Cemetery Tours beginning

Saturday, October 10, the Cemetery Tours begin at St. Landry Catholic Church!

Tour times are 6 PM, 7 PM, 8 PM on Saturday evening. On Sunday, tour times are 2 PM and 3 PM.

The fee is $10 per person. All proceeds help pay for tomb repairs and preservation.

Meet a Monsignor who helped build a catholic school 75+ years ago, a businessman who opened a hardware store 100 years ago, a Yamba Queen, and an altar boy who will grow up to become a World War II hero. Walk with a Civil War veteran, the man who built St. Landry Church ... plus orphans who came from New York, were adopted by locals, and whose descendents are interwoven into our multicultural fabric.

Click here for more information at the parish website.

Click here to download a brochure.

Bulletin for the Weekend of October 11, 2009

The bulletin for the weekend of October 11, 2009 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.

Opelousas Catholic School News

OC CORNER

The O.C. Senate recently sponsored a successful project, “Treats for Troops” where the OC families contributed needed items and Tony Chachere’s donated 3000 containers of seasoning for care packages directed to the Army National Guard 256th and 156th Infantry Brigades stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq. The 256th family support group helped with the shipping. May God bless our military, and keep them safe!

Feast of St. Bruno

Today is the Feast of St. Bruno who died on October 6 in the year 1101. He was the founder of the Carthusian Order in Chartreuse, France. After his death, a scroll was brought around Europe on which hundreds of people who knew him wrote their condolences and promised their prayers for his soul.

The photo above is of a statue of him in St. Peter's Basilica carved by French sculptor Michelangelo Slodtz in 1744. It depicts a scene from his life when St. Bruno turned down the mitre and staff of a bishop.


The monastery at Chartreuse today is famous for producing Chartreuse liquor.
A beautiful movie about life within the Carthusian order called "Into Great Silence" was made just a few years ago. The beauty of the house there at Chartreuse, the coming and going of the seasons as well as the hours of the day make for a very moving film. Click here for the movie website. Click here for more details about the Carthusian order at their website.

Click the link below to see a YouTube video of St. Bruno's life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZDiNBAqWxI

Red Mass Homily - Cardinal Daniel DiNardo

Yesterday, before the opening of the new session of the Supreme Court, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveson-Houston gave the homily at the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle, Washington, D.C. The mass was attended by members of the Supreme Court, government officials, and many within the legal profession in Washington.

Above is a word cloud showing those words emphasized in his homily. "Word", "Spirit", and "Servant" stand out. Click on the image for a much larger view.

Below is the full text of the homily.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo

Archbishop of Galveston-Houston

Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle

Washington, DC • October 4, 2009

I want to extend my deepest thanks to Archbishop Wuerl and to the Members of the John Carroll Society for their invitation to preach at this Year’s Red Mass in Washington, DC. It is an honor. In this federal city where the role of lawyer and judge is so important and where the legal profession is so prominent, even ubiquitous, the invocation of the Holy Spirit at the beginning of the judicial year is appropriate and necessary.

The Liturgy of the Word is simultaneously proclamation as an action and proclamation as teaching a message or content. For the Christian community, it was and remains the primary access to the Scriptures: they are read out loud in the “Lord’s Day” Assembly. The presence of the Word in the inspired words of Sacred Scripture proclaimed is both an assurance and a challenge: it is the Living Word. The Word meets us, embraces us; it also judges us, indicts us. So significant is this proclamation that even our “response” to the Word of God comes from the Word of God, the Psalms. God “gives” us words to respond to his Word, words of praise and thanks, of lament and instruction.

The Readings this day, Readings assigned for a celebration of Mass invoking the Holy Spirit, come from three of the most heavyweight books of Scripture: Isaiah the Prophet; St. Paul in his most famous of Letters, the one to the Romans; and the Gospel of St. John, frequently “branded” by the symbol of an eagle, because the eagle flies high where the oxygen is thinner but purer, even as the Fourth Gospel seems more difficult to understand at first than the other three Gospels but is very profound in its presentation of Jesus Christ.

Beginning at Chapter 40 in the Book of the prophet Isaiah, the tone changes and the message of imminent judgment and forensic accusation against Judah and Jerusalem is modified. Now there enters a tone of sympathetic understanding and a message of consolation, even legal defense. “Comfort, Comfort my people!” Aligned with this new tone and message is the appearance of a strange and wonderful figure, “the servant of the Lord,” subject of four remarkable poems in this part of Isaiah. He is introduced into the text in Chapter 42 of Isaiah. It is that text we hear this morning.

The Servant brings God’s saving action. This is the real notion of justice, not an abstraction but the vivid understanding of deed and word together accomplishing integrity everywhere, most especially for God’s beloved but tragically exiled people, Israel. The first person singular of God speaking here is magnificent. Entire chapters in this section of Isaiah form a court scene where God, in the first person singular, presents his case while the plastic idols and lifeless images of the nations are paraded before all for interrogation and cross examination. Obviously God wins the case hands down! But the victory is not boasting or vaunting but merciful renewal and regeneration.

The one true God works through the Servant, unafraid to use what seems paltry to bring about on a human scale a compassionate reversal of injustice and a merciful uplifting of the poor and those of no account. The Lord will work through the Servant who will not scream or hype the message of salvation. In fact the Servant makes real a new understanding of MISHPAT, of law, not only what is required but the teaching that enables it. It is a new Torah for Israel and all the nations. The healing that the Servant bestows makes the teaching vivid.

The images of “bruised reed” and “smoldering wick” are arresting. Though the Lord is victorious through his servant, neither He nor the servant act like a conquering middle-Eastern potentate to crush the opposition or snuff out the wavering and those confused about the truth. The Lord vows and decrees “my spirit” to be upon the Servant. The Lord will take him by the hand so he will not faint but help open the eyes of the blind and bring release to those in dungeons. What is strikingly new here is the power of the Spirit of the Lord to effect a new justice universally, not just for Israel. It becomes an anointing for mission without limits.

There is no question but that the New Testament, especially the Gospels, apply the image of the Spirit-soaked Servant of the Lord to Jesus Christ. In fact, the Evangelist St. Matthew, whose name graces this cathedral Church, quotes the entire First Servant Song we just heard proclaimed verbatim in his comments upon the public life and ministry of Jesus in Galilee and beyond. The context there is opposition by some to Jesus’ interpretation of the Law; Jesus responds, but does not wrangle. Instead, he heals the sick and broken-hearted, the point made by St. Matthew in commenting on what spirit-filled activities are. Jesus cares for the bruised reeds and smoldering wicks.

The Gospels not only promise salvation and a new freedom to those who come to Christ, Himself filled with the Holy Spirit. They promise that the gift of the Spirit suffusing every fiber of Jesus is, in turn, given by Jesus Christ to all believers, to disciples. Their status is changed. They are a part of the life of the Father and Son in a new way; they can say “Abba” like Jesus Himself prayed. They have an adoption, children of God. St. Paul borrowed the word “adoption” in Greek from Hellenistic secular legal vocabulary to make clear that this new status is a genuine verdict by God that is more than a veneer but a genuine transformation. Chapter Eight of the Letter to the Romans is a joyous cry of ecstasy by Paul over the intimacy granted to the children of God through Jesus Christ. We are conformed to Him and by Him.

The Gospel of Saint John uses still another word for the intimacy of the Father and Son with each chosen disciple: abiding. Already in Chapter One of the Gospel two timid disciples-to-be are sent to Jesus by the pointing of John the Baptist. They follow Jesus and he turns around to ask: “What are you looking for?” They answer: “Where do you abide?” He answers: “Come and See!” The burden of the rest of the Gospel is to unpack the meaning of “abiding” or “remaining.” At the very center of the Last Supper Sermon which we read today, Jesus promises that just as he abides with the Father so also will each disciple abide and rest in that Father-Son friendship. He also promises the Paraclete, the Lawyer, to teach, and above all to remind disciples of who Jesus is and what He said. One cannot but be struck by the forceful and extraordinary way the Gospel of St. John treats the use of the First Person Singular by Jesus Christ. Jesus speaks of God from the inside not like a commentator or prophet on the outside. Compare Jesus’ words in the Gospel and the mighty “I” of the Lord heard in Isaiah the Prophet in today’s First Reading. The personalizing of the Spirit in the Gospel of St. John is also remarkable and important for our understanding of God, Father, Son and Paraclete, and for our understanding of the work of Living Memory, great mode of the Spirit’s life in us. The Holy Spirit recalls us from religious amnesia, from forgetfulness—especially about where we belong!

“Justice” – “Servant of the Lord” - “bruised reeds” and “smoldering wicks,” “adoption” “children of God,” “Paraclete” “abiding” and “remembering.” Can we retrieve some of this from today’s Proclamation of the Word and find a foothold for reflection and meditation?

Memory, living memory, in all its layered and sedimented character, is a crucial dimension of personal identity. Within the Christian Faith, living memory forms the basis for the identity of the Church and each disciple. Yet even some important memories can lapse, languish or fall hidden. When we deal with our relationship to the Lord as “children of God” in St. Paul’s terms, the dignity and truth of what that means needs constant reminding. Otherwise our relationship to the Lord no longer abides but becomes merely an external piece of information. Last Pentecost Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI gave a splendid homily on the role of the Spirit’s work as memory. (Some day they will collect all his homilies, magnificent beyond description, and put them together as a corpus similar to the way Pope St. Leo the First, the Great’s, homilies have been collected.) The Pope took the two images of the Holy Spirit that became manifest on that first Pentecost Sunday, driving wind and tongues of fire, and unpacked them for their current significance. Against poor air quality, he spoke, the Holy Spirit’s “wind” is an environmental fresh breeze so that the truth of Christ’s words might become more transparent. The physical air we breathe is a subject of much concern and environmental activity and rightfully so; no less of concern should be the sometimes stagnant air of our relationship with the Lord, and thus to one another. The Holy Spirit’s activity is providing a cleaner air and it takes discernment to recognize that movement. Further, the “fire” of the Holy Spirit purifies what has become polluted, within each disciple and within the Church. Such purification especially affects the tongue, the place where the mind and the heart physically crease our environmental space in speech, action and decision.

Yet the Holy Spirit rarely works at the surface of things but probes more deeply into the heart. On the same day of Pentecost, the Church sings a poem, a sequence as it is called, that salutes the Holy Spirit for: “bending the stubborn heart and will, melting the frozen and warming the chill.” Anyone who has watched a block of ice melt knows the subtle way that occurs.

The proclamation of the Word of God today then invites us to “invite” the Holy Spirit for an action of revivifying and cleansing memories, opening us up anew to a deeper impulse of the Lord’s work among us. Though the invitation is received actively, it is an activity of “receiving,” dare I say, an act of contemplation. The legal profession is one of the first of human activities and bodies of human knowledge to receive the word and accolade: “Profession.” Its systematic knowledge has always been technical and nowadays the increasing specialization within the law is dizzying. Such wondrous formal knowledge frequently becomes semi-mechanical and distancing. A person can forget that the basis of that knowledge is something much more natural in the human condition, that the law and lawyers are around because justice among human beings is always an issue. There are always smoldering wicks and bruised reeds needing our human attention, an attention that cries out and says that even sophisticated knowledgeable “human” lawyers need reminding, need a purifying divine fire from the Lord, both in their personal lives and in their profession itself. It is that reality that brings us to praise, reflection, and prayer this day.

The many smoldering wicks are our “clients” but more than clients. They are poor and wealthy, confused and lucid, polite and impolite. In some cases the clients are voiceless for they lack influence; in others they are literally voiceless, not yet with tongues and even without names, and require our most careful attention and radical support.

The Christian Faith responds to God who not only brings order but to the God who has spoken. The work of the Holy Spirit is to illumine, purify and constantly remind all those of Christian Faith that the Word must take root in hearts and become a kind of “abiding.” The Word of God has taken an initiative in speaking and the response is certainly to hear and understand. This contemplative dimension, however, also leads to obedience, an obedience of Faith. Graced in this manner, we respond in our personal lives of faith and witness and in our professional lives too, not only for the good of our souls but also for the sake of our professions that must show God’s justice in the world. An early Christian thinker, Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, commented on the Holy Spirit as one whom the Lord through the Prophets promised to send upon his servants. The Spirit descended upon the Son of God become a son of man, so that he could abide in the human race and thus “be at home among people” and renew them. This beautiful familial image that places the work of the Holy Spirit as one who transforms from the old man, frequently forgetful, to the new life of every man in Christ is also a great picture summary of what we have heard today in the voice of the Readings. May that voice of the Word of God touch our hearts and tongues in the judicial year that lies ahead.

Catholic TV launches new iPhone App

CatholicTV is the world's first diocesan television station, founded in the 1950's in Boston. They have now launched their new "CatholicTV" iPhone app.

Here's the announcement from their blog site.

iPhone/iPod Touch owners can now download the world’s first iPhone application by a Catholic television network, courtesy of CatholicTV. CatholicTV began broadcasting the Mass over 50 years ago (Now there are over 60 programs available). The new iPhone application gives users access to full-length video of the Daily Mass produced by CatholicTV, the full rosary, and even current Catholic news. The “app” is free and can be downloaded onto the iPhone and the iPod touch.

The new “app” is called “CatholicTV”. It also includes a daily video reflection by a Catholic person. The daily reflection features Catholics of various ages from grade school to 70+. Daily reflections feature notable Catholics such as Monsignor Jim Lisante, Fr. Leo Patalinghug, Fr. Jim Bayhi, musician Angelina Davis, and others.

The CatholicTV app will also include information on “What’s New” at CatholicTV. “What’s New” includes Catholic Newsbreak and video footage from “Rome Reports”, which is produced by the Vatican News Service.

The Daily Mass offered in the CatholicTV app features different priests every day. The rosary is filmed in different places including Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, and other locations as well.

Catholics who do not own an iPhone or an iPod iTouch can enjoy CatholicTV for free at CatholicTV.com and at iTunes.com. CatholicTV produced an entertaining promotional video about the app featuring a nun and some Catholic students. The video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjFKyCrivqk

More information on the CatholicTV iphone app is available at www.CarryYourFaith.com

Update on Deacon Candidates: Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana and the North Region

Deacon Jim Kincel, Director for the Office of Permanent Deacons for the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana reports that currently there are twenty-six (26) candidates in the diaconate program representing every area of the Diocese of Lafayette. The candidates are continuing a journey towards ordination as Permanent Deacons for the Diocese which could occur as the program continues.

We are very proud of our own parish's Dwayne Joubert and the commitment he and his spouse, Mary, have made.

Of the twenty-six (26) current candidates representing the Diocese of Lafayette, the following five (5) men are from the North Region (St. Landry Parish):

Candidate	Parish	Spouse
Dwayne Paul Joubert	St. Landry Catholic Church	Mary
Scott Ellis Peyton	St. Peter, Morrow	Letitia
William Logan Pollingue	Our Lady Queen of Angels, Opelousas	Charmaine
Charles Ray Richard	Holy Ghost, Opelousas	Edith
Jerry Wayne Wyble	Our Lady of Mercy, Opelousas	Gloria

Please pray for these men and their wives, and for all deacons and their spouses of the Diocese of Lafayette:

Prayer for Deacon Vocations

Dear God, Jesus your son “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). Jesus is for us an example of deacon love. In the gospel, Jesus told the disciples “not to be served but to serve” (Mt. 20:28). At the Last Supper, after having explained to the Apostles that He was among them “as one who serves” (Lk.22:27), Jesus made a humble gesture of washing the feet of the Twelve, giving an example so that his disciples might imitate him in service and in mutual love.

We ask you to raise up worthy men among us who love as Jesus loves. Raise up men who care for the church as the seven in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 6:1-7) cared. Fill those who are candidates for the Diaconate with enthusiasm and dedication. Help them persevere. Bless their wives and children. Build up your church through them. Amen.

Year for Priests

YEAR FOR PRIESTS

Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests

The Parish Priest

Who knows the men and women of today better than the parish priest?....And people often come here to the parish priest, usually openly, with no pretext other than suffering, sickness, death or family matters. And they come to the confessional stripped of any veneer, with their very being. No other “profession”, it seems to me, gives this possibility of knowing the person as he is, in his humanity, rather than in the role he plays in society. In this sense, we can truly study the person in his core, beyond roles, and learn ourselves what it is to be human, what it is to be in the school of Christ. To this end, it is absolutely important to come to understand the human being, the human being of today, in ourselves and with others, but also always listening attentively to the Lord and accepting in myself the seed of the word, so that it may become leaven within me and become communicable to others.

One of the tasks of the parish is offering hospitality to those who have no experience of normal parish life. We must not be a circle closed in on ourselves. We have our customs but still we must be open and endeavor to create “vestibules,” that is, places which will draw others closer. Someone who comes from afar cannot immediately enter parish life, which already has its own practices. For such a person everything is novel, far removed from his own life. Therefore, with the help of the word, we must seek to create what the early Church created with the catechumenates: spaces in which one begins to live the word, to follow the word, to make it understandable and realistic, corresponding to forms of actual experience. In this sense I think that it is very important, that is, the need to associate the word with the witness of a just life, being for others, opening oneself to the poor, to the needy, and also to the rich who need to have their hearts opened, to feel someone knocking at their hearts. So, it is a question of different avenues, according to the situation.

Pope Benedict XVI’s meeting with clergy of the Diocese of Rome, 26 February 2009.

RCIA - Learning more about the faith

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at 6:30 pm the adult religion class will be discussing what is meant by the Communion of Saints, also Heaven, Hell and Purgatory.

The weekly RCIA class is held at Valentin Hall each Tuesday. It is open to those wanting to become Catholic as well as those Catholics wanting to gain a deeper understanding about our faith.

For more information contact Deacon John Miller at 942-2911.

Homily for the 27th 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. This week, The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our nineteenth homily to be posted. This week, the homily is given by Monsignor J. Robert Romero.

So, take a listen and let us know what you think. Click here to download the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time homily from St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Opelousas Catholic Fall Fest is underway!

The annual Opelousas Catholic School Fall Fest will run through Sunday, Oct. 4 on the school campus. The fair includes craft booths; flea market; games and plenty of good food and entertainment.

A Youth ATV will be raffled and delicious Sunday barbeque pork dinners will be sold.

Bring the family out for lots of fun!

Readings and Themes for the Week of October 4, 2009

Readings for Faith Sharing
Week of October 04, 2009,
Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I Genesis 2:18-24

The two of them became one flesh.

Psalm 128

“May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.”

Reading II Hebrews 2:9-11

He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have origin.

Gospel: Mark 10:2-16

Therefore what God has joined, let no one separate.

THEME:
Fidelity in marriage reflects God's fidelity to us

Today’s scriptures draw us into the biblical images of faithful love between spouses and the care that we must extend to children. As we listen to these readings, let us be especially mindful of those who struggle with marital fidelity, as well as families in which children do not receive the care and respect they deserve. Let us be open to the power of God’s living word to transform us all into faithful witnesses to the marvels God has worked through our human relationships.

Question for Children:

When you make a promise, why is it important to keep it?

Question for Youth:

What has your family taught you about God and living a faithful life?

How do you show your family what they mean to you?

How do you treat these people?

Question for Adults:

How is God’s fidelity reflected in human marriage?

To whom are you committed like this?

Pope Benedict's welcome to new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz

Today, the Holy Father welcomed the new U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, Miguel Diaz. The Holy Father gave a wonderful speech highlighting how important an ethics of life must be in the relationship between the Holy See and the United States.

Above, you see a word cloud that shows the use of words in the Holy Father's address. "Human", "life", and "freedom" all appear prominently. Click on the word cloud to see it in more detail.

Below, is the full text of the Holy Father's address.

Your Excellency,

I am pleased to accept the Letters by which you are accredited Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. I recall with pleasure my meeting with President Barack Obama and his family last July, and willingly reciprocate the kind greetings which you bring from him. I also take this occasion to express my confidence that diplomatic relations between the United States and the Holy See, formally initiated twenty-five years ago, will continue to be marked by fruitful dialogue and cooperation in the promotion of human dignity, respect for fundamental human rights, and the service of justice, solidarity and peace within the whole human family.

In the course of my Pastoral Visit to your country last year I was pleased to encounter a vibrant democracy, committed to the service of the common good and shaped by a vision of equality and equal opportunity based on the God-given dignity and freedom of each human being. That vision, enshrined in the nation’s founding documents, continues to inspire the growth of the United States as a cohesive yet pluralistic society constantly enriched by the gifts brought by new generations, including the many immigrants who continue to enhance and rejuvenate American society. In recent months, the reaffirmation of this dialectic of tradition and originality, unity and diversity has recaptured the imagination of the world, many of whose peoples look to the American experience and its founding vision in their own search for viable models of accountable democracy and sound development in an increasingly interdependent and global society.

For this reason, I appreciate your acknowledgement of the need for a greater spirit of solidarity and multilateral engagement in approaching the urgent problems facing our planet. The cultivation of the values of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" can no longer be seen in predominantly individualistic or even national terms, but must rather be viewed from the higher perspective of the common good of the whole human family. The continuing international economic crisis clearly calls for a revision of present political, economic and financial structures in the light of the ethical imperative of ensuring the integral development of all people. What is needed, in effect, is a model of globalization inspired by an authentic humanism, in which the world’s peoples are seen not merely as neighbors but as brothers and sisters.

Multilateralism, for its part, should not be restricted to purely economic and political questions; rather, it should find expression in a resolve to address the whole spectrum of issues linked to the future of humanity and the promotion of human dignity, including secure access to food and water, basic health care, just policies governing commerce and immigration, particularly where families are concerned, climate control and care for the environment, and the elimination of the scourge of nuclear weapons. With regard to the latter issue, I wish to express my satisfaction for the recent Meeting of the United Nations Security Council chaired by President Obama, which unanimously approved the resolution on atomic disarmament and set before the international community the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. This is a promising sign on the eve of the Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Genuine progress, as the Church’s social teaching insists, must be integral and humane; it cannot prescind from the truth about human beings and must always be directed to their authentic good. In a word, fidelity to man requires fidelity to the truth, which alone is the guarantee of freedom and real development. For her part the Church in the United States wishes to contribute to the discussion of the weighty ethical and social questions shaping America’s future by proposing respectful and reasonable arguments grounded in the natural law and confirmed by the perspective of faith. Religious vision and religious imagination do not straiten but enrich political and ethical discourse, and the religions, precisely because they deal with the ultimate destiny of every man and woman, are called to be a prophetic force for human liberation and development throughout the world, particularly in areas torn by hostility and conflict. In my recent visit to the Holy Land I stressed the value of understanding and cooperation among the followers of the various religions in the service of peace, and so I note with appreciation your government’s desire to promote such cooperation as part of a broader dialogue between cultures and peoples.

Allow me, Mr. Ambassador, to reaffirm a conviction which I expressed at the outset of my Apostolic Journey to the United States. Freedom – the freedom which Americans rightly hold dear – "is not only a gift but also a summons to personal responsibility;" it is "a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over to the cause of good" (Address at the White House, 16 April 2008). The preservation of freedom is inseparably linked to respect for truth and the pursuit of authentic human flourishing. The crisis of our modern democracies calls for a renewed commitment to reasoned dialogue in the discernment of wise and just policies respectful of human nature and human dignity. The Church in the United States contributes to this discernment particularly through the formation of consciences and her educational apostolate, by which she makes a significant and positive contribution to American civic life and public discourse. Here I think particularly of the need for a clear discernment with regard to issues touching the protection of human dignity and respect for the inalienable right to life from the moment of conception to natural death, as well as the protection of the right to conscientious objection on the part of health care workers, and indeed all citizens. The Church insists on the unbreakable link between an ethics of life and every other aspect of social ethics, for she is convinced that, in the prophetic words of the late Pope John Paul II, "a society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized" (Evangelium Vitae, 93; cf. Caritas in Veritate, 15).

Mr. Ambassador, as you undertake your new mission in the service of your country I offer you my good wishes and the promise of my prayers. Be assured that you may always count on the offices of the Holy See to assist and support you in the fulfillment of your duties. Upon you and your family, and upon all the beloved American people, I cordially invoke God’s blessings of wisdom, strength and peace.

Prayer Intentions of the Holy Father for October, 2009

Photo above of the Holy Father praying before the statue of the Infant of Prague. (REUTERS/Petr Josek)

Pope Benedict's general prayer intention for October is: "That Sunday may be lived as the day on which Christians gather to celebrate the risen Lord, participating in the Eucharist".

His mission intention is: "That the entire People of God, to whom Christ entrusted the mandate to go and preach the Gospel to every creature, may eagerly assume their own missionary responsibility and consider it the highest service they can offer humanity".

Bishop's Services Appeal 2009-2010 - Kickoff - Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana

The 2009-2010 Bishop's Services Appeal is now kicking off.

Going to our parish website at http://www.stlandrycatholicchurch.org, you will see a video on this important project in the upper right hand portion of the page. You can also see it at the bottom of this posting.

Jesus tells us, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35) Jesus knows that our act of generosity will bring healing and grace to the darkest corners of our communities, to people who are suffering and to people who have not heard or embraced the Good News of Salvation.

There are a number of priorities and needs facing our Diocesan Church that no one parish alone can address. Some require the strength and resolve of our entire Catholic Community working and sacrificing together as One Body. That is why every parish participates in the Bishop’s Services Appeal, so that through our collective efforts, we can build the Father’s kingdom by advancing the work of the Church.
Please respond generously.

Here's a video from our own Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana about this important project.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gqv5YOMA5M

Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux

Today is the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux.

Her relics are touring in the U.K. currently. Click here to read an earlier blog posting with lots of links to information about her.

The photo of "The Little Flower" above isn't as fancy as many that I've posted in the past. It was taken with an iPhone without all of the lights on in the church today.

As part of the celebration of her feast, we gave her a good washing and cleaning. Climbing up the ladder and washing her with rose scented cleaners, it reminded me of a quote from her.

"Always keep lifting your foot to climb the ladder of holiness, and do not imagine that you can mount even the first step. All God asks of you is good will."

St. Therese realized that as a Carmelite nun, she would never get the opportunity to perform great deeds. She said,

"Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love."

Please consider doing some small act to help at our parish, whether that is giving a day to help clean up inside with the Ladies Altar Society, spending a Holy Hour this First Friday in Valentin Hall Chapel, or perhaps making a donation to help our Bereavement group that provides meals for families who have lost a loved one.

Bulletin for the Weekend of October 4, 2009

The bulletin for the weekend of October 04, 2009 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.

Feast of St. Jerome

Today is the Feast of St. Jerome, saint and Doctor of the Church. He was a priest and secretary to Pope Damasus in the years 382 to 385. The painting of St. Jerome above is by Caravaggio and was painted in 1605.

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. The Psalms and portions had been translated to Latin but not the complete group of books. Pope Damasus had St. Jerome produce a bible in the language that every day people could understand, Latin, and the Latin Vulgate bible became _the_ bible used within the Church. His insistence on using the oldest available original texts set a precedent for biblical study that influences us now with Church scholars learning Hebrew and Greek.

His great statement, "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ", rings out strongly to the present time.

Baronius Press has an edition of the bible with the Latin Vulgate on one page, and the English translated Douay-Rheims version on the facing page. The translation of the Latin is very literal and give you a great feel for St. Jerome's writing. By having the texts side by side, it will also give you a chance to learn a little more Latin.

Information on this bible is available by clicking here.

Year for Priests

YEAR FOR PRIESTS

Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests

“I have come to Carmel to save souls and especially to pray for priests.”

“I could not forget to pray for simple priests whose mission at times is as difficult to carry out as that of apostles preaching to pagans.”

“I think of all the good I would like to do after my death: have little children baptized, help priests, missionaries, the whole Church.”

“The only purpose of our life of prayer and sacrifice is to be apostles of the apostles while we pray for them as they go about preaching the Gospel by word but especially by example.”

Sayings of St. Therese of Lisieux

Theme announced for World Communications Day

Our ministry here on the internet is focused on communications. The Archangel Gabriel, as pictured above in the Annunciation by Leonardo Da Vinci, is a wonderful guide for us to follow here on his Feast.

Never has a Pontiff emphasized more that he wants us to embrace technology to promote the Word. Today, a new announcement related to using technology to increase collaboration and communion has been released in Rome.

Each year on the Feast of the Archangels, the Vatican announces the theme for the next World Communications Day, which will fall on January 24, 2010 --- the Feast of St. Francis of Sales, patron saint of journalists.

"The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word" is the theme.

The aim of the Message is "to invite priests in particular, during this Year for Priests and in the wake of the Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to consider the new communications media as a possible resource for their ministry at the service of the Word. Likewise, it aims to encourage them to face the challenges arising from the new digital culture".

"The new communications media, if adequately understood and exploited, can offer priests and all pastoral care workers a wealth of data which was difficult to access before, and facilitate forms of collaboration and increased communion that were previously unthinkable".

"If wisely used, with the help of experts in technology and the communications culture, the new media can become - for priests and for all pastoral care workers - a valid and effective instrument for authentic and profound evangelisation and communion".

Feast of the Archangels

Today is the feast of the Archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, and St. Raphael.

Pope Saint Gregory the Great had this to say ...

You should be aware that the word "angel" denotes a function rather than a nature. Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits. They can only be called angels when they deliver some message. Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels.

The name of each archangel also denotes a function. Michael means "Who is like God?" Before The Fall, when Lucifer called the other angels in heaven to stop serving God and become Gods themselves, that was Michael's answer --- and Michael then enjoined Lucifer in battle. The name of Michael was the war cry of the angels.

Gabriel means "The Power of God". He was the angel to appear before Mary at the Annunciation, saying "Hail Mary". Raphael means "The Healing Power of God". He protected Tobias on his journeys.

The painting pictured above was painted by the artist Raphael in 1505 and is in the Louvre picturing the great battle. In the left background, are hypocrites wearing leaden coats. On the right are thieves tormented by serpents. St. Michael prepares to deliver a blow to Satan, pinned beneath his foot.

The prayer to St. Michael is one that gives us strength against adversity:

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray. And do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl around the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Below is a photo of Mont St. Michel in Normandy. According to legend, the archangel Michael appeared to St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in 708 and instructed him to build a church on the rocky islet. St. Aubert repeatedly ignored the angel's instruction until Michael burned a hole in the bishop's skull with his finger. That put St. Aubert to work. The dedication to St Michael occurred on October 16, 708.

Homily for 26th 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. This week, The Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our eighteenth homily to be posted. This week, the homily is given by Monsignor J. Robert Romero.

So, take a listen and let us know what you think. Click here to download the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time homily from St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Happy Birthday Monsignor Romero!

It's Monsignor Romero's birthday today! Happy Birthday Monsignor from all of us! It seems like just last year we celebrated the last one ... ha ha!

We all wish you a wonderful day and thank you for the great work you do for us as pastor for our parish and as vicar for the northern part of the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana.

Those of you who would like to send your birthday wishes to Monsignor can click here to send a message through the parish website or just drop an email to the below address.

Words from Pope Benedict XVI from the Czech Republic and Family Day in the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana

With the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana celebrating Family Day, we can look to the timely words spoken this very day by Pope Benedict XVI at the Church of Our Lady Victorious in Prague within the Czech Republic. The statue of the Infant of Prague is within that church and the Holy Father chose a family oriented theme for his words.

The most striking paragraph ...

"The image of the Child Jesus calls to mind the mystery of the Incarnation, of the all-powerful God who became man and who lived for thirty years in the lowly family of Nazareth, entrusted by Providence to the watchful care of Mary and Joseph. My thoughts turn to your own families and to all the families in the world, in their joys and difficulties. Our reflections should lead us to prayer, as we call upon the Child Jesus for the gift of unity and harmony for all families. We think especially of young families who have to work so hard to offer their children security and a decent future. We pray for families in difficulty, struggling with illness and suffering, for those in crisis, divided or torn apart by strife or infidelity. We entrust them all to the Holy Infant of Prague, knowing how important their stability and harmony is for the true progress of society and for the future of humanity."

Below is the full text of the Holy Father's remarks.

Apostolic Visit
of His Holiness Benedict XVI
to the Czech Republic
(September 26-28, 2009)

Visit to the "Holy Infant of Prague"

Greeting by The Holy Father

Church of Our Lady Victorious, Prague
Saturday, 26 September 2009

Dear Cardinals,
Your Excellencies,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Dear Children,

I greet all of you warmly and I want you to know what joy it gives me to visit this Church, dedicated to Our Lady of Victory, where the faithful venerate the statue of the Infant Jesus, known throughout the world as the “Holy Infant of Prague”. I thank Archbishop Jan Graubner, President of the Episcopal Conference, for his words of welcome spoken on behalf of all the Bishops. I offer respectful greetings to the Mayor and to the other civil and religious authorities present at this gathering. I greet you, dear families, who have come in such large numbers to be here with me.

The image of the Child Jesus calls to mind the mystery of the Incarnation, of the all-powerful God who became man and who lived for thirty years in the lowly family of Nazareth, entrusted by Providence to the watchful care of Mary and Joseph. My thoughts turn to your own families and to all the families in the world, in their joys and difficulties. Our reflections should lead us to prayer, as we call upon the Child Jesus for the gift of unity and harmony for all families. We think especially of young families who have to work so hard to offer their children security and a decent future. We pray for families in difficulty, struggling with illness and suffering, for those in crisis, divided or torn apart by strife or infidelity. We entrust them all to the Holy Infant of Prague, knowing how important their stability and harmony is for the true progress of society and for the future of humanity.

The figure of the Child Jesus, the tender infant, brings home to us God’s closeness and his love. We come to understand how precious we are in his eyes, because it is through him that we in our turn have become children of God. Every human being is a child of God and therefore our brother or sister, to be welcomed and respected. May our society grasp this truth! Every human person would then be appreciated not for what he has, but for who he is, since in the face of every human being, without distinction of race or culture, God’s image shines forth.

This is especially true of children. In the Holy Infant of Prague we contemplate the beauty of childhood and the fondness that Jesus Christ has always shown for little ones, as we read in the Gospel (cf. Mk 10:13-16). Yet how many children are neither loved, nor welcomed nor respected! How many of them suffer violence and every kind of exploitation by the unscrupulous! May children always be accorded the respect and attention that are due to them: they are the future and the hope of humanity!

Dear children, I now want to say a special word to you and to your families. You have come here in large numbers to meet me, and for this I thank you most warmly. You are greatly loved by the Child Jesus, and you should return his love by following his example: be obedient, good and kind. Learn to be, like him, a source of joy to your parents. Be true friends of Jesus, and always turn to him in trust. Pray to him for yourselves, for your parents, relations, teachers and friends, and pray also for me. Thank you once again for your welcome. I bless you from my heart and I invoke upon all of you the protection of the Holy Infant Jesus, his Immaculate Mother and Saint Joseph.

The Holy Father now in the Czech Republic

The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has arrived in the Czech Republic. He will be touring the country for 3 days. While there, he will see the Infant of Prague at the Church of Our Lady of Victory.

EWTN will have coverage of his trip from 10 AM to 12 PM CST and 5:30 PM to 7 PM today. Tomorrow, it will have coverage from 11 AM to 2:30 PM. Monday, it will have coverage of the final mass at 4 PM to 6 PM. EWTN is found on channel 35 on Charter Cable in Opelousas.

The photo above is of the Infant of Prague in his new raiments for the Pope's visit. At St. Landry Catholic Church, we have a statue of the Infant of Prague. It sits in the southeast corner of the church either next to St. John Vianney or the Blessed Mother. To see the statue in St. Landry Catholic Church, see the bottom of this posting.

Infant of Prague Novena Prayer

O Jesus, Who has said, "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened," through the intercession of Mary, Your Most Holy Mother, I knock, I seek, I ask that my prayer be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who has said, "All that you ask of the Father in My Name, He will grant you," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother, I humbly and urgently ask your Father in your name that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)

O Jesus, Who has said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away but My word shall not pass away," through the intercession of Mary Your Most Holy Mother, I feel confident that my prayer will be granted.

(Make your request)

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Divine Infant Jesus, I know You love me and would never leave me. I thank You for Your close Presence in my life.

Miraculous Infant, I believe in Your promise of peace, blessings, and freedom from want. I place every need and care in Your hands.

Lord Jesus, may I always trust in Your generous mercy and love. I want to honor and praise You, now and forever. Amen.

The Holy Father will celebrate mass on Monday for the Feast of St. Wenceslas, patron saint of the Czechs and martyr. King Wenceslas helped to depose an anti Christian regime and is credited with bringing Christianity to the Czech people. The mass will be celebrated in Stara Boleslav, where Wenceslas was murdered by a brother who was sympathetic to anti Christian forces. September 28 in the Czech Republic is a national day of pilgrimage to Stara Boleslav.

Many of us know of St. Wenceslas from the carol.

Good King Wenceslas

Good King Wenceslas looked out, on the Feast of Stephen,
When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even;
Brightly shone the moon that night, tho' the frost was cruel,
When a poor man came in sight, gath'ring winter fuel.
"Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling,
Yonder peasant, who is he? Where and what his dwelling?"
"Sire, he lives a good league hence, underneath the mountain;
Right against the forest fence, by Saint Agnes' fountain."
"Bring me flesh, and bring me wine, bring me pine logs hither:
Thou and I will see him dine, when we bear them thither."
Page and monarch, forth they went, forth they went together;
Through the rude wind's wild lament and the bitter weather.
"Sire, the night is darker now, and the wind blows stronger;
Fails my heart, I know not how; I can go no longer."
"Mark my footsteps, good my page. Tread thou in them boldly
Thou shalt find the winter's rage freeze thy blood less coldly."
In his master's steps he trod, where the snow lay dinted;
Heat was in the very sod which the saint had printed.
Therefore, Christian men, be sure, wealth or rank possessing,
Ye who now will bless the poor, shall yourselves find blessing.

Family Day in the Diocese of Lafayette, Louisiana

On this weekend we celebrate Family Day in the Diocese of Lafayette. Family life is called the ‘domestic church’. With today’s fast life, it is hard for families to strengthen each other. One way many people tell us to help family life is to make sure families get together for a family meal. Get together for five meals a week, not just one meal a week. Also, sharing prayer and life episodes help family life be a school of holiness.

Blessings of Families

Heavenly Father, we give you thanks for all you have bestowed on us, your people. Thank you for allowing us to serve those people you have sent into our lives. Thank you for enabling us to learn your gifts of forgiveness, compassion, patience, joy, peace and love from these precious souls we call our family, as well as, from life’s daily challenges. We ask for your blessings today. Empower us to represent you well. Bear us up when we fall and forgive us when we falter. Bless each of us to reflect your presence to the world as we go through our daily lives. Allow each of us to continue to bring your love to the world through our personal touch. We ask all this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Readings and Themes for the Week of September 27, 2009

Readings for Faith Sharing
Week of September 27, 2009,
Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I Numbers 11:25-29

Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets!

Psalm 19

“The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart.”

Reading II James 5:1-6

The cries of those unjustly treated have reached the Lord.

Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Whatever causes you to sin, cut it away.

THEME:
God wants us to be just and right

Today’s scriptures challenge us to re-examine our behaviors, attitudes, and priorities. The words of Saint James in today’s second reading are enough to make anyone shudder. The Lord Jesus is straightforward with his followers when he tells them, “Whatever causes sin, cut it away”. As the word is proclaimed this day, let us be open to its challenges to become more and more like Christ.

Question for Children:

In what specific ways do you share with the poor from what you have been given?

Question for Youth:

Who are the people you have met who are against you?

Are there people who persecute you because of your faith?

How do you treat these people?

Question for Adults:

In today's worldwide community, who are the rich and what does God want of them?

Ministry Fair at all masses this weekend

It is time for the annual Ministry Fair at St. Landry Catholic Church.

In the rear of the church, after each mass this weekend, you will find tables set up displaying the various ministries and groups active at St. Landry Catholic Church. We want you to take advantage of the help these various ministries can bring to you and your family. But we also want you to think about joining one of these ministries in order to help others and give back to our community. Members of each group will be there to greet you and answer questions.

There is a sign up sheet at each table. Please add your name to those groups you feel could use your help.

Pick up a sheet at our internet/web table that lists all of the various ways you can get information about St. Landry Catholic Church on the internet. We look forward to seeing you this weekend.

Diocese and Archdiocese in the U.S. - Populations

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have released numbers showing the population of archdiocese and diocese in the U.S.

For the entire nation, click here.

For Louisiana:

Name of La. Diocese	Catholic Population	Total Population	Catholic Population Percentage
Alexandria	40,783	386,602	11%
Baton Rouge	219,018	931,004	24%
Houma-Thibodeaux	107,003	202,000	53%
Lafayette	315,717	568,154	56%
Lake Charles	70,961	283,429	25%
New Orleans	387,101	1,075,283	36%
Shreveport	39,951	791,657	5%

Bulletin for the Weekend of September 27, 2009

The bulletin for the weekend of September 27, 2009 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.

Saint Thecla

Today is the feast day of Saint Thecla. She is thought to have lived in the first century of the church and was engaged to be married. She heard St. Paul's discourse on virginity and decided to follow him. There are stories of her being saved from being martyred by miraculous events including by rain when an attempt was made to burn her at the stake. Saint Thecla spent her days following St. Paul on his apostolic journeys also preaching the good news herself.

Recently, the oldest known fresco of St. Paul, dating to the 4th century, was found in the Catacomb of St. Thecla in Rome.

About the painting above ...

It is called "Saint Thecla Praying for the Plague-Stricken" and was painted around 1758 by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

This is a preliminary sketch for one of Tiepolo's greatest religious works, the 22 foot-high canvas in the apse of the cathedral at Este, near Padua. Commissioned in 1758 and installed on Christmas day, 1759, the picture commemorates the plague of 1630 when the townspeople of Este prayed for the intercession of Saint Thecla. The first-century saint is shown among victims of the plague, praying to God; the town in the background is Este.

Safe Environment Meeting

On Monday evening, 28 September at 6:30 pm, in Valentin Hall, a Safe Environment presentation will be held for ALL registered high school religion students AND their parents.

It is a Diocesan policy that all students and their parents attend the presentation.

The Little Flower in the U.K.

Our prior posting references St. Therese and Priests including the events at the Carmelite Monastery in Lafayette, Louisiana.

As we approach the Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, Thursday, October 1, there are many events happening world wide. Currently, a reliquary containing the relics of St. Therese is touring England and Wales for an entire month. St. Therese had a very short life and taught that acts of heroic virtue aren't the only thing that define saints. Doing everyday things with great love and without complaint are core to her vision of a saintly life.

Here is a short article on the tour in the Times of London: click here.

Here is an article on why we should venerate relics from the Catholic Herald in the UK: click here.

And this is a detailed article on St. Therese and the tour of her relics: click here.

Lastly, here is the website of the Society of the Little Flower where you can find prayers and prayer cards and a whole host of things related to her: click here.

Year for Priests - St. Therese and Priests

YEAR FOR PRIESTS

Faithfulness of Christ, faithfulness of priests

Shortly before she made her Profession, in answer to a formal inquiry as to why she had entered Carmel, St. Therese affirmed: “I have come to Carmel to save souls and to pray for priests”.

Although St. Therese had always had the greatest respect for priests, she also realized they were fallible and human, like everyone else.

Our focus for the Novena honoring St. Therese in this Year for Priests will be to do as she did: to pray and sacrifice for all who share the great privilege of the ministerial priesthood, not forgetting to include our own personal intentions.

We invite you to join us for the Novena (made privately) and for the Blessing of Roses (see the schedule below).

NOVENA PRAYER

O Jesus, eternal Priest, keep your priests within the shelter of your Sacred Heart where none may touch them.

Keep unstained their anointed hands which daily hold your Sacred Body.

Keep unsullied their lips which daily taste your Precious Blood.

Keep pure and steadfast their hearts, sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.

Let your holy love surround them and shield them from the influence of evil.

Bless their labors with abundant fruit and may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation on earth and in heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown.

Jesus, eternal Priest, remember also your Priestly People who turn to you with confidence.

Keep us and our families faithful to you. Listen to our prayers and help us in our needs and fears, our temptations and frustrations, in all that is trying or distressing in our lives. We trust in your merciful love as we make all these prayers through your chosen child, St. Therese. Amen.

Schedule

NOVENA: September 23 through October 1
Please join us as we pray it privately for all priests and for your intentions.

THURSDAY: October 1, Feast of St. Therese, Mass at 6:45 AM at the Carmelite Monastery

SUNDAY: October 4, Mass and Blessing of Roses @ 2:30 PM at the Carmelite Monastery

Discalced Carmelite Nuns
Monastery of Mary, Mother of Grace
1250 Carmel Drive
Lafayette, Louisiana 70501 - 5299
(337) 232-3623
http://www.lafayettecarmelites.org/

Homily for 25th 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. This week, The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, is our seventeenth homily to be posted. This week, the homily is given by Monsignor J. Robert Romero.

So, take a listen and let us know what you think. Click here to download the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time homily from St. Landry Catholic Church, Opelousas, Louisiana.

Readings and Themes for the Week of September 20, 2009

Readings for Faith Sharing
Week of September 20, 2009,
Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I Wisdom 2:12, 17-20

The just one is condemned to a shameful death.

Psalm 54

“The Lord upholds my life.”

Reading II James 3:16-4:3

The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who cultivate peace.

Gospel: Mark 9:30-37

Whoever receives a child in Jesus' name, receives Jesus.

THEME:
We are called to serve others

In today’s Gospel, Jesus speaks often about his coming passion. His disciples, for their part, ignore these predictions. Instead, they argue among themselves about what share in Jesus’ royal power and glory will be given them. Jesus’ response to the disciples’ arrogance is not one of anger or frustration. What he does is remarkable - - he hugs a little child and tells his disciples, and us, that whoever welcomes a little child, welcomes him. That is who is greatest in Jesus’ kingdom.

Question for Children:

What are some specific ways in which you can serve your friends or family members?

Question for Youth:

Sometimes when we strive to be first or be the one that wins, we hurt others.

When has striving to be first hurt others?

What can you do differently in the future to help others to succeed?

Question for Adults:

Is the role of being a servant for others easy or difficult for you to embrace?

God set them in the firmament of the heavens

Today, Pope Benedict XVI visited the new location of the Vatican Observatory at Castel Gandolfo just outside of Rome in Italy.

The Vatican has long had an interest in astronomy. The Vatican Observatory was founded in 1578 by Pope Gregory XIII as a committee to study the data and implications involved in the reform of the calendar that occurred in 1582 --- what is commonly known as the Gregorian Calendar still in use today.

After having an observatory for more than 3 centuries in Rome, it was moved to the grounds of the Pope's summer residence at Castel Gandolfo in the 1930's in order to get away from the city lights. In the last year, the observatory was moved to a renovated convent further out from the Pope's summer residence in order to give the scientists and researchers there more room. They have moved their 22,000 volumes of scientific works including early works of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Kepler and others. And there is also a large collection of meteorites.

In conjunction with the observatory there in Italy, the Vatican has opened a second site in the 1980's named the Vatican Observatory Research Group in Tucson, Arizona with the University of Arizona. There, away from city lights, they are able to observe even more details. It is considered one of the premier observatories in the world. The website of the Vatican Observatory can be found by clicking here.

Another interesting fact about astronomy and the Vatican ... Georges Lemaitre is the professor of physics and astronomy who proposed the Big Bang Theory of the origin of the universe. It was a marked change in theories up to that time and better described what astronomers were measuring in the heavens. He became famous and traveled across the United States giving a series of lectures with another physicist named Albert Einstein.

Professor Lemaitre taught physics and astronomy at Catholic University at Louvain in Belgium. There, he was known as Monsignor Lemaitre: he was a Catholic priest.


In this international year of astronomy, the Vatican and the Observatory have released a book of photos from their telescopes that includes quotes from various Popes. The book is printed by Our Sunday Visitor. Click here to purchase it on Amazon. The following is a description:

Why does the starlit sky hold such a profound fascination for us?
Perhaps because it is there that we encounter, commingled, the mystery of light and darkness two primal experiences connected with the beginning and end of human life.

Perhaps it comes from seeing the order, both overt and occult, in the movement of celestial spheres, with which we sense ourselves secretly involved.

Perhaps it is because we feel so small before the starry universe and in this way we begin to become aware within ourselves of the grand questions regarding our existence and our passing through life.

Why are there telescopes on the roof of the Pope's Summer home in Castel Gandolfo?

For more than 100 years, the Vatican has supported an astronomical observatory. But that should come as no surprise; from even before the Gregorian Reform of the Calendar in 1582, indeed dating back to the invention of the University (where studying astronomy was a requirement for anyone wanting a doctorate in philosophy or theology!) the Church has not only supported astronomical research...it has seen the study of the Heavens as a way of getting to know the Creator!

In honor of the International Year of Astronomy, the Vatican and its Observatory is delighted to present this small expression of support, filled with beautiful images from the Vatican's telescopes and wisdom from the Popes, to show that indeed.

Bulletin for the Weekend of September 20, 2009

The bulletin for the weekend of September 20, 2009 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.