Father Lafleur Connects Countries
BOBBY ARDOIN
St. Landry Now.com Editor
The spiritual legacy of Father Verbis Lafleur, designated by the Catholic Church as a servant of God, remains impactful, even 82 years after his death.
That was the message delivered Monday night as a large crowd gathered at St. Landry Catholic Church for the anniversary mass that commemorates his death with other World War II U.S. military captives aboard a Japanese troop ship on Sept. 7, 1944.
The annual ceremony also attracted a large number of priests from the Diocese of Lafayette, including Bishop Douglas Deshotel.
Those who were unable to attend watched the mass on a live streamed platform provided by the Diocese.
Sevaro Cagatan Caermore, Bishop of Diplog in the Philippines, noted that Father Lafleur has connected the Diocese of Lafayette with churchgoers worldwide..
“Father Lafleur has allowed the (diocese and the Philippines diocese) to stretch out to one another across the Pacific,” said Caermore.
In his homily Caermore used the analogy in the New Testament gospel of Matthew which describes how Jesus, during a visit to a synagogue,stretched out his hand to a man with a withered hand and cured the man of the physical deformity before a Jewish temple hierarchy.
“Whenever anyone needed a hand, it was Father Lafleur who stretched his hand to save others,” Caermore explained.
Caermore said the willingness of Father Lafleur to help others was documented by those who survived the sinking ship where he and others died off the coast of the Philippines.
Many of the survivors, Caermore said, recounted how Father Lafleur sacrificed his own life by providing a hand that helped lift many of the captives onto the surface deck and safety.
“We are reminded of this helping hand in the journey of Father Lafleur, who stretched out his own hand to save others,” said Caermore.
Despite the thousands of ocean miles that separate his country and the United States, Caermore reminded those who attended that Father Lafleur is no stranger to those living in the Philippines.
A church has been built in the coastal area where the doomed troop ship left the Philippines.
The interest in the sunken ship where Father Lafleur and others died has also drawn the interest of an international film crew that at some point intends to make a documentary of the incident.
Multiple books have shown how during his captivity, Father Lafleur sacrificed his own possessions to his captors in order to obtain items for his soldiers.
After his death U.S. Army officials awarded Father Lafleur for a pair of Distinguished Service Cross military medals for bravery during a Japanese air raid on Clark Field in the Philippines and for his heroic actions aboard the troop ship.
