Bulletin for the Week of November 03, 2013 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

This weekend, we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints on Friday and the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day) on Saturday.  These celebrations remind us of our connection with those who have gone before us and who now intercede for us while we continue our earthly journey.  These days remind us of Jesus' triumph over death in His Resurrection, and give us the basis of the Theological Virtue of Hope, that is, our desire to be in union with God and all the faithful departed at the end of our earthly life.  While we are indeed saddened by the pain of physical separation caused by earthly death, we remember that for Christians life is changed, not ended, and we are reborn into eternal life.

This year, we had a special Memorial Mass on All Souls Day for the intention of those of our community who entered eternal life over the past year.  Those remembered at the mass were members of our parish community at St. Landry, family members of our parishioners, and anyone for whom St. Landry provided a funeral mass or service.  The memorial mass was intended to include prayers for all our dearly departed, regardless of their faith tradition, denomination or church parish affiliation.  It also provided an opportunity for those who may not have been able to attend a funeral of a friend or loved one due to work or other circumstances.  We did our best to notify in writing all families of which we were aware who lost a loved one, and in the bulletin invited all to attend the Memorial Mass and to let us know of anyone who wished to be included.  It is my intention to make this Memorial Mass an annual event for our community.

Much work went into notifying as many as we could about the Memorial Mass as well as planning the liturgy.  Deacon Joubert headed up the project, and we thank him for his good work.  Our office staff, especially Priscilla Guidroz and Lois Joubert, worked to make sure notifications were sent out to families, and our choir eagerly volunteered to provide the beautiful music at the mass.  Ray Dupree and Lafond Ardoin Funeral Home provided assistance with obtaining the display of those specifically remembered.  We thank them and all those who volunteered as ministers for the mass!

Please know of my continued prayers for all our dearly departed and their families.  My hope is that this month of November may be a time of remembrance, consolation and prayer.  The display of those specifically remembered will remain in the church near the statue of our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Consolation, until the Solemnity of Christ the King, our celebration of Jesus' triumph over sin and death.

           God Bless!

           Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of November 03, 2013 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- four years ago. This week, the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our two hundred eighty eighth!! podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady.

So, take a listen and let us know what you think. Click here to download the homily from St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Bulletin for the Week of October 27, 2013 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

This week we will celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day on Friday, November 1 and Saturday, November 2, respectively. This time of year we focus on those who have completed their earthly life and have gone before us from this life to the next. On All Saints Day, we thank God for all the saints who have gone before us and have left us models for living our Christian faith, whether they be canonized or not. They now live in the presence of God in eternal joy interceding for us, and are appropriately referred to as the Church Triumphant.

On All Souls Day, we remember those who have gone before us but have not yet reached full union with God in heaven, and we pray for them to enter the Gates of Heaven. They are in purgatory, and are referred to as the Church Suffering (not suffering in the sense of physical pain, but suffering because they lack the complete joy and peace that is given by God in heaven). These souls are also referred to as the Church Expectant, as one day they will know full union with God.

As always, it is touching to see so many of you cleaning and repairing the graves of your family members in the cemetery, remembering that those who went before us are not dead, but rather are still a living part of our Church, and the place that houses their earthly body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, should be cared for by us who remain. We will pray for them at a Memorial Mass on All Souls Day (Saturday, November 2) at a special 10am Mass. We thank Lafond Ardoin Funeral Home for their help in assisting us in coordinating this Mass, and I hope that you are able to join us then for remembrance and prayer. We will also have our annual blessing of the cemetery that same day after the 4pm Mass.

A reminder that All Saints Day is a Solemnity and a Holy Day of Obligation, so we are obliged to attend Mass that day just as if it was a Sunday. The schedule Masses are as follows:
              Thursday, October 31 - 5:30pm
              Friday, November 1 - 8:40am (Opelousas School Mass); 12:05pm and 5:30pm.

Because All Saints Day is a Holy Day of Obligation, if one misses Mass that day without good reason, it is considered, objectively, a serious matter and one should not receive Holy Communion without first making a Sacramental Confession. In addition, please note that our parish offices will be closed Friday in celebration of All Saints Day.

           God Bless!

           Father James Brady


BLESSING OF GRAVES
October 26th, Saturday       5:30pm Myrtle Grove Cemetery
October 27th, Sunday         2:00pm Bellevue Memorial Cemetery
November 1st, Friday        12:15pm Garden of Memories & Serenity Memorial Garden
November 2nd, Saturday After 4:0 0pm Mass St. Landry Cemetery

WRAP WEEKEND
This weekend the Catholic Daughters will be handing out white ribbons after all the Masses. The program is
called W.R.A.P. which stands for "White Ribbons Against Pornography." The color white is the symbol of
purity. With the advent of the internet age, large amounts of information has become readily available, both
good and bad. This includes pornography, which has permeated the internet since its beginning. Pornography
has many victims, from the participants to the viewers, and causes many problems for them on many different
emotional and psychological levels, and can especially affect children. W.R.A.P. is intended to raise  awareness of this danger; but awareness is just a first step. There must also be action, and for parents the key word for action is "vigilance," especially in protecting children. Let us pray for those who participate in pornography and for its end, but let us also make sure that we are vigilant in the protection of our children from its harmful effects by monitoring and policing what our children see and hear!

The bulletin for the week of October 27, 2013 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- four years ago. This week, the Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our two hundred eighty seventh!! podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady.

So, take a listen and let us know what you think. Click here to download the homily from St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana.

St. Landry Catholic Church Cemetery Tours this weekend

Saint Landry Catholic Church Cemetery Tours this weekend - Saturday 6 Pm, 7 Pm, 8 Pm. And again on Sunday 2 Pm and 3 Pm. Photos from last weekend here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecajun/sets/72157636621301526/

Bulletin for the Week of October 20, 2013 - and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Last weekend, we introduced the annual Bishop's Service Appeal (BSA), and a message from Bishop Jarrell was presented at all of our weekend Masses.  The Bishop's Service Appeal funds services and programs that we, as a parish, cannot afford to pay on our own.  By pooling the resources of all the individual church parishes in the diocese, services can be provided to the poor and vulnerable that would not be feasible for any individual church parish to provide.  In addition to aiding the poor and the vulnerable among us, the appeal supports other diocesan works, such as the education and support of our seminarians and the continued education of our priests.  St. Landry is blessed to have a seminarian studying for the priesthood, Ben Pitre (as always, please keep him in your prayers) who directly benefits from the donations made to the BSA.  St. Landry could not afford to pay for his education and training, but with funding from the BSA, his education and training is possible.

      The BSA pledge cards/envelopes will remain in the pews and at the doors of the church for your use.  Donations to the appeal can be made in the same manner as last year. First, for those who use offertory envelopes, you will receive special envelopes for the appeal in the mail with your regular envelopes, and the donations can be placed in the offertory at any Mass.  Second, for those who do not use envelopes for the regular offertory, the envelopes in the pews and at the church doors can be used and placed in any offertory at any Mass.  Third, for those who prefer to send the donation directly to the diocese, there are instructions on how to do so on the same envelopes located in the church.  When making a donation in this manner, please make sure that St. Landry is marked on the envelope so that we are able to track whether or not we have met our goal for the appeal.  Finally, donations can be made online at www.diolaf.org.

      Last year, we were a little short of our goal for the appeal. Of course, our hope is that our parish will reach the goal this year in support of the many good programs provided by the diocese to St. Landry and to the people of our diocese. Many thanks for your generosity!

           God Bless!

           Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of October 20, 2013 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Bishop's Services Appeal

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- four years ago. This week, the Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our two hundred eighty sixth!! podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Bishop Michael Jarrell.

So, take a listen and let us know what you think. Click here to download the homily from St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Bulletin for the Week of October 13, 2013 - and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Beginning next week, we will place baskets at the church entrances to be used for non-perishable food collection for those in need. The baskets will remain in the church until after Thanksgiving. This collection of food items is intended to help ICONS, our local food pantry which is sponsored by an interfaith consortium, to provide for those in need during the upcoming holiday season. In addition we will also have an offertory at our Thanksgiving Day Mass to support ICONS' mission to provide food to those who are in need. Each week we will collect the food items donated and transport them to the ICONS facility located here in Opelousas for distribution.

Obviously, as Christians we are called to love and provide for our brothers and sisters who are in need, and the most basic need is that of food. In each act of charity we do, we learn to see the Face of Jesus in everyone we meet, knowing that what we do for each other, we do for Him. Conversely, what we do not do for our brothers and sisters, we did not do for Jesus Himself! Let us always pray for an end to hunger and poverty in our community, our country and in the world. But let us also make sure we do what we can to help end hunger, beginning here in our own community.

           God Bless!

           Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of October 13, 2013 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

Homily for the Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- four years ago. This week, the Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our two hundred eighty fifth!! podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady.

So, take a listen and let us know what you think. Click here to download the homily from St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Bulletin for the Week of October 6, 2013 - and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

As we enter the month of October, we begin a month devoted to our appreciation of those who have gone before us to the next life. The Cemetery Tours will begin next weekend and will continue the following weekend. Many of you will be cleaning up tombs and we will be sprucing up our cemetery. Our celebration will culminate with our celebration of All Saints Day on November 1st and All Souls Day on November 2nd. Besides our usual blessing of the cemetery on November 2nd after the 4pm Mass, we have added a special Mass that morning which we hope will become an annual celebration.

The Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, November 2nd at 10am. It will be a Memorial Mass where we will pray for all our faithful departed, but the specific Mass intention will be for those who passed away this past year. We have had approximately 65 of our fellow brothers and sisters who have gone to the next life, and we want to remember them, their families, and their friends in prayer. We thank God for the gift of their life, and we pray for the repose of their souls and the consolation of family and friends.

Next weekend, we will publish a list of those who will be remembered at the Mass. This list will contain those for whom we've had funerals here at St. Landry and those whose death we were informed of through our ministry to the bereaved. We are happy to add any other people who passed away last year. If there is someone you would like to have added, please call the office to let us know. We will include all who died through September 30th of this year. Those who pass away this month will be included in next year's Mass. We will publish a final list in the bulletin for the weekend of November 2nd and 3rd.

We are taught in the Bible that praying for the dead is a righteous act (2 Maccabees 12: 43-46). Let us pray together for those who have gone before us, and for each other's consolation for the physical separation we have now until we all meet in God's Kingdom. I hope all are able to make it on November 2nd for the Memorial Mass.

           God Bless!

           Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of October 06, 2013 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.