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Cardinal Gregory celebrates Mass for St. Louis de France Parish for French-speaking Catholics

Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory processes to the altar during a Sept. 4, 2022 Mass for St. Louis de France Parish serving French-speaking Catholics in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. (CS photo/Javier Diaz)

What has united the parishioners of St. Louis de France Chapel for five decades running is a love of the Catholic faith and the French language.

 To Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who celebrated a Sept. 4 Mass for St. Louis de France Parish that serves French-speaking Catholics in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, the character of the people who gather there, not just the name of the chapel, says everything.

“It is far more important for (those who pass by the chapel) to experience the devotion, the generosity, and the charity of the people who now call this house of prayer their church home,” Cardinal Gregory said, rather than just focusing on the patron saint, a 13th century royal. 

During his homily, he paid tribute to the “long heritage of faith that belongs to French people everywhere,” which include Marian devotions, “fascinating prayer groups,” marriage and family life support groups, and other associations.

In the photos above and below, people participate in a Sept. 4, 2022 Mass that Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrated at St. Louis de France Parish, which serves French-speaking Catholics in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. (CS photos/Javier Diaz)

The chapel, located on a quiet Tenleytown street in Northwest Washington, includes people from more than 20 countries, according to its pastor, Father Pierre Henri, including about 50 percent who are from France. Mass attendance decreased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Father Henri, with some families with children moving away. In addition to Sunday Mass and weekday Masses at St. Louis de France Chapel, the community holds a Saturday evening Mass at St. Jane Frances de Chantal Church in Bethesda. Rev. Henri, an Archdiocese of Paris priest, has served as pastor for four years and was pleased with Mass attendance on the Labor Day weekend.

Speaking before a congregation of just under 100 people crowded into the chapel during the hour-long Sunday morning Mass, Cardinal Gregory’s occasional use of French appeared to get the most response from the parishioners and visitors. “Vive le France,” Cardinal Gregory proclaimed, punctuating the end of his homily. Clad in the green vestments of Ordinary Time, he began the Our Father, “Notre pere,” and addressed his host pastor as “Pere Henri.”

When Father Henri presented a parish history to Cardinal Gregory at the conclusion of Mass, “merci beaucoup,” responded Washington’s archbishop, to the delight of the congregants.

Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrates a Sept. 4 Mass at St. Louis de France Parish that serves French-speaking Catholics. At left is Father Pierre Henri, the pastor of St. Louis de France. The Mass was celebrated at the St. Louis of France Chapel in the Tenleytown section of Washington, D.C. (CS photo/Javier Diaz)

Beyond his occasional use of French, Cardinal Gregory called on the congregation to emulate St. Louis of France by recognizing that “Jesus Christ is King of the disenfranchised and the poor, the elderly, the marginalized in society,” who “need an advocate before an often-negligent society.” He said in the contemporary Church, this means reaching out to “those who may feel distance or alienated from the Church’s embrace, the separated, divorced, the physically or emotionally disabled,” and others who are scandalized by clerical misconduct or who view the Church as too lax or too demanding.

Father Pierre Henri, the pastor of St. Louis de France Parish for French-speaking Catholics in the Washington area, gives Communion to a man during a Sept. 4 Mass. (CS photo/Javier Diaz)

Both Cardinal Gregory and Father Henri paid tribute to the work of Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris, who served in that role from 1981 until his resignation in 2005, who put more emphasis on the pastoral care of French speaking Catholics in Washington, D.C., seeking to partner with the nation’s capital and The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington for spiritual and pastoral care, in addition to other key areas that bring the capitals together, such as diplomatic and military alliances. Cardinal Lustiger died in 2007.

“(St. Louis is) very helpful for a lot of people,” said Lixhene Dembe, a Congolese parishioner from Virginia, whose husband was baptized at St. Louis de France a couple years ago. “It really has a sense of community.”

 Germain Gnabie, who came to Washington, D.C., three years ago from his native Ivory Coast to work at the West African nation’s embassy, said he’s been coming to St. Louis de France for three months and prefers Mass in French.

An altar server prays during a Sept. 4 Mass at St. Louis de France Chapel in Washington. (CS photo/Javier Diaz)

 Father Henri explained to the Catholic Standard that his community is evolving over time, with more parishioners moving out of the city to places such as Bethesda, Gaithersburg and Rockville, as real estate prices in the nation’s capital have significantly increased. In addition, organizations like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, not to mention French multinational companies, seem less likely these days to transfer French executives to Washington, D.C., according to Father Henri.

“There used to be more Frenchies in D.C.,” the South Carolina-born priest remarked, using his slang term for his countrymen.

Members of St. Louis de France Parish meet with Cardinal Wilton Gregory on Sept. 4, when he celebrated a Mass at the St. Louis de France Chapel in Washington.  The  parish serves French-speaking Catholics in the Washington area. (CS photos by Javier Diaz)



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