Homily for the Easter Vigil

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 six years ago. This mass, Easter Vigil, is our four hundred thirty 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.

Good Friday Service

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 six years ago. This mass, Good Friday, is our four hundred thirty 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.

Opelousas Catholic Passion Play

This podcast, The Opelousas Catholic Passion Play featuring John Angotti, is our four hundred thirty fifth podcast to be posted.

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

Homily for Holy Thursday

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 six years ago. This mass, Holy Thursday, is our four hundred thirty fourth 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 March 27, 2016 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 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 candidates for these sacraments in your prayers as they make their final preparation for the reception of these sacramental signs of God's Love for them. First Communion will be next week at the 10am Mass, and Confirmations will be May 15 (Pentecost Sunday) at our 5pm Mass.  Finally, as previously announced, our annual parish picnic will take place on May 1, 2016 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 season, and let the promise of eternal life fill our lives with joy!! Alleluia, Alleluia!!

Construction Updates
Thanks for being so patient in our construction process!  There are a couple of updates of which I would like to inform you.

As you know, we have been trying to get the new lighting for the church sanctuary installed for some time now, and obviously we were not able to finish it before Easter Sunday (today).  This is the last of our Sanctuary Campaign projects.  The equipment for the lights is still in transit, and we hope to receive and have it installed in the very near future.  We are all anxious to complete the project, so please keep its success in your prayers.

On the Valentin Hall construction, the window work will begin in the very near future.  The contract for this work has been signed and the initial order of windows has been made and should be arriving shortly.  Work will begin as soon as possible after the windows come in.  

On the rest of the Valentin Hall construction, we received the hard numbers for the construction costs and they exceeded our budget for the work.  Therefore, we are consulting with the contractor, the architect and the diocese to re-work the construction and financing plans for the construction.  We will consult with the Finance Council and Parish Advisory Board this week on any changes that are proposed.  I am hopeful that we will begin construction before the end of the school year and work throughout the summer months.  Again, please keep the success of this work in your prayers.

The Statue of Our Blessed Mother Returns Today
The last of the five large statues in the church, namely The Sacred Heart of Jesus, Our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, St. Jude, and St. Anthony have been restored.  The statue of Our Blessed Mother has now been cleaned and restored like the others, and is unveiled this weekend.  As with the other four statues, I think her statue turned out beautifully.  The artist who did the restoration would like to remain anonymous, but certainly we thank her and her family for giving their time, talent and treasure to complete the project and support them in our prayers.  In cleaning our Blessed Mother, she noted that this is apparently the third time the statue has been painted, each time using a different set of colors.  I am sure the previous colors she wore were beautiful and spoke to the people of their time, just as I am sure that the new colors will speak to us and those devoted to Jesus through her intercession.

Father James Brady

CITY-WIDE LENTEN PENANCE SERVICE!
A city-wide penance service will be held here @ St. Landry on Monday, 3/21/16 (6pm – 7pm)

EASTER TRIDUUM  SCHEDULE:
Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper – 7PM
Good Friday Passion of the Lord – 3PM
Easter Vigil – 8PM
Easter Sunday Masses – 8AM, 10AM, & 5PM
  

The bulletin for the week of March 27, 2016 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 Palm 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 six years ago. This mass, Palm Sunday, is our four hundred 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 March 20, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Today we celebrate Passion Sunday, also known as Palm Sunday. It marks the beginning of "Holy Week," our remembrance of the events that give rise to our salvation:  Jesus' Passion, Death and Resurrection. There are several special liturgies and other events this week. Please check the insert in this bulletin for our Holy Week schedule.

Some have asked why we cover the statues in the church from last Sunday until Easter (this period of time is known as "Passiontide").  The reason for the tradition of doing this is that in His sorrowful Passion, Jesus' face and whole body were so disfigured by the blows and scourges he received that he was scarcely recognizable.  The wounds our Lord endured obscured both his divinity and his humanity in our eyes. For this reason the crucifix are veiled in the final days of Lent. The statues of saints are also covered, as they are the handiwork of His Grace, and without seeing the Master, there can be no servants.  

A special effort should be made by each of us to attend the major liturgies of the Easter Triduum, namely Holy Thursday Mass celebrating the Last Supper and the Institution of the Eucharist, Good Friday Services commemorating our Lord's Passion, and the Easter Vigil.  We are blessed that we will have two candidates receiving the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil, so please keep them in your prayers. It is a very exciting time for us as they are formally received by us as a community. 

The Holy Week Liturgies are moving and beautiful, and a fitting way to celebrate these most important events of our salvation.  Easter weekend often begins early in the secular world, with our children having off from school and many places of employment closing Good Friday and Easter Monday for the holiday.  This extra time gives us an opportunity to attend the Triduum Liturgies.  It is understandable that some family celebrations of the holiday weekend begin early, especially when people we love and do not get to see often come from out of town.  However, we cannot understand or fully appreciate Easter if we don't both understand and appreciate Jesus' acts of love on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.  A thought for reflection this week:  If we can make time for other social events during these holidays, then should we not also be able to make time to attend the Triduum Services, maybe inviting our out of town visitors to attend with us?  If we are not able or are not willing to make the time, then we should also honestly examine our priorities.  We know what Jesus' priority was during this time.  What is ours?

Note on Holy Week Confessions
Monday evening we will have our usual Citywide Penance Service beginning at 6pm here at St. Landry.  Seven priests will be available for Confessions.  In addition, please note that we have expanded Confession times prior to daily mass on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Wednesday is the last chance for scheduled Confessions.  If you plan to make your Lenten Confession this week, please try to do so during one of the scheduled times, as Confession by appointment, due to the crowded Holy Week calendar, may not be available until after Easter.

Father James Brady

CITY-WIDE LENTEN PENANCE SERVICE!
A city-wide penance service will be held here @ St. Landry on Monday, 3/21/16 (6pm – 7pm)

EASTER TRIDUUM  SCHEDULE:
Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper – 7PM
Good Friday Passion of the Lord – 3PM
Easter Vigil – 8PM
Easter Sunday Masses – 8AM, 10AM, & 5PM
  

The bulletin for the week of March 20, 2016 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.

Fifth Sunday of Lent

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 six years ago. This mass, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, is our four hundred 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 March 13, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

It was such a delight to have Fr. John Quinn visit us last week.  He is certainly full of energy and zeal.  We thank him for bringing Christ's message to our community.  During Lent, a time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting as well as it being the Year of Mercy, we all should examine our lives and honestly reflect whether we dedicate enough of our time, talent and treasure to helping those in need.  This includes not only foreign missions, but also those who are in need in our local community.

Thanks also for your warm welcome to him and the generosity of those who were able to help him in his mission to aid "the poorest of the poor."  For those who were not here last week and would like to help, or those who simply need information on how to donate, the brochures remain in the church this weekend for your use.  Please feel free to pick them up and use the self-addressed stamped envelope attached to them to return the donation directly to Cross Catholic Outreach.

Catholic Radio in Acadiana
Speaking of charity in our local community, St. Landry Church, after consultation and agreement of our Parish Advisory Board, has agreed to be a sponsor of "Christ Our King Catholic Radio."  The radio station is currently heard on 90.5 FM, but the range of the station is limited to certain parts of the diocese.  Sometimes we are able to receive the signal here in Opelousas, sometimes not.  They have purchased a tower here in Opelousas and will begin broadcasting on April 4, 2016, not coincidentally the Feast of the Annunciation on 1230 AM.  With the new tower, not only will there be a strong signal here in Opelousas, but most of the diocese will receive a good signal.  The radio station, which is an EWTN affiliate, will have both national and local programming, and will promote different religious events in our diocese, especially events in parishes that sponsor the station.  This is a very exciting development and we hope that you will tune in for solid and entertaining Catholic programming.

Just a reminder that we, as a church community, have an obligation to be generous with the blessings received by us, and we do systematically support in various ways with time, talent and treasure several local charities.  We recommend them to you for your individual support in time and resources:

ICONS (local food pantry)
Lighthouse Men's Shelter
New Life Center (women's shelter)
Hope for Opelousas (children's formation)
Boys and Girls Club of Acadiana (children's formation)

Many thanks for our Bulletin Sponsors!!
Our bulletin sponsors make it possible for our bulletin to be published each week.  Shame on me, but I really do not thank them enough.  They quietly support our church and their bulletin sponsorship helps not only those who attend Mass to keep up with the goings on of the parish, but also supports a ministry to those of our community who cannot come to church as bulletins are mailed to them so they stay connected to our community with information and prayer.  I regularly have people mention to me on my visits to our homebound and to nursing homes how much they appreciate the bulletin and how much it means to them.  Please review the sponsors regularly, and if you are able, please patronize them with your business. In order to better recognize our sponsors we will begin featuring one of them with a spotlight in the bulletin each week.   

The bulletin for the week of March 13, 2016 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.

Bulletin for the Week of March 06, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Today is Laetare Sunday, the Fourth Sunday of Lent. It marks the "half-time" in our yearly Lenten journey. Laetare means "to rejoice," and this Sunday is a time when we, in the middle of our Lenten journey, joyfully anticipate the Easter mystery celebrated in the liturgies of the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter).  The priests and deacons wear rose colored vestments this weekend, "lightening up" the Lenten violet.

During this midpoint of Lent, we should reaffirm our commitment to our Lenten disciplines of prayer, alms giving and fasting.  If we have been successful in our Lenten goals, then we should thank God for the Grace to succeed and to continue to recognize that with the help of God's Grace we can overcome sin and temptation and follow His Will in our lives.  If we have not been successful, then in humility we should ask God for the Grace to succeed and continue to do our part to cooperate with His Grace.  In either case, we have the second half of Lent to grow closer to God.  Know of my continued prayers that all of us have a spiritually fruitful Lent, and please be sure to keep me in your prayers!

Now is also an appropriate time to look ahead to the Easter Season.  There will be much going on after Easter in our parish, so please mark your calendars and, if possible, attend the following celebrations:

   April 3, 2016 - 1st Communion (10am Mass);

    May 1, 2016 - Annual Parish Easter Picnic following the 10am Mass (alternate weather date is May 8);

    May 15, 2016 - Confirmations (5pm Mass).

These parish celebrations of the sacraments and our parish picnic highlight the joy of the Easter Season in our parish community. As we continue to make our Lenten journey, let us renew our efforts in the discipline of prayer, almsgiving and fasting so we can more deeply appreciate and celebrate the gift of Easter!

Many Thanks to Fr. Glenn LeCompte and Fr. Jerry Mesley
We thank Fr. LeCompte for providing our parish Lenten mission last week.  His exposition of Sacred Scripture on the theme of God's Mercy was both interesting and topical in this Year of Mercy.  I have had much positive feedback on Fr. LeCompte's mission, and our hope is that it will be fruitful in your Lenten journey.  Thanks to all those who attended!

Last weekend, Fr. Jerry Mesley left for New Mexico, his summer home.  We thank him for his presence here in the parish over the last 6 months, and we pray for his safe journey home.  We look forward to him returning in the Fall as his presence and assistance in the parish is always appreciated

The bulletin for the week of March 06, 2016 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.