Bulletin for the Week of June 5, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

The last few weeks have been busy for most of us! With the Easter Triduum and then First Communion, the parish picnic, Confirmations, graduations and all the other various banquets, award ceremonies, recitals and tournaments that mark the end of the school year, very few of us did not have "extra duty" helping with or attending these events. Whew...it's time for summer vacation!

Hopefully, many of us will have the opportunity to take a break and enjoy our families and friends over the summer, with many taking a family vacation. This is a good and healthy thing. It is good to remember, though, that during this time we do not take a vacation from God. This spring, we've traveled through the disciplines of Lent and the joys of Easter, and hopefully have grown closer to God during this time. 

Summer vacation is not a time to allow the gains made in our relationship with God to dwindle. Regardless of the time of year, we never take a vacation from God. How would we like it if He took a vacation from us? As we plan our vacations, wherever they may be, we should be sure to research not only our accommodations and activities, but also how, when and where we will attend Mass.  God wants to be with us at all times. The question for us is do we want to allow Him?

The school year has ended and summer vacation has begun, so we are planning some summer activities for our young people.  Please note the following activities for which registration is now open and which will take place this month.

Our Vacation Bible School will be the week of June 20th through June 24th.  It is a week of learning about the bible and our Catholic faith for our elementary school age children.  It is both educational and fun.  Please call the office or Deacon Joubert if you would like to register or need additional information.

Our youth group will be travelling later this month to "Steubenville on the Bayou" in Houma, which will be held from June 24th-26th.  Deacon Joubert will be leading the group, along with Ashley Soileau, and our seminarian, Matthew Ardoin.  There still may be room available if any of our young people (those who are entering 9th grade through those who have just graduated) are interested.  Please contact Deacon Joubert if you would like to go or would like further information.  As usual, Father's Day weekend we will have a bake sale to help support the youth group for the trip.

Welcome Matthew Ardoin – Summer Seminarian
We welcome our summer seminarian, Mr. Matthew Ardoin, this weekend. His home parish is St. Peter in Carencro.  He just finished his first year of theology studies at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.  Please stop by and introduce yourself to him after Masses this weekend, and if you are attending the 8am or 10am Mass, visit with him over coffee and donuts in the south sacristy.  

Ordination of our former Summer Seminarians
Last weekend, Christopher Cambre, our 2012 summer seminarian, was ordained to the transitional diaconate.  He is scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood next year.  Next weekend, Deacon Alex Albert, our summer seminarian from 2010, is scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood.  Congratulations to them both!  Please keep in your prayers that they will continue to complete the good work God has begun in them!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of June 05, 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 Corpus Christi

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, Corpus Christi, is our four hundred forty sixth podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Deacon Sammy Diesi.

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 May 29, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, commonly referred to as "Corpus Christi." In this solemnity, we celebrate the continuing gift God gives to us in the Eucharist, the gift of His very own Presence and Grace, the gift that feeds us and strengthens us to cooperate with His Grace to live a Christian life.

Sunday after the 10am Mass we will have a special devotion to the Eucharist in celebration of this feast. Following Mass we will have a Eucharistic procession in the church and then silent Eucharistic adoration for the afternoon. Benediction and reposition will take place at 4pm. I hope everyone is able to spend some quiet time in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament Sunday afternoon. The Eucharist is the "source and summit" of our sacramental faith, and our devotion to Jesus cannot be complete without devotion to His presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

In years past behavior in our churches generally reflected the reverence we should have when in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. It seems we were more properly attired, were quiet, and were attentive to the fact that we were in the presence of God when entering a Catholic Church. It was a good habit to practice reverence in the church building as a reminder of the Eucharistic Presence, but it is a habit many have abandoned in recent years.  It was not long ago that leaving immediately after Communion was not proper, but rather taking some time to thank God after Communion was the norm, as was remaining after Mass in quiet prayer. Quiet reverence in the church building is also an act of good manners in that those praying would not be disturbed or distracted in their prayers. Reverent behavior is a reminder to us of the awe we should have in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and God's great love for us in giving us the Eucharist. This weekend, as we celebrate Corpus Christi, let us also reflect on our behavior in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament not only this weekend, but at all times we are in a church or chapel, and if we need, to adjust our behavior to properly honor and reverence the presence of God in the Eucharist.

Memorial Day
This weekend we celebrate Memorial Day, a day when we take time to give thanks to those who have served in our armed forces and given their lives to ensure the freedom we enjoy in our country. A Patriotic Rosary sponsored by the Catholic Daughters of America will be prayed on Monday at 6pm in the church.  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 to protect those freedoms. 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. We remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice of their life for us.  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 were and are willing 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! 

Help Needed for New Life Center
This time of year can be difficult for some of our local charities as donations tend to be less during the months of summer as compared to other times of the year.  New Life Center, our local shelter for women and children, has asked for some help with toiletries as their inventory is running low.  Specifically, the toiletries that are needed are:

     Bath Soap
     Shampoo
     Diapers-sizes 4, 5, and 6
     Feminine Products

We were able to help this week as a church community to "bridge the gap" for the moment, but more items will be needed soon.  If you are able to help with these items, just pick them up on your next store visit and drop them by the center, or if it is more convenient, feel free to drop them by our office and we will make sure they are delivered.

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of May 29, 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 Most Holy Trinity

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, Most Holy Trinity, is our four hundred forty fifth podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady.

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

Bulletin for the Week of May 22, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Last weekend, we celebrated Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is our celebration and remembrance of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world to each of us, giving us the Grace to imitate Jesus in living our earthly lives. The Holy Spirit is also the heart of our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  Jesus told the apostles that he would send His Spirit, Who would teach and remind them of all the things He taught. Therefore, The Holy Spirit teaches us all things and reminds us of what is good.  He prompts us to love God and each other as Jesus did, and gives us the Grace to act upon those promptings. Our devotion to living a life in Christ should be total, not partial. Of course, none of us has reached a point of complete imitation of Christ, so we continue to examine our lives and change, or convert, in accord with the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The first way of knowing we are living in accord with The Holy Spirit is that we do all things that Jesus commanded us, beginning with the commandments as taught by Jesus and His Church. In doing that, we can learn to love as Jesus loved.

This week, we returned to what is known as "Ordinary Time." The primary liturgical color returns to green and the paschal candle will be moved back to the baptistry to be used for baptisms and funerals. The term "ordinary" is not meant to diminish this time of year as if it is not important to our spiritual growth, but simply indicates that we are not in one of the special church seasons that has a particular emphasis on some aspect of the life of Christ, such as Advent and Christmas (The Incarnation), and Lent and Easter (The Paschal Mystery). Rather, we focus on learning about our faith and the things Jesus commanded us by learning what he taught in His public ministry and how He lived as an example to us. 

Today, we celebrate God revealing Himself in the life and teachings of Jesus as The Most Holy Trinity. This revelation allows us to better understand God the Father in the life of His Son Jesus, as well as the gift of Grace to imitate Jesus' life by the power of the Holy Spirit. Next weekend we will conclude our special feasts by celebrating God being with us until the end of time in the Eucharist, which is known as Corpus Christi Sunday, or The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Please remember we will have a Eucharistic Procession in the church after the 10am Mass in celebration of this gift, with Eucharistic adoration continuing that day until 4pm, at which time there will be Benediction. Please make plans to spend an hour with Jesus on this very special day!!

After these celebrations, we will remain in Ordinary Time until the Church New Year, the 1st Sunday of Advent. As always, we should continue to learn about Jesus and our faith through Sacred Scripture and the sacramental liturgies, especially Mass and Confession. Our journey towards Christ should be constant and consistent, regardless of the time of year!

Congratulations to our High School Seniors! 
Congratulations to our high school Seniors! Opelousas Catholic held its graduation last Friday night here in the church with Bishop Deshotel presiding.  Our students attending other schools or who are home-schooled are graduating during this time of year as well. We congratulate them all and their families, and pray that they continue their life's journey utilizing the natural gifts that God has given to them, but most importantly, that they continue to grow in the supernatural gifts of faith, hope and charity in the lives that they lead. 

Valentin Hall Construction Update
The work on the windows in Valentin Hall is progressing nicely and is nearing completion.  Without a doubt, they look beautiful and really change the appearance of the building.  We thank Lenard Bertrand General Contractors and Richard Lafleur and Guaranty Glass for the wonderful work they have done on the building so far.

We are nearing the time to begin the interior renovation of Valentin Hall.  The contracts have been submitted to the diocese for review, and we expect approval shortly.  At that time, we will begin construction on the second floor of the building.  We will provide a more detailed explanation of the construction plans and financing once the contracts are approved.  Please continue to keep the success in the project in your prayers! 

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of May 22, 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 Pentecost Sunday

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- over six years ago. This mass, Pentecost, is our four hundred forty fourth podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady.

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

Bulletin for the Week of May 15, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

This weekend, we will conclude our Easter celebration of the Sacraments of Initiation when our Confirmation candidates are confirmed at the 5pm Mass today. Bishop Deshotel will be the celebrant at the Mass and will administer the sacrament. With grateful hearts we welcome him for the first time as our Bishop to our parish for this celebration. This is a special time not only for our candidates and their families, but for our entire parish.  

The Confirmation class has been preparing since January for the reception of the sacrament, and we celebrate with joy their new status as fully initiated Catholics (meaning Catholics who have been baptized, received First Communion and have been Confirmed). We pray that they will cooperate with the graces received in the sacrament and will live Christian lives in imitation of Jesus as taught by His Church. Please remember the candidates in your individual prayer. Many thanks to Deacon Joubert, who led the formation program for our candidates, Mrs. Nancy Briley who assisted the formation program, and to Mrs. Lois Joubert, who was the administrative coordinator of the program.  Above all though, congratulations to our newly Confirmed candidates (some 34 in all) and their parents and families.

Ordination Anniversaries
This time of year is also the "ordination season," when we ordain men to the priesthood and diaconate, and celebrate anniversarries of ordination. Monsignor Melancon was ordained on May 25, 1963 and I was ordained on July 8, 2006. At St. Landry, we are also blessed with three deacons who actively serve us: Deacon John Miller, Deacon Sammy Diesi, and Deacon Dwayne Joubert. They serve our community in various capacities, from our youth group to our elderly shut-ins. They are a great help to me personally and to our church community as a whole, and we thank them for responding "Yes" to God's call. Each of their anniversaries are celebrate this time of year, so we want to thank them for their service and remember them and their families in our prayers. Their ordination dates are as follows:

Deacon Miller: June 27, 1977
Deacon Diesi: September 9, 2006
Deacon Joubert: August 18, 2012

Please remember them especially in your prayers on their anniversary dates. We also want to remember the two deacons who have served here at St. Landry and have passed to the next life: Deacon Carlo Cannatella and Deacon Arthur B. Lognion. We pray for their eternal rest with Christ and the continued consolation of their families and friends. We also pray that God continue to bless St. Landry with such good deacons with a heart for service to our community. 

Parish Picnic - Many Thanks!
Many thanks to those who helped at our parish picnic last week. Fun and fraternity was had by all, and it was a great way for us to celebrate Easter and spend time together as a parish family. Besides the many volunteers who made the picnic possible, especially the coordinators, Dirk and Dee Boudreaux, we would like to thank also the following groups and businesses for their support:
B&D Marble and Granite
Tony Chachere's
Knights of Columbus Council 1173
St. Landry Altar Society
The Catholic Daughters of America - St. Landry Court
Chief Donald Thompson

End of the School Year!!
The coming weeks will also mark the end of the school year for most of our students, and we wish them a safe and happy summer. Many of us will be taking vacations during this time. A reminder that our worship of God is not suspended when we are on vacation. We all make vacation plans for travel, food, housing, etc. We should include making plans for Sunday Mass (this especially teaches our children the importance of our faith and practicing it at all times). We never take vacation from God. If your vacation plans make it impossible to attend Sunday Mass, it would be good to either reconsider the plans to make attendance at Mass possible, or if you are unable, then you should consult your pastor prior to your departure regarding the availability of a dispensation.

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of May 15, 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 Seventh Sunday of Easter

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- over six years ago. This mass, Seventh Sunday of Easter, is our four hundred forty third podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady.

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

Bulletin for the Week of May 08, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Happy Mother's Day!! Today, we celebrate Motherhood, a most noble and wonderful vocation dedicated to the nurturing and Christian formation of children (regardless of the age of the children!). The good of children is entrusted to mothers and fathers by God. The vocation of motherhood is first and foremost taught by the life of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and is best exemplified incarnately by Our Blessed Mother, Her being a model of Christian discipleship.

Motherhood is a blessing and gift from God. As in all things, God teaches us how to properly respond to the gifts He gives. In other words, what is truly "good" is taught to us by God. Our Savior commanded us to love each other as He loved us.  Therefore, the standard for being a "good" mother or father is provided by God in the life of His Son and as taught by His Church, as well as the good example of saintly mothers, especially our Blessed Mother.

In every generation there is "conventional wisdom" of what being a "good mother" means. Indeed, the specific circumstances of an individual’s life does impact what it takes to be a good mother. However, the core of a mother's mission remains constant in every generation and never changes: Nurturing by word and deed the seeds of salvation God has planted in their children so that their children can one day live in the Communion of Saints in heaven. Any conventional wisdom that is inconsistent with this core mission does not teach "good" motherhood.

Today, we thank all our mothers who have given to each of us true goodness in the lives that they lead. We pray for all mothers who struggle in their vocation.  We pray also, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Consolation, for mothers whose children have passed from this life into the next. Finally, we thank God for the blessing of children and motherhood in His plan of salvation!!

Schedule Notes
Due to the inclement weather last weekend, our parish picnic was postponed until this weekend, which was the alternate date chosen when planning the picnic.  Let's pray the weather will be more cooperative!  We realize that some of you may have had Mother's Day plans and will be unable to make it.  Certainly, we wish you a happy Mother's Day.  For those of you who can make it (and hopefully it will give Mom a break from cooking!), the picnic will begin after the 10am Mass in the yard between the rectory and Valentin Hall.  I look forward to our community celebration of Easter.  Alleluia, Alleluia!!

Also, next weekend is Pentecost Sunday, when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to us to lead and guide us to eternal life.  Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit will teach us everything and remind us of all Jesus taught.  It is a most fitting day to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation, which we will do at the 5pm Mass.  Bishop Deshotel will be the celebrant, and it will be the first time he visits us as our bishop.  It is certainly an exciting time and a time of joy for us in welcoming our new bishop and celebrating with our young people in their reception of the sacrament.  Please keep our candidates, some 34, in your prayers this week as they anticipate the reception of the sacrament.

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of May 08, 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 Sixth Sunday of Easter

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- over six years ago. This mass, Sixth Sunday of Easter, is our four hundred forty second podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Melancon 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.

Picnic moved to May 8, 2016

Because of the predicted rain... Our Parish Picnic scheduled for Sunday 5/1 will be RESCHEDULED for NEXT Sunday 5/8!!!! Please help us spread the word.

Bulletin for the Week of May 01, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

Today we celebrate Easter with our annual parish picnic after the 10am Mass.  I hope that you are able to join us, as it is always wonderful to see our children having such a good time and our adults visiting in a "no stress" environment.  Our picnic is our "Easter Party" as a parish, a time when we simply celebrate the gift of our salvation given to us by Jesus in His Life, Death and Resurrection.  There is no other way to salvation except by the gift of God's Grace...we cannot earn it nor do we merit it, except by the gift it is to us by God and given in His Mercy.  Therefore, we rejoice that we have such a wonderful, merciful and loving Savior!  Alleluia, Alleluia!!

Update on Fr. Tremie
Many of you have asked over the last week about the well-being of Fr. Gene Tremie, our pastor here at St. Landry from 2000 to 2005.  For those who do not know Fr. Tremie, he is a retired priest of our diocese and served at Sacred Heart Church in Ville Platte and St. Marcellus in Rynella after leaving St. Landry.  Fr. Tremie was diagnosed with jaw cancer, and underwent a rather extensive surgery on his jaw last week at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge.  Although it was a long, complicated surgery, it was a success with minimal complications.  His recovery so far has been good, and our hope is that he will have a full recovery.  However, his recovery will be a long process requiring much rehabilitation as he will have to be taught to swallow and talk again.  With therapy, there is hope for a full recovery.

Please remember Fr. Tremie in your daily prayers.  In addition, some of you who have asked about him have also asked for his address.  Certainly a note of encouragement would be very nice.  For those of you who would like to do so, Fr. Tremie's mailing address is:

Reverend Eugene Tremie
c/o Nativity of Our Lady Church
130 N. Richelieu
New Iberia, LA  70560

Sanctuary Lighting Completed!
The new lighting for the sanctuary was completed last week.  Now that the lights have been installed, it really highlights how badly we needed to replace the old lighting.  The beauty of the sanctuary area has really been enhanced with the new lighting.  We want to thank all who were involved in the project and Mike's Electric, who installed the lighting.

With the installation of the lighting, the long road of the Sanctuary Campaign and related construction has ended.  We renovated the bathrooms and sacristies, installed the altar, historic sanctuary lamp and tile flooring, installed new carpet in the aisle, and have been able to purchase new appointments.  Who would have thought that it would take longer to do the construction than to raise the money for the construction?!?  Seeing the final product, there is no doubt the wait was worth it!!  In the coming weeks we have a few acknowledgments to make for donations for appointments for the sanctuary and then then our work in the church building will be finished for now.  

As you know, we are now moving to the Valentin Hall renovation.  Please keep the success of the work and the safety of the workers in your prayers.  Thanks again for all the support to make these much needed projects possible!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of May 01, 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 Fifth Sunday of Easter

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- over six years ago. This mass, Fifth Sunday of Easter, is our four hundred forty first podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Father James Brady.

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

Bulletin for the Week of April 24, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

In the coming weeks, we will begin a more visible and active phase of our construction in Valentin Hall.  Our original plans had to be modified to meet our needs and budget capabilities, and we have been able to work out the major details.  After the remaining minor details are ironed out, we hope to sign the construction contract and begin work in earnest.  Needless to say, the new windows that have been installed have been a great improvement, and when all the windows are installed and the frames restored and painted, the building will certainly look much better from the exterior and be much more energy efficient.  When our parking lot, handicapped entrance and other exterior improvements are made, the building and corner will be not only more functional, it will be much more attractive.  

The interior renovations have been long needed, and will restore the building and improve functionality for parish use.  The interior portion of the work will improve the building infrastructure, including an electrical upgrade and wiring, lighting, air conditioning, bathrooms (including handicapped accessibility), more meeting rooms, more office space and a newly renovated kitchen/small reception area.  The hall will serve us better as our parish center not only for offices and meeting space, but also for the education of our children in CCD and sacramental preparation programs, and will provide adequate space for bible study and prayer groups.  It is indeed a very exciting time for us, and our hope is that the newly renovated building will serve our parishioners needs for years to come.

In that regard, financing for the building has been made possible by your generous donations to the regular offertory.  When we began planning the project and announced the plans last fall, our plan was to not have a capital campaign to finance the project, but rather to save the money needed by achieving our goal for the regular offertory.  Your response has been to do that and then some, and I want to express my thanks to you for your generosity and kindness.  Truly, this project is a community project, and all of us have been a part in its success to this point.  Let us pray that the project continues to go smoothly.  Again, many thanks to all of you for your generosity, and let's hope we are able to keep up!

As we move forward in the Easter Season, I want to remind you once again of a couple of dates.  Our Easter picnic will be on May 1 after the 10am Mass.  I hope you are able to come with your family.  It is such a joy for our parish to come together, to see our children playing games and enjoying the fun jumps, and for us to simply spend time together as community rooted in the joy of Christ's love for us.  Please make plans to come that day and enjoy the food, drink and fellowship.

Another exciting announcement is that Bishop Deshotel is going to be the celebrant for our Confirmations, which will take place on May 15 at the 5pm Mass.  I know that our Confirmation candidates are excited about his visiting our parish for the first time as Bishop on their Confirmation day.  I hope you are able to join us in welcoming Bishop Deshotel on that day, and please keep our candidates and their families in your prayers as they approach this special day.

Finally, we have reached the halfway point of the Easter Season.  Hopefully, we continue to reflect and have great joy in God's Love for us in giving us the gift of eternal life with Him.  We should continue to thank God for that gift, which is our Hope.  One of the themes of Easter is that we become more motivated by Love of God, and less by fear of Him.  In other words, because of the great Love He has shone for us, we should not live our life of faith because we are afraid of Him, but rather as a response in Love to the Love He has already shown us.  Of course, throughout our lives we can be motivated by fear, duty, and obligation.  All of these work in the sense of bettering our lives.  However, the highest and most perfect motivation is Love, and our Hope is that we can be motivated by Love more and more in our daily living.  Let us make that our goal for the remainder of the Easter Season!  

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 24, 2016 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- over six years ago. This mass, Fourth Sunday of Easter, is our four hundred fortieth 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 April 17, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

This weekend we celebrate what is commonly referred to as "Good Shepherd Sunday." It is called "Good Shepherd Sunday" because of the Gospel readings of the day (there are three readings that are rotated yearly) which are taken from the 10th chapter of St. John's Gospel.  In the 10th chapter of John's Gospel, Jesus describes himself as the Good Shepherd who will lay down His life for His sheep.  He also tells us that He knows His sheep and they follow Him, that He will give them eternal life, and that no one can take them out of His hand.  Jesus' willingness to lay down His life for us (specifically for our salvation) derives from the fact that if we choose to be, we are the sheep of His flock, and He has real love for us as a shepherd has for his flock. If we remain in His flock, we will remain safe from harm (spiritual harm) and will receive the gift of eternal life.  During this Easter Season we continue to marvel at how good God is to us in giving us His Only Begotten Son, the Risen Christ, Our Lord and Saviour, and our Good Shepherd. Thanking God for such a Good Shepherd, we continue to celebrate our Easter Joy!

Speaking of Shepherd's, our diocese has a new one!
As I mentioned in February, Pope Francis named the Most Reverend J. Douglas Deshotel the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette. Bishop Deshotel has been serving as Auxiliary of the Diocese of Dallas since 2010, and he was installed as our bishop on Friday.  
Certainly, we are sincerely grateful for the devoted service of Bishop Michael Jarrell who has served as our Ordinary for the last fourteen years, but at the same time we are very excited to welcome our new shepherd.  We remember in Matthew's Gospel at the end of chapter 9 when Jesus felt pity for the people, as they were "like sheep without a shepherd."

So Jesus immediately gathered the disciples, gave them authority, and named the twelve apostles, which is recorded at the beginning of chapter 10 of Matthew's Gospel.  Simply put, Jesus gave the people shepherds.  Today, our bishops are the successors of the apostles, and we celebrate the continuing gift God has given to us in providing shepherds for his flock. 

As way of background, Bishop Deshotel was born on January 6, 1952 in Basile, Louisiana, as the third of eight children to Welfoot Paul Deshotel and Luna Marie Manual. After attending Immaculata Minor Seminary High School in Lafayette, he went on to attend Holy Trinity Seminary in Texas, where he earned a B.A. in Philosophy, and a Masters of Divinity from the University of Dallas. On May 13, 1978, he was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Dallas by Bishop Maurice Schexnayder in his hometown church of St. Augustine’s in Basile. On April 27, 2010, he was ordained as Auxiliary Bishop of Dallas by Bishop Kevin J. Farrell in the Cathedral Shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe.

Bishop Deshotel's assignments have included associate pastor and pastor of various church parishes throughout the Diocese of Dallas, as well as Vice Rector of Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas. Additionally, he has served on the Diocesan Presbyteral Council; Diocesan Priests’ Personnel Board; Diocesan Finance Council; Bishop’s Senior Staff; Diocesan Review Board; Diocesan College of Consultors; and Region X Chairman, USCCB.

Again, we welcome and celebrate Bishop Deshotel as our new Bishop!!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 17, 2016 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

Homily for the 3rd Sunday of Easter

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- over six years ago. This mass, Third Sunday of Easter, is our four hundred thirty ninth podcast to be posted. The homily is given by Monsignor Louis Melancon.

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

Bulletin for the Week of April 10, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

PASTOR’S CORNER:

With Divine Mercy Sunday last weekend, we ended the Easter Octave and now enter into the regular Easter Season, which will last until Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016. Last weekend was highlighted by our children receiving their First Holy Communion at the 10 am Mass.  The liturgy went beautifully, and we are reminded that God teaches us through our children.  Our children reminded us last week how special the Eucharist is and the reverence with which we should approach the Blessed Sacrament. Our children were dressed for the occasion, had their hands folded and approached their First Holy Communion with reverence and awe.  The same should be true for us each time we approach the altar for Holy Communion.  Sometimes in our fallen human nature we can allow repetition to make us treat the extraordinary in an ordinary way.  We should be on guard each time we receive The Blessed Sacrament to make sure we dispose ourselves to treat it as our First Holy Communion, our Last Holy Communion, and indeed, the only Holy Communion we will receive!!

Thanks again to Phyllis Guidry and Mary Joubert for leading the First Communion Program and the parents of the children who taught them at home.  Proper preparation takes a team, and it was evident throughout the program that our children were well prepared for their First Confession and First Communion both in the classroom and at home. Many thanks to all our good parents who made our job that much easier and made last Sunday such a special event.

Please remember that our young adults are continuing to prepare for Confirmation, the last of the Sacraments of Initiation, which will take place on Pentecost Sunday.  Be sure to keep them in your prayers.

Update Valentin Hall Project
No, we are not shutting down Valentin Hall!  We've had more than one such inquiry about the boarding up of the hall windows over the last week.  As I mentioned in previous Pastor's Corners, the first step of the Valentin Hall construction is to replace/restore the windows, and the temporary boarding of the windows is the first step in the window work.  Soon new windows will be installed and the frames will be restored and painted.

We are also in the final stages of the plans and financing of the interior of the hall and the parking lot construction.  At this point, we are very pleased with the way things are working out and we believe the hall will definitely fulfill many of our needs, including adequate space and facilities for our CCD and youth programs, enough meeting rooms for our many different activities during the week, more adequate office space for our staff and clergy, and better kitchen facilities for our social gatherings.  After the construction, we look forward to Valentin Hall being able to better serve our community for many years to come!!  

We hope that in the next few weeks the final plans will be completed, and we will get our final approval and begin construction shortly thereafter.  Please keep the safety of the workers and the success of the work of their hands in your prayers!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 10, 2016 has been posted. Click here to see it.

The calendar on the website has been updated with all events for the coming week along with prayer intention information and information on the second collection for all of the masses. Take some time to look at our calendar here.

Updates are also being made to our St. Landry Catholic Church blog. You can get to the blog from the church home page under the Bulletins and News section or you can just click here to go to it.

Don't forget, we're also sending out live updates via Twitter. Our Twitter name is StLandryCath. You can see updates by clicking here.

And we're also on Facebook --- friend us! You can see our updates on our page SaintLandryCatholicChurch.

Homily for Divine Mercy Sunday

Homilies are now available to download and listen to!

As part of our answering the challenge of the Holy Father to go out and evangelize utilizing new technologies, we're now offering the homily each week for download. Clicking the link to the homily should download it and automatically start it playing in whatever music player your computer is set up with.

On the technical side, the file sizes are about 5 megs which means it may a minute or two to download on slower Internet connections. It is also an MP3 formatted file which means that these are essentially podcasts. Don't worry if all the technical words don't mean much to you. It means we're using the latest in technology in order to make sure our church parish can reach the most people.

The current week's homily is available on a link on the front page of the website next to the link for the current week's bulletin. On the page with the prior bulletins, the corresponding homily will be sitting side by side with its bulletin. We started on the anniversary of the start of the Catholic Church, Pentecost Sunday --- over six years ago. This mass, Divine Mercy Sunday, is our four hundred thirty 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 April 3, 2016 and the Pastor's Corner

The Pastor’s Corner 

Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, marking the end of the Easter Octave. The Easter Octave is the eight day celebration of Easter from Easter Sunday until today. We continue the Easter season until Pentecost Sunday on May 15th.  Looking back over the last couple of months, we have so much to be thankful for as a church parish, especially to those who made our Lent and Easter so beautiful and spiritually meaningful. We are blessed to have Msgr. Melancon living in our parish. He took on extra duties during Lent here at St. Landry and at Opelousas Catholic School, helping to lead both us and our children through Lent. We are also blessed with three deacons, Deacon Diesi, Deacon Joubert and Deacon Miller, who took on extra duties joyfully and without reservation. Our parish staff, both office and maintenance, did an outstanding job in cheerfully handling the extra work that always comes during this time of year. If you have the opportunity, please express your appreciation to them.

However, without the support of so many of you, the celebration of Lent and Easter would not have been as beautiful and meaningful as it was. It began with Ash Wednesday and our Altar Society appropriately decorating our church. The Altar Society worked throughout Lent and Easter to make our church look more beautiful for our spiritual benefit. A generous parishioner provided the "Little Black Books" which so many of us found spiritually fruitful in preparing for Easter, and our Parish Advisory Board sponsored a "soup and bread" dinner after Stations of the Cross on Fridays. Our choirs and music ministers did an outstanding job during the seasons, but especially during passion-tide and the Easter Triduum. Our sacristans, altar servers, readers, and extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion served reverently and competently. Our blog was most informative about what was going on in our church parish for those who may not have been able to attend services. Some cut palms for Palm Sunday, while others cultivated our gardens around the church. Our suppliers ably and competently provided things we needed (obviously, we thank Jim Durio Florist for the beautiful flowers). So many people helped in so many ways. We thank and appreciate all of you!

I also want to thank all of you who participated in our liturgies and activities during Lent and Easter. Good attendance is usual during Lent at daily Mass and Stations of the Cross, especially at the beginning of the season. After a few weeks, however, attendance usually shrinks a bit. This year, though, attendance stayed steady over the season and even got bigger at the end of the season! Our confessional was very busy, enough so that despite expanded confession times, we many times heard confessions both before and after our daily Mass! Attendance for the Triduum and Easter Masses was significantly increased this year.  These things indicate a healthy spiritual life within our parish and a living out of the Lent and Easter seasons within our hearts. It also encourages others by example and solidarity in our faith. This is most important to our community, and makes for a most joyful Easter in the most important way, in our hearts and souls!

Thanks again to all! May God Bless you during the Easter Season, Alleluia, Alleluia!!

First Communion Today! 
This morning, approximately 20 of our children will receive their First Communion at the 10am Mass. It is my favorite day of the year. I am always moved by the excitement and reverence of our children in receiving First Communion. We should all be reminded that we ourselves should always be excited about the prospect of receiving the Grace of Christ in the Eucharist as well as the reverence that we also should show in receiving the Eucharist. 

Congratulations to the children and their families on this special day!!

Father James Brady

The bulletin for the week of April 03, 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.