Norbert Labit works for the carpenter’s Son

Just about every Catholic church has a quiet hero like Norbert Labit of St. Bonaventure Parish in Avondale, who at the age of 88 is still working behind the scenes to make his parish hum, because, well, that’s just the way it should be.

Labit, a native of Houma and son of a union carpenter,  is a self-taught woodworker whose volunteer skills have turned dreams into reality at St. Bonaventure for the last 60 years.

“The parish started in 1965, but I’ve been here since 1960 and saw this church built,” Labit said of the church on South Jaime Boulevard that emerged from “nothing but trees.” “I was the first money counter. I used to sweep the church on Saturdays.

“Father (Joseph) McMahon was a La Salette priest, and he was a fantastic man. He and I got to be really good friends. We had a lot of fairs. We did well. He used to come every Sunday and eat. Then he would lay on the sofa and sleep while I watched the  Saints’ football games.

“I always told Father, ‘My front door is always open. You don’t have to call and find out. Just come over here anytime you want a meal. Monday is red beans day in New Orleans. Other than that, you eat whatever’s on the table.’”

Never one to put much stock into sleep, Labit would “throw” a 2 a.m. milk route, get home for noon and then start his second job, finishing the baseboards and doors for most of the houses in the Avondale subdivision.

Then, because of all the new residents in the emerging subdivision, the area launched a volunteer fire department.

“I became assistant chief because I lived real close and anytime they had a fire, I was right there at the firehouse,” Labit said.

One of the fires he didn’t get notified about was inside the church, where the altar he had built from scratch was set on fire in the middle of the night.

“We found it the next morning, Labit said. “All the edges were scorched. It had to be young kids because they broke a little window and squeezed through. They may have lit a candle.”

But for someone with superior handcrafting skills, that was a mere flesh wound, and the altar was quickly repaired.

Over the course of six decades, Labit and a team of dedicated friends have built the church’s ambo, transformed the old Com­munion rail into a handrail for the choir area, hung the painted metal Stations of the Cross, created a niche for the parish’s sacred oils and built a stand for the Book of the Gospels.

“I just gave him a description of what I wanted, and he did it,” said Father Francis Offia, the parish’s newest pastor of nearly a year.

“I made this up out of my head,” Labit said. “But all the way along, we’ve worked as a team. I’ve had five or six guys who anytime I called, they were always there. I know I couldn’t have done all of this by myself.”

Labit also has a hard head. In 1994, he was leading a group of parishioners in breaking down the booths from the fair. One of the roof supports broke, and Labit fell about 15 feet.

“I went flat on fours onto the concrete, busted my face, my nose broke, my teeth cracked,” he said. “I don’t have a kneecap today because it was busted up too much. My friend Landris Perkins ran over and said, ‘Man, Norbert, I thought you were dead.’

“The parish was afraid I might sue ’em because it was an accident on church property. I said, ‘Sue? No way! I’ll pay my own way before I sue the church.’”

When Labit came home from the hospital on crutches, he was watching TV in the front room. His wife had gone to the pharmacy to pick up some medication.

When Labit looked over to the glass storm door, he saw something he will never forget.

“Here I see this picture of Christ in the glass, and Mary, she was holding him,” Labit said. “I could see her mouth moving like she was talking. I was so surprised I started crying. My wife walked in and when she opened the door, it disappeared. When I told her what happened, I couldn’t stop crying. ‘Why me?’’’

For the last six months, Labit has been caring for Joy – his wife of 64 years – who has Parkinson’s disease and is not ambulatory.

“That’s the only joy in my life,” Labit said of his wife. “We ended up with five daughters, and she was a good mother all the way. We’ve got 11 grandkids, and 17 great grandkids. If I got everybody at the house, it would be standing room only.”

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