Homily for Feast of Saints Peter and Paul

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 five years ago. This mass, Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, is our three hundred and thirty third 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 June 29, 2014 - and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Last weekend marked my fourth anniversary of being your pastor.  How time flies!!  As with any church community, we've had our joys and sorrows over the last four years, as well as our successes and bumps in the road. Over the last year, we've said "good-bye" to people we love with hope of seeing them again in Heaven, and we've welcomed with joy new members baptized into our church.  We've had all the experiences in between:  First Confessions and Communion, Confirmations, Weddings, Anointings of the Sick.  We've even participated in our seminarians journey to priesthood with the Admission to Candidacy celebrated this weekend at the 10am Mass with Bishop Jarrell.  We've embarked upon our Sanctuary Project Campaign, and we've continued to make improvements to our buildings and plant.  We've also had to bundle up at Mass in this most cold winter when the air system was down.

   In all these things, however, my hope as your pastor is that in these experiences, whether joyful or not, that by the power of the Holy Spirit we've all grown closer to Jesus over the last year, and through that relationship, closer to God our Father, as we journey towards our destination of eternal life.  In the end, that's all that really matters.

I want to thank all of you for making my job as pastor a joy. My assignment to St. Landry and all of you have been a great blessing to me. Your patience and support has been wonderful, and is very much appreciated.  You all have made me a better person and priest over the last four years, and have taught me much. Our parish has changed much over this time, and my hope is our St. Landry Church community will continue to adapt to meet all your spiritual needs on your journey in life. Thanks again!

     Fr. James Brady

PILGRIMAGE TO ROME - MARK THE DATES!

We have planned a pilgrimage to Rome and other parts of Italy in the Spring of 2015 from March 16th to 26th.  In 2013, we went to France and visited places of significance to our spiritual heritage here at St. Landry, including the tomb of St. Landry himself and the places where many of the saints depicted in our church lived and worked, like St. Bernadette, St. Margaret Mary Alocquet, St. John Vianney,  Therese of Lisieux and others.  This pilgrimage will focus more on the Universal Church, centered in Rome, the City of Seven Hills.  Besides the tour of Rome and the Vatican Museums and religious sites (including attendance at the weekly Papal Audience (dependent on Pope Francis' schedule)), it will include trips to the Abbey at Montecassino (founded by St. Benedict), Assisi (St. Francis and St. Claire), St. Padre Pio's Tomb, and Florence (optional, but highly recommended).  Brochures with more detailed information are located in the church for your review, and there will be an informational meeting on Wednesday, July 30 at 6pm in the Valentin Hall Dining Room.  Hope to see you there.
     

The bulletin for the week of June 29, 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 Corpus Christi

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 five years ago. This mass, Corpus Christi, is our three hundred and thirty second 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 June 22, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Sunday after the 10am Mass we will have a special devotion to the Eucharist in celebration of this feast. Following Mass we will have a Eucharistic procession in the church and then silent Eucharistic adoration for the afternoon. Benediction and reposition will take place at 4pm. I hope everyone is able to spend some quiet time in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament Sunday afternoon. The Eucharist is the "source and summit" of our sacramental faith, and our devotion to Jesus cannot be complete without devotion to His presence in the Blessed Sacrament. It is also significant to note that in years past behavior in our churches generally reflected the reverence we should have when in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. It seems we were more properly attired, were quiet, and were attentive to the fact that we were in the presence of God when entering a Catholic Church. This reverence was also an act of good manners in that those praying were not disturbed or distracted in their prayers by others. Reverent behavior is a reminder to us of the awe we should have in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and God's great love for us, His creatures, in calling each of us to live a life in Christ. This weekend, as we celebrate Corpus Christi, let us also reflect on our behavior in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament not only this weekend, but at all times we are in a church or chapel, and if we need, to adjust our behavior to properly honor and reverence the presence of God in the Eucharist.

In addition to the special celebration today, in Opelousas we have many opportunities for quiet reflection and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Besides the times when our church is open, Valentin Hall Chapel is open during business hours. We also have 24 hour adoration every First Friday beginning at 7am and continuing until the 8am Mass Saturday morning. Queen of Angels’ adoration chapel is open perpetually, so it is always available for quiet prayer. Our Lady of Mercy also has a visitation chapel (code is needed, just call their office) which is always available. We are blessed to have so many opportunities for quiet prayer with Our Lord. Families that pray together, especially those with children, experience a greater peace and unity that only God can give, especially when we remove the distractions of our daily lives for just a short period of time to focus on Him. Let us all make a renewed effort to increase our prayer, especially in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, so as to better serve God and our community!

     Fr. James Brady

PILGRIMAGE TO ROME - MARK THE DATES!

We have planned a pilgrimage to Rome and other parts of Italy in the Spring of 2015 from March 16th to 26th.  In 2013, we went to France and visited places of significance to our spiritual heritage here at St. Landry, including the tomb of St. Landry himself and the places where many of the saints depicted in our church lived and worked, like St. Bernadette, St. Margaret Mary Alocquet, St. John Vianney,  Therese of Lisieux and others.  This pilgrimage will focus more on the Universal Church, centered in Rome, the City of Seven Hills.  Besides the tour of Rome and the Vatican Museums and religious sites (including attendance at the weekly Papal Audience (dependent on Pope Francis' schedule)), it will include trips to the Abbey at Montecassino (founded by St. Benedict), Assisi (St. Francis and St. Claire), St. Padre Pio's Tomb, and Florence (optional, but highly recommended).  Brochures with more detailed information are located in the church for your review, and there will be an informational meeting on Wednesday, July 30 at 6pm in the Valentin Hall Dining Room.  Hope to see you there.
     

The bulletin for the week of June 22, 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 Trinity Sunday

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 five years ago. This mass, Trinity Sunday, is our three hundred and thirty first 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 June 15, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

We celebrate today The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, or "Trinity Sunday."  We often refer to God as The Most Holy Trinity, so it may seem a bit odd that this weekend we celebrate "God."  The question could be asked, "Don't we celebrate God every weekend?"  And of course, indeed we do!

However, this Sunday we celebrate God's revelation to us of His form united in Three Persons:  The Father, and The Son, and The Holy Spirit.  Prior to the Incarnation, we were only able to relate to God in a very general way, as He was revealed in the Old Testament.  But now, through the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus and the coming of The Holy Spirit at Pentecost, we can better understand and be in relationship with God in this Revelation of the The Trinity.  We see God as a loving Father (The Prodigal Son) and Jesus as the brotherly example to imitate to be in right relationship with God, and then receiving the Grace of the Holy Spirit to live that life in right relationship with God.  Prior to the human life of Jesus we were unable to relate as personally to God as we can now in prayer and in how to live a life in Him.  Today, we celebrate this greatest of Mercy that God has given to us in Jesus' life, death, resurrection, ascension and Pentecost!  Let us resolve to come to better know the Love of God the Father by imitating the life of His Son by the Power of the Holy Spirit!

     Fr. James Brady

PILGRIMAGE TO ROME - MARK THE DATES!

We have planned a pilgrimage to Rome and other parts of Italy in the Spring of 2015 from March 16th to 26th.  In 2013, we went to France and visited places of significance to our spiritual heritage here at St. Landry, including the tomb of St. Landry himself and the places where many of the saints depicted in our church lived and worked, like St. Bernadette, St. Margaret Mary Alocquet, St. John Vianney,  Therese of Lisieux and others.  This pilgrimage will focus more on the Universal Church, centered in Rome, the City of Seven Hills.  Besides the tour of Rome and the Vatican Museums and religious sites (including attendance at the weekly Papal Audience (dependent on Pope Francis' schedule)), it will include trips to the Abbey at Montecassino (founded by St. Benedict), Assisi (St. Francis and St. Claire), St. Padre Pio's Tomb, and Florence (optional, but highly recommended).  Brochures with more detailed information are located in the church for your review, and there will be an informational meeting on Wednesday, July 30 at 6pm in the Valentin Hall Dining Room.  Hope to see you there.
     

The bulletin for the week of June 15, 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 Pentecost

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, Pentecost, is our three hundred and thirtieth 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 June 8, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday.  Pentecost is our celebration and remembrance of the coming of the Holy Spirit to each of us, giving us the Grace to imitate Jesus in living our lives.  Jesus told the apostles that he would send His Spirit, Who would teach them all things.  The Holy Spirit teaches us all things as well, and prompts us to love God and each other as Jesus did.  Our devotion to living a life in Christ should be total, not partial.  Of course, none of us has reached a point of complete imitation of Christ, so we continue to examine our lives and change, or convert, in accord with the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  The first rule of knowing we are living in accord with The Holy Spirit is that we follow all things that Jesus commanded us, beginning with the commandments as taught by Jesus and His Church.  In doing that, we can learn to love as Jesus loved.

After today, we return to what is known as "Ordinary Time."  The primary liturgical color returns to green and the paschal candle will be moved back to the baptistry to be used for baptisms and funerals.  The term "ordinary" is not meant to diminish this time of year as if it is not important to our spiritual growth, but simply indicates that we are not in one of the special Church Seasons that has a particular emphasis on the life of Christ, such as Advent and  Christmas (The Incarnation), and Lent and Easter (The Paschal Mystery).  Rather, we focus on learning about our faith and the things Jesus commanded us by learning what he taught in His public ministry and how He lived as an example to us.  

Next Sunday, we will celebrate God revealing Himself in the life and teachings of Jesus as The Most Holy Trinity.  This revelation allows us to better understand God the Father in the life of His Son Jesus, as well as the gift of Grace to imitate Jesus' life by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The following weekend we will conclude our special feasts by celebrating God being with us until the end of time in the Eucharist, which is known as Corpus Christi Sunday, or The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  Please remember we will have a Eucharistic Procession in the church after the 10am Mass in celebration of this gift, with Eucharistic adoration continuing that day until 4pm, at which time there will be Benediction.  Please make plans to spend an hour with Jesus on this very special day!!

After these celebrations, we will remain in Ordinary Time until the Church New Year, the 1st Sunday of Advent. As always, we should continue to learn about Jesus and our faith through Sacred Scripture and the sacramental liturgies, especially Mass and Confession. Our journey towards Christ should be constant and consistent, regardless of the time of year!

     Fr. James Brady

WELCOME SEMINARIAN BEN PITRE

Ben is a lifelong parishioner of St. Landry Church.  He graduated from OCS in 2002 and from LSU in 2006 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering.  As a member of the NROTC while attending LSU, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the US Navy upon graduation.  He served five years in active duty which included a three and a half year assignment to the submarine USS Olympia stationed in Pearl Harbor, HI.  Ben entered seminary formation in 2012.  In May of this year, Ben graduated from St. Joseph's Seminary College in Covington with a B.A. in Philosophy and will begin his theological studies in July at the Pontifical North American College in Rome for the remaining four years of his formation prior to ordination.  Ben is the son of Ben and Suzanne Pitre, also parishioners of St. Landry.      

The bulletin for the week of June 08, 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 Ascension of the Lord

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 ninth 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.