GOV. VISITS MT. PLEASANT BAPTIST CHURCH. — New doors are open for the congregation at Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in St. Landry Parish.
Gov. John Bel Edwards visited the church Thursday morning, roughly three years after arsonist Holden Matthews set Mt. Pleasant and two other predominantly black churches in St. Landry Parish on fire.
The churches were rebuilt thanks in part to online fundraising that took place across the country following the fires. You can read about that here. During his visit to the new Mt. Pleasant Thursday, Edwards encouraged the community to forgive Holden Matthews for the past.
"We need to pray for the arsonist because obviously he was misguided," Edwards said. "The idea that he would set fire to churches, to places of worship and deprive all of those parishioners of their churches simply to try and impress people from the Internet, it shows how lost that individual was."
Lena Charles is a member of Holy Ghost Catholic Church. Charles was among several members of the St. Landry community who came to show their support.
"Our church, Holy Ghost Catholic Church, the largest African American Church in the United States, are so proud," Charles said. "We were one of the first churches that reached out to the three churches to do an ecumenical service to let them know that the body of churches was standing with them in solidarity and that the forgiveness was there, the love was there and the support was there."
Pastor Gerald Toussaint said he is overwhelmed with joy, now that his congregation can come back to a new place of worship.
"I wasn't concerned about me, God is going to take care of me," Toussaint said. "As long as we got the congregation back and I'm so glad that we're able to come back and fellowship with one another."
Matthews pleaded guilty in federal and state court to three fires: the March 26, 2019 burning of St. Mary Baptist Church in Port Barre; the April 2, 2019 burning of Greater Union Baptist Church in Opelousas; and the April 4, 2019, burning of Mount Pleasant Baptist Church in Opelousas.
Matthews was sentencedto 25 years in prison for his state court pleas to state hate crime charges, simple arson of a religious building and aggravated arson of a religious building. He also was sentenced to 25 years in prison for his federal court pleas to one count using fire to commit a felony and three counts intentional damage to religious property. The latter charges are what is known as the Church Arson Prevention Act. His sentences are being served concurrently, or at the same time, meaning his sentence is 25 years in prison.
To read our story about the investigation and arrest of Matthews, click here. To see some of our stories about the fires, click here.
