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Published: November 27, 2009
“It’s news to me”
La Salette fathers returning two parishes to Diocese of San Bernardino
Effective in July 2010, the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette will transfer the pastoral care of two parishes in San Bernardino’s High Desert back to the diocese, the Inland Catholic BYTE reports. The BYTE is the official diocesan newspaper.
 The La Salettes are turning back to the diocese Our Lady of the Desert Parish in Apple Valley (2655 registered families) and St. Paul Parish in Lucerne Valley (133 registered families). The religious order will continue to administer St. Christopher’s Parish in Moreno Valley (7334 registered families), and may be assigned an additional parish in the Moreno Valley area in the future.
Fr. Antonio Max Abuan, pastor of both Our Lady of the Desert and St. Paul’s, “will take a health sabbatical from February through mid-June 2010,” the BYTE reported.
The move comes after more than 16 years of service to High Desert parishes by the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette. “The order has made this move to bring its priests and ministries closer together,” said the BYTE. “Since the other parish the La Salette fathers serve is in Moreno Valley, the California cluster of La Salettes decided it would be better to have the diocese take control of the High Desert parish in order to move closer to Moreno Valley.”
 The La Salettes serving in the San Bernardino diocese belong to the order’s Our Lady of La Salette Mother of Hope Province in the Philippines. The order took over the pastoral care of Our Lady of the Desert in 1993 and of St. Paul’s in 2000.
Fr. Ron Gagne, communications director for the American Province of the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette, expressed surprise at the news in a telephone interview with California Catholic Daily. “They belong to the Philippines province,” said Fr. Gagne, “and we are the American province. So I don’t have a clue. It’s news to me.”
Fr. Gagne noted, however, that the La Salettes frequently turn back parishes to dioceses. “We build up parishes – from poor to rich – then give them back to the diocese,” he said. “We’re missionaries.”
The Missionaries of La Salette were founded in 1852, at the shrine of Our Lady of La Salette following an apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to two shepherd children. In 1858, the priests formed a small community with temporary constitutions, under the immediate charge of the Bishop of Grenoble. In 1876 Right Rev. Mgr Fava gave them more complete rules, and in May 1890, the Institute was approved by Rome, according to an account in the Catholic Encyclopedia.
According to an article posted on the order’s website by Fr. Gagne, the motto of the La Salettes is: "Make this message known to all my people." Those words, said Fr. Gagne, “were spoken by Our Lady of La Salette on September 19, 1846 to two children, Maximin and Melanie, near the small town of La Salette, close to Grenoble, France.”
The La Salettes have adopted a special crucifix as a symbol of the order, said Fr. Gagne in the article. “The Crucifix with its hammer and pincers was first worn by Our Lady at the apparition at La Salette in France on Sept. 19, 1846. The hammer on the crucifix symbolizes the sins of humanity that put the nails into the hands of Jesus; the pincers symbolize the good actions we do which remove the nails from Jesus' hands.”
Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 12:12 AM By Jay S.
Send 'em down here to the Low Desert, too!!! We need their charism of the Cross in this hedonistic Palm Springs culture.
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Posted Saturday, November 28, 2009 7:57 PM By 1abqdad
We need missionaries with their ability to spread the word in the USA, too! I think that they have done a fine job and need to consider other areas to help increase knowledge of TRUE Catholicism. San Francisco comes to mind!!!!
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