For the first time, the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (OLPH) will be celebrating its Feast Day as a whole-day affair on June 30, 2013. There will be a 10:00 AM Homecoming Mass as a thanksgiving celebration for people who, in one way or another, have had OLPH as part of their lives. A Spanish mass follows at 11:45 AM.
At 2:00 PM, the church’s music ministry will present “Laudate Dominum”, a concert featuring the OLPH Ladies Choir, OLPH Hispanic Choir, baritone Vic Omila, violinist Patrick Baran, flutist Joshua Abrahan, organist Sylvia Chai and pianist/conductor Nhick Ramiro Pacis.
Admission to the concert is $10.00, children 6 and under, free. Sponsorships and donations are also welcome. All proceeds from the concert will be used towards various structural treatments and repairs that the church needs at this time. These include termite infestation treatment, roof repair and additional acoustical and sound system upgrades.
Although the parish began with a small Hispanic community in 1890, the present Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church was built in 1934 by the Redemptionists. The Sisters of St Joseph started a school which was later on continued by the School Sisters of Notre Dame. In the seventies, the Dominican Fathers took charge for a few years succeeded by the Marists who arrived in 1986 and have remained up to the present. The church is now in the care of Rev. Roland A. Lajoie, SM who succeeded Fr. Thomas Stokes who passed away earlier this year.
OLPH remains as one of the key historical structures in the Ybor City area.
OLPH is located at 1711 East 11th Avenue Tampa, FL 33605 .
For more information about the church and the OLPH Feast Day celebrations, please call the church office at (813) 248-5701 or visit the church website.