HISTORY OF ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE CATHOLIC CHURCH – LONG BEACH, MS
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The first Europeans to settle in Long Beach in 1788 were Catholic and records may be found in the St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans showing sacramental records of the deL’Adner/Ladner family.
In 1837, the Diocese of Natchez administered to the state of Mississippi, including the missions on the Gulf Coast. During the 1840s, the first parishes were established in Bay St. Louis, Pass Christian, and Biloxi. Only a scattering of Catholics lived in other coastal communities.
The Catholic families of the Long Beach area had to rely on occasional visits by priests assigned to the coastal missions for their spiritual care. Those families had to travel to Pass Christian (on foot, horseback, or wagon) to attend regular church services.
The first known Mass celebrated in Long Beach was in 1891 at the home of Thomas Camp, located at the corner of Jeff Davis Avenue and Fourth Street. Within the next two years, the families donated land and labor to build a church and rectory behind the Camp house. The church structure was barely begun when a hurricane destroyed it in 1893. The efforts to build a church were abandoned until the following year when a small chapel was built near the L&N Railroad on Girard Avenue. It served as a mission church with regular visits from priests.
Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini established her first New Orleans orphanage in 1892 for the Italian immigrant children, who had lost their parents to the yellow fever disease. She later moved the orphanage to a new location on Esplanade Avenue in 1906.
The first missionaries to reside in Long Beach were members of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, an order founded by Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini. In the 1890’s and early 1900’s, three sisters were sent to the Gulf Coast for health reason, rented a house in Long Beach and taught catechism to the children of the Italian immigrant farmers who had recently come to the area. In 1898, the sisters took up more permanent residence in Long Beach, thanks to a donation of property on Girard Avenue.
Along with the Missionary Sisters, Mother Cabrini would bring the orphans to play on the Gulf Coast beaches. She would stop at the vegetable farm of Virginia and Gaspare Carrubba, who provided produce for the orphanage. It is believed she may have attended Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church. Mother Cabrini was canonized on July 7, 1946, by Pope Pius XII. She was the first (Italian) U.S. citizen to be canonized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
By the mid 1890’s the coastal missions received more regular assignments of priests. They served Mississippi City, Handsboro, Gulfport, and Long Beach. In 1900 these missionaries were divided. Rev. John M. Prendergast and his assistant, residing in Gulfport, assumed responsibility for the Long Beach mission. During this time, Masses were celebrated bi-monthly at best.
The Catholic families of the area were delighted when in 1904, the Missionaries of the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians), founded by St. Vincent de Paul, accepted the invitation of Bishop Thomas Heslin of the Natchez Diocese, to establish a mission in Long Beach.
The bishop requested that the Vincentians assist in taking care of the spiritual needs of the people of Long Beach, Mississippi City, Perkinston and Wiggins.
In October of 1903 the Vincentians acquired forty acres of land that included the present site of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church. They paid about $12,000 for the land. The first pastor, Father Daniel Hurley, C. M., supervised the building of a chapel he named St. Thomas in honor of Bishop Thomas Heslin. Work also began on a two story, forty room building to house vacationing priests, worth about $24,000– St. Thomas Villa or Villanova. The church and villa were built by the Lazarist Fathers who are part of the Congregation of the Mission. The Villa sheltered at times from 75 to 150 priests.
During the summer months as many as 40 priests said daily Mass at the 13 altars of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church.
A more formidable church was soon under construction to accommodate the large number of priests at the villa. The church was a Gothic style structure of virgin pine and cypress with 13 altars. It cost $18,000 and was dedicated by Bishop Heslin on July 19, 1905. The size of the church was 140x51 feet. It accommodated 400 people, and if the occasion required, it could seat up to 500 people. The following month, the city of Long Beach was officially incorporated.
The blessing of the bell took place on June 14, 1908, at 10:00 am. The splendid bell was burnished until it shone like gold in the glinting sunshine through the majestic live oak trees. The bell was on a temporary stand for the blessing ceremony. The next day, the bell was elevated to the belfry tower forty feet high, in the new church steeple. The bell, cast in the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore, Maryland, is made of copper and the best imported English tin. It weighed 1,500 pounds and was sponsored by Mr. Van Clooster and Mrs. Sintes and bought by the Reverend Father Helinski.
Although St. Thomas the Apostle had not been intended as a Parish Church, several families of the Long Beach area began attending Sunday Mass at the church. During the winter months, only one priest remained to administer to the spiritual needs of the people.
It was not until 1915, Bishop John E. Gunn designated St. Thomas the Apostle as a parish. By then the villa had been destroyed (in 1910) by fire. After the Villa was destroyed, the Altars in the Villa were no longer needed. Over the years many of the villa altars were given the missionary churches in the surrounding area. Fr. Joseph Hager, CM., served as the first parish priest and served for 21 years until his death, January 15, 1936.
A church was built containing thirteen altars and a capacity of five hundred people, at a cost of $18,000 - An artesian well was sunk, and other improvements were made.
As the population of Long Beach grew, the parish grew as well and so did the need for a school. The first Catholic school in Long Beach held classes on the back porch of a nearby private residence, Ben Moceri, brother of Virginia Moceri Carrubba, and in back of the church. A building combining classrooms and a convent opened in 1922. On September 3, 1923, Bishop Gunn officially welcomed the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul to Long Beach. They continued to serve the community for over 60 years.
Within five years, enrollment increased requiring an expansion of the school and convent facilities. Over the years, many expansions and improvements to the parish physical plant including a parish hall, additional classrooms, a gymnasium/auditorium, and a new rectory, which was later enlarged.
The hurricane of 1947 brought widespread damage to the area with waves carting debris up to the steps of the church, but St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church was spared major damage. However, during the early morning hours of August 17, 1969, Hurricane Camille ravaged the church beyond repair. Millions of people saw the devastation when national television captured Father Frances O’Malley and a number of parishioners celebrating Mass in the rubble of what once was the “Church of thirteen Altars”.
The nation responded with supportive cards, letters, and contributions (including a telegram from President Richard Nixon). For the next three years, Mass was celebrated in the school gymnasium while the new pyramid-shaped church was being built.
On August 20, 1972, Bishop Joseph B. Brunini dedicated the new church, which has become a beacon to small boats and fisherman in the Mississippi Sound and well-known landmark on the Gulf Coast.
The Vincentian priests continued to nurture the development and expansion of the parish. By the 1990’s. the parish included over one thousand families. A capital improvement began at this time provided much needed renovations to the church and school.
The parishioners truly love our church, especially the interior. It has been touched up many times by the wonderful priest and leaders who have served the Catholics of Long Beach. The most beautiful renovation was carried out under the pastoral leadership of Father James Garcia Ward. St. Thomas the Apostle appreciates Father Ward's liturgical insight, and we were proud of the beautiful house of worship he provided for our Catholic family of St. Thomas, Long Beach. Father Ward brought to a close a long and dedicated era of leadership, service and love of the Vincentian Priest in Mississippi. God Bless them!
In 1993, St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church officially came under the stewardship of the Diocese of Biloxi, after being ceded to the Diocese by the Vincentian Order. Father Louis Lohan, an Irishman by birth, an American by choice, and a Mississippian by the grace of God, (as he so many times stated) was the first appointed to serve as the first diocesan pastor.
There have been a number of improvements to the physical plant, including renovations to the rectory/office complex, new roof and other improvements to the school complex, parking lot paving, and new roof and other improvements to the church building. In November 2002, a new Parish Life Center was completed, including state-of-the-art kitchen, banquet facilities, nursery and meeting rooms.
There are now over 1600 registered families in the parish. The elementary school has a total enrollment of 176 in Grades Kindergarten through 6 and 81 in the Pre-K program. The School of Religious Education teaches Catholic Faith and Tradition to over 400 young people aged 3 through 12th grade on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings.
On July 3, 2005, St. Thomas celebrated its 100th Anniversary. As quoted from the Sun Herald … “The American Flag led the procession at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church on Sunday as the church celebrated 100 years. The flag was followed by a procession of others recognizing the church’s diverse congregation.”
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina roared ashore, bringing tidal waves of over twenty-five feet across the Gulf Coast. All that remained of the buildings were the steel beams and the upper part of the church. Fr. Louis Lohan, known to his parishioners as Fr. Louis, was residing in the rectory with Fr. Gerard Cleary. They left to spend the night with a parish family, Elvis, Melissa, and Alicia Gates. When Fr. Louis returned to the parish grounds, he found that the church, school, rectory, and the community hall had been totally destroyed. All that remained were the steel beams of the new building, the upper portion of the church, and the stained-glass windows. This proved to be the situation for much of Long Beach and indeed the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast. Damage and destruction were widespread.
Image CaptionOn September 4, 2005, the first Mass after Katrina was celebrated on the grounds of Quarles School. Hundreds of people of all faiths came together to pray and worship; then. For two months, Masses were celebrated at the Grace Lutheran Church.
Mid-September 2005, the Skating Rink at 5557 Daugherty Road was purchased by the Knights of Columbus, Council 4898. The Knights had lost their council home to Katrina; they used the insurance proceeds to purchase the skating rink. In their generosity, they made ·the building available to the parish to be used as church, school, and offices.
With the help of the US Navy Seabees and many parishioners, headed by Pat Huey, in 19 days, the skating rink was transformed into a church, school, and offices.
St. Thomas / St. Paul Schools merged and opened on October 3, 2005. Later, the name was changed to St. Vincent de Paul Elementary School. The new School opened at its present location on Espy Avenue in August 2008.
In October of 2005, the first Mass was celebrated in the former skating rink, which would become the home of St. Thomas Catholic Church until February 2011.
After Katrina, several Masses were celebrated in the ruins of the pyramid church. August 29, 2006, one-year anniversary of Katrina, a Memorial Mass was held for three parishioners, Louis and Harneitha Maxey and Brenda Yetter, who perished during Hurricane Katrina. Mass was also celebrated on Thanksgiving Day in November 2006. The final Mass in the church ruins before the church ruins were demolished and removed took place on January 14, 2007. It was a Mass of Remembrance and Hope. The stained-glass windows from the pyramid church were salvaged and have been incorporated into the new church.
The groundbreaking of the new church at 720 East Beach Boulevard, the site of previous churches, was held on March 29, 2009, with the signing of the contract to begin construction of our new facilities.
The new church can seat over 700 people, features a community center with state-of-the-art kitchen facilities, and an administration building that houses the offices of all parish ministries and meeting rooms.
Under the dedicated guidance of Father Louis and with the help of many parishioners, the formal Rite of Dedication of our new church took place on February 11, 2011, with Bishop Roger Morin presiding as the Main Celebrant.
In the words of Pastor Father Louis Lohan…. “Thank God for our sisters, priests, and great lay leaders who have led us, encouraged us, and challenged us to take the next step in faith. The vibrant parish of St. Thomas the Apostle that exists today is a living testament to the faith and tenacity of many dedicated people.
Vincentian Pastors of St. Thomas the Apostle
Rev. Daniel J. Hurley 1904-1905
Rev. Francis X. Feely 1906-1907
Rev. Fredrick I. Roberts 1907-1908
Rev. James J. Helinski (bought the bell) 1908-1909 Associate Rev Andrew F. Imgrund
Rev. Daniel B. O’Connor 1909-1910
Rev. Charles J. Alton 1910-1913
Rev. Leo Sweeney 1913-1914(bought a motorcycle) St. James temporarily became a mission assigned to the parish.
Rev. Joseph Hager (became ill in fall of 1935) 1914-1/1936
Rev. Fredrick Fischer – served as interim pastor for 3 months during Fr. Hager’s illness.
Rev. William Kelley, pastor from Fr. Hager’s death until Sept. 1936.
Rev. Thomas Liley 9/1936-8/1944
Rev. John Joseph Martin 8/1944-1947
Rev. George A. O’Malley 1947-4/1960
Rev. Emmett Darby Died 1956
Rev. John Shaunessy, Rev. Preston Murphy
Rev. John Donahoe 1960-1962 Associate Rev. William X. Vidal
Rev. Robert Corcoran 1965-1966 Associate Rev. William X. Vidal
Rev. Francis O’Malley 1963-1971 Associate Rev. William X. Vidal, Rev. William Pittman
Rev. Bill Pittman 1971-1976
who later left the priesthoodAssociates Rev. Paul Sauerbier and Father McDonnellRev. John “Jack” Cawley 1976-1982
Rev. Bob Lamy 1982
Rev James Garcia-WardAssociate Rev. Garza, later became a diocesan priest, replaced by Rev. Jeff Malpede, who later left the priesthood.
Diocesan Pastors of St. Thomas
Rev. Louis Lohan 8/1993-1/2015 Associate Father Michael Austin
Rev. Cuthbert “Cuddy” O’Connell 6/2015-6/2023Associates Rev. Dominic PhamRev. James Smith, Rev. Colten Symes, who later left the priesthood, Rev. Vincent Ajayi
Rev. Satish Adhav 6/2023 Parochial Vicar Rev. Braxton Necaise
Religious from St. Thomas ParishPriests Ordination High School Graduation Rev. Richard Lang
6/5/1938 6/8/1926 Rev. Arthur Screen
6/16/1941 5/28/1930 Rev. Robert Boggs
6/14/1948 5/28/1930 Rev. Jerone Fortenberry
5/29/1955 5/28/1939 Rev. Warren Freeman
6/13/1956 5/27/1940 Rev. Gilbert Walker
1987 Rev. Jim Morrison 2010 Sisters Joined the Order High School Graduation Idele Dedeaux
1929 1927 “Sister Simeon” John Anita Dubuisson
1/21-1938 1929 “Sister Anita” Daughter Salvador of Henry and Josephine Doris Dubuisson
1937 1930 “Sister Marie” Margaret Pique 1948 1944 A Daughter of Charity for 22 years