St. Theresa's blessed by 'Mary Garden'

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

BLACKSTONE – Roger Perreault wasn’t the only one honored when Bishop McManus blessed a “Mary Garden” at St. Theresa Parish Sunday.
The new rosary-shaped garden around the existing statue of the Blessed Mother on the church lawn was planted in memory of Mr. Perreault. The shrubs represent the Our Fathers and the flowers the Hail Marys, said his widow, Constance “Connie” Perreault. She said her 85-year-old husband’s death on Christmas Day last year was a shock, even though he had cancer.
But Sunday she was talking about positive things.
“We’re delighted beyond belief” to have the bishop coming, she said. “We’re at the tail end of the diocese, but it doesn’t mean we’re the most remote spiritually. We’re an active parish and we’re proud of it.”
Her husband was an especially active and beloved parishioner.
“Eucharistic minister, husband, father, grandfather, and friend to any and all, basically, that was Roger,” Mrs. Perreault said in her remarks for the garden blessing. He was there to help, comfort and lift spirits, telling jokes, warming the car for her on cold nights.
“But, above and beyond that, was his loyalty to the Blessed Mother,” she said. “Not too many people are aware that, whether he was just driving up the street or riding to Milford for his cardio re-hab sessions … Roger was praying the rosary. …
“Shortly before his passing, I happened to see in a religious magazine a photo of a Mary Garden which greatly impressed me. Roger agreed that it was beautiful and truly worthy of such a tribute. We both said, maybe someday. Well, someday is here, and with thanks to the many who contributed in various ways, we are seeing its realization. To … all who participated, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you!”
Mr. Perreault used to open the church and pray before the statue of Mary inside, St. Theresa’s pastor, Father Thien X. Nguyen, told The Catholic Free Press. He was also known around town.
“He helped a lot of people,” Father Nguyen said. “After he died, a lot of people gave money to the church in his memory.”
Mrs. Perreault said that, in lieu of flowers, people donated to the parish. Contributions were used to make the Mary Garden, which parishioner Robert Vose said was one idea on a long list of desired parish improvements.
“It’s just our way of inviting more people to come and do the rosary with the Blessed Mother … maybe say a prayer for Roger at the same time,” Mrs. Perreault said. (She said she and her husband had had the bench in front of the statue put in several years ago so then-pastor Father Dennis J. Rocheford, now deceased, would have a place to sit when he prayed the rosary there.)
“It means the world to me” to have this garden, “because we knew how much he wanted this,” said the Perreaults’ daughter Paula Ryan, St. Theresa’s organist. But, being humble, her father would not have wanted the garden dedicated to him, she said.
“He would have stood back and let everybody else shine, including Mary,” she said. Three times a day he came to the church to pray the rosary, until shortly before he died, she said. When unable to get out, he watched the rosary on television with her mother.
“He was 6 years old when he moved here,” and he was an altar server and a student at the parish school, now closed, she said.
As an adult, he was present to today’s youngsters.
“He was always making us laugh,” said Toni Marino, a former member of the children’s choir, one of several youth who called him “Grampy” – even though he wasn’t their grandfather.  “He brought us candy every week when we had rehearsals.” (He also went by the nicknames “The Bubble Gum Man” and “The Candy Man.”)
After Mrs. Perreault’s remarks at the blessing, one of the balloons decorating the garden popped.
“Hi Grampy,” responded one of the 50-or-so attendees.
“He probably did that,” someone remarked, referring to the man who parishioner Denise Vose called “a jokester.”
The blessing also had its serious moments, of course, including Marian prayers, hymns and Scripture passages.
Bishop McManus talked about Mary as image and model of the Church, of all the Church desires and hopes to be.
Father Nguyen said Mary never tires of praying for us, especially now. He said that when she appeared to three children in Fatima in 1917 she invited them to learn to pray the rosary (a prayer that can change the world) and to get spiritually healthy and to let her guide them to lasting happiness.
Rest in lasting happiness, Roger E. Perreault Sr.

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