Education Coordinator for St. Patrick Parish. She replaced Sister Maria Rabalais who had been reassigned by her superior. On July 26, 1981 the Parish Family Center was blessed and dedicated at the parish anniversary picnic.
Fr. Kenneth Laird, parish administrator, after a shortened version in the prior year in the fall of 1981 instituted the Revised Christian Initiation Program for the purpose of forming new members for the church with the assistance of Jean and Joe Jaubert as chairpersons. At Easter of 1982 Father Laird received thirty-six new members into the church. A new census under the chair of Ed and Jan Vinci was carried out. St. Patrick had grown to more than fourteen hundred families.
On May 3, 1982 Father Gerald Lefebvre became the new pastor of St. Patrick Church. That summer was to be a time of preparation by Mrs. Jean Jaubert and the Religious Education Board, Staff and volunteers to bring the school of religion from St. Thomas More School to St. Patrick Family Center. Classes for the elementary school were held on Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon. An active group for the Separated/Divorced began meeting in the fall of 1982. St. Patrick had its first ecumenical Thanksgiving with Parkview Baptist Church which was held at Parkview with Reverend Bob Andersen presiding.
Our new Bishop Stanley Ott surprised the parish by coming to celebrate Holy Thursday services just a couple of weeks after his installation as third Bishop of Baton Rouge on March 26, 1983. This visit became an annual tradition for the bishop.
Bishop Ott announced that the Diocese would have a spiritual renewal through using the Renew Program. In the spring of 1984 the Parish Renew Core Committee under the chairmanship of Les Rankin began their prepara-tion, Renew was ex- tremely successful reaching the majority of the parish-ioners. The parish celebrated its tenth anniversary and as a memorial the "Moses Fountain" by Frank Hayden was dedicated and blessed by Bishop Ott.
By 1986 St. Patrick's had outgrown its facilities and embarked on an ambitious program to raise money for additional facilities. Bob Gilbert and John Mouton chaired the Development Fund Drive which raised over four hundred thousand dollars.
In September 1987 Mrs. Judith Matherne assumed the position of Pastoral Associate and Director of Religious Education for the parish. The Parish Council began the process of reevaluating its mission and after an extensive self study developed a new constitution forming itself into a pastoral council and taking for itself the name of Council of Ministries. The Council of Ministries began its operation in July 1988 with Mrs. Joan Broussard as its first chairperson.
St. Patrick was able to expand its physical plant in the Spring of 1989 when Baton Rouge Prep School property became available. The Parish bought property which contained a gym and classroom building. A fund drive in November of 1989 under the leadership of Don LaLonde and Lynn Adamchik raised four hundred thirty thousand dollars to renovate the building and pay for the note on the property. The Religious Education and Recreation Centre was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Ott on March 17, 1991.