By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in LaPlace received a special visitor this weekend to commemorate its consecration.
The Right Reverend Morris K. Thompson Jr., the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Dioceses of Louisiana, performed the consecration during his annual visitation to the church on Sunday morning. The Bishop was born in Cleveland, Miss., and received seminary from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of the South and Lexington Theological Seminar.
It was a very special and exciting occasion for the congregation, as it marked the “setting apart of the unencumbered church to the glory of the Almighty God.”
Though St. Timothy’s has been in existence for approximately 60 years, the building has never been consecrated and set apart for sacred use. Consecrations are important because they ensure that a place of worship cannot be reclaimed by a secular institution or made into a secular building. The church was able to pay off the mortgage for the building in 2006, which was a critical step on the road to consecration. According to the congregation, all indebtedness must be paid off before an Episcopal church can be consecrated.
The present church building was constructed in 1968. Before then, the mission was a preaching station called St. Phillip’s, and the congregation held services at Lasseigne Memorial Methodist Church. The mission was renamed St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in 1956.