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 --- over five years ago. This mass, Fourth Sunday of Easter, is our three hundred and eighty 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.

Parish Picnic moved to next Sunday, May 3, 2015

The parish picnic will not be held tomorrow Sunday April 26, 2015. Instead, we will move it forward to next Sunday May 3, 2015 after the 10 AM Mass. We look forward to seeing you there.

Bulletin for the Week of April 26, 2015 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Today we celebrate "Good Shepherd Sunday."  It is called "Good Shepherd Sunday" because of the Gospel reading of the day, taken from the 10th chapter of St. John's Gospel.  In the Gospel passage, Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd who will lay down His life for His sheep.  Jesus' willingness to lay down his life for us (meaning for our salvation) derives from the fact that if we choose to be, we are the sheep of His flock, and He has real love for us as a shepherd has for his flock.  During this Easter Season we continue to marvel at how good God is to us in giving us His Only Begotten Son, the Risen Christ and our Good Shepherd.  Thanking God for such a Good Shepherd, we continue to celebrate our Easter Joy!

Many of you are aware and have been praying for my father after his recent accident.  He fell a little over two weeks ago and fractured one of his vertebrae.  He was hospitalized in Baton Rouge for five days and then was transferred to a rehabilitation facility last week.  As of the time of this writing, he is progressing nicely and it looks like his recovery will be full.  Being there to help both Mom and Dad required me to be away from the parish a good bit over the last few weeks, and I'd like to thank Msgr. Melancon, our deacons and our staff for handling things while I was out.  Thanks to you also for your prayers and support.  My father, mother and the rest of our family very much appreciates it.

One blessing of Dad's accident was that I was able to spend a good bit of time with him, something we don't get to do very often one-on-one.  I was also able to spend some time with my mother as well, but not quite as much, as Dad was the center of attention.  The time spent with them was a wonderful blessing and something that I very much appreciate.  I have been blessed that my parents have lived a long life, Dad being 87 and Mom 83.  In this busy world of ours, we may not make enough time to care for and be with our elderly relatives, especially those in nursing homes or who are homebound.  Many of you have lost parents at a much younger age, and would give much to have had more time with them.  For those of us who have parent(s) living, it is good to remember the opportunity you have and the blessing it is to spend time with your parents.  If necessary, make the effort to mend fences.  It leads to a more peaceful passing for them, and a more peaceful life for us who remain.

Please mark your calendars and, if possible, attend the following celebrations:

            May 3, 2015 - Annual Parish Easter Picnic moved to alternate date due to weather following the 10am Mass

            May 24, 2015 - Confirmation (5pm Mass).

These parish celebrations of the sacraments and our parish picnic highlight the joy of the Easter Season in our parish community.

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 26, 2015 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 five years ago. This mass, Third Sunday of Easter, is our three hundred and eighty first podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Monsignor Louis Melancon.

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 April 19, 2015 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

With Divine Mercy Sunday last weekend, we ended the Easter Octave and now enter into the regular Easter Season, which will last until Pentecost.  Last weekend was highlighted with First Communion, which went beautifully.  God teaches us by our children, and last week He reminded us how special the Eucharist is and the reverence with which we should approach the Blessed Sacrament.  Thanks again to Phyllis Guidry and Mary Joubert for leading the First Communion Program and the parents of the children who taught them at home.  It takes both, and it was evident throughout the program that our children were well prepared for their First Confession and First Communion.  Please also continue to pray for our young people preparing to receive Confirmation on Pentecost Sunday!

I also wanted to provide you with an update on the Sanctuary Project.  As you may have noticed, our new angels were placed on each side of the tabernacle for Easter, and many people have commented how beautiful they look.  Indeed, they do look wonderful.  The next part of the project will be to re-install the sanctuary light, which we hope to do in the coming weeks.  On the new sanctuary flooring and altar, we are still waiting for the altar to arrive from overseas, and expect it within the next 2 months.  We have to wait for the altar to be installed before we can install the flooring, which has already arrived and is ready.  As soon after the arrival as possible, we will schedule the installations.  Installation is complicated a bit by our busy wedding schedule, as it will take approximately 2-3 weeks to complete.  The latest  it will take to schedule the installation is some time in August/September as we have no weddings scheduled during that time.

Insofar as the campaign itself  is going, we have exceeded our goal and have now raised enough funds to update our sound system and to improve our lighting.  A more precise fiscal accounting will be provided after the end of the campaign, which is May 31st.  If you know of anyone interested in donating and they haven't done so yet, please let them know the end of the campaign is near!

I will be out this weekend taking a post-Easter break, and look forward to seeing you all next weekend.  May God continue to bless us all during this Easter Season!

Please mark your calendars and, if possible, attend the following celebrations:

            April 26, 2015 - Annual Parish Easter Picnic following the 10am Mass (alternate weather date is May 3);

            May 24, 2015 - Confirmation (5pm Mass).

These parish celebrations of the sacraments and our parish picnic highlight the joy of the Easter Season in our parish community.

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 19, 2015 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 Second 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 five years ago. This mass, Second Sunday of Easter, is our three hundred and eightieth 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 April 12, 2015

The Pastor’s Corner 

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, marking the end of the Easter Octave. The Easter Octave is the eight day celebration of Easter from Easter Sunday until today. We continue the Easter season until Pentecost Sunday in May. Looking back over the last couple of months, we have so much to be thankful for as a church parish, especially to those who made our Lent and Easter so beautiful and spiritually meaningful. We are blessed to have Msgr. Melancon living in our parish. He took on extra duties during Lent here at St. Landry and at Opelousas Catholic, helping to lead both us and our children through Lent. We are also blessed with three deacons, Deacon Diesi, Deacon Joubert and Deacon Miller, who also took on extra duties joyfully and without reservation. Our parish staff, both office and maintenance, did an outstanding job in cheerfully handling the extra work that always comes during this time of year. If you have the opportunity, please express your appreciation to them.

However, without the support of so many of you, the celebration of Lent and Easter would not have been as beautiful and meaningful as it was. It began with Ash Wednesday and our Altar Society appropriately decorating our church. Many worked long hours to provide some new statue covers for Passiontide. The Altar Society worked throughout Lent and Easter to make our church look more beautiful for our spiritual benefit. A generous parishioner provided the "Little Black Books" which so many of us found spiritually fruitful in preparing for Easter, and our Parish Advisory Board sponsored a "soup and bread" dinner after Stations of the Cross on Fridays. Our choir and music ministers did an outstanding job during the seasons, but especially during Passiontide and the Easter Triduum. Our sacristans, altar servers, readers, and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion served reverently and competently. Our blog was most informative about what was going on in our church parish for those who may not have been able to attend services. Some cut palms for Palm Sunday, while others cultivated our gardens around the church. Our suppliers ably and competently provided things we needed (obviously, we thank Jim Durio Florist for the beautiful flowers, but we also had a sound system problem that was immediately repaired by Phil Borel in time for the Holy Week celebrations). So many people helped in so many ways. We thank and appreciate all of you!

I also want to thank all of you who participated in our liturgies and activities during Lent and Easter. Good attendance is usual during Lent at daily Mass and Stations of the Cross, especially at the beginning of the season. After a few weeks, however, attendance usually shrinks a bit. This year, attendance stayed pretty steady over the season! Our confessional was busy, enough so that we many times had to hear confessions both before and after our daily Mass! These things indicate a healthy spiritual life within our parish and a living out of the Lent and Easter seasons within our hearts. It also encourages others by example and solidarity in our faith. This is most important to our community, and makes for a most joyful Easter in the most important way, in our hearts and souls!

Thanks again to all! May God Bless you during the Easter Season, Alleluia, Alleluia!!

There will be much going on after Easter in our parish, so please mark your calendars and, if possible, attend the following celebrations:

            April 12, 2015 - 1st Communion (10am Mass);

            April 26, 2015 - Annual Parish Easter Picnic following the 10am Mass (alternate weather date is May 3);

            May 24, 2015 - Confirmation (5pm Mass).

These parish celebrations of the sacraments and our parish picnic highlight the joy of the Easter Season in our parish community.

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 12, 2015 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 Easter 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, Easter Sunday, is our three hundred and seventy 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 April 5, 2015 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Alleluia, Alleluia!! The Lord is Risen! We rejoice today because of God's goodness to us in giving us the gift of eternal life. We now celebrate Easter for 50 days, 10 more than Lent, because we are an Easter people living in the hope of the Resurrection! While we acknowledge the struggle of our earthly life during the 40 days of Lent, we now celebrate the gift of eternal life for the 50 days of Easter. We especially celebrate Easter during this coming week, which is referred to as "The Easter Octave." The Easter Octave ends next Sunday, which is commonly referred to as Divine Mercy Sunday.

Fittingly, during the Easter Season we will celebrate two of the sacraments of initiation, First Communion and Confirmation, and we will celebrate the Easter Season as a community with our parish picnic. Please be sure to keep our second graders and high school juniors in your prayers as they make their final preparation for the reception of these sacraments. As previously announced, our annual parish picnic will take place on April 26, 2015 after the 10am Mass. It is our community's way of celebrating God's Easter gift to us. Please be sure to mark your calendars and join us for theses celebrations!

Let us enjoy this Easter season, and let the promise of eternal life fill our hearts with joy because of the love God has for each and every one of us!! Alleluia, Alleluia!!

There will be much going on after Easter in our parish, so please mark your calendars and, if possible, attend the following celebrations:

            April 12, 2015 - 1st Communion (10am Mass);

            April 26, 2015 - Annual Parish Easter Picnic following the 10am Mass (alternate weather date is May 3);

            May 24, 2015 - Confirmation (5pm Mass).

These parish celebrations of the sacraments and our parish picnic highlight the joy of the Easter Season in our parish community.

      God Bless

      Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 05, 2015 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.

The Passion - Opelousas Catholic School Class of 2015

The Passion, as performed by the Opelousas Catholic School Class of 2015.

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