100 years of ‘faith and family’ at St. John the Baptist

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

It is called the “Little Cathedral in the Woods” for a reason. For St. John the Baptist Parish in Folsom is literally hidden behind trees and only accessible on two-lane roads. Yet, that didn’t deter Benedictine Father Odilo Alt from traveling on horseback in 1920 searching for Catholics to celebrate Masses and administer sacraments.

By 1921, St. John the Baptist became an Archdiocese of New Orleans parish, and Father Odilo its first pastor. Masses were first celebrated in homes and at the Baham family’s storeroom until the parish’s first wooden church was built on an approximately eight-acre site donated by the Ansel Baham family. It is used today as Odilo Hall.


On June 13 at 11 a.m. Mass, the parish will celebrate its centennial, “100 Years of Faith and Family,” with Archbishop Gregory Aymond as the principal celebrant alongside Father Vincent Phan, its 15th pastor, who came in 2018. Archbishop Aymond and a few parishioners will be inside the church, while others will watch the livestream in Jonathan Hall.



Close-knit, hidden gem
Anniversary committee members recounted how the Folsom area began growing enough by 1935 for St. John the Baptist to open a school with Benedictine, Ursuline and Dominican nuns followed by nonreligious instructors until it closed in 1968. The building is now the parish office.


The current church actually was the former Chinchuba Deaf-Mute Institute church, which dates to 1899. It was dismantled and brought onsite by horse and wagon by the Lawrence Flot Sr. family and rebuilt by parishioners in 1941, committee members said. It has seven center rows, with small side rows that seat approximately 120. There’s also a choir loft.


The majority of the stunning, stained-glass church windows were made by Emil Frei for the Chinchuba Church, with the exception of two windows bought by Father Alt in 1965 when St. Scholastica Chapel was torn down, and another dedicated in 1999 in memory of Margaret DeFrange, mother of Father DeFrange, the 11th pastor.

Kathy Mauthe, an anniversary planning committee member, grew up in Folsom on a dairy farm, and St. John the Baptist was her Catholic home. She made her first Communion there and worshipped when Father Odilo was still alive. She remembered him picking up students by bus to attend school.

“He was always special to us,” she said. “He was a stern priest, which as a child scared me, but he did anything and everything to help people. This was a poor area; there weren’t many Catholics here at the time – it was mostly Baptist. So, he didn’t collect much money at Mass, but he could get anybody to do what he needed in the parish. He would pick us up in the car and bring us to St. Benedict for Bible school, so we had a strong relationship with St. Joseph Abbey. … He was amazing when I think about it.”

The relationship with the Benedictine order continues today as monks often help out with the parish’s three weekend Masses.

“It’s special to see the monks come out and interact with the people,” Knights of Columbus 10176 Grand Knight Robert Schultz said.
Closeness attracts families

The spirit of cooperation is vibrant in the parish through its 84-member Knights of Columbus council, active Bible studies, a Ladies’ Altar Society and “Wednesday Work Crew.”

“They commit themselves to do whatever needs to be done,” Father Phan said of the 10-man work crew that provides general parish maintenance.

“There is a lot of volunteer time given,” said Schultz, who’s an active parishioner with his wife Jean. “People are excited and want to do projects.”

The yearning for their shared faith had the church closed only for a few weeks during the pandemic before Father Phan began celebrating Mass outdoors on the beautiful parish grounds and eventually livestreamed it in Jonathan Hall, named for former Benedictine pastor Jonathan DeFrange, who served from 1991-2007.

“The people here practice their faith, and we pray for one another and show and share God’s love,” Father Phan said.

Looking ahead
The future looks promising for St. John the Baptist. The parish is noticing younger families registering among its 400 parishioners. To attract even more, St. John is working to restore its parish fair and other regular activities. Its recent drive-thru fish fries during Lent sold approximately 300 fish dinners weekly.

To keep its history alive, the parish had five new, outdoor stainless steel signs created to identify buildings on campus, and a trifold parish history pamphlet will be distributed during the anniversary.

The church’s original 300-pound tone “A” bell made by the Huckstede Bell Foundry – blessed May 28, 1922 – will be rung for the first time in several years (it was replaced by electronic bells), and food made by parishioners, an anniversary cake, snowballs and live music will be available. The parish also sold anniversary T-shirts and mugs to pay for the celebration.

“My hope is for the future,” Deacon Julius Zimmer said. “I’m sensitive to the history of the parish, and that’s important, but I’m thinking about all the new families coming and seeing the new subdivisions being built.”

“We put the future in God’s hands,” Father Phan said. “There is a good, strong faith family here where people can see God’s presence in the people.”

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