Deacon Becnel dies in Gulf of Mexico copter crash

    A funeral Mass for Deacon Patrick R. Becnel Sr., who died Oct. 9 while piloting a helicopter in the Gulf of Mexico, was celebrated Oct. 14 by Archbishop Gregory Aymond at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Belle Chasse.
    Deacon Becnel, 47, was a full-time citrus farmer in Jesuit Bend and a commercial helicopter pilot. He was transferring three workers from an offshore oil rig in the Gulf when his helicopter fell into the water and submerged. His three passengers were rescued and hospitalized.
    Deacon Becnel, a native of Plaquemines Parish, was ordained to the permanent diaconate on June 10, 2006, and was assigned for the last seven years to St. Patrick Church in Port Sulphur. Deacon Becnel and his wife Marci had been married for 24 years, and they had three children: Jami, 22; Patrick Jr., 19; and Casi, 12.
    “He was very proud of the fact that he was a sixth-generation farmer and very connected to the land and the abundance of the earth,” said Deacon Ray Duplechain, executive director of the Office of the Permanent Diaconate.
    Father Randy Roux delivered the homily at the funeral Mass. Deacon Becnel was buried at Bayhi-Becnel Cemetery in La Reussite (Alliance).
    Father Roux was a parochial vicar at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Belle Chasse more than 30 years ago when he would drive about 10 miles south on Sunday mornings to celebrate a 5 a.m. Mass in the Becnel family’s orange fields.
    “All the orange growers would come to that Mass,” Father Roux recalled. “Patrick and the Becnel boys were my altar servers. I got to know their family, and Patrick and I stayed close. We formed a youth group called Youth in Christ.”
    Father Roux also officiated at Deacon Becnel’s wedding. The night before the wedding, Deacon Becnel’s father died, but Father Roux convinced the couple to proceed with the Saturday wedding. The following Monday, Father Roux celebrated the funeral Mass.
    “It was not an easy wedding to get through, but I know Mr. Carol (Becnel) would have wanted that wedding. He was so happy that Patrick met Marci.”
    Until recently, Deacon Becnel had served for several years as a helicopter pilot for the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office. In the aftermath of the BP oil spill in 2010, he gave a helicopter tour of the damaged south Louisiana coastline to Archbishop Aymond.
    “Patrick found his life in the fields, but when he got interested in helicopters, he really found his life,” Father Roux said. “He told me how proud he was to fly Archbishop Aymond around.”
    One year Father Roux brought Deacon Becnel some special tile from Fatima, and he built a shrine in the fields to St. Isadore, the patron saint of farmers.
     “After his father died, he put up a giant white cross which stayed there until Katrina broke it off,” Father Roux said.
    As for his vocation to the diaconate, Father Roux said Deacon Becnel was always interested in the church and seemed open to a vocation.
    “I could tell, the way he attended Mass,” Father Roux said. “It was different. So when he asked me what I thought, I told him, ‘Patrick, I think it’s a great thing for you to discern the call.’ He started to go to Manresa and made retreats. When he was ordained, he asked me to vest him.”