The churches of Saint Eugene in Grand Chenier, Our Lady Star of the Sea in Cameron, Sacred Heart of Jesus Creole, and Saint Patrick in Sweetlake will be officially amalgamated into the Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Cameron.

There will be a main church established near Sweetlake. The damaged church hall in Creole is being worked on, and once completed, will serve as a mission church.

There have been concerns regarding the amalgamation, some of which were expressed by Gary Dimas in a letter to the editor of the American Press. In this letter he stated the news was “disheartening.” He said his letter was inspired by Dr. Carl Wendell Ross’ letter that was published in the American Press on July 30.

According to Dimas, “lower Cameron Parish suffers similar ‘changes’ from the Diocese,” in reference to the new, amalgamated Parish of Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Cameron.

“No church will be rebuilt, although all three have insurance and monies from the legacies of former pastors and parishioners,” he said. “My Sacred Heart Church, the second oldest in the Diocese, is to be moved to Sweetlake and will administer to Creole, Grand Chenier and Cameron.”

The location of Sacred Heart of Jesus of East Cameron is a primary concern for many parishioners, he wrote. For parishioners living in Creole, the drive is about 30 minutes long. For those in Cameron and Grand Chenier, the commute will be about 40 minutes.

When asked how the location of the new parish was decided, Bishop Glen John Provost said it was “determined from a number of perspectives.”

Provost said canvassing was conducted in lower East Cameron by Monsignor Daniel Torres, with the intention of collecting the opinions and feedback of parishioners in that area.

Based on this canvassing, Provost said that overall parishioners expressed “regret that they had lost their facilities to this storm, of which no one has any control.”

He continued, “There was a desire that if there were to be an amalgamation that they would still have a church present on the coast, namely Grand Chenier, Cameron, Creole. In other words, they would want their facilities rebuilt, but they understood that that might be impossible because of funding, population, support, etc. Not to mention the weather.

“After that canvassing, we determined from that, and also from past experience, where we would locate a church for this amalgamation of these parishes,” he said.

The past experiences that Provost is referring to are the years following Hurricane Rita in 2005.

“Following Hurricane Rita and Hurricane Ike, the only Mass on the coast for almost six years was at Sweet Lake at St. Patrick’s Chapel,” he explained. “When I came in, those people seemed accommodated to it … everything else had been destroyed — halls, churches, directories, everything.”

He said the current situation was very similar, and therefore amalgamating the churches in Sweetlake seemed logical.

The location was also determined by elevation. The new church will be in Cameron Ridge, which is at a high enough elevation to avoid frequent flooding.

A concern for Dimas is having a local facility to “go to simply pray and meditate, to visit with a spiritual director, to go to confession.” When asked about the accommodation that could be made, Provost said he was not opposed to a day chapel being built for Masses in Grand Chenier and Cameron.

“However, this will depend a great deal on whether or not there is population there to assure attendance, willingness on the part of the parishioners to support such an endeavor, and other factors that deal with the construction of these kinds of chapels,” Provost said.

Dimas said parishioners were informed the Hall would be renovated and Mass would be held there.

It was confirmed by the Diocese the Hall at Creole would be turned into a mission church. Despite difficulty finding a contractor to bid, Provost said the Diocese fully expects it will be repaired.

“The hall is extremely valuable to us,” he said. “We want that hall repaired.”

According to the Very Rev. Ruben Buller, vicar general and moderator of the curia for the Diocese of Lake Charles, there are complexities regarding the renovations of the hall. For this reason, the Diocese has to find specialty contractors, which has proven difficult.

“It’s not just a general contractor,” he said. “Those are specialty contractors that have yet to be found.”

These complexities include an elevator that needs to be brought up to code and unstable stairs that are unusable due to water damage.