In closing, Xavier especially thanked the two men, Mr. Tom Lugo and Mr. Rudy Gonzalez that provided the expert guidance and help Xavier and his fellow scouts needed from the beginning to the end of the project which took a month to complete. Mr. Lugo and Mr. Gonzales, being a mason, were the technical experts that assisted and guided the young men through the steps of the monument building from a hole in the ground, to laying cinder block and re bar, to the cutting and placing of the decorative rock, and the plaque placement. Also, Xavier said it was great to hear stories from Tom and Rudy about their years of experience in construction and about Rudy being a young man in l955 that spent months as a masonry apprentice breaking all the river rocks making up the Church walls with a hammer and chisel for the masons to use.
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(Photo above left) Xavier Bagdazian thanking those that helped with the monument; Fr. Pasquale Vuoso in the background. (Above right) The Commandment Monument plaque. |
Ten Commandment Monument Dedicated at St. Sebastian Church
On Sunday, February 17 Fr. Pasquale Vuoso, Pastor at St. Sebastian Catholic Church dedicated a Ten Commandment monument that is the Eagle Scout Project for 17 year old Xavier Bagdazian. At the dedication on the Church patio after the 9:30 Mass, Xavier said that it seemed right to remember God’s Ten Commandments, which make us better if we strive to follow them, and to honor God who gives them, by building a monument.
After Fr. Pasquale led the parishioners in a dedication prayer and blessing of the monument with Holy Water, Xavier gave thanks to Fr. Pasquale for his permission and assistance in some of the details of the monument; his mom and dad, Robert and Mary Bagdazian, for their help from the start, and Mr. Anthony Grumbine for making an early drawing of the monument. In order to raise the money for the monument, food donations or discounts were received for a breakfast burrito sale at the Church from Victor and Maria Almazan at Garden Market, Carlos and Jesus Ortiz at El Pescador in Santa Paula and Fillmore, La Unica, and Francisco Soltero at Pollo Bravo. Xavier thanked Tom and Rosie Lugo, for their organizing the burrito sale, for the support of the St. Vincent De Paul Society, and those at the Church who bought burritos. He also thanked his grandparents, Gene and Pat West from Oxnard for their contribution.
Mr. Dave Shaneyfelt, Scoutmaster for St. Sebastian Troop 304 was thanked for his encouragement as were the scouts that helped on the project: Samuel Bagdazian, Michael Shaneyfelt, Thomas Cain, Dominc Cain, Jerry Coughlin, Frank Coughlin, and David Lettney. Paul Reyes of Reyes Masnonry and Joe Vega of Vega Welding were thanked for their help with cutting some cinder blocks and with holes and bolts to secure the monument plaque.
