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| January 7, 2009 |
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From oranges to incenseOur Lady of Lourdes Parish sprouted on grove land 50 years ago and now it looks to grow in community spirit. 
GEN RILEY | FC DUNEDIN | The aroma of oranges surrounded Father William DuBois 50 years ago, when he walked on the property here that was to become Our Lady of Lourdes Parish. In the decades that followed, the scent of incense instead filled the air. With the leadership of now-Msgr. DuBois, the orange grove in a part of Florida that was once considered mission territory was transformed into a church and a community of faithful Catholics. The retired longtime pastor came back to a packed church to celebrate a golden jubilee Mass of thanksgiving Feb. 10 with Bishop Robert N. Lynch. “It’s more than a fulfillment of my dreams when I walked on the property in the beginning,” Msgr. DuBois said of the parish, which now includes a school and a community center. “It’s a transformation way beyond anything I ever anticipated. But over and above that, much more important, has been the spiritual growth. Thousands of miracles of grace multiplied over these 50 years in the souls of very excellent men and women and others who have given their time, talents and financial worth to the cause of Christ.” Bishop Lynch told parishioners at the Mass that Our Lady of Lourdes has been “one of the most vibrant, active and wonderful” parishes in the diocese. And he added that they should celebrate during their jubilee year with a lot of “gusto,” but he cautioned them that there is still a lot of work to be done in the years ahead. “Anniversaries can be an occasion for temptation,” said Bishop Lynch. “It would be a temptation to say that God’s work among you is largely complete. That all that needs to have been done is largely done. But rather, the church is constantly in a process of renewing and reforming itself so that it can present itself to God’s holy people and call them to a holiness that even you couldn’t dream of 50 years ago.” The past was on the minds of some people, such as Frederica Peebles, who was 15 when the parish was founded. She said she remembers meeting several nuns from the Sisters of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio, at the airport when the school was formed 46 years ago. She also remembers Masses being held at the Palms Theater in downtown Dunedin before the church was built. And she remembers back then that Catholics weren’t welcomed with open arms in the community. “Now with our new pastor,” she said, referring to Father Gary Dowsey, “everything is so community-oriented. I think Our Lady of Lourdes has become part of the Dunedin community. … It’s become a living community, which I think is showing the work of the Lord. I think it will get bigger and better.” In an interview after the Mass, Father Dowsey outlined some of his dreams to build on the past. He said he hopes the stewardship at the parish reaches the point where the cost of tuition for all the students is subsidized by the parish, so that those who wanted to attend the school on the church’s grounds could do so without worrying if their families could afford it. He said he wants the parish to develop initiatives that will reach out to those Catholics who have drifted away from going to church. Father Dowsey added he wants the parish to continue to reach out to the community. “We can make things look great within our own parishes and have all the right programs and initiatives, but how much is it affecting the area in which we live, the community in which we live?” he said. “How are we touching people with the presence and love of Jesus Christ? And if this parish closed tomorrow, what difference would it make in the community in which we live? “We have to constantly think of ways of bringing people alive in their faith and investing in their faith,” he said. “What we really want to do is to try and get people not to be spectators but participators. To join in with the events and activities that are happening in the parish. We need everyone’s gifts and everyone’s talents in order to make this the kind of community that Christ wants it to be,” he said. He praised Bishop Lynch’s Living Eucharist initiative as one way to get people to realize “what a beautiful gift we’ve been given in the Eucharist.” The parish has about 3,800 registered households, and because welcoming is an important part of the Living Eucharist initiative this year, he said the parish is overhauling the way it welcomes people to the church. The old way was for a family to sign a form. The parish is considering something more community-oriented — for instance, he said, having a social on a Sunday after Mass for new parishioners to meet other parishioners, “so they’re introduced to the community and not introduced to a form. We want them to know they’re part of a community.” A little history…Our Lady of Lourdes officially became a parish Dec. 8, 1957, when the first Mass was celebrated on the stage of the Palms Theater by Father William DuBois for more than 200 Catholic families in Dunedin. Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley, bishop of the Diocese of St. Augustine, of which the parish was a part at the time, permitted Father DuBois to select the name of the new mission. Father DuBois dedicated the new parish to the Blessed Mother, using her title Our Lady of Lourdes. The Jersey House, a turn-of-the-century hotel on the southwest corner of Broadway and Monroe Street in Dunedin, was the meeting site of other parish activities, which included the rosary society, ushers club, the Holy Name Society and the youth club. The first church and parish hall building were dedicated Dec. 7, 1958. Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School opened its doors for grades kindergarten through four in September 1962. The arrival of five Sisters of Notre Dame of Chardon, Ohio, in 1965 enabled the school to open with a principal and classes through eighth grade. The population of Dunedin grew steadily and rapidly, as did the congregation of Our Lady of Lourdes. Another successful building fund brought about the current church, which seats 1,200. It was dedicated Sept. 25, 1977. Following the retirement of Father DuBois in 1979, other pastors included Father Claude Brubasker, Father Thomas Madden and the parish’s current pastor, Father Gary Dowsey. Father Thomas Spillet has also served at the parish on several occasions as pastoral administrator.
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