Walking Among the People
Today we stayed entirely in Beaufort and with the congregation of St. Peter. From morning with a large representation of the Beaufort Deanery’s deacons to a golf cart tour through the Habersham neighborhood and a parish picnic, to an evening Mass and listening session with the Spanish-speaking community, Bishop Fabre spent the day with people from all walks of life who find home in the Catholic Church here.Today we stayed entirely in Beaufort and with the congregation of St. Peter. From morning with a large representation of the Beaufort Deanery’s deacons to a golf cart tour through the Habersham neighborhood and a parish picnic, to an evening Mass and listening session with the Spanish-speaking community, Bishop Fabre spent the day with people from all walks of life who find home in the Catholic Church here.
Brotherhood Rooted in Eucharist
The deanery deacons gathered at the Lowcountry Outreach Center for self-reflective conversation. The bulk of the discussions centered on the catechesis of our lay people. One deacon put it plainly: the diaconate is not primarily about doing, it is about being.
Permanent deacons sacramentalize service, bringing to the Lord’s altar the everyday ministry of love that all the baptized are called to live. At the center of a deacon’s ministry is the holy Eucharist. The importance of this vocation extends back to the time of Christ and the Twelve Apostles.
The topic of loneliness among the diaconate was also discussed. Nearly half of these deacons transferred from other dioceses, and due to the large geography of our diocese, spread across the whole state, many don’t know one another. “I went to a meeting, and I didn’t know anybody,” one deacon admitted.
Bishop Fabre proposed concrete remedies: an orientation weekend for incoming deacons, a mentorship system, and two or three gatherings a year at minimum, just as our priests have.
Before lunch, the deacons paused to pray for the people of Venezuela, who endured devastating earthquakes just a few days ago.
Picnic and Community by the Water
In between the deacon meeting and the afternoon tour, the team made a brief stop at St. Peter’s parish picnic. This free, annual gathering is a sign of the strong charism of welcome here. The light of Christ’s joy and fellowship was evident. Parishioners anticipated the needs of others and acted without waiting to be instructed.
The afternoon brought a golf cart tour through Habersham, a community along the Broad River just minutes from downtown Beaufort. Built for walkability, it represents the Southern culture that is drawing people from all over the country.
That is what Bishop Fabre found in the pavilion where Catholic residents had gathered — transplants from New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Colorado who found shared faith. One of their members, a woman who moved here two years ago, had a surgery, and neighbors drove her to appointments, brought her to Mass and became her closest friends.
A man who had drifted from his faith in a large, impersonal parish up North found himself running to these Bible study groups. Another woman gathers neighbors monthly for a rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy before an image of Our Lady, and asked Bishop Fabre to offer a blessing over it
Four Hundred and Growing
The evening brought Mass at St. Peter, followed by one of the most energetic listening sessions of this Pastoral Visit. A lay leader shared the week’s most striking data: the Spanish-speaking community has grown from 80 to 125 Mass attendees just two years ago to roughly 400 today, and that’s not even a quarter of the Catholics in the area.
Bishop Fabre spoke about education for immigrant families, the responsibility of U.S.-born children to participate in civic life and the Church’s obligation to reach farmworkers and those who are undocumented. He shared the toll that deportation has taken on Catholic families. One man, after 40 years of playing music in his parish in the U.S., was sent to his country of origin with nothing.
Near the end, a young girl stepped to the microphone on behalf of the children and thanked Bishop Fabre for his time, and the community presented him with a gift.
The most quietly powerful moment came from a man who walked to the church for holy water. He was welcomed and asked to stay, so he enjoyed the picnic and then stayed for the listening session. He had not been to church in nine years.
Reflection
Beaufort is an attractive place. People come from all over the world there in search of a home and a sense of purpose. What Bishop Fabre saw on Day 6 is what happens when a faith community decides to be ready for them: deacons learning to know one another across diocesan lines; neighbors driving strangers to appointments; a Spanish-speaking community that has nearly quadrupled in two years; a man who came for holy water and stayed for fellowship.
The willingness to understand one another and to welcome whoever walks through the door is what Bishop Fabre called the New Jerusalem of the Lowcountry. In many ways, what we witnessed here is like a foretaste of heaven — all of God’s children in one place, worshipping the Father in unity with one another.
Looking Ahead
Day 9 takes Bishop Fabre across three communities on Sunday. He begins at St. Gregory the Great Church in Bluffton for the 9 a.m. Mass, then heads to St. Peter in Beaufort for an English listening session and Mass in Spanish, before closing the day with Mass and a listening session at Holy Cross Mission on St. Helena Island. The evening ends back at St. Peter, where Bishop Fabre will meet and dine with priests of the deanery.
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