Bulletin for the Week of June 1, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

As was mentioned last month in The Pastor's Corner, we are going to undertake "The Sanctuary Project Campaign," which officially begins today and will be explained in the homily at all the Masses this weekend. The primary goal of this campaign is to restore and update the sanctuary area of our church (to replace the worn carpet in the sanctuary and install a fitting altar) and to provide adequate bathroom facilities in the church. Your response to this project has been wonderfully supportive in the outpouring of generosity and assistance even before the campaign has officially begun. I am very excited about the project. In the project, we will be exercising good stewardship by properly caring for the beautiful church with which we have been blessed, and by doing our part to provide a fitting place for worship now and for those to come after us. Brochures explaining the project have been placed around the church doors and in the pews for you to review.

As with any project of this nature, I know there are and will be concerns about the work undertaken and what will be changed in our spiritual home. In the last major renovation of the church interior in 1961, many people were upset because of the extent of the changes as well as the removal of many of the sacred items from the church, items that many used in their prayer and devotions. This project is intended to enhance and update what we already have in our church, and will actually restore some of the items previously removed from the church (our beautiful and historic sanctuary lamp, for example). The project has been undertaken in collaboration with our Parish Advisory Board, Finance Council, outside consultants and our parish staff, and has been in the planning for several years. In the end, there may be some relocation of some things as we restore and re-install some of the items previously removed from the church, but the goal is to update, restore and enhance the beauty of the sanctuary area we already have, not to de-construct it.

In that regard, many of you may have questions about the project or would like to know more details about it. On Friday, June 6 at 6pm we will have an "Open House" in the church, at which time a relatively brief presentation will be given about the project, including the viewing of samples of the flooring and the altar marble. After the presentation, I will be available as long as needed to address any questions or concerns that you may have about the project, and to receive your input. I look forward to seeing you there and look forward to moving forward in making God's House a beautiful and fitting place of prayer and worship!

     Fr. James Brady

Devotional Candles

As you may have noticed, a devotional candlestand has been placed in the church. We received it as a gift from St. John Berchman Church in Cankton, and it has been placed in the rear of the church near the statue of St. Anthony of Padua. Many thanks to the good people and pastor of St. John's! Having the candlestand in the church should alleviate the need to obtain candles in the sacristy, and make them more accessible to you. As in the past,  devotional candles can also be obtained during office hours in Valentin Hall.

The bulletin for the week of June 01, 2014 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 Sixth Sunday of Easter

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 --- nearly five years ago. This mass, Sixth Sunday of Easter, is our three hundred and twenty 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 May 25, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Congratulations to our high school Seniors! Opelousas Catholic held its graduation last Friday night here in the church, and our students attending other schools or who are home-schooled are graduating during this time as well. We congratulate them all and pray that they continue their life's journey in faith. This weekend we celebrate the sacrament of Confirmation, and welcome Bishop Jarrell, a native son of St. Landry Church, as God imparts a sealing and strengthening of their Baptismal Graces on our Confirmation candidates.

The last few weeks have been busy for most of us! With the late Easter Triduum and then First Communion, the parish picnic, Confirmation, graduations and all the other various awards banquets, recitals and tournaments that mark the end of the school year, very few of us did not have "extra duty" helping with or attending these events. Whew...it's time for summer vacation!

Hopefully, many of us will have the opportunity to take a break and enjoy our families and friends over the summer, with many taking a family vacation. This is a good and healthy thing. It is good to remember, though, that during this time we do not take a vacation from God. This Spring, we've travelled through the disciplines of Lent and the joys of Easter, and hopefully have grown closer to God during this time. Summer vacation is not a time to allow the gains we have made in our relationship with God to dwindle. Regardless of the time of year, we never take a vacation from God. How would we like it if He took a vacation from us? As we plan our vacations, wherever they may be, we should be sure to research not only the accommodations and activities during that time, but also how, when and where we will attend Mass. God wants to be with us at all times. The question for us is do we want to remain close to Him!

     Fr. James Brady

Devotional Candles

As you may have noticed, a devotional candlestand has been placed in the church. We received it as a gift from St. John Berchman Church in Cankton, and it has been placed in the rear of the church near the statue of St. Anthony of Padua. Many thanks to the good people and pastor of St. John's! Having the candlestand in the church should alleviate the need to obtain candles in the sacristy, and make them more accessible to you. As in the past,  devotional candles can also be obtained during office hours in Valentin Hall.

The bulletin for the week of May 25, 2014 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 Fifth Sunday of Easter

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 --- nearly five years ago. This mass, Fifth Sunday of Easter, is our three hundred and twenty 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.

Bulletin for the Week of May 18, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Next weekend at the 5pm Mass we will welcome Bishop Jarrell, who will administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to our young people.  This will complete our special Easter celebrations as a parish community, which included First Communion for our children and our parish picnic.  As you know, our celebration of the Easter Season will continue until Pentecost Sunday (June 8), the celebration of coming of the Holy Spirit to each of us, prompting us to live a life following the example Jesus gave to us so that when we die in this life, we will rise with Him and live with Him in Heaven.

After Pentecost, on the following two Sundays we will have special celebrations of God's goodness to us.  The first is the celebration of The Most Holy Trinity (June 8), when we thank God for revealing to us, in the life of Jesus, His Nature as triune, that is, He is One God in three persons:  The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit...and we invoke His Name in this manner each time we make the Sign of the Cross at the beginning and end of our prayer.  With this revelation of God's Nature, we are able to more fully relate to His love for us:  Our Loving Father sending His Only Begotten Son in the Incarnation so we can understand better by His example how to Love God and each other, and then the Grace of the Holy Spirit moving us live a Christian Life, with our first priority being our Faith, Hope and Charity.

The second special celebration is The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also called Corpus Christi.  We celebrate the gift of the Eucharist to each of us as the sacramental union we have with God through His Son's Body and Blood.  It is the fulfillment of Jesus' promise to be with us until the end of time, and the Eucharist strengthens us to live the Christian life given to us in our Baptism and Confirmation.  We will have a special celebration after the 10am Mass that weekend (June 15), where we will have a Eucharistic Procession in the Church following Mass and then Eucharistic Adoration all afternoon until Benediction at 4pm.  Please come join us at some time that afternoon to give quiet praise to God for the gift of Himself to us!

     Fr. James Brady

The bulletin for the week of May 18, 2014 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 Fourth Sunday of Easter

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 --- nearly five years ago. This mass, Fourth Sunday of Easter, is our three hundred and twenty sixth 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 May 11, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Happy Mother's Day!! Today, we celebrate Motherhood, a most wonderful vocation dedicated to the nurturing and Christian formation of children (regardless of the age of the children!). The good of children is entrusted to mothers and fathers by God. The vocation of motherhood is first and foremost taught by the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and is best exemplified incarnately by Our Blessed Mother, Her being a model of Christian discipleship.

Motherhood is a blessing and gift from God. As in all things, God teaches us how to properly respond to the gifts He gives. In other words, what is truly "good" is taught to us by God. Therefore, the standard for being a "good" mother or father is provided by God in the life of His Son and as taught by His Church, as well as the good example of saintly mothers, especially our Blessed Mother.

In every generation there is "conventional wisdom" of what being a "good mother" means. Indeed, the specific circumstances of a mother's life does impact what it takes to be a good mother. However, the core of a mother's mission remains constant in every generation and never changes: Nurturing by word and deed the seeds of salvation God has planted in their children so that their children can one day live in the Communion of Saints in heaven. Any conventional wisdom that is inconsistent with this core mission does not teach "good" motherhood.

Today, we thank all our mothers who have given to each of us true goodness in the lives that they lead. We pray for all mothers who struggle in their vocation through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, the Seat of Wisdom. We pray also, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Consolation, for mothers whose children have passed from this life into the next. Finally, we thank God for the blessing of children and motherhood in His plan of salvation!!

     Fr. James Brady

Parish Picnic - Many Thanks! 

Many thanks to those who helped at our parish picnic last week. Fun and fraternity was had by all, and it was a great way for us to celebrate Easter and spend time together as a parish family. Besides the many individuals who made the picnic possible, especially Dirk and Dee Boudreaux, who coordinated it, we would like to thank also the following groups and businesses for their support:

     B & D Marble and Granite
     Tony Chachere's
     Knights of Columbus Council 1173
     St. Landry Altar Society
     The Catholic Daughters of America - St. Landry Court
     Chief Perry Gallow
     St. Landry Church Maintenance Staff
     St. Landry Church Parish Council

Thanks again!

The bulletin for the week of May 11, 2014 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 Third Sunday of Easter

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 --- over four years ago. This mass, Third Sunday of Easter, is our three hundred and twenty 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 May 4, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Last weekend, as was widely reported in the news, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were canonized saints in a celebration in Rome.  Indeed, we do celebrate all the saints and what they teach us about Jesus and living a life in union with Him.  We thank God for the gift they are to us, and try to imitate their good example in our own lives.  Both men canonized last weekend were instrumental in the workings of Vatican II, the Church council that provided so many gifts to us today, including having our formal worship, particularly the Mass, now celebrated in local languages.  This makes our liturgies more understandable for us.  The documents and teachings of Vatican II, even to this day, are oftentimes misunderstood.  Although I certainly cannot provide a full commentary of Vatican II in a Pastor's Corner, it is good to note a few things of which we all should be aware and thankful.

Vatican II, in part, was intended to update our methods of discipline and teaching to be more conducive with the culture of the modern world.  There can be no doubt that the 20th Century (1900-1999) saw an unprecedented increase in technology and availability of information, and technological advances continue at that unprecedented rate even to today.  Education became more readily available to so many.  To think that we went from a time when electrical  power was unavailable to where we are today during that time period is quite simply, astounding.  Medicine went from using leaches and lobotomies to our current state of micro-surgery and other modern marvels never dreamed about at the beginning of the century.  We went from no cars to landing on the moon during that century.  Just in the last 50 years,  we've moved from the invention of bulky calculators to computer technology that is wireless and fits in a pocket; from manual typewriters to word processors.

The participants in Vatican II understood that the teachings of our faith remain the same, because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  However, the presentation of Truth taught by Jesus can and should be adapted to the times to promote a deeper understanding of our Faith, and thus a deeper Love of God in our hearts.  Therefore, we not only live the disciplines that Jesus taught us, but with greater technology and information, we are better able to understand them, and better understanding leads to greater acceptance and joy in their practice.  The Truth that Jesus taught will never change, but we can be blessed with a greater means to know and understand the Truth, and thus be more willing to live in the Truth.  Besides the holy lives that Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II lived, we thank them for being instrumental in helping us grow in our ability to better know and understand God.

One such Truth Jesus taught is His Resurrection, which we continue to celebrate until Pentecost Sunday.  Our celebrations include our Parish Picnic, which is today after the 10am Mass.  Our children received their First Communion last weekend, and our young adults will receive Confirmation from Bishop Jarrell on May 25 at the 5pm Mass.  Let us continue to pray for our young people receiving these Sacraments, and pray that we as a community, encouraged by the Hope of the Resurrection, continue to grow closer to Our Lord and Savior!  God Bless!!

     Fr. James Brady

The bulletin for the week of May 04, 2014 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.