Funeral services set for Father Edward Everitt OP, Holy Ghost pastor
By Laura Deavers
Funeral services have been set for Father Edward E. Everitt, OP who was found shot to death Monday, July 11 in Waveland, Miss., in a house owned by the Dominican Fathers that they used as a weekend retreat.
Father Everitt was pastor of Holy Ghost Church in Hammond, La. and Our Lady of Pompeii Church in Tickfaw, La. since 2006.
Visitation will be Friday, July 15 from 6 to 9 p.m. at Holy Ghost Church, 601 North Oak Boulevard. The Liturgy of Christian Burial will be Saturday, July 16 at 1:30 at Holy Ghost. Interment of Father Everitt’s cremains will be at a late date.
Early Tuesday, July 12, police arrested Jeremy Wayne Manieri, 31, of Waveland for the murder. He was found in Polk County, Fla., which is southwest of Orlando, with his ex-wife and two children.
At a July 12 news conference, Waveland Police Chief Jimmy Varnell said it appears robbery was the motive for the shooting. Varnell said the priest’s wallet was stolen.
Manieri was also wanted on a warrant out of Escambia County, Florida for grand larceny, police reported. He has had several arrests for various crimes, and in 2006, he was convicted of a sex offense and is on the State of Mississippi’s Sex Offender website.
Manieri worked as a maintenance man at the house where Father Everitt’s body was found with a gunshot wound in the head.
Authorities say Manieri was driving Father Everitt’s SUV, which was equipped with the auto tracking system OnStar. The GPS feature on the device was used to locate the vehicle at the motel in Florida. where Manieri was arrested.
Kathy Scott, the secretary at St. Clare Church in Waveland, found Father Everitt’s body. Holy Ghost parishioners contacted St. Clare Church when they tried to call and text their pastor on his cell phone and he did not answer. Scott went to the house to check on the priest and found him about 4:30 p.m.
Father Everitt often spent his days off at the house in Waveland, said Father Dave Caron, vicar provincial for the Dominican Province of St. Marten de Porres.
“It is tragic, but he preached hope for other people and we are going to continue that legacy,” Father Caron said. “He was a good priest and a good preacher. He drew the best out of people.”
Bishop Robert W. Muench of Baton Rouge called Father Everitt’s murder tragic. “I express my utter shock and profound mourning over the news of the murder of Father Edward Everitt. This is tragic loss of Father Ed’s life leaves a deeply felt void in all our lives.
“Together we pray to the Author of all life to provide Father Ed with the peace of eternal life. May our grief be seen in that perspective as we thank God for his valued life and priestly ministry,” the bishop said of Father Everitt whose church parishes are in the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
“Father Ed was a man of great energy, both preaching and caring for others,” said Father Chris Eagleton OP. “Father Ed will be profoundly missed by his blood family, his Domincan family and all whom he has served as a Dominican and preist over this many years of ministry.”
Father Everitt wanted to be a priest for as long as he could remember, according to the Dominican Order’s vocations website. “Through his calling into priesthood, Father Ed is able to follow his passion of preaching. His ‘a-ha moment’ as a friar in the Southern Dominican Province was the personal revelation that all people are made to the image and likeness of God.”
The website said in his downtime, Father Ed enjoyed spending quality time with family and friends in Waveland.
A native of Houston, Father Everitt was ordained May 25, 1968, in Dubuque, Iowa, and celebrated his first Mass of Thanksgiving at Holy Rosary Church in Houston.
He attended the University of Houston; Loras College of Dubuque, Iowa; Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque; and Notre Dame University in Indiana.
He has served as chaplain and instructor at Edgewood High School in Madison , Wis., chaplain at the University of Wisconsin, and at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Madison, Wis., and Thomas More College in Covington, Ky., before being assigned to St. Albert the Great Chapel and Student Center at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond. He was named pastor of Holy Ghost and Our Lady of Pompeii in 2006.
Parishioners of the two parishes gathered for a Mass of Remembrance July 12. “He will be greatly missed by the two parishes he served and by the Dominicans,” Father Caron said.
Contributing to this story were Barbara Chenevert, The Catholic Commentator staff writer and Shirley Henderson, Editor, Gulf Pines Catholic, Biloxi, Miss.
No comments:
Post a Comment