[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2209]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO REV. MANUEL CHAVIER
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HON. BARNEY FRANK
of massachusetts
in the house of representatives
Thursday, October 15, 1998
Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to take this
opportunity to pay tribute to the Reverend Manuel Chavier of New
Bedford, Massachusetts. Reverend Chavier, founder and pastor of the
International Church of the Nazarene, is one of New Bedford's most
respected and dedicated leaders. He has devoted his pastorate to the
need of the Portuguese-Cape Verdean community of New Bedford and will
be honored for fifty years of service to his church and community at a
dinner on Saturday, October 17. Though I regret that I am unable to
join in the celebration at that time, it is with great pride that I
join his family, friends and the members of his congregation in saying
thank you and congratulations to Reverend Chavier for his decades of
valuable contributions to the spiritual and cultural life of the New
Bedford area. I ask that the excellent New Bedford Standard-Times
article on Reverend Chavier and his remarkable career be printed here.
[From the New Bedford (MA) Standard-Times, Oct. 3, 1998]
Dinner to Honor Nazarene Pastor
(By Robert J. Barcllos)
New Bedford.--The Rev. Manual Chavier, founder and pastor
of the International Church of the Nazarene, will be honored
by members of his congregation and friends at a dinner this
month.
The event is scheduled for 1 p.m. next Saturday at White's
restaurant in Westport.
In celebrating the golden jubilee of their pastor, members
also will celebrate five decades of a congregation that began
with 23 members and now numbers more than 600.
``Retirement is not on my mind yet,'' said the Rev.
Chavier. ``I just had a physical last week and everything
looks good. As long as the machinery keeps running, I'm going
to keep going.''
The 75-year-old pastor was still a ministerial student at
Gordon College in 1948 when he accepted an invitation from
the Portuguese Free Gospel Mission to be a guest speaker. The
mission, which met at Odd Fellows Hall, had been started by
Adeline Domingues.
The Rev. Chavier, a native of Lincoln, R.I., accepted an
invitation to serve the mission as pastor in June 1948 and
was formally installed in February 1949 when the mission was
constituted a church as the Cape Verdean Nazarene Society.
The 23 original members included seven from the First Church
of the Nazarene, among them Mrs. Domingues. The church met at
223 Acushnet Ave. from April of 1949.
The Cape Verdean Nazarene Society was incorporated on July
31, 1951, as the Portuguese Church of the Nazarene, and plans
began for a new church to be located at 483 Purchase St. The
church was dedicated in June 1956.
Reflecting changes in the ethnic and racial composition of
a congregation formed to serve the Portuguese-Cape Verdean
community, the church was renamed as the International Church
of the Nazarene in October 1976.
One of the high points in the Rev. Chavier's career was the
dedication of the present main church building at 278
Pleasant St. on Nov. 11, 1984.
``I'd love to put up another building,'' said the Rev.
Chavier. ``I've been in three building programs with one
building in two phases. My future desire is to honor a great
servant of God, Carolyn Wilder.''
Ms. Wilder, who died on Oct. 4, 1997, was an adjustment
counselor who also served as head of the Sunday school and
Christian education program in the church for 20 years during
which she was a tremendous influence, the Rev. Chavier said.
The Rev. Chavier's plans include developing a good
communications center for the church. Funds are being raised
for that project.
The pastor still travels each year, conducting Spiritual
Life Crusades. Most recently, in late July and early August,
he had 11 speaking engagements in Bear Lake, Nova Scotia, for
a 27-church gathering of the Canada East District of the
Church of the Nazarene.
He is booked for speaking engagements next year in Indiana,
New Hampshire, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Assisting the pastor at the church are his son and
assistant pastor, the Rev. Manual Chavier Jr., formerly a
pastor in Bermuda, who serves as minister of education and
outreach, and the Rev. Jon W. Heim, minister of music and
counseling.
They will be joined by Steven A. Margeson, the
congregation's new youth pastor, who will receive his
preaching license during the 6 p.m. service Sunday at the
church. Mr. Margeson, 44, a real estate agent and self-
employed carpenter, and his wife Michelle are members of the
Rev. Chavier's congregation and have run the youth program
there for 1\1/2\ years.
The Rev. Chavier's son-in-law, the Rev. Edmund J. Gomes,
and his daughter, Ruth, are teaching at Liberty University in
Lynchburg, Va.
Rev. Chavier has graduate degrees from Eastern Nazarene
College and Bridgewater State College and earned
certification as a teacher. He is a World War II veteran.
Outside of his pastoral duties, the Rev. Chavier has been
very involved in community affairs. He has worked as an
English teacher at Normandin Junior High School and served as
a trustee of the New Bedford Free Public Library for five
years, being vice chairman for one year. He also has served
as a director of the Kiwanis Club, the Legal Aid Society, the
Boys and Girls Clubs, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
At one time, he had a weekly religious program on radio
station WBSM.
He received the Duncan A. Doton Human Relations Award in
November 1996, one of many recognitions he has received over
the years.
The pastor and his wife, the former Elizabeth G. McKinney
of Everett, make their home in Fairhaven.
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