[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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