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St. Mary Magdalen Church in Abbeville will celebrate the Feast Day of their patroness on Thursday.
The feast will begin with a Mass at 6:30 a.m. with Fr. Louis Richard, pastor, presiding. The morning Mass will be followed by a reception of Madeline cookies and Coffee, hosted by the Ladies Altar Society.
This year, the parish will also host another celebration of St. Mary Magdalen in the evening with the performance of a new play called “In the Garden.”
The performance will begin at 7:30 p.m.
The play will feature parishioner Rebekah Bourgeois in the role of St. Mary Magdalen.
“In the Garden,” written by former associate pastor Fr. Michael Richard, is a journey with St. Mary Magdalen from the evening of Good Friday after Jesus was laid in the tomb to the morning of Easter Sunday when she encounters the Resurrected Lord.
All four Gospel writers state that Mary Magdalen was the first to encounter Jesus after the resurrection and that she runs to tell the Apostles that Jesus has risen.
Fr. Louie Richard explained, “Mary Magdalen is rightly called the ‘Apostle to the Apostles’ in the tradition of the Church, for she was the first one sent by Jesus to proclaim the resurrection to the others. Our annual celebration of our patroness is an opportunity to reflect on the love of this faithful woman as well as an opportunity to respond to the Lord’s call to each of us today. This year’s play will give us another moment to meditate on the power and the reality of Jesus’ resurrection through the eyes of St. Mary Magdalen.”
The evening celebration will begin with the recognition of this year’s Bishop’s Medal recipients, Mike & Edith Russo, for their many decades of generous service to the Church and to the community.
The play, “In the Garden,” will be accompanied by music from members of the Voices of St. Mary Magdalen, and the play will conclude with a brief period of prayerful meditation and praise.
Fr. Michael Richard stated that he was encouraged to write this play as he thought of the many parishioners who have passed away over the years.
“For me, every funeral in this Church became a moment to sit with Mary Magdalen through the pain of grief and loss and to come to the strength of faith and hope in the resurrection. As Mary Magdalen sat in the garden with the tomb of Jesus, she experienced the emotions of loss and was gifted with an encounter with the Resurrection Himself.”
He added that the hopes the play is an opportunity to get to know Mary Magdalen better and to walk with her into the garden where we experience the power of Jesus’ resurrection.
Acting alongside Rebekah Bourgeois are parishioners Hannah Bourgeois, Aneliese Hebert, Matthew Glafcke, seminarian Haden Coleman, and Fr. Seth Lemaire.

Velta Frederick Dartez passed away on Monday, July 19, 2021. She was born on February 17, 1930 in Maurice, Louisiana.
Velta was a devoted wife to her husband Harold who preceded her in death; a devoted mother to Michael (Phyllis), Alice (Kim) and Matt (Michelle); and loving grandmother to 9 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren. She leaves behind a sister, Jane; a brother, Dale and sisters in law Emma and Louise; and many nieces and nephews whom she loved dearly.
She was preceded in death by her parents Elier and Nemese Frederick; brothers Lully and George; and sister Loul.
Velta worked for the telephone company for a while then settled down to a life on the farm. She loved cooking and baking and you could always find something to eat at her house. Her grandkids always knew there would be gumbo on the stove, tarts on the counter and Frosted Flakes in the freezer. She could often be found playing cards or drinking coffee with friends if she wasn’t working in her flower beds.
The family requests that visiting hours be observed at Delhomme Funeral Home - Maurice on Thursday July 22, 2021 from 9:00 AM until 12:15 PM. A rosary will be prayed at 12:15 PM on Thursday afternoon in the funeral home. Visitation will continue until the time of service. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 2:00 PM on Thursday, July 22, 2021 in St. Alphonsus Catholic Church. Reading from scripture will be Christopher Stewart and Monique LeMaire.
Burial will take place in St. Alphonsus Mausoleum.
Pallbearers will be Joshua Dartez, Christopher Stewart, Kevin Stewart, Bryce Dartez, Brayden Dartez and Hayden Dartez, and honorary pallbearers Colin and Carson LeMaire and Reid Dartez.
The family would like to thank Heart of Hospice and the wonderful staff at Pelican Pointe for their care and compassion.
Personal condolences may be sent to the Dartez family at www.delhommefuneralhome.com.
Delhomme Funeral Home, 200 Chief H. Fred Road, Maurice, LA is in charge of funeral arrangements.

Abbeville General updated its COVID-19 policies for visitors, patients and workers.
The hospital released its updated policy last week on its website.
“We continue to closely follow COVID-19 activity across our state and are proactively reviewing all of our response efforts. Thank you for your ongoing participation in the fight against this virus. We have the following updates to share with you,” the hospital released on its webiste.
Here are the new policy procedures for Abbeville General.

Visitor Policy
As the state loosens mask requirements and businesses resume operations, we are pleased to announce changes to our visitor policy as we recognize that visitors contribute to the healing and wellbeing of our patients. As of now, the hospital will no longer require the same visitors for the duration of a patient’s stay. While only two visitors will be allowed at one time, visitors may swap out throughout the day, Children under 18 are not allowed into the hospital unless they are seeking treatment or having test or procedures.

• Inpatient units:
Two visitors allowed at one time per patient between 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. Only one visitor will be allowed to stay overnight
• Emergency Department:
Only one visitor allowed while patient is in room. Visitor may remain in waiting room as long as social distancing is maintained.
• Labor/Delivery/Mother/Baby:
Only two visitors allowed at one time + midwife or doula or birthing/Lamaze coach
during labor
• PEDS
Only two visitors allowed at one time per patient between 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. and two visitors will be allowed to stay overnight.
• ICU patients:
Only two visitors allowed during ICU visiting hours only; 6 am – 8 pm
Waiting in waiting room allowed for emergent purposes if social distancing allows.
• COVID-19 patients:
Only visitor allowed between 6 a.m. – 8 p.m. These visitors must remain in the patient’s room at all times, wearing appropriate PPE.

Scheduling COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments
Louisiana is ranked in the bottom five states in the U.S. for vaccination rates and Vermillion parish is last in Region 4 for vaccination rate and your help is needed. Vaccination remains paramount to the health of our patients and colleagues. Abbeville General is administering vaccines regularly, call extension 6285 or 6242 to schedule a vaccine for yourself, family, friends or patients.

DELCAMBRE - The Delcambre Aldermen wants to help the Delcambre Shrimp Festival by not allowing outside vendors that they feel are going to hurt the festival instead of helping it.
The aldermen adopted an ordinance that will stop outside vendors that are not part of the festival from setting up on the streets of Delcambre during the festival.
In the ordinance introduced on June 14 by Delcambre Alderman Chris Esponge, any outside vendors looking to obtain a business permit or license in July or August of each year, will be turned down in order for the Shrimp Festival to carry on their yearly and officially sanctioned celebration.
The ordinance was accepted and took effect during Monday night’s public hearing.
“In the past, we have had issues where snow cones, shirts, burgers and other things have been sold during the Shrimp Festival,” Mayor Pam Blakely said. “The issue with this is that the Festival sells the same items and that cannot keep happening.”
Some supporters of the festival also do not realize that these outside vendors are not a part of the festival, but are taking advantage of the event to benefit themselves.
“The Shrimp Festival does not profit from these vendors, so we introduced this ordinance,” Blakely said. “We will no longer issue permits or licenses for vendors during these times.”
The new ordinance will be enforced for this year’s Shrimp Festival that will take place in August.