The 113th annual Saint Patrick’s Party in Elk will take place on Saturday, March 11this year.

  The party will kick off this year with a mini-concert at 12:30pm staring Matthew Tyson singing Irish ballads at the Blessed Sacrament Church.  Matthew has a super voice so this concert is a must see.  Mass will be celebrated by Father Lou Nichols starting at 1:00pm.   Following Mass the Love Choir will perform a short concert of rousing gospel tunes.

  The dance starts at 9:00pm and will continue until midnight.  Returning this year will be Jim Corbett and his band playing country and county rock.

  At 10:00pm the drawing will take place for the raffle prizes.  First prize, of course, is a lovely completely filled cedar chest.  Tickets can be purchased throughout the afternoon and evening.

  Proceeds from this party will go toward the ongoing restoration and maintenance of the Blessed Sacrament Church and rectory.  See page 2 for a list of projects that have been completed thanks to the support of our many friends

                          Goodbye Father John—Welcome Father Lou

Blessed Sacrament said farewell to Father John Martin last July when he retired and moved to Tucson, Arizona.  On August 1, Father Louis Nichols arrived from Queen of Peace parish in Clearlake to succeed Father Martin at St. Anthony’s in Mendocino and its mission, the Blessed Sacrament Church in Elk.  Father Lou was officially installed as pastor of the two churches by Bishop Daniel Walsh in December, 2005.

Father Lou, a native of Endicott, New York, was ordained in Syracuse, New York on February 2, 1960.  From 1960-1962 he was Associate Pastor of St. Andrews Church, Binghamton, NY and from 1962-1966, Associate Pastor/Administrator of St. Lucy’s Church, Syracuse, NY.  He entered the US Navy Chaplin Corps in 1966 and was assigned as military Catholic Chaplin to the Navy Air Station, Saufley Field, Pensacola, FL.

Father Lou received an honorable discharge in 1978 and went on to complete a Master’s Degree program from New York State University, and from 1979 to 1980 he worked with the Veterans Administration counseling veterans of the Vietnam conflict.  In 1980 he was given permission to accept employment with US Airways   where  he established  and managed a counseling and employee  assistance program for the next 10 years.  

In 1990 he entered the Priest Associate Program with the Maryknoll Missionaries at St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA.  After completing that program he studied in the Vatican II Priestly Formation Program at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park.  From there he went back to New York and served at parishes in the Bronx and Spencerport, New York.  Bishop Ziemann asked Father Lou in 1994 to fill the vacancy of Chaplain in the Pastoral Care Dept. at Queen of the Valley Hospital in Napa.  And in October of that year he became administrator of St. Anthony of Padua Church, Willits for two and a half years.

While waiting for reassignment to New York, Bishop Ziemann asked him to stay in the Santa Rosa Diocese and accept the position of Administrator of Queen of Peace Church in Clearlake.  He was there from 1997 to 2005 when he was assigned to St. Anthony Church in Mendocino and Blessed Sacrament in Elk.