First Sunday in Advent

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, First Sunday in Advent, is our four hundred seventieth 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 November 27, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

This weekend, we continue our journey towards Christ with the beginning of our liturgical year. Today, the 1st Sunday of Advent, marks our liturgical “New Year,” which appropriately begins with our preparation for and anticipation of receiving the gift of Jesus at Christmas. The Nativity of Our Lord marks the beginning of Jesus’ earthly life, the life of Our Savior that leads to the salvation of the world. The remembrance of these events is intended to help us all re-focus on Christ and His Church by entering more deeply into the mystery of the Incarnation, that is, the mystery of God becoming Man. The first step in preparing to receive Christ fully was heralded by John the Baptist, Jesus' forerunner, who preached repentance and forgiveness of our sins in order to "prepare the way of the Lord" in our hearts.

In that regard, the Diocese of Lafayette is once again sponsoring “The Light is on for You” campaign. During Advent, St. Landry Church will have its “light on for you” on Wednesdays from 6:30 until 8pm for Confessions. Confession is a beautiful sacrament often under-utilized by Catholics. Confession gives us an earthly and tangible experience of God's Divine Mercy, which is not only the forgiveness of our sins, but also the Grace to overcome them and live a life fully in union and in peace with Jesus. As the words of absolution say, God grants us "pardon and peace." Confession allows us to tangibly experience God’s mercy in the forgiveness of our sins, and His Grace gives us the strength to cast off the burden of sin to live in true freedom and know Him ever more deeply. Confession will prepare us to receive Jesus more fully at Christmas, so I hope we all take advantage of the Sacrament of Confession during the Advent Season. Please know of my prayers that all of us are blessed with the greatest gift of all at the end of this Advent Season, the gift of Jesus peace and a deeper relationship with Him!

Centennial Campaign Commitment Weekend
Finally, a reminder that our Centennial Campaign commitment weekend is next weekend, December 3rd and 4th. So far the campaign has gone extremely well, and we are moving nearly to our goals.  Many thanks to all of those who have given to the campaign!!  If you have not yet considered giving to the campaign, I ask that you do so during this week in preparation for next weekend.  As you know, the success of our campaign depends on all donations, and no donation is "too small."  Our Sanctuary Campaign was based on the same principle: that all of us have the same dignity and importance in our community; that all are loved and cherished; and that all have an obligation to participate in supporting our community to the extent that they can!

Again, Thanks to our Volunteers!
With the beginning of the new liturgical year, I want to once again thank all those who have helped at the church this year by volunteering to serve our community. Last weekend we had our annual appreciation dinner for our volunteers and ministers, which went very well. I want to especially thank Deacon Joubert and Yvonne Normand for coordinating the event. Without the generosity in time that our volunteers give, from the beginning of the week early on Monday morning to the closing of the church building after the 5pm Mass Sunday evening, our volunteers do so many things that help our church community. The variety of gifts and talents that have been given to our parishioners and then used to support our community is so important for our continued ability to thrive and live life in Christ. Please know of my appreciation for your dedication and generosity, and my hope that all of us will continue to be generous with the time, talent and treasure that God has given to us.

Fr. Brady

The bulletin for the week of November 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.

Thirty Fourth 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, Thirty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred sixty 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 November 20, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

What an exciting time for our parish, but a very busy time.  From the Festival de la Grande Eglise to The Cemetery Tours to All Saints and All Souls Day and our Annual Memorial Mass.  In the background of all these event have been the Valentin Hall Renovations, The Centennial Campaign and the blessing of locating and receiving Fr. Verbis Lafleur's chalice.  Here's an update on how our current activities are going.

Fr. Lafleur's Chalice
I promised at masses that I would let you know how Fr. Lafleur's chalice was located and received, so here it is.  Several weeks ago, Fr. Tom Voorhies, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Ville Platte was able to make contact with Fr. Carl Beekman, a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois and someone with whom Fr. Voorhies was familiar.  Some of you know Fr. Beekman as he lived in our diocese for several years and eventually entered the seminary and was ordained a priest.

When Fr. Lafleur died his heroic death in the waters just off the Philippine Islands, his chalice, which had been left behind with his family for safekeeping, was given to his nephew, Wilfred Sylvester, who was in the seminary and was also ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lafayette.  Fr. Sylvester left the chalice to now Fr. Beekman should he be ordained, and Fr. Beekman was ordained and took possession of the chalice.  Fr. Voorhies became aware of this and checked with Fr. Beekman about returning the chalice to Fr. Lafleur's childhood parish, Sacred Heart in Ville Platte.  Fr. Beekman, who I spoke to last week, was willing to do this.

Upon hearing this news, myself and Richard and Carrol Lafleur (Fr. Lafleur's nephew and niece-in-law) traveled to Cary, Illinois by car, picked up the chalice and brought it home.  We were able to use the chalice, very fittingly, for our All Saints Day and All Souls Day Masses.

What a wonderfully generous gift this was by Fr. Beekman.  As I mentioned to some of you, a priest's chalice is akin to wedding rings for married couples, so it was something very special to Fr. Beekman.  Please keep him in your prayers and thank God for his generosity!  In the near future, we intend to return the chalice to Sacred Heart in Ville Platte for safekeeping.  When needed for special occasions in the future, it will be available for us to borrow.  Thanks to Fr. Voorhies for locating the chalice, Richard and Carrol Lafleur for traveling to retrieve it, and most of all to Fr. Beekman for his kindness and generosity!

Construction Update
We have nearly completed the renovation work on the second floor of the hall, and it has turned out beautifully.  The parking lot is complete and fully functional except for some work to be done on the fence and sidewalks, and it will be of great service to our parish both in access to the hall and to the church building.  Over the next week, construction will begin on the first floor on the kitchen side of the building, and myself and Deacons Diesi and Joubert will move into our new offices on the second floor.

The next two phases of construction will cause the most inconvenience to you and our operations, so I ask for your patience.  For now, Priscilla Guidroz (our receptionist and archivist) and Lois Joubert (our bookkeeper) will be located on the first floor on the north side of the building.  The entire area from the entrance hall to the kitchen will be under construction, and the back door to the kitchen will be unavailable for use.  The chapel will remain open for visitation during business hours.  We are doing what we can to accommodate all with the facilities that we have available.  Please be sure to schedule any use of the facilities with Priscilla as far in advance as possible!

Campaign Update
Last week we began the telephone solicitation phase of the campaign.  We continue to move towards our goal.  At the time of this writing we are rapidly approaching, if not already exceeded, $300,000 in pledges.  Many thanks to all who have made both donations and pledges to this point!

Volunteer Banquet
Don't forget our volunteer banquet set for Sunday evening, November 20th, at 6pm at the Opelousas Catholic Cafeteria.  All volunteers who gave of their time and talent to our church community are invited.  Look forward to seeing you all there

Fr. Brady

The bulletin for the week of November 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.

Thirty Third 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, Thirty ThirdSunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred sixty eighth podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady

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

Bulletin for the Week of November 13, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

What an exciting time for our parish, but a very busy time.  From the Festival de la Grande Eglise to The Cemetery Tours to All Saints and All Souls Day and our Annual Memorial Mass.  In the background of all these event have been the Valentin Hall Renovations, The Centennial Campaign and the blessing of locating and receiving Fr. Verbis Lafleur's chalice.  Here's an update on how our current activities are going.

Fr. Lafleur's Chalice
I promised at masses that I would let you know how Fr. Lafleur's chalice was located and received, so here it is.  Several weeks ago, Fr. Tom Voorhies, Pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Ville Platte was able to make contact with Fr. Carl Beekman, a priest of the Diocese of Rockford, Illinois and someone with whom Fr. Voorhies was familiar.  Some of you know Fr. Beekman as he lived in our diocese for several years and eventually entered the seminary and was ordained a priest.

When Fr. Lafleur died his heroic death in the waters just off the Philippine Islands, his chalice, which had been left behind with his family for safekeeping, was given to his nephew, Wilfred Sylvester, who was in the seminary and was also ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lafayette.  Fr. Sylvester left the chalice to now Fr. Beekman should he be ordained, and Fr. Beekman was ordained and took possession of the chalice.  Fr. Voorhies became aware of this and checked with Fr. Beekman about returning the chalice to Fr. Lafleur's childhood parish, Sacred Heart in Ville Platte.  Fr. Beekman, who I spoke to last week, was willing to do this.

Upon hearing this news, myself and Richard and Carrol Lafleur (Fr. Lafleur's nephew and niece-in-law) traveled to Cary, Illinois by car, picked up the chalice and brought it home.  We were able to use the chalice, very fittingly, for our All Saints Day and All Souls Day Masses.

What a wonderfully generous gift this was by Fr. Beekman.  As I mentioned to some of you, a priest's chalice is akin to wedding rings for married couples, so it was something very special to Fr. Beekman.  Please keep him in your prayers and thank God for his generosity!  In the near future, we intend to return the chalice to Sacred Heart in Ville Platte for safekeeping.  When needed for special occasions in the future, it will be available for us to borrow.  Thanks to Fr. Voorhies for locating the chalice, Richard and Carrol Lafleur for traveling to retrieve it, and most of all to Fr. Beekman for his kindness and generosity!

Construction Update
We have nearly completed the renovation work on the second floor of the hall, and it has turned out beautifully.  The parking lot is complete and fully functional except for some work to be done on the fence and sidewalks, and it will be of great service to our parish both in access to the hall and to the church building.  Over the next week, construction will begin on the first floor on the kitchen side of the building, and myself and Deacons Diesi and Joubert will move into our new offices on the second floor.

The next two phases of construction will cause the most inconvenience to you and our operations, so I ask for your patience.  For now, Priscilla Guidroz (our receptionist and archivist) and Lois Joubert (our bookkeeper) will be located on the first floor on the north side of the building.  The entire area from the entrance hall to the kitchen will be under construction, and the back door to the kitchen will be unavailable for use.  The chapel will remain open for visitation during business hours.  We are doing what we can to accommodate all with the facilities that we have available.  Please be sure to schedule any use of the facilities with Priscilla as far in advance as possible!

Campaign Update
Last week we began the telephone solicitation phase of the campaign.  We continue to move towards our goal.  At the time of this writing we are rapidly approaching, if not already exceeded, $300,000 in pledges.  Many thanks to all who have made both donations and pledges to this point!

Volunteer Banquet
Don't forget our volunteer banquet set for Sunday evening, November 20th, at 6pm at the Opelousas Catholic Cafeteria.  All volunteers who gave of their time and talent to our church community are invited.  Look forward to seeing you all there

Fr. Brady

The bulletin for the week of November 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.

Homily for the Thirty 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, Thirty Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our four hundred sixty seventh podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father 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 November 6, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Many thanks to all who participated in our Memorial Mass on All Souls Day last Wednesday. What a beautiful liturgy, and I know the families who grieve appreciate the support of those who were able to attend. We thank all our servers, extraordinary ministers, lectors, choir members and sacristans, as well as Deacon Joubert who coordinated the liturgy. Their work and dedication is very much appreciated. Please be sure to keep in your prayers those who mourn and for the repose of souls in purgatory.

Mark Your Calendar for Annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet - November 20th
We are rapidly approaching Thanksgiving and the end of the Liturgical Year, which concludes November 20 when we celebrate The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. As has now become custom, we will also have our annual appreciation banquet for all our volunteers that evening after the 5pm Mass at the Opelousas Catholic cafeteria. All who volunteer and give the gift of time to our church community are invited, but at the risk of omitting someone (please accept my apology in advance!) these volunteers and their spouses are invited:

        Members of The Altar Society and Knights of Columbus
        Money Counters
        Readers
        Extraordinary Ministers of Communion
        Altar Servers and their parents
        Festival Volunteers
        Ushers
        Members of the Parish Advisory Board and Finance Council
        Trustees
        Sacristans
        Members of our choirs and musicians
        CLJ/Bible Study Leaders
        Youth Group Volunteers

We thank all of our volunteers for their gift of time and talent, a gift without which we would not be able function as a church community. Please make plans to attend, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Food Boxes During November 
As usual we will focus on helping those who are in need during the holiday season. We will again place boxes at the doors of the church during the month of November for non-perishable food donations. The donations will be sent to ICONS, our local food pantry, for distribution to those in need in our community. Please be generous in helping during the holiday season.

Veterans Day and Patriotic Rosary
This week, on Friday, November 11, our country celebrates Veteran's Day, a day when we take time to give thanks to those who have served in our armed forces. As we are reminded every time armed conflict occurs in our world, in order to protect individual and societal freedoms, including the freedom to practice our faith, an armed force is necessary. We are thankful for the brave men and women who have served or are currently serving in our armed forces, and we pray for them and their families. John's Gospel tells us: "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends." We thank God for raising up these men and women who are willing, if necessary, to lay down their life so that others have the opportunity to live a life in freedom and full human dignity. We pray that God will continue to bless our country, and that He bless and keep in his care our veterans and active service members. May we always appreciate what they have done for us!

On Veterans Day there will be a Patriotic Rosary sponsored by the Catholic Daughters at 6pm in the church. All are invited to join us for this event!

Fr. Brady

The bulletin for the week of November 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.