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 --- over five years ago. This mass, The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our three hundred and fiftieth 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 26, 2014 - and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

What a beautiful weekend for our Cemetery Tours last week! Last weekend was picture perfect, and the tours were a great success over the last two weekends.  There was much preparation and hard work put into this year's tours by many people.  We thank the Cemetery Tour Committee and all those who supported, assisted and helped in making this year's tours such a great success. We also want to thank all who came and took the tour, both parishioners of St. Landry Church and our visitors. Proceeds from the tours are used for cemetery maintenance, as this month we remember and reverence those who have gone before us and have handed down to us their faith, culture and wisdom.

In that regard, we are at the time of year when we remember those who have passed into the next life before us. We especially remember our deceased loved ones on All Saints Day, which is November 1, and All Souls Day, which is November 2.  Two things we should be reminded of during this time.  First, if you have family members who are buried in St. Landry Cemetery, please check on their tombs, and if necessary, spruce them up or repair them.  Our cemetery is beautiful, and we hope to maintain that beauty through the continued effort to maintain the tombs properly.  We hope that families will continue the tradition of reverencing their ancestors by proper maintenance of their tombs.  Second, our cemetery was built at a time when families maintained the tombs of their family members as well as the grounds. Because of this, cemetery endowments were not deemed necessary, so our cemetery has no endowment for perpetual maintenance.  As a church parish, we maintain the cemetery without charge of a cemetery maintenance fee, and the cost of maintaining the grounds for some 4,000 tomb sites is, to say the least, substantial.  Therefore, please consider a donation for cemetery maintenance.  Special envelopes are in the church for this purpose.  Thanks so much!

Please also note the special liturgies we will have next weekend.  All Saints Day, which is this coming Saturday, is not a Holy Day of obligation.  However, we should make the effort to attend this wonderful celebration of all the saints God has created.  Our All Saints Mass will be at 9am on Saturday in the church.  Because of this celebration, there will not be Mass at 8am Saturday morning in Valentin Hall Chapel.  Our annual Cemetery Blessing will then take place after the 4pm Saturday Mass, beginning at approximately 5:15pm.  Finally, our annual All Souls Day Memorial Mass will be at the 10am Mass on Sunday, November 2.  Please see the bulletin insert for more information.  Hope to see you at these special liturgies!!

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

     

The bulletin for the week of October 26, 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 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 --- over five years ago. This mass, The Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our three hundred and forty 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.

Bulletin for the Week of October 19, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

This weekend, we will introduce the annual Bishop's Service Appeal. A message from Bishop Jarrell will be presented at all of our weekend Masses. The Bishop's Service Appeal funds services that we, as a parish, cannot afford. By pooling the resources of all the individual church parishes, we are able to provide services that are not feasible for any individual church. In addition to aiding the poor and the vulnerable among us, the appeal supports many other works. One example is the education and support of our seminarians. St. Landry is blessed to have a seminarian studying for the priesthood, Ben Pitre (as always, please keep him in your prayers). St. Landry could not afford to pay for his education and training alone, but with the funds from the appeal, his education and training is possible.

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, there are envelopes in the pews and at the church doors that can be used and placed in the 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 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!

And one more thing that touches us all ...

Fr. J. Wilson Matt passed away peacefully last week at the age of 96 in New Iberia.  He had been living in the priest's nursing home, Consolata, located in New Iberia.  Prior to that, he lived in residence here at St. Landry.   Fr. Matt lived a full and active life that touched the hearts of thousands as he spread the joy of Christ through his nearly 74 years of ministry as a priest.  He was certainly a gift to our community, and along with my personal experience of him, I've heard many stories about him from many of you.  Many of our young adults have fond memories of him riding his bike down the halls of Opelousas Catholic to the delight of the students.  Along with his funeral, which I was able to attend, Opelousas Catholic had a Memorial Mass for him last week.  At both Masses, his trademark song, "This Little Light of Mine," was sung with great fervor by all in attendance.  We thank God for the gift of Fr. Matt to us and to our diocese.  Along with our fond memories of him, let us continue to pray for his eternal rest.

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

     

The bulletin for the week of October 19, 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 28th 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 --- over five years ago. This mass, The Twenty Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our three hundred and forty 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 12, 2014 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

The Cemetery Tours begin this weekend on Saturday and Sunday, and will continue next  weekend.  We should remember the spiritual purpose of the tours, which is our prayer and devotion for those who have gone before us who left us a legacy of Faith in Christ Jesus. This legacy includes the Faith that has been handed down to us from the time of the apostles, as well as the things they've done to help us tangibly in our worship today, such as establishing our church parish and constructing the beautiful church which we have the privilege to worship in today.

We remember that the promise of Christ is eternal life, and His Resurrection (and thus our resurrection) on the Last Day is both in body and spirit. We treat the bodies of those who have passed from this life to the next with reverence because it is a Temple of the Holy Spirit while alive on earth, and also because it will be raised up in glory on the Last Day.  Therefore, the funds raised by The Cemetery Tours are used to maintain, repair and beautify our historic cemetery.  It is important that in reverence we properly maintain our cemetery because those who have gone before us have handed down the faith to us that was handed on to them by the generation before, and we are the beneficiaries of our ancestors teaching us our faith by both word and deed.  Our devotion to this endeavor is evidence of that continuing Faith in the resurrection and our appreciation for what has been done for us by our ancestors!

As mentioned in last week's Pastor's Corner, please remember in your prayers and give praise to God for the saints who came before us and pray for those in purgatory as we celebrate All Saints Day and All Souls Day on November 1st and 2nd, respectively.  In addition, our cemetery blessing will take place on Saturday, November 1 after the 4pm Mass, and our annual Memorial Mass will be November 2 at the 10am Mass.  I look forward to praying with you during these days of remembrance.

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

     

The bulletin for the week of October 12, 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 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 --- over five years ago. This mass, The Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our three hundred and forty 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 Week of October 5, 2014 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 into the next life. The Cemetery Tours will begin next weekend and will continue the following weekend. During the month, many of you will be cleaning up tombs, and our staff will be sprucing up our cemetery for the various activities. Our celebration will culminate with with All Saints Day on November 1st and All Souls Day on November 2nd. We will have our annual blessing of the cemetery on November 1st after the 4pm Mass, and our annual Memorial Mass for those recently deceased on Sunday, November 2nd at 10am (All Souls Day).

At the Memorial Mass, 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 75 of our fellow brothers and sisters who have gone to the next life for whom we celebrated funerals this year, and we want to remember them, their families, and their friends in prayer. We thank God for the gift of their life, and pray for the repose of their souls and the consolation of their family and friends.

As usual, this month we will display in the church a list of those who will be remembered at the Memorial 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 of your relatives who passed away last year. If there is someone you would like to have added to the list, please call the office to let us know by October 12.  We will include on the list all that our records show died through September 30th of this year. Those who pass away this month will be included in next year's Memorial Mass. We will also publish a final list in the bulletin for the weekend of November 1st and 2nd.

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 caused by the pain of physical separation, with the hope that the pain will be relieved when we all meet in God's Kingdom.

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

     

The bulletin for the week of October 05, 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.