Homily for the Twenty Second 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, Twenty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred fifty seventh 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 August 28, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

I want to begin by thanking all of you for your prayers and support over the last two weeks.  With my parents’ house flooding, so many pitched in to help me in so many ways.  From the priests who covered Confessions and Masses as well as those who covered my other duties here, to those who provided tools and the sweat of their brow to help gut the house, to strangers who brought meals to the houses in the neighborhood, all kindnesses shown to myself and my family are sincerely appreciated!

To update, Mom and Dad are doing well in their new surroundings.  It was quite miraculous that we were able to find a place for them together (they are both disabled) under the circumstances.  Hopefully they will continue to adjust to their new environment and establish a new routine and a good rhythm of life.  Thanks again!

Now that the storm waters have receded from our area, we begin the process of recovery.  For some it will be relatively fast, for others painstakingly slow.  We should all do our best to support those in need.  As I mentioned in the homily last week, the best place for help is right here among us as neighbors.  We should not focus on what we can't do but rather should focus on what we can do, and then do so on an individual basis.  All the small pieces add up to a big piece and the individual interaction strengthens our solidarity as human beings, making cheerful and fulfilled givers and truly grateful receivers.  As desirable as they are, coordinated relief efforts (whether governmental or private) are not capable of the great power of neighbors loving their neighbors.  In the end, only Jesus can save, and no person or group is capable of the relief needed for this widespread a disaster.  Individually, though, if we focus on what we can do and then by God's Grace take action, then the love of our neighbors shown will alleviate much suffering and provided great relief and consolation. 

Report of St. Landry Church storm damage
We did have some damage here at St. Landry due to the storm, mostly leaks.  Considering the magnitude of the storm, our problems were relatively minor.  We had a leak in the rectory in Monsignor Melancon's room, a leak in the Valentin Hall Chapel and a leak in the south sacristy of the church building.  One of our compressors also went out during the storm, and we are checking to see if it is storm related.  All in all, our campus did well considering the age of the buildings and the volume of the rain.  The premises will be inspected by the insurance company and we will begin the necessary repairs in the near future.

Diocesan Relief Efforts - Thanks to Bishop Deshotel for the tax holiday
As mentioned above, in addition to our individual help of our neighbors, coordinated relief efforts are necessary and desirable in the case of a widespread disaster such as this.  In light of that, our diocese is coordinating a relief effort, and more information on giving financially to this effort can be found on it's website:  www.diolaf.org.  The diocese has committed to giving $1,000,000 to the relief effort from The Centennial Campaign (which we will be starting in the coming weeks).  In addition, in order to help local parishes feeling the financial strain of the flooding, Bishop Deshotel has graciously decided to give a diocesan tax break for the month of August, meaning that we will not have to pay our usual diocesan assessment for any donations to local parishes received this month.  We thank Bishop Deshotel for this help both to the diocesan wide coordinated relief efforts and to our individual parishes

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of August 28, 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 Twenty First 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, Twenty First Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred fifty 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 the Week of August 21, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

After the storms and flooding last week (the time of this writing is last weekend, and the rain is still coming down, so I don't know the extent of flooding) we should keep in our prayers all those affected by the weather, and when the opportunity permits, to lend a helping hand to those who are in need.  Let us always remember that our Christian Faith is marked and should be known by how we are willing to joyfully give of ourselves to help others, especially those in need.

Upcoming Events - Please mark your calendars!

Many good things will be taking place in our community in the coming months.  As I mentioned last week, Saturday October 1st will be The Festival de la Grande Eglise, and The Nuit de la Comedie will take place the Wednesday before, September 28th.  The Cemetery Tours will then take place the two weekends following, October 8-9 and 15-16.

In addition, our annual Memorial Mass for Lt. Fr. Joseph Verbis Lafleur will take place on Wednesday, September 7 at 6:30pm.  I am both humbled and honored to be the main celebrant and homilist.  Fr. Lafleur has been an inspiration for me since my arrival here at St. Landry, and being able to celebrate his life in this way will make this year's Memorial Mass a very special time for me.  The Memorial Mass gives us the opportunity as an entire community to learn about the extraordinary life of Fr. Lafleur. Please make plans to attend this special event celebrating the life of a man we believe is a saint and for whom St. Landry Church is "home."  We especially hope that parents will bring their children so that they can learn of the rich spiritual heritage they have and the gift of faith that by God's Grace has been handed down to them.

Valentin Construction

We hope to begin the parking lot construction more in earnest this week.  The rain has put a hamper on the preparatory ground work that needs to be done, but we still hope our new parking lot will be ready by the weekend of October 1st.  The second floor construction is moving along nicely, as we are in the phase of flooring, painting and other finishing touches, so we look forward to the construction moving down to the north side of the first floor in the near future.

Children in Church - "God's Voice is in a Child's Tears" 

One of the joys of the growth of our parish has been our new parishioners who are parents of young children. There is a certain "life" that is brought to a community when young children are present.  Many commented about the presence of so many children at our parish picnic and the joy that it brought to our hearts.  Our programs, such as Catechism and Vacation Bible School, are growing each year.  Pope Francis recently addressed the issue of crying children, referring to children’s tears as “the best sermon.” The Pope also told parents of young children that “children cry, they are noisy, they don’t stop moving. But it really irritates me when I see a child crying in church and someone says they must go out. God’s voice is in a child’s tears: they must never be kicked out of church.”)  As you know, as far as I'm concerned, children and their cries are always welcome in our church.

However, many parents of young children have asked what they should if their child begins to cry at Mass? The issue for them is to figure out how to be courteous and thoughtful of others during Mass, as well as reverent in the church. A good article on this was published in the Catholic Herald (UK) which is still available online. The article addresses what the priest, parents and others in the congregation should do in the case of a crying child.  The suggestions are basically courtesy and common sense, and the article is worth reading.  I tried to get permission to reprint the article, but was unable to do so, so here's the link:
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2014/09/12/what-should-you-do-when-a-child-starts-crying-during-mass/

Let us thank God for the blessing of our children!  God Bless!!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of August 21, 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.

Help Storm Victims ....

Greetings! Bring your family and friends that at are available today to help set up the donation distribution center at the Save A Lot Store behind Taco Bell. We will be accepting donations for the flood victims and setting up for the distribution to begin after all is in place. Come dressed in shorts or slacks, t-shirt and comfortable shoes.

Homily for the Twentieth 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, Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred fifty sixth 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 August 14, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Festival de la Grande Eglise will be on October 1st!
Please mark your calendars for our annual "Festival de la Grande Eglise," which will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2016.  We are very excited about this year's event after a very successful inaugural festival last year.  The festival is a celebration of our local community and its history, but it is also intended to be a fundraiser to help defray the costs of maintaining historic St. Landry Cemetery, which was built at a time when cemetery endowments did not exist (families generally cared for cemeteries and the tombs of their loved ones).  With over 4,000 tomb sites, maintenance is both difficult and expensive.  At the festival, not only is the local community invited, but we also reach out to all who have roots in our church community to “come home” and visit our beautiful and historic church and grounds.  If you know of anyone who might like to come, please be sure to let them know about the event and invite them.

As with any annual event, we hope to improve it each year, and some exciting changes will be made for this year's event.  The festival will "kick-off" on Wednesday, September 28th  with the "Nuit de la Comedie" featuring drinks, dinner, entertainment by comedian Kent Gonsoulin, and our silent auction.  The event will be held at the Delta Grand and should be fun for all.  On October 1st we will have our festival day on our grounds which will include a color run, children's area and petting zoo, a jumbalaya cook-off, bingo, church and cemetery tours, spaghetti dinners to go, concessions and a live band from 12-3pm.  The day will conclude at the 4pm Vigil Mass with our new bishop, Bishop Douglas Deshotel, as the main celebrant and homilist.  More details about the day's schedule and events will be published soon as well as how to purchase tickets for the various events.  Please make plans to come as it should be a good day for our community to enjoy Christian fellowship, food and fun while at the same time helping support the maintenance of our cemetery.

We thank you in advance for your support, and please keep the success of the festival in your prayers.  We'd also like to thank our sponsors who have committed to helping underwrite the cost of the festival and our volunteers who have been planning this year's festival since the conclusion of the festival last year.  We will acknowledge them individually at a later date, but needless to say, without them this day would not be possible.

Valentin Hall Construction
The construction on the second floor of Valentin Hall continues to run smoothly.  We will be starting another phase of construction very soon (if it hasn't begun already) on the parking lot.  This part of the project will primarily consist of installing an asphalt parking lot (expanded to accommodate approximately 35 parking spaces), a sidewalk connecting Valentin Hall to the church building, building a ramp for access to the building for those with mobility limitations, and reconfiguring our fence.  Our hope is that the parking lot will serve Valentin Hall, but also the church. During this phase of construction, which should last four to six weeks, (pray for good weather, as we hope to have the parking lot completed for the festival!) there may be some inconvenience for those wanting to visit the office.  We ask that if you plan to visit the office and the parking lot is unavailable for parking, then please park on Prudhomme Street or in the church parking lot to access Valentin Hall.  

New Financial Goal
The Finance Council has reviewed the financial statements of our community for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016.  We will be composing a financial statement to be published in the bulletin next month when I make the annual financial report to you.  Everything looks good, and thank you again for your generosity and support last year.  In light of our anticipated expenses for the coming year, the Finance Council set a goal for our weekly offertory, which is $9,000 per week.  If you are able, please consider increasing your weekly offering.  If all of us increase our offering by a small amount, it makes a big difference! 

Solemnity of The Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary
Monday, August 15, is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Usually it is a holy day of obligation, but since it falls on a Monday this year the obligation is suspended. As usual, we will have Mass that day at 12:05pm, but there will not be any additional masses to accommodate the increase attendance. 

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of August 14, 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.

Nineteenth 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, Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred fifty fifth 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 August 7, 2016 - and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Again, it is good to be back home!  I want to thank all those who helped while I was away on vacation:  Msgr. Melancon and Fr. Leger, our deacons, and of course our staff.  All seemed to run smoothly and I very much appreciate their help in holding down the fort while I was away.  As we begin to prepare for the coming school year, there are many exciting things going on in our parish, and I just want to mention a few.  As you know, each year we try to expand our services to you and to upgrade our facilities.  One of the goals of our church parish is to provide adequate facilities and programs that help us to grow in our knowledge and love of our Savior Jesus.

The Valentin Hall construction continues to be going smoothly and our hope is that Phase 2, which renovates the second floor for use as office space, will be completed in the near future.  As you might recall, Phase 1 was the replacement of the windows of the building, which is complete.  After Phase 2 is completed, we will begin work in two areas:  The parking lot (Phase 5) and the north wing of the first floor (Phase 3).  The parking lot will be expanded and asphalted, and a sidewalk will be installed from the back of the church building to Valentin Hall.  The new parking spaces can be used not only for parking at Valentin Hall, but also for Sunday Masses and other events at the church.  

In Phase 3, the north wing of the first floor will be modified to provide three conference/meeting rooms and a library for use by the various bible study and other groups that regularly have meetings.  This additional meeting space has been sorely needed for some time, as with the growth of our parish Valentin Hall has become used much more, oftentimes with multiple meetings on the same nights.  We will finish the Valentin Hall Construction with Phase 4, which is the renovation of the south wing of the first floor, namely the kitchen area and new handicapped entrance.   

Insofar as programs are concerned, we are exploring the expansion of our Come, Lord Jesus! program to Thursday night in addition to the current Tuesday and Wednesday meetings.  The program is designed to be in a small group setting, and attendance has been wonderful in all the groups.  With three nights of bible study in the Come, Lord Jesus! format, as well as a more traditional Bible Study group on Mondays, there is plenty of opportunity for all of us to learn more about Jesus in His Sacred Word.  Please check the bulletin for announcements, or if you are interested in attending or helping to organize the program, please give me a call.

We also have had an increase in the number of parents with young children attending Mass.  We hope to have a couples program, probably monthly, addressing specific challenges to raising children in this day and age as well as a social element so that our young families can get to know each other in a social setting.  We are very excited about this and hope that the Valentin Hall construction can provide a nice facility for this use once it is completed.  Again, if you are interested in attending or helping to organize please give Deacon Joubert a call.  

Finally, school started last week for some of our students, and for some it will start this week. We welcome back all the students, faculty and staff at Opelousas Catholic, especially our principal, Mr. John Cavell, who begins his second year at the helm of the school.  We also pray for all our students, teachers and staff not only at Opelousas Catholic, but also those at other schools or who are schooled at home. The beginning of the school year brings excitement to all as we think of our young people continuing the journey of their education, not only an education in academics, but also their growth in faith and human maturity.

As we begin this school year, let us pray that our children and teachers have a safe and successful year, developing the talents given to them by God for use in service to Him and our neighbors. May they, and we, continue to grow in faith, hope and charity over the coming nine months! 

May God Bless and Keep You!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of August 07, 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.