Photo by James A. McBride
Father Gerard Marable, pastor of St. Josephine Bakhita Parish, Camden, stands with Thomas and Denise Highsmith. The Sewell couple, both bankers, are dedicated to the Camden City parish.
CAMDEN – For Thomas and Denise Highsmith the Mass and camaraderie at St. Josephine Bakhita are the highlights of their week, drawing them to the parish to continue their stewardship.
The Highsmiths are residents of Sewell and they come into Camden each week to support this much loved parish and serve as stewards in its ministries.
St. Josephine was established from the merger between St. Bartholomew and Joan of Arc parishes on Sept. 22, 2010. It is composed of three major cultural families: African American, Hispanic and Euro-American.
Denise’s original parish was St. Bartholomew, which was founded as an African American parish in 1947.
Thomas joined the Catholic Church through the Rite of Chritian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) 10 years ago.
Both Denise and Thomas are bankers, Thomas working for Beneficial in Philadelphia and Denise for Sun Bank in Vineland.
Five years ago Thomas became involved in stewardship, attending classes to be an Eucharistic Minister along with Denise. They’re also becoming lectors.
Father Gerard Marable, pastor of St. Josephine, said their dedication and expertise in the banking field make them excellent stewards.
Denise’s dedication has allowed her to be part of the finance committee and was on the stewardship committee prior to the merger. “I was chairwoman of that,” she noted. “We don’t have an official stewardship committee now but because I was part of that original committee, Father Gerard asked me to spearhead the ministry festival we had last October. The stewardship committee used to run the festival in the past.”
Women of Praise, an eight-year-old dance ensemble is another ministry Denise is involved in. She joined seven years ago. “We will do a dance to a gospel song prior to the Mass or at the end of the Mass,” she said. “We also dance at special Masses and at various programs during the year.”
For the past three years Denise has been a member of the Knights of Peter Claver ladies auxiliary and Thomas will become a member of the regular organization, Court 386.
“This is the only court in the diocese,” Denise said. “A court is like a chapter. The national group held its convention in Philadelphia in July.”
The purpose of the local organization is to serve its parish with community work. The national organization’s main goal is to support the work being done to eradicate sickle cell anemia.
The order was founded Nov 7, 1909 at Mobile Ala., by four priests of the St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart. The order was incorporated July 12, 1911; the Fourth Degree was authorized in 1917.
For more information on stewardship contact Deacon Russell Davis, Office of Stewardship, at 856-583-6102.
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