Homily for the Eighteenth 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 seven years ago. This mass, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred fifty fourth podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Deacon Dwayne Joubert

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 July 31, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

IN FATHER BRADY’S ABSENCE, Deacon Dwayne Joubert is providing this weekend’s “Deacon’s Corner”-

            We welcome Father Brady back this weekend after a much deserved time of rest! 

            In the parable from our Gospel reading this weekend, Jesus’ depiction of the words that God spoke to the wealthy man should give us all cause to pause in self-examination... “You Fool!” Not many of us would like to stand before the judgement seat of God and be called fools. What caused God to be so condemning of this poor “wealthy” man? Was it the fact that he had been so successful in his endeavors and had attained such great wealth? Was it that he tried to be resourceful and “save up for a rainy day” by building bigger storage facilities? No… God expects us to be good stewards our worldly goods.

            It was not success or riches that made the wealthy man a “fool.” His good fortune was not the problem. The problem was his attitude toward what had been given to him. In short, his own words are what caused God to judge him a fool:

v  This is what I shall do

v  I shall tear down my barns

v  I shall store all my grain and other goods

v  I shall say to myself

The man thought in all capital I’s… He forgot that he was but a steward of the land. He forgot his neighbors who could have benefited from his surplus wealth. He forgot God. “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’” (Ps 14:1) The man forgot that God is more interested in what we are than in what we have.

            We have to remember that wealth is not bad, but that our attitude toward our wealth is critical to our spiritual well-being. Jesus teaches us that material wealth does not impede our journey toward God; it is our attitude toward that wealth. It is an inordinate desire for things, for wealth, for power, for recognition that stand in our way and that must be overcome if we are to fully realize the kind of life that Jesus made possible for us to live. If we are worried, preoccupied, consumed by concern for wealth, we put a barrier between ourselves and sharing fully in the Kingdom of God.

            Just recently in our own parish community, a lady who most would consider wealthy approached me and expressed that she had noticed a man who had no apparent form of transportation. She said to me, “I’d like to by that man a bicycle. I can afford to do it and I want to do this for him anonymously.” I use this example to point out that wealth is not the problem. This lady’s wealth does not present a barrier between herself and God but instead she uses her surplus wealth to bring the Gospel to her fellow man.  This is an example of the Good News of Christ… Faith in action! Let us all use this example of Christ’s work among us.

            We all have similar opportunities… and true some can certainly afford more than others, but Jesus calls us all to be open to his call to help others… To be true Christians by being his face to those we encounter every day!

May God Bless and Keep You!

Deacon Dwayne

The bulletin for the week of July 31, 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.

Seventeenth Sunday in OrdinaryTime - St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana

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 seven years ago. This mass, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred Fifty 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 July 24, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

IN FATHER BRADY’S ABSENCE, Deacon Sammy Diesi is providing this weekend’s “Deacon’s Corner”-

As most of us have been brought into the Catholic Church at a very young age, probably infancy, we would consider ourselves as cradle Catholics. This is not a negative thing but sometimes we seem to take our faith for granted. Those of you that have been brought into the church at a later stage of life maybe even adulthood, probably did so out of choice guided by the grace of the Holy Spirit. It seems that those who have made this choice at a later age are more thankful for their gift of faith and so we cradle Catholics have to be reminded of how blessed we are.

Cradle Catholic or not we should try to understand the importance of being a Catholic. For one, our Catholic Church can be traced back to the time of Jesus and His apostles. We believe and know that our present Pope Francis’ ordination as bishop of Rome and head of the church can be traced back thru all the popes to that of Peter the first leader chosen by Jesus Himself. Of course another important reason is that the Catholic Church is the only church with seven sacraments of which most other Christian religions may only have one sacrament, Baptism. We may ask ourselves, “Why is having all these sacraments important?” First,  we should know the definition of a sacrament. It is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give us grace. After learning this definition it is also important to comprehend the value and importance of receiving any of the sacraments but especially the Eucharist which truly is the body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every time we receive one of these sacraments, we are inviting God to dwell within us; we want Him to be a part of us, we want to feel the warmth and joy of His Love all the time.

Another reason to be thankful for our faith is because of all the saints who lived and died before us to help us grow our faith in Jesus and His church like St. Augustine one of our early saints who taught many things and helped us to understand the teachings of the apostles and is now considered a doctor of the church. Or maybe some of our later saints like St. Padre Pio who died in 1968 and who had the stigmata, the wounds of Jesus for fifty years for the conversion of souls. And Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta who is soon to be declared a saint by the church; and gave her life to God to help the hungry and poor of the world and to be a living example of what it is to be Jesus to all peoples of our time.

These are just a few reasons to be thankful for our faith. If you are asking yourselves, what about the rest of the world and those that are not catholic, what happens to them. No one knows the mind of God but we do know that He created us for one thing and that is to share eternal life with Him. We believe that He is a loving, forgiving and merciful God and so naturally all souls have a path to heaven but we also believe that the Catholic road although it is sometimes rocky, it is the shortest route to Heaven.

So try to take time on a daily basis and thank God for your Catholic faith and the joy of knowing that you are fulfilling the plans and directions of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the one who lived and died among us to prove His love for each and everyone of us.

May God bless you,

Deacon Sammy Diesi

The bulletin for the week of July 24, 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 July 17, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

This weekend and next I will be out of town on vacation.  This is the time of year where I change from a "fisher of men" into a "fisher of fish."  Know of my prayers for you all while I am away, and please keep me in your prayers as well.  The next two weekends our deacons will be guest columnists in The Pastor's Corner and they will preach at all the Masses.  I look forward to seeing you upon my return.

Fiscal Report
We are on a fiscal year that runs from July 1 through June 30.  Therefore, our fiscal year ended at the end of last month.  As usual, we will provide a detailed budget and income statement in September during our annual financial talk.  However, I do want to let you know that we made our goal for the regular offertory and exceeded our total budgeted income (by a small amount) for the year.  Our actual expenses were pretty much in line with the anticipated expenses we published in the budget last year.  For now, we are progressing nicely with the Valentin Hall renovation and our hope is that it will be completed before Thanksgiving.  Thanks so much for your generosity, and please keep the success of the renovation and the safety of the workers in your prayers.

The Diocesan Centennial Campaign
As many of you know, the Diocese of Lafayette has begun a capital campaign called "The Centennial Campaign."  It celebrates the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Diocese of Lafayette, which will occur in 2018.  Several other parishes, including church parishes located in and near Opelousas, have already participated in the campaign.  I am very excited about the campaign as it has the potential to help our parish both in the short term and the long term.

The five areas where the campaign funds will be used are as follows:

1.  The local church parish (in our case, for St. Landry).
2.  Priest welfare and retirement.
3.  Seminarian Education.
4.  The poor and those in need.
5.  Our college campus ministries, particular Our Lady of Wisdom at ULL and the chapel at LSU-E.

We have discussed the campaign in Finance Council and Parish Advisory Board meetings and it was met with approval.  Our hope is that a large number of us will be contributors (yes, including the pastor!) of a reasonable amount, and if so, we should be able to reach our goal without problem.  Upon my return from vacation, I will provide more details about the campaign and how it can help St. Landry both in the short and long term (actually, it is already helping us with our construction projects!).  For now, we will need some volunteers to help with the campaign.  If you are interested in helping (there are many different tasks, and we can assign one with which you are comfortable), please call the office and let Priscilla Guidroz or Lois Joubert know and you will be contacted upon my return.  Also, please mark August 9, 2016 at 6:30pm on your calendar as that is the initial volunteer meeting at the new Holy Ghost Parish Center.

I look forward to seeing you in two weeks.  Take care and God Bless!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of July 17, 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 the Fifteenth 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 seven years ago. This mass, Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred Fifty 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 July 10, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Deacon John Miller Retiring
This weekend, we give thanks to God for the vocation of Deacon John Miller.  Deacon Miller was ordained in 1977 and for some 39 years has served our Church as a deacon, most of which has been here at St. Landry Church.  Deacon Miller is going to retire from active ministry other than his service at Mass, and we want to thank him for the many years of service to our church community.  As Deacon Miller put it, it's time to spend more time with his family, as he is seeing the fruitfulness of his family life expanding into Great-Grandfatherhood!

Deacon Miller has always had a willingness to serve, and most recently he has served as a facilitator for our Monday bible studies and as an RCIA facilitator, among his other work here at St. Landry.  Through the years, he's done it all and has helped many people learn about their faith and enter the Church.  He saw a need for more social activity in our church, so he suggested and implemented our Sunday morning coffee and donuts after the 8am and 10am Masses, which is still going strong today!  As a new pastor, he was so supportive of me in offering his assistance, his willingness to help with whatever was needed, and his good advice to me as I got to know our community.  His service in the parish will certainly be missed, and we wish him well in his golden years.

At this time, we should also remember Deacon Miller's loving wife, Laura, who passed away just a few short years ago.  She supported him in all his vocations - husband, father and deacon.  Deacon Miller paid her the greatest compliment after her funeral:  “She made me a better person.”  I know Deacon Miller and his family continues to miss her, and so we remember her and thank her for her support of Deacon Miller throughout the years.  May she rest in peace!

After all the Masses this weekend, Deacon Miller will be in the south sacristy to visit and reminisce.  Please stop by to thank him for his service and to enjoy some food and drink.  Thanks again Deacon Miller!!

Sabbatical
Friday last week marked the 10th Anniversary of my priestly ordination.  What a great gift it has been to me, especially because it has led to my pastorate here at St. Landry Church.  In light of Deacon Miller's retirement and my anniversary, this weekend we will talk about the joy of religious vocations in the homily.

Because of my 10th Anniversary, I am eligible to take a sabbatical.  We've talked about this in our Parish Advisory Board Meetings and it seems all agree that it would be a good thing for me to take advantage of this benefit provided by the diocese.  The sabbatical will begin shortly after the first of the year 2017 and will conclude in the first week of May 2017.  During that time, I will be participating in the sabbatical program at the Institute for Continuing Theological Education located at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy.

A sabbatical program is intended to help a priest reflect on his vocation, be further educated in scripture and theology, enrich his understanding of the world and our faith by travel and a retreat, help him to see his faults and weaknesses in his priestly service and take concrete steps to improve on them, and to be renewed in energy and zeal in his priestly service.  The cost is paid one-third by the priest, one-third by the parish and one-third by the diocese.  A priest is able to take a sabbatical after every 10 years of service, and it is recommended that a priest take at least one sabbatical during the time of his priestly service.

One of the obstacles to taking a sabbatical is the availability of replacements for the priest while he is gone.  We are so blessed to have both Monsignor Melancon and Fr. Jerry Mesley to cover the priestly needs of our parish during the sabbatical, and to have Deacons Diesi and Joubert to assist in the pastoral needs of our community during that time.  A sabbatical would also not be possible without an outstanding staff, and I am thankful that we have such a staff. Although I will sorely miss all of you during the sabbatical, I do think in the long run it will help me provided better service to you and help me grow in my faith.  That's not only the goal of a sabbatical, but the goal of each of our lives.  Most people don't get the opportunity given to me in taking a sabbatical, so I am very appreciative of this opportunity and the blessing that it is.  I'll keep you posted on the details as they become more firm during the fall and as we approach the start of the sabbatical.

I will be out the next two weekends on vacation, during which time I will focus on being a "fisher of fish."  The care of the parish will be left in the competent hands of our deacons, Msgr. Melancon and Fr. Leger.  I'll look forward to returning the weekend of July 29 as we begin a new school year!  May God bless you and keep you during this time!!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of July 10, 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 the Fourteenth 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 seven years ago. This mass, Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred Fifty 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.