St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church to celebrate Feast Day

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.