AMITE - Parishioners will say their final goodbyes to Father Mark Beard on Friday.

A funeral mass is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at  St. Helena Catholic Church. 

Watch the funeral mass live here

Beard died in a highway wreck near the Louisiana-Mississippi state line on Wednesday.

He was the longtime pastor for St. Helena Catholic Church in Amite and was a spiritual counsel to Gov. John Bel Edwards and his family.

The church says a public visitation will take place at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Baton Rouge on Thursday, Aug. 10, from 8:30 a.m. until 11 a.m.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Mercy with the diocesan clergy present. Priests and deacons are encouraged to wear their diocesan vestments.

Visitation for parishioners of St. Helena Church will be held at the St. Helena Parish Hall in Amite on Friday, Aug. 11, from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. with a Funeral Mass celebrated at St. Helena Church for family members and St. Helena Parishioners at 11 a.m.

The burial will follow at Amite Memorial Gardens in Amite.