Bayou Catholic | June 2015

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Bayou

Catholic

Confirmation Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit

HOUMA, LA ~ JUNE 2015 ~ COMPLIMENTARY

2 0 1 5 Together in the Work of the Lord

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Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s

comprehensive Catholic news website

Featuring

dozens of videos, photos and stories from around the world every week!

Contents

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FEATURES 28 Father Kuruvilla’s 25th anniversary

22

By Janet Marcel

30 Wanda Dugas retires after 31 years

By Janet Marcel

COLUMNS 8 Comfort For My People

By Bishop Shelton J. Fabre

14 Pope Speaks

By Pope Francis I

15 Question Corner

By Father Kenneth Doyle

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16 Readings Between The Lines

By Father Glenn LeCompte

26 Seeing Clairely

By Claire Joller

28

63 Overtime

By Ed Daniels

IN EVERY ISSUE 6 Editor’s Corner 18 Scripture Readings 22 Heavenly Recipes 32 Diocesan Events 34 Our Churches

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Catholic Jun

Bayou Outdoor Guide Summer 2015

52 Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Tid e Cha rts for ber e thr u Sep tem Gre at Fea tur es and For eca sts Tip s for Sal twa ter Fis hin g

GUEST COLUMNS 20 Seven deadly sins: Part VI

By Father Michael Bergeron

27 Book Reviews

By Raymond Saadi

36 Confirmation

By Very Rev. Joshua Rodrigue

61 Central Catholic softball

team wins state title

By Wil Touchet

ANNOUNCEMENTS 40 Tekakwitha Conference odeos ng R i h s i F on Editi HOUMA, LA ~

JUNE 2015 ~

Y COMPLIMENTAR

July 22-26

42 Steubenville on the Bayou June 26-28

44 Food for the Journey

Father Michael Bergeron Speaks

48 Pastoral Appointments Twenty-two announced

On Our Cover Bishop Shelton J. Fabre administers the sacrament of confirmation to Katie Babin, a parishioner of Maria Immacolata Church parish in Houma. In our cover story, Very Rev. Joshua Rodrigue states the sacrament of confirmation completes the sacrament of baptism, and in receiving it after holy Communion, also completes the sacraments of initiation. While baptism binds a Christian intimately to Christ and his church, confirmation commissions the Christian to spread and defend publically the faith both by word and deed as a true witness of Christ.

Cover Photo by Lawrence Chatagnier

Where to find your Bayou Catholic Bayou Catholic magazine can be found at all Catholic churches in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, at the three Catholic high schools in Houma, Morgan City and Thibodaux, as well as the ten elementary schools throughout the diocese. You may also visit the merchants listed in the Advertisers’ Index to pick up your copy. Those wishing to receive the magazine by mail can call Pat Keese at (985) 850-3132 or write to Bayou Catholic, P.O. Box 505, Schriever, LA 70395. Subscription price is $35 annually. For the online edition, go to www.bayoucatholic.com

Bayou Catholic Vol. 35, No. 12 How to reach us:

BY PHONE: (985) 850-3132

BY MAIL: P.O. Box 505, Schriever, LA 70395

BY FAX: (985) 850-3232

BY E-MAIL: bayoucatholic@htdiocese.org The Bayou Catholic is published monthly, for the people of the Roman Catholic Diocese of HoumaThibodaux by the H-T Publishing Co., P.O. Box 505, Schriever, LA 70395. Subscription rate is $35 per year.

The Bayou Catholic is a member of the Catholic Press Association, the National Newspaper Association and an associate member of the Louisiana Press Association. National and world-wide news service and photos by National Catholic News Service.

Louis G. Aguirre

editor and general manager

Lawrence Chatagnier managing editor

Glenn J. Landry, C.P.A. business manager

Peggy Adams

advertising manager

Anna C. Givens

advertising accounts executive

Index to Advertisers

Janet Marcel staff writer

Pat Keese

Acadian Total Security .......................41

Headache & Pain Center ...................63

secretary and circulation

Advanced Eye Institute ......................50

Houma Digestive Health Specialists .. 57

Lisa Schobel Hebert

Bishop’s Stewardship Appeal ..............2

HTeNews ..............................................3

Bueche’s Jewelry ...............................46

Johnny’s Men’s Shop ........................59

Cardinal Place-Love thy neighbor .....45 Catholic Schools Office - Position .....59 Channel 10...........................................37 Collection for Nepal ............................39 Diocesan Outreach Line ....................21

Peter’s Pence Collection ....................33 Re-Bath ..............................................32

graphic designer

Janet B. Eschete

accounts payable assistant

Meridy Liner

accounts receivable assistant

Rod’s Superstore ...............................17 Seminarian Education Burses ...........25

Diocesan Website ..............................43

Spotlight .............................................51

God’s Promises Books & Gifts ..........31

St. Joseph Manor ...............................57

Haydel Memorial Hospice .................53

Terminix ..............................................46

Haydel Spine Pain & Wellness ..........47

Terrebonne General Medical Center...23

First Place Winner 2013-2014 General Excellence www.bayoucatholic.com

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Welcome

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Editor’s Corner Louis G. Aguirre Editor & General Manager

Unity

Unity in the church and families is a grace we should request from God, Pope Francis recently told those attending his early morning Mass on May 21.

The pope’s words come at a perfect time as we honored our mothers last month and as we take special time to honor our fathers this month. This is a great time to reflect on the Holy Family.

Sowing division in the church and in families is one of the devil’s favorite things, says the pope, and it goes directly against Jesus’ will for all his followers.

Francis emphasized that Jesus prays “for the unity of his people,” but he knows that “the spirit of the world” is a “spirit of division, war, envy, jealousy, including in families, in religious communities and in dioceses and the whole church; it’s a great temptation.”

“Each person is how he or she is, but try to live in unity,” the pope said. “Has Jesus forgiven you?

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Forgive all others.”

There is no such thing as a church held together with “glue,” the pope said. Rather, unity is “a grace from God” and the result of a “struggle” on earth. “We must give the Spirit space to transform us into one, like the Father and the Son are one.”

He urged people to try to imagine Jesus standing before the Father in heaven praying for them right now. “This is how it is. He prays for us. He prays for me,” the pope said. “And what does the Father see? The wounds. The price. The price Jesus paid for us. Jesus prays for me with his wounds, with his wounded heart, and he continues to do so.”

Catholics are blessed to have many “fathers.” We each have our earthly fathers but also count the pope, bishops and priests whom we call “fathers.”

Above all, we have our Father in heaven who looks after us, even when we ignore or forget him.

While most of us enjoy meaningful and loving relationships with our fathers, there may be some who feel separated or alienated from them. By this I am not only talking about our earthly fathers. I am also referring to feeling separated or alienated from our Heavenly Father.

This month of June let us count our blessings for our fathers, let us shower them with love and gratitude. And for any who have been separated from theirs, let this be an opportunity to seek unity. Have you been separated from your earthly father? From God the father? Be assured that God is waiting for you. God wants you to return.

Remember the Prodigal Son?

Church Life

St. Lucy altar dedicated Bishop Shelton J. Fabre celebrated the Rite of Dedication of the new altar recently at St. Lucy Church in Houma, following an extensive renovation to the sanctuary. The bishop was the main celebrant of the Mass which was concelebrated by Father Wayne Paysse, executive director of the Black and Indian Mission Office; Father Mitch Semar, pastor of St. Lucy, and assisted by Deacon Lynwood Liner. Music was provided by the St. Lucy Gospel Choir. In the top photo, Bishop Fabre pours the oil of chrism over the altar, and then rubs it into the altar.

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Photos by Louis Aguirre

www.bayoucatholic.com

Comment Comfort For My People Bishop Shelton J. Fabre

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After our recent journey through the seasons of Lent and Easter, and having celebrated the solemnities of Pentecost, the Most Holy Trinity and soon the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we return during the month of June to the season of the liturgical year that is known as “Ordinary Time,” which lasts until the First Sunday of Advent.

The liturgical color for the season of Ordinary Time is green because the color green in heraldry indicates the virtue of hope. The season is named Ordinary Time because it has to do with ‘ordinal,’ ‘enumerated’ or simply ‘counted’ Sundays. Because of our common use of the term ‘ordinary,’ the name of the season might seem to convey to us that there is nothing important that is going on. This image of Ordinary Time as an unimportant season of the liturgical year is a terrible and unfortunate misunderstanding of the season. Ordinary Time challenges us to live every single day the faith realities that we have recalled and celebrated over the past few months, from Advent and Christmas to Lent and Easter. During Ordinary Time, our principle effort and focus is a continual reflection each Sunday on our ongoing, daily call to live the challenge of the Gospel. During Ordinary Time in this current liturgical year, we will be hearing for the most part from the Gospel of

St. Mark. However, because St. Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the Gospels, the Bread of Life Discourse from St. John’s Gospel is utilized during a portion of the cycle of St. Mark’s Gospel. Therefore, you will notice that at the end of July and into August this year our Gospel readings will focus for a few weeks on the Bread of Life Discourse from St. John’s Gospel.

As we enter now into Ordinary Time and as we strive in an ‘ordinary way’ to live the message of Jesus each and every day, we can continue to reflect on our

response to the call of the Lord that goes out to each and every one of us. In the routine of our ordinary, daily lives we are called to follow after the Lord. Perhaps we do not recognize or appreciate enough how often Jesus calls us to follow after him in the decisions that we make in the routine events of our lives. For example, sometimes we too quickly exempt the ordinary events of our day from placing upon us a responsibility to extend kindness, mercy, forgiveness and love to one another. In the end, however, our efforts to share these virtues with one another, even in the ordinary events, truly pleases God and molds us more and more into those who are created and formed in his image and likeness. Most of our encounters with the Lord are hidden among the ordinary events of our daily lives, and if we recognize what is

occurring, these can be profound meetings with the Lord. These ordinary and far more numerous encounters between God and us can be missed by us if our tendency is to associate our interaction with God only with the more fantastic events that sometimes occur. Jesus calls us as we fulfill our daily tasks, and hopefully we recognize this call and continue our lives in his company. During these days of Ordinary Time, may our faith be strengthened as we recognize and respond to Jesus as he comes to us in the routine events of life, and may we be willing to show God’s love to all those whom we encounter.

I am sure that we are all aware that we await a decision from the Supreme Court of the United States with regard to the future definition of marriage in our country.

Marriage is unique for a reason, so therefore let us continue our fervent prayers that the Justices of the Supreme Court will uphold the traditional definition of marriage in their decision.

Step outside and you will quickly notice the green of nature, the color of hope, and also that the heat of the summer is here!! The heat over the next few weeks and months is only going to get more intense. As you are also aware, this means that we again find ourselves planning and praying our way through another hurricane season. While our official statewide Day of Prayer and Fasting for Hurricane Season is June 5 this year, please be aware that it is never too early or too late to offer prayers and to engage in fasting for a safe and peaceful hurricane season. We are confident that the Lord will not leave us to face any challenge alone, and with great hope we trust in his kindness and mercy, now and forever.

As we mark Fathers’ Day this month, I wish to all fathers God’s generous blessings and abundant peace!

There is nothing ‘ordinary’ about church’s ‘Ordinary Time’ Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

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LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

www.bayoucatholic.com

Comentario

El «Tiempo Ordinario» de la Iglesia no es «ordinario»

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Después de nuestra reciente jornada de la Cuaresma y la Pascua y luego de haber celebrado la solemnidad del Pentecostés, la Santísima Trinidad y luego el Santísimo Cuerpo Santo y Sangre de Cristo, volvemos en este mes de junio al tiempo del año litúrgico que conocemos como el «Tiempo Ordinario,» que dura hasta el Primer Domingo de Adviento.

El color litúrgico para el Tiempo Ordinario es verde porque este color representa la virtud de la esperanza. La temporada se llama Tiempo Ordinario porque trata con domingos «ordinarios», «enumerados» o simplemente «contados».

Debido a que solemos usar «ordinario» de manera común, el nombre de la temporada podría potencialmente comunicar que no tiene importancia. Esta imagen engañosa del Tiempo Ordinario convierte esta temporada falsamente en un año litúrgico sin relevancia; un malentendido terrible y desafortunado. El Tiempo Ordinario nos desafía a vivir cada día todas las realidades de fe que hemos recordado y celebrado en los últimos meses, de adviento y la navidad hasta la cuaresma y la pascua. Durante el Tiempo Ordinario, nuestro esfuerzo fundamental es llevar a cabo una continua reflexión cada domingo de cómo vivir el reto que nos presenta el Evangelio.

Durante el Tiempo Ordinario en este año litúrgico, leeremos todo sobre el Evangelio de San Marcos. Sin embargo, ya que el Evangelio de San Marcos es el más corto de todos, el discurso del Pan de Vida del Evangelio de San Juan se utiliza durante una parte del ciclo del Evangelio de San Marcos. Es por eso que usted notará que a finales del mes de julio y al comienzo de agosto de este año, las lecturas del Evangelio enfocarán por un

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

par de semanas el discurso del Pan de Vida del Evangelio de San Juan.

Ahora que entramos en el Tiempo Ordinario y avanzamos de «manera ordinaria» para vivir el mensaje de Jesús cotidianamente, continuamos reflexionando sobre nuestra respuesta al llamado que Dios nos hace a todos. En la rutina de nuestras vidas ordinarias somos llamados a seguir al Señor. Tal vez no podemos apreciar la frecuencia con la que Jesús nos llama a seguirlo en las decisiones cotidianas

que tomamos en la vida. Por ejemplo, a veces evitamos darnos la responsabilidad en nuestra vida cotidiana de ejercer la bondad, la misericordia, el perdón y el amor con el prójimo. Sin embargo, la realidad es que Dios es complacido cuando compartimos estas virtudes con el prójimo y nos convertimos más a imagen y semejanza de Dios cuando lo hacemos. La mayoría de nuestros encuentros con Dios se esconden entre los eventos ordinarios de nuestra vida cotidiana y, si nos damos cuenta de lo que sucede podríamos tener

encuentros transcendentales con el Señor. Estos encuentros ordinarios con Dios pueden ser desapercibidos si nuestra tendencia es solamente apreciar los eventos más fantásticos que a veces suceden. Jesús nos llama mientras llevamos a cabo nuestras labores cotidianas, y continuamos nuestras vidas con Él. Pido que durante el Tiempo Ordinario nuestra fe se fortalezca en nuestra vida cotidiana reconociendo y respondiendo al llamado de Jesús y compartiendo el amor de Dios con nuestros semejantes.

Seguramente ustedes ya saben que esperamos el fallo de la Corte Suprema de Justicia con respecto a la definición del matrimonio en nuestra nación. El matrimonio es único por una razón, así que sigamos orando fuertemente para que los jueces de la Corte Suprema de Justicia mantengan la definición tradicional del matrimonio en su decisión.

Salgan afuera y notarán el verdor de la naturaleza, el color de la esperanza y además que ¡¡el calor de verano está aquí!! El calor en las próximas semanas y meses se va a intensificar y la temporada de huracanes se acerca. Y como ustedes lo saben, esto también significa que estaremos planificando y orando en el Día Estatal de Oración y Ayuno el cinco de junio. Sé que Dios no nos abandonará y que jamás es demasiado temprano o tarde para ofrecer oraciones este verano para que tengamos un verano sin huracanes y apacible. Estoy seguro que Dios nos acompañará y no permitirá que tengamos que tratar nuestros desafíos solos y con gran esperanza podremos alcanzar la bondad y la misericordia ahora y por siempre.

Observando el Día del Padre este mes, ¡quiero desearles a todos los padres bendiciones y paz en abundancia!

Traducido por Julio Contreras, feligrés de la Iglesia Católica Annunziata en Houma

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LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

www.bayoucatholic.com

Binh luan bang loi

Không có gì ‘bình thường’ về ‘Mùa Thường Niên’ của Giáo hội

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Sau cuộc hành trình gần đây của chúng ta qua những mùa Chay và Phục Sinh, và chúng ta đã cử hành trọng thể Lễ Chúa Thánh Thần Hiện Xuống, Lễ Chúa Ba Ngôi, và sắp sửa Lễ Mình và Máu Thánh Chúa Kitô, chúng ta trở lại trong suốt tháng Sáu, theo lịch năm phụng vụ, được gọi là “Mùa Thường Niên,” kéo dài cho đến Chúa Nhật thứ Nhất Mùa Vọng. Màu sắc phụng vụ cho Mùa Thường Niên là màu xanh lá cây bởi vì màu xanh trong biểu tượng thể hiện nhân đức cậy. Được gọi là Mùa Thường Niên bởi vì nó phải đáp ứng với các ngày Chúa Nhật ‘bình thường,’ ‘thứ tự,’ hoặc đơn giản là “được đếm.” Bởi vì sự xử dụng phổ thông của chúng ta về từ ngữ ‘bình thường,’ cho nên tên của mùa này dường như muốn nói cho chúng ta biết rằng không có gì quan trọng sắp xảy ra. Quan niệm của Mùa Thường Niên này như thể là một mùa không quan trọng của năm phụng vụ là một sự hiểu lầm không may và đáng tiếc cho mùa này. Mùa Thường Niên thách đố chúng ta sống từng ngày với những thực tại đức tin mà chúng ta tưởng nhớ và cử hành trong mấy tháng qua, từ Mùa Vọng và Giáng sinh cho đến Mùa Chay và Phục Sinh. Trong suốt Mùa Thường Niên, nỗ lực và sự tập trung chính của chúng ta là sự suy gẫm liên tục mỗi ngày Chúa Nhật đang diễn ra, ơn gọi hằng ngày để sống với sự thách đố của Tin mừng. Trong suốt Mùa Thường Niên của năm phụng vụ này, chúng ta sẽ được nghe hầu hết Tin mừng thánh Mác-cô. Tuy nhiên, bởi vì Tin mừng thánh Mác-cô thì ngắn nhất trong các Tin mừng, Diễn từ Bánh Hằng Sống từ Tin mừng thánh Gioan đã được dung một phần trong chu kỳ của Tin mừng thánh Mác-cô.

Do đó, anh chị em sẽ nhận thấy rằng vào cuối tháng Bảy và đi vào tháng Tám năm nay, các bài đọc Tin mừng của chúng ta sẽ nhấn mạnh về Diễn từ Bánh Hằng Sống trong vài tuần trích từ Tin mừng thánh Gioan.

Một khi chúng ta bước vào Mùa Thường Niên, và khi chúng ta phấn

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

đấu trong một ‘chiều hướng bình thường’ để sống sứ điệp của Chúa Giêsu mỗi ngày và mọi ngày, chúng ta tiếp tục suy gẫm lời đáp trả của chúng ta trước lời mời gọi của Chúa dành cho mỗi một người chúng ta. Trong cuộc sống sinh hoạt bình thường hằng ngày của chúng ta, chúng ta được kêu gọi đi theo Chúa. Có lẽ chúng ta không nhận ra hoặc đánh giá cho đúng rằng Chúa Giêsu thường xuyên mời gọi chúng ta đi theo Ngài trong những quyết định mà chúng ta thực hiện trong các sự kiện bình thường của đời sống chúng ta. Ví dụ, đôi khi chúng ta quá vội vàng huỷ đi các sự kiện bình thường trong ngày của chúng ta với trách nhiệm phải mở

rộng lòng nhân hậu, thương xót, tha thứ và thương yêu nhau. Tuy nhiên, vào phút cuối những nỗ lực của chúng ta để chia sẻ những nhân đức với nhau, ngay cả trong những sự kiện bình thường, thật sự làm vui lòng Thiên Chúa và uốn nắn chúng ta mỗi ngày một nhiều hơn vào số người đã được tạo dựng và hình thành theo hình ảnh và mẫu mực của Chúa. Hầu hết các cuộc gặp gỡ của chúng ta với Chúa được ẩn nấp giữa các sự kiện bình thường của cuộc sống hằng ngày của mình, và nếu chúng ta nhận ra những gì đang xảy ra, chúng có thể trở thành những cuộc gặp gỡ tâm tình với Chúa. Những cuộc gặp gỡ giữa Thiên Chúa và chúng ta bình thường và rất nhiều này, có thể bị chúng ta bỏ qua, nếu khuynh hướng của chúng ta chỉ là kết hợp sự tương đồng giữa mình với Thiên Chúa khi có các sự kiện lớn

lao hơn mà chúng thỉnh thoảng mới xảy ra. Chúa Giêsu mời gọi chúng ta khi chúng ta thực hiện các công việc hằng ngày của mình, và hy vọng chúng ta nhận ra lời mời gọi này và tiếp tục cuộc sống của mình trong sự kết hiệp với Ngài. Trong những ngày này của Mùa Thường Niên, chớ gì đức tin của chúng ta được củng cố khi chúng ta nhận ra và đáp lại Chúa Giêsu khi Ngài đến với chúng ta trong những sự kiện bình thường của cuộc sống, và chớ gì chúng ta luôn sẵn sàng thể hiện tình yêu của Thiên Chúa cho tất cả những người mà chúng ta gặp gỡ.

Tôi chắc chắn rằng tất cả chúng ta đều biết chúng ta đang chờ đợi quyết định của Tòa Án Tối Cao của Hoa Kỳ liên quan đến định nghĩa tương lai của hôn nhân trong quốc gia chúng ta.

Hôn nhân là độc nhất đó là một lý do, vì thế chúng ta hãy tiếp tục nhiệt tâm cầu nguyện để các thẩm phán của Tòa án Tối cao sẽ duy trì định nghĩa truyền thống của hôn nhân trong quyết định của họ.

Khi bước ra ngoài trời, anh chị em lập tức sẽ nhận thấy màu xanh tự nhiên, màu của hy vọng, và cũng thế, sức nóng của mùa hè đang ở đây!! Sức nóng trong vài tuần và vài tháng tiếp theo chỉ đi đến chỗ cường độ cao hơn.

Như anh chị em cũng biết, điều này có nghĩa là một lần nữa chúng ta lên chương trình và cầu nguyện cho mùa bão tố khác. Trong khi ngày ăn chay và cầu nguyện trên toàn tiểu bang chính thức là ngày 5 tháng 6 năm nay, xin hãy lưu tâm rằng không bao giờ là quá sớm hoặc quá trễ để cầu nguyện và tham gia vào việc chay tịnh cho mùa bão tố được bình an vô sự. Chúng ta tin rằng Chúa sẽ không để chúng ta phải đương đầu với mọi thử thách một mình và chúng ta tin cậy vào lòng nhân hậu và thương xót của Ngài, bây giờ và mãi mãi.

Khi chúng ta mừng Ngày Hiền Phụ trong tháng này, tôi cầu chúc cho tất cả những người cha được nhiều phúc lành và bình an sung mãn của Thiên Chúa!

Dịch thuật do Lm. Francis Bui, SDD và Thầy Paul Vu, SDD. Tu Đoàn Tông Đồ Giáo Sĩ Nhà Chúa.

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LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

www.bayoucatholic.com

Comment The Pope Speaks

Brett Meister, senior vice president of communications for the Harlem Globetrotters, is greeted alongside players by Pope Francis during the pontiff’s weekly audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican May 6.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -Everyone would do well to reflect on their “final farewell” from earthly life and on whether they are prepared to entrust themselves and all they will leave behind to God, said Pope Francis.

During a morning Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae May 19, the pope reflected on the day’s readings in which Jesus, after speaking to his disciples of his imminent departure for the Father, prays “the hour has come” (Jn 17:1-11a), and in which St. Paul gathers with the elders of Ephesus before leaving for Jerusalem (Acts 20:17-27).

Every life involves many leave-takings, both great and small, the pope said, and some involve “many tears” and “much suffering.”

Drawing on current events, the pope recalled the “poor Rohingya of Myanmar” -- an estimated 8,000 members of the mostly Muslim ethnic group have been adrift at sea, refused asylum by several countries -- as well as the Christians and Yezidis who are being persecuted in Iraq.

“When leaving their homeland to escape persecution, they did not know what would happen to them,” the pope said, speaking of the Rohingya people. After having been on a boat for months, “they arrive in a city where they are given water, food, and are told, ‘Go away’. It is a leavetaking,” the pope said.

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano

“Incidentally, today there is great existential leave-taking,” he continued. “Think of the departure of the Christians and of the Yezidis, who think they will never return to their land because they have been forced from their homes.”

The pope then spoke of the “final leave-taking, which everyone will face, when the Lord calls us to the other side.”

The great leave-takings in life, including the final farewell, “are not departures of the type ‘see you soon,’ ‘later’ or ‘until we meet again,’ when a person knows he or she will return,” he said. “They are departures where we do not know when and how we will return.”

The theme of leave-taking is also present in art, he continued, recalling a song of the Italian Alpine corps about a captain saying farewell to his troops.

“Do I think of my final farewell, of the moment when I must say not ‘see you soon,’ ‘later,’ ‘until we meet again,’ but ‘farewell,’” the pope asked.

The day’s Scripture readings speak of farewell, he said, and of

Paul and Jesus entrusting their disciples to God’s care.

“To entrust to the Father, to entrust to God: this is the origin of the word ‘adieu,’” he said. “We say ‘adieu’ only in the great leavetakings in life, whether in life or the final one.”

The pope encouraged meditation on Jesus and Paul’s farewells in the day’s readings and reflection on one’s own eventual final farewell.

“It will do us good,” he added.

“Who will be the person who will close my eyes? What am I leaving behind? What did I do?

“It would do me well to imagine myself in that moment. When it will be, no one knows, but the moment will come when ‘later,’ ‘see you soon,’ ‘see you tomorrow,’ ‘until we meet again’ will become ‘farewell,’” he said.

“Am I prepared to entrust my loved ones to God? To entrust myself to God?” he continued.

He concluded invoking the risen Christ to send the Holy Spirit, so that “we may learn” to say the final adieu “with full strength.”

Pope Francis urges reflection on final farewell from earthly life Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Question Corner Father Kenneth Doyle

Marital status in church

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count” in the view of the church; not only were they married outside the church, but your friend was still married to husband No. 1 and therefore was not eligible to marry again with the Catholic Church’s blessing. (So she doesn’t have “two husbands” in the church’s view, only the first one.)

Where does this leave your friend right now? I assume that she is no longer living with husband No. 2, since you said that the marriage is in the process of being civilly annulled. So your friend is in good standing in the church and eligible to take holy Communion.

However, before she does that she should go to confession and tell the priest about her marriages

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Q A

Q. I read recently that, during the consecration at Mass, the blessed Savior is most present to us -- and that if we have a special prayer request, that would be the best time to make it. Can you tell me if that is correct, or is there a more appropriate time?

(Columbia, Missouri) A. It is true that when the words of consecration are pronounced by the priest, Jesus himself becomes present on the altar under the appearance of bread and wine. This makes that moment, of course, an especially sacred one. I have noticed that even when a congregation has seemed fidgety and distracted, a reverent hush descends at the time of consecration.

15 If you feel a particular closeness to Christ right then, by all means go ahead and make your request -- although the primary focus at that moment should be gratitude to the Lord for coming so near.

Finally, I need to point out that, in listening to our needs, God has no “office hours.” I believe, and the teaching of the church holds, that Jesus’ invitation to “ask and you shall receive” applies in any circumstance and in every setting.

Q. I have read your column and you seem to make appropriate clarifications. Here is the situation of my friend, who lives in the Philippines. (By the way, divorce is not legal in the Philippines.) Some time ago, she was married in a Catholic Church wedding; that marriage has now been annulled civilly, but not yet by the church. Later she married a different man in a civil wedding, and that second marriage is now in the process of civil annulment.

I am only concerned about her standing in the church. In the church’s eyes, is she still married to husband No. 1? Does this mean that she has two husbands at the same time? And finally, can she take Communion in the Catholic Church? (City of origin withheld) A. It is true that the Philippines, where 86 percent of the population is Catholic, is one of the few countries in the world where divorce is not recognized legally. However, that fact is extraneous to your question, which regards only your friend’s status in the church.

Her first marriage, which took place in a Catholic Church, was and still is recognized by the church. It sounds as though a petition for a church annulment may have been filed, but until that process is decided, the first marriage is still valid in the church’s eyes.

The second wedding “did not

Best time for prayer request

-- especially the second civil marriage, which would have been objectively sinful.

It will be good for you to pass this information on to your friend; there is a common belief that a failed marriage by itself (apart from a second marriage) separates one from the community of the church and the grace of the sacraments.

That is not true -- a spouse might be relatively blameless in the collapse of a marriage and may (and should) continue to receive the sacraments.

Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at askfatherdoyle@ gmail.com and 40 Hopewell St., Albany, N.Y. 12208 www.bayoucatholic.com

Reflections

Readings Between The Lines

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Father Glenn LeCompte

Summer, reading the signs of the times

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Summer is here again, and in south Louisiana that usually means sweltering temperatures and air so humid you can almost drink it! For many of us summer also is the time for vacations, time off from school, barbeques, trips to the beach, and long periods of daylight that enable us to work in our yards in the early evening.

But can the season of summer be a symbol which may serve as a means of spiritual reflection?

The great 20th century

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

spiritual master, Thomas Merton, reflects on God’s self-manifestation through the signs of the summer season.

Wind and sun. Catbird bickering in a bush. Ringing bells and blowing whistles, and then squawking in a lamentable fashion. Trees are all clothed and benches are out, and a new summer has begun (Thomas Merton, The Sign of Jonas, p. 103).

If I have any choice to make, it is to live here and perhaps die here.

But in any case, it is not the living or the dying that matter, but speaking your name with confidence in the light, in this unvisited place: to speak your name of “Father” just by being here as “son” in the Spirit and the Light which you have given, and which are no unearthly light, but simply this plain June day, with its shining field, its tulip tree, the pines, the woods and the flowers everywhere (Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander, p. 163).

In the simplicity of a “June day,” Merton can find the occasion to reflect upon his relationship to God as a beloved son.

Summer serves as a spiritual symbol in several different ways in the Scriptures. When summer is juxtaposed against the other seasons, especially winter, which

is its direct opposite, it signifies the balance in nature, and hence, God’s sustenance of our lives.

One of the most heartfelt expressions of God’s love for us is to be found in Genesis 8:22: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” This passage forms the conclusion to the Flood Narrative in Genesis (6:6-8:22). Even if God exacted justice against his human creations who chose to seek life apart from him, God, in mercy, does not simply obliterate life.

Noah and his family represent a new start for humanity; they are a new Adam and Eve. In the story of creation in Genesis 2, after God creates the man from the ground (2:7), he creates trees which provide food to sustain the life of the man (2:8-10). Genesis 8:22 serves the same function for Noah and his family that God’s creation of foodbearing trees did for the first man and woman he created. What will sustain Noah and his descendants is the perpetual cycle of the seasons.

Seedtime and harvest, summer and winter: both of these pairs form a balance that maintains the environment in which human life can flourish. If that balance

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were not there, creation would fall apart and human life would cease.

The fact that we have a summer that balances a winter speaks to us of how God constantly sustains our lives.

From our experience of this cycle of summer and winter we also learn that we are dependent upon God for the sustenance of our lives.

For our ancient ancestors winter was a time of scarcity of food, and they prayed for God to sustain them. When the summer came and the earth was teeming with food, they found the answer to their prayers. While it is true that people died during winter because of the elements and lack of food, many did survive. And those who did came to understand not only that their survival depended upon God, but that God indeed manifested his love for them by providing the abundance of summer.

Summer is a sign of hope for us, because we learn that despite the winter scarcity, if we are patient, God will provide the summer

abundance. And from this pattern of nature we can learn a lesson for spiritual life in general. Sometimes we have difficulty embracing hope in the winter experiences of our lives.

The winter experiences of life are the times of misfortune, sadness, death, conflict and struggle. But just as God will always cause the summer with its abundance to emerge after the winter scarcity,

so we can learn to see through the times of difficulty in life with a sense of hope that there will once again be a time of harmony, peace and fullness.

The summer season is more than just a phase of the earth’s climate.

All the characteristics of summer are symbols through which God reveals himself to us. We only have to be able to read “the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3).

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Scripture Readings Monday

1 June

Tuesday

2

Wednesday

3

Thursday

4

and a listing of Feast days and saints Friday

5

Saturday

6

Sunday

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Weekday Solemnity of the Tobit 12:1, 5-15, 20 Most Holy Body Mark 12:38-44 and Blood of Christ Exodus 24:3-8 Hebrews 9:11-15 Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

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9

10

11

12

13

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Weekday 2 Corinthians 1:1-7 Matthew 5:1-12

Weekday 2 Corinthians 1:1822 Matthew 5:13-16

Weekday 2 Corinthians 3:411 Matthew 5:17-19

Memorial of Barnabas, apostle Acts 11:21b-26; 13:1-3 Matthew 5:20-26

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8c-9 Ephesians 3:8-12, 14-19 John 19:31-37

Weekday 2 Corinthians 5:1421 Matthew 5:33-37

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Exodus 17:22-24 2 Corinthians 5:610 Mark 4:26-34

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16

17

18

19

20

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Weekday 2 Corinthians 6:110 Matthew 5:38-42

Weekday 2 Corinthians 8:1-9 Matthew 5:43-48

Weekday 2 Corinthians 9:611 Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Weekday 2 Corinthians 11:111 Matthew 6:7-15

Weekday 2 Corinthians 11:18, 21-30 Matthew 6:19-23

Weekday 2 Corinthians 12:110 Matthew 6:24-34

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time Job 38:1, 8-11 2 Corinthians 5:1417 Mark 4:35-41

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23

24

25

26

27

28

Weekday Genesis 12:1-9 Matthew 7:1-5

Weekday Solemnity of the Genesis 13:2, 5-18 Nativity of John Matthew 7:6, 12-14 the Baptist Isaiah 49:1-6 Acts 13:22-26 Luke 1:57-66, 80

Weekday Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16 Matthew 7:21-29

Weekday Weekday Genesis 17:1, 9-10, Genesis 18:1-15 15-22 Matthew 8:5-17 Matthew 8:1-4

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24 2 Corinthians 8:7, 9, 13-15 Mark 5:21-43

29

30

2

3

5

Solemnity of Weekday Peter and Paul, Genesis 19:15-29 apostles Matthew 8:23-27 Acts 12:1-11 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 17-18 Matthew 16:1319

1 July

Weekday Weekday Genesis 21:5, 8-20a Genesis 22:1b-19 Matthew 8:28-34 Matthew 9:1-8

Feast of Thomas, apostle Ephesians 2:19-22 John 20:24-29

4

June

Saints

Holy Father’s prayer intentions Universal

Columba circa 521 - 597 feast – June 9

Image © The Crosiers

This abbot, one of Scotland’s patron saints, was born in Ireland.

Also educated and ordained in Ireland, he spent 15 years preaching and founding monasteries, including Derry, Durrow and Kells. But his clashes with King Diarmaid over a psalter copy and the rights of sanctuary resulted in a clan feud and battle in which 3,000 men died. Choosing exile as his penance, Columba left for Scotland with 12 kinsmen about 561 to found the island monastery of Iona. He evangelized the Picts and converted their king. Iona monks went on mission all over Europe and its monastic rule was the standard until the Rule of St. Benedict. Columba, also called Colmcille (for Columba and cell), had enormous influence over Western monasticism.

Saints

Immigrants and refugees. That immigrants and refugees may find welcome and respect in the countries to which they come.

Cyril of Alexandria Image © public domain

376 - 444 feast – June 27

Cyril was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and was the nephew of its patriarch, Theophilus. Classically educated, he was ordained by his uncle, whom he succeeded as patriarch in 412. He had helped Theophilus discredit and depose St. John Chrysostom from Constantinople, in what may have been a rivalry between the two ancient sees. As patriarch, he exercised his authority hastily and violently, drawing severe criticism, and was embroiled in heretical controversies, chiefly against Nestorius of Constantinople, who taught that Mary was not the mother of God. Cyril’s orthodoxy eventually was upheld by pope and emperor. This most brilliant theologian of the Alexandrian tradition was declared a doctor of the church in 1882; he is the patron of Alexandria.

Saints

Irenaeus Image © public domain

Evangelization LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

Vocations. That the personal encounter with Jesus may arouse in many young people the desire to offer their own lives in priesthood or consecrated life.

See www.apostleshipofprayer.net

circa 125 – 202 feast – June 28

This early Christian theologian passed on the apostolic tradition to a new generation as he helped evangelize France. Born in Asia Minor, possibly at Smyrna, Irenaeus was taught by St. Polycarp, a pupil of St. John the Apostle. Sent to Gaul as a missionary, he served as a priest under St. Pothinus of Lyons, a martyr whom he succeeded as bishop of the large market city on the Rhone. Irenaeus continued to spread the Gospel and opposed the gnostic heresy, writing a fivebook treatise that is extant. During a 20-year episcopate, he spoke the language of Gaul instead of his native Greek, and worked hard to identify with his people. Little else is known about his life or death.

Saints

CNS www.bayoucatholic.com

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Special

Seven deadly sins Guest Columnist

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Father Michael Bergeron

Greed (or avarice) is an insatiable desire to acquire material goods. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “Greed is a sin against God, just as all mortal sins, in as much as man condemns things eternal for the sake of temporal things.” St. Paul calls greed the “root of all evil” (1Timothy 6:10).

Television, radio, newspapers and the Internet bombard us with the glorification of greed – sanitized, justified and praised.

America is living in an age of excess. Success is determined by possessions. Twelve percent of the world’s population lives in America and Western Europe.

They account for 60 percent of the world’s consumption. What is more shocking is that they use 80 percent of the world’s natural resources. Thirty-three percent of the world lives in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa and they account for only 3.2 percent of consumption. Can we really be happy and content with the gifts the Lord has entrusted to us and ignore the suffering of the poor around us? The rich man, who was content to ignore Lazarus, lived quite well – until the end (Luke 16:19-31).

Greed can be traced back to Adam and Eve. In the Garden of Eden, every tree was available to them except one, and that was the one they wanted. Not only were they greedy, but they put themselves in the place of God by their disobedience.

In Luke 12:15, Jesus said, “Take

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Part Six:

Greed

care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Jesus then tells the parable about a rich man who had a huge harvest that was too big to fit into his barn.

What does he do with his wealth?

Instead of sharing it, he simply decides to build a bigger barn so he can “eat, drink and be merry” for the rest of his life. That night, his life was demanded of him. You’ve heard the saying, “the one who dies

with the most toys wins.” That is incorrect. The truth is that the one who dies with the most toys loses!

St. Francis of Assisi said, “Riches prick us with a thousand troubles in getting them, as many cares in preserving them, and yet more anxiety in spending them, and with grief in losing them.” I once thought that if God wanted to really challenge me, I would win the mega-lottery. What a responsibility that would be

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to be a good steward of the treasures he has placed in my care! We forget that we can’t take it with us.

It reminds me of the story of the rich man who was visited by Angel of Death. The angel said, “We must go.” “Please,” pleaded the rich man, “let me bring one suitcase with me.”

To his surprise, the angel agreed.

The man quickly filled the suitcase with all his gold. He got to the Pearly Gates and St. Peter asked him what was in the suitcase. The man opened the suitcase to show him. St. Peter began laughing and exclaimed, “Pavement! He brought pavement!”

Jesus says “for where your treasure is, there will your heart be.” Greed misappropriates the treasures of the heart. We are afraid of losing what we have. Sometimes greed is a desire to have so much that we can’t possibility run out.

What happens if the stock market crashes or we lose our jobs or get sick or we are sued? If we acquire enough stock or real estate, or bury enough silver and gold in our back yards, we will be safe. God wants us to rely on him. In Scripture, the words “Fear Not” appear 366 times – one for every day of the year and an extra one for leap years. We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” but do we really believe it?

Greed can also include other things like recognition. We should share recognition for our successes with others and claim a fair share of responsibility for failures being blamed on others.

Greed can be tempered by generosity. Take time out to get rid of possessions. Give your time to a worthy cause, tip servers a larger amount, rid yourself of everything you have not used for over a year.

If we are really serious, embrace poverty, simplicity or modest living. We do not have to become homeless; however, we can learn to live with less. When we die we take nothing with us. Give things away now so that you may see others enjoy those things while you are still alive.

And remember God will not be outdone. The problem you will find is that the more you give away, the more you will receive – many times over! And then you will have to give even more away. Trust me, it will keep you busy.

Diocesan Outreach Line

In response to the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux is offering an Outreach Line (formerly known as the Child Protection Contact Line). The Outreach Line is an effort to continue the diocesan commitment to support healing for people who have been hurt or sexually abused recently or in the past by clergy, religious or other employees of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Outreach Line operates from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. A trained mental health professional responds to the line. Individuals are offered additional assistance if requested.

The Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Outreach Line Telephone number is (985) 873-0026.

For detailed reporting procedures see: www.htdiocese.org.

Click on the Safe Environment tab, then on S.E. Forms and Links.

Línea de Comunicación Diocesana

Con el fin de cumplir con las Políticas de Protección de Niños y Jóvenes de la Conferencia de Obispos Católicos de Los Estados Unidos, la Diócesis de Houma-Thibodaux ofrece una Línea de Comunicación (antes Línea de Contacto para la Protección de los Niños). La Línea de Comunicación es parte del esfuerzo diocesano de comprometerse con el mejoramiento de aquéllos que han sido lastimados o abusados sexualmente recientemente o en el pasado por miembros del clero, religiosos u otros empleados de la Diócesis de Houma-Thibodaux.

El horario de la Línea de Comunicación de la Diócesis de Houma-Thibodaux es de 8:30 a.m. a 4:30 p.m., de lunes a viernes. El encargado de esta línea es un profesional capacitado en salud mental. Se ofrece asistencia adicional al ser solicitada.

Línea de Comunicación de la Diócesis de Houma-Thibodaux Número de teléfono (985) 873-0026.

Vea el detallado procedimiento de informes en: www.htdiocese.org.

Haga clic en Safe Environment y luego S.E. Forms and Links.

Ñöôøng daây ñieän thoaïi Cöùu giuùp Giaùo phaän Ñeå höôûng öùng Hieán chöông Baûo veä Treû em vaø Giôùi treû töø Hoäi ñoàng Giaùm muïc Hoa kyø, Giaùo phaän Houma-Thibodaux ñang chuaån bò ñöôøng daây ñieän thoaïi Cöùu giuùp (luùc tröôùc laø ñöôøng daây lieân laïc baûo veä treû em). Ñöôøng daây ñieän thoaïi Cöùu giuùp laø moät söï coá gaéng cuûa giaùo phaän nhaèm cam keát haøn gaén naâng ñôõ nhöõng ai ñaõ bò toån thöông hoaëc bò laïm duïng tính duïc hoaëc gaàn ñaây hoaëc trong quaù khöù bôûi giaùo só, tu só hoaëc caùc coâng nhaân vieân cuûa Giaùo phaän Houma-Thibodaux. Ñöôøng daây ñieän thoaïi Cöùu giuùp Giaùo phaän hoaït ñoäng töø 8:30 saùng ñeán 4:30 chieàu, thöù hai ñeán thöù saùu. Moät nhaân vieân chuyeân nghieäp veà söùc khoûe taâm thaàn traû lôøi treân ñöôøng daây ñieän thoaïi. Nhöõng caù nhaân seõ ñöôïc trôï giuùp naâng ñôõ theâm neáu caàn. Ñöôøng daây ñieän thoaïi Cöùu giuùp Giaùo phaän Soá ñieän thoaïi: (985) 873-0026.

Caàn bieát theâm chi tieát veà caùch baùo caùo xin vaøo trang web cuûa ñòa phaän laø www.htdiocese.org.

Baám vaøo muïc Safe Environment, sau ñoù tôùi muïc S.E. Forms vaø Links.

www.bayoucatholic.com

21

Heavenly Recipes

Story and Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier This month’s heavenly recipe comes from Betty Naquin a 22 parishioner of St. Ann Church parish in Bourg. She is part of a large cooking committee at St. Ann. “There are about 10 parishioners who cook for special events. Father Ty, the pastor, loves to have food at special events in the parish,” says Betty.

A native of Houma, she learned to cook at an early age from her dad. “My dad, Nolan Boudreaux, cooked for Texaco at the Lake Pelto camp for many years. He was a very good cook. He even cooked for us at home. He would cook so much food that we would have food while he was away at work for many days at a time,” says Betty.

This pork loin recipe is one that she put together after experimenting with different recipes. “I enjoy reading cookbooks and trying different recipes. I read cookbooks like people read books.”

Betty and her husband Donald have three children, two girls and a boy. “Our oldest daughter loves to cook. She was always interested in food. She graduated from Chef John Folse’s Culinary Institute at Nicholls. She was in the school the first year the culinary institute opened,” she says. “Our son also Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

enjoys cooking.”

As part of the cooking committee she has learned to cook for a large number of people. “I enjoy feeding the bunch. I also cook a lot for the Knights of Columbus, which Donald is a long-time member.

Our committee also cooked and delivered meals for hurricane victims. I would rather cook for 100 people than two people. I have a hard time cooking for just Donald and myself,” says Betty.

When she isn’t busy cooking, she enjoys gardening. “I am past

president and a member of the Terrebonne Garden Club. We still have an active club which is in its 82nd year. There are approximately 45 members who attend monthly meetings. I can lose myself completely in gardening and relaxing next to my fish pond.

I like to hear the water and relax after a hectic day. I appreciate the beauty of nature. The beauty of God’s creation is evident all around us. We are stewards of his creation and are called to take care of it and preserve it for future generations.”

Pork Loin 1 five or six pound pork loin Dry rub ingredients: 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. black pepper 2 tsp. onion powder 1 tsp. paprika 2 tsp. garlic powder 2 tsp. chili powder 1 tbsp. brown sugar 1 tsp. snipped rosemary (optional) Liquid ingredients: 1 14.5 oz. can of chicken broth 2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce Mix dry rub ingredients together and sprinkle on both sides of pork

loin which has been trimmed of excess fat. Rub into the pork loin.

Place loin in a baking pan; add the chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for two hours at 350 degrees, basting every half hour.

Remove from the oven, let cool for 30 minutes. Slice the loin.

Gravy: Pour drippings in a saucepan; heat until boiling. Measure two tbsp. corn starch. Add to one cup of water and stir until dissolved. Add to boiling drippings. Stir constantly until it thickens. Pour over pork loin.

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Why wait to start or maintain your healthy lifestyle?

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Young Voices

24

In what ways has social media been used as a tool to strengthen your faith in Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church?

Social media has played a big role in my life because it’s the way I communicate and update my family and friends on what is going on in my life. I follow and repost many Catholic oriented pages that give me daily reflections. As I scroll through my Instagram, I always come across a post from my favorite pages that strengthen my faith through Scripture and reflection posts each and every day.

Katherine Butler, 17 years old Holy Cross Church parish Central Catholic High School

Social media has helped me in my faith journey by allowing me to stay connected to my CLI family.

Through group texting, we share daily Bible verses, plan get-togethers, share pictures, post upcoming events, and provide help and support to each other when facing challenges and struggles.

Social media should not replace opportunities for person-to-person interaction, but it does help me to stay connected in the midst of my busy schedule.

Alec Naquin, 17 years old St. Thomas Aquinas Church parish E.D. White Catholic High School

Social media has strengthened my faith in Jesus and the Catholic Church through a few ways. I read a daily Bible verse with a reflection. I also get to see multiple Bible verses or inspirational quotes on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. These have been known to help me in my faith throughout my day as well as others that I share them with.

Kensey Thibodaux, 19 years old St. Bernadette Church parish Nicholls State University

Social media has definitely been a great resource to strengthen my faith. It gives me access to a multitude of articles, videos and testimonies that I would not have such ready access to without social media. The Christian and Catholic groups I follow on social media grant me opportunities to learn about my faith through educational articles, and also give me positive and inspirational words that strengthen me in my daily pursuit of holiness.

Michael Prosperie, 20 years old St. Ann Church parish Nicholls State University Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Seminarian Education Burses

What is a seminarian burse fund?

A seminarian burse fund is an invested sum of money where the interest is used in perpetuity to help fund the education of men to the priesthood in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

How does someone establish a seminarian burse fund?

Very simply, a burse may be established and named for anyone you choose, be it family, friend, bishop, priest, deacon, religious, etc.

When is a seminarian burse complete?

A seminarian burse fund is complete once it reaches $15,000.

If you choose to continue to contribute, a new burse will be created for you.

Who do I contact to contribute to or establish a burse fund?

To contribute or establish a burse, send funds to Pastoral Center, Attn: Seminarian Burse, P. O. Box 505, Schriever, LA 70395 or call Jeremy Becker, Director of Stewardship and Development, at 985-850-3155 for more information.

Completed Burses of $15,000 each

Note: those wtih a number stipulates the number of completed burses* - Anonymous - Mr. & Mrs. C. Thomas Bienvenu - Harry Booker - Bishop Warren L. Boudreaux (3)* - Mr. Eledier Broussard - Rev. Adrian J. Caillouet - Rev. James Louis Caillouet - Bishop L. Abel Caillouet - Judge/Mrs L. P. Caillouet - Msgr. Lucien J. Caillouet - Abdon J. & Ada B. Callais - Harold & Gloria Callais Family - Paul A. Callais - Peter W. Callais - Vincent & Fannie Cannata - Minor Sr. & Lou Ella Cheramie - Maude & Edith Daspit - Mr. & Mrs. Caliste Duplantis family (3)* - Clay Sr. & Evelida Duplantis

- C. Remie Duplantis - Marie Elise Duplantis - Warren J. Harang, Jr. - Msgr. Raphael C. Labit - Msgr. Francis J. Legendre - Rev. Charles Menard - Dr. & Mrs. M.V. Marmande & Fly - Donald Peltier, Sr. (3)* - Harvey Peltier (30)* - Richard Peltier - The Peltier Foundation (3) - Orleans & Louella Pitre - Msgr. Joseph Wester - Robert R. Wright, Jr. - Rev. Kermit Trahan - St. Bernadette Men’s Club - Diocesan K of C - Endowment Fund - $119,136.90

April 2015 Burse Contributions Joseph Strada Memorial ............................... $11,642.63 Msgr. Francis Amedee .................................... $2,695.00 Society of St. Joseph ....................................... $2,000.00 Msgr.Raphael C. Labit #2 .................................. $120.00 Jacob Marcello .................................................. $100.00

Open Burses with Balance as of 4/30/15 Sidney J. & Lydie C. Duplantis ........... $13,000.00 Donald Peltier, Sr. #4 ............................ $13,000.00 Joseph Strada Memorial ...................... $12,642.63 Msgr. Raphael C. Labit #2 .................. $11,080.00 Harvey Peltier #31 .............................. $10,486.91 Clay Sr. & Evelida Duplantis #2 .......... $10,000.00 C. Remie Duplantis #2 ........................ $10,000.00 Marie Elise Duplantis #2 ..................... $10,000.00 Maude & Edith Daspit #2 .................... $10,000.00 Msgr. George A. Landry ...................... $10,000.00 Elie & Dot Klingman .............................. $8,680.00 Mr. & Mrs. George C. Fakier ................. $8,200.00 Rev. Victor Toth ..................................... $7,000.00 Mrs. Shirley Conrad ............................... $7,000.00 Brides of the Most Blessed Trinity ......... $6,165.00 Rev. Peter Nies ..................................... $5,810.00 Msgr. William Koninkx ........................... $5,200.00 Mr. & Mrs. Love W. Pellegrin ................. $5,000.00 Anonymous #2 ...................................... $5,000.00 Mr. & Mrs. Caliste Duplantis Fmly.#4..... $5,000.00 Rev. William M. Fleming ........................ $5,000.00 Mrs. Ayres A. Champagne ..................... $5,000.00 Rev. Kasimir Chmielewski ..................... $4,839.00 Rev. Gerard Hayes ................................ $4,786.00 Rev. Henry Naquin ................................. $4,251.00 Rev. Guy Zeringue ................................ $4,200.00 Joseph “Jay” Fertitta .............................. $4,150.00

Harry Booker #2 .................................... $4,138.00 Catholic Daughters ................................ $4,080.00 Kelly Curole Frazier ............................... $3,610.96 J. R. Occhipinti ...................................... $3,400.00 Msgr. James Songy ............................... $3,075.00 Mr. & Mrs. Galip Jacobs ........................ $3,060.00 St. Jude ................................................. $3,000.00 Diocesan K of C #2 ............................... $2,894.62 Anawin Community ............................... $2,700.00 Msgr. Francis Amedee ........................... $2,695.00 Rev. Peter H. Brewerton ........................ $2,600.00 Willie & Emelda St. Pierre ...................... $2,000.00 St. Joseph Society ................................. $2,000.00 Rev. H. C. Paul Daigle ........................... $1,900.00 Warren J. Harang, Jr. #2 ......................... $1,900.00 James J. Buquet, Jr. ............................... $1,650.00 Alfrances P. Martin ................................. $1,650.00 Msgr. Francis J. Legendre #2 ................ $1,645.00 Rev. Robert J. Sevigny .......................... $1,600.00 Msgr. Emile J. Fossier ........................... $1,545.00 Dr. William Barlette, Sr........................... $1,525.00 Msgr. Stanislaus Manikowski ................ $1,525.00 Mr. & Mrs. John Marmande .................... $1,500.00 Deacon Robert Dusse’ ........................... $1,450.00 Msgr. John L. Newfield .......................... $1,200.00 Rev. John Gallen .................................... $1,100.00 Rev. Anthony Rousso ............................. $1,100.00

Rev. Hubert C. Broussard ...................... $1,050.00 Rev. Clemens Schneider ....................... $1,000.00 Bishop Warren L. Boudreaux #4 ........... $1,000.00 Msgr. John G. Keller .............................. $1,000.00 Preston & Gladys Webre ........................ $1,000.00 Jacob Marcello ....................................... $1,000.00 Deacon Willie Orgeron ............................. $800.00 Ruby Pierce .............................................. $800.00 Deacon Roland Dufrene ........................... $750.00 Juliette & Eugene Wallace ......................... $700.00 Ronnie Haydel .......................................... $685.00 Deacon Edward J. Blanchard ................... $660.00 Deacon Connely Duplantis ........................ $625.00 Judge Louis & Shirley R. Watkins .............. $600.00 Deacon Raymond LeBouef ...................... $550.00 Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Cannata .................... $500.00 Deacon Harold Kurtz ................................ $300.00 Richard Peltier #2 ..................................... $300.00 Anne Veron Aguirre ................................... $280.00 Claude Bergeron ...................................... $250.00 Bernice Harang ......................................... $200.00 Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Naquin .......................... $150.00 Deacon Pedro Pujals ................................ $100.00 Joseph Waitz, Sr. ...................................... $100.00 Deacon Eldon Frazier .............................. $ 50.00 Deacon Nick Messina .............................. $ 50.00 Rev. Warren Chassaniol ........................... $ 50.00

Overall Seminarian Burse Totals: $1,494,761.02 www.bayoucatholic.com

25

Entertainment

Seeing Clairely Claire Joller

I 26

I just couldn’t understand it.

One coed who lived in the same college dormitory as I did began to snub my good mornings and how-are-you-todays.

We had never been close friends, but we had lived in the same building for two years.

Before that week, she and I had a smile-and-hello relationship, not particularly profound, but nevertheless pleasant.

Her unexpected scowls left me baffled about their cause.

What had I done to cause this turnaround? I tried to think of any encounter that had soured her on me. At that time, especially, I sought–no, needed–approval, so it began to wear on me when I couldn’t fathom her disapproval.

I upped my cordiality level a couple of days. Nothing. Puzzled, I gave the subject way too much thinking time.

After a week had passed with no improvement in her icy glances in my direction, I received a phone call from her that solved the mystery. Her voice had a decided edge. “Claire, are you dating Emil Joller?” She practically snarled his name.

“Yes, I am, but why do you ask?

What’s wrong?”

She took a deep breath and let loose. “Earlier this week I walked by the table where y’all were sitting in the library, and I saw him make fun of me. He whispered something to you, and both of you looked directly at me.

I know he was criticizing me. I want to know what he whispered to you.”

Now it all made sense. I remembered that evening in the library. For a split second, I considered whether to tell her.

But she sounded so angry, the

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Whispers

truth might actually help.

“When you walked by, Emil whispered to me, ‘That girl is so pretty. I feel sorry for her, though, because she probably doesn’t even know that if she’d lose some of that weight, she’d be a knockout.’”

Silence from the phone, then sputtering, then an entirely different tone of voice. “Uh, okay.

Thank you. Sorry I bothered you.”

Emil said what he did totally without malice, but we had innocently hurt this girl. That misunderstanding permanently prejudiced me against whispers in public.

We whisper in church, we whisper in public to children who need correction, we whisper our affection for those who are dear to us. All of these and some other scenarios do not betray any standards of politeness.

But when a dinner companion leans over during a group conversation to whisper only to his seat mate, I always wonder whether he knows it’s rude to tell

what amounts to a secret in full view of numbers of people.

Whispers in that kind of situation imply secrets, and if something can’t be said to the entire group, civility requires that it would be best whispered without an audience of many.

Call me too sensitive, but public whispers, even by adults, put me in mind of two children on the playground with heads together, pointing at another child then whispering something that is unkind about the other child. Children are still learning values and appropriateness, but both experience and grown-up sensibilities should inform adults on this score.

Even if the whisper is innocuous, the very act of whispering is associated with intrigue, rumors, or any number of other unsavory topics.

And whispers are open to wildly mistaken interpretation by onlookers, which I learned all those years ago.

Book Reviews

Guest Columnist Raymond Saadi

Merton & Waugh A Monk, A Crusty Old Man & the Seven Storey Mountain

By Mary Frances Coady Paraclete Press $22 Thomas Merton was in his first year at Kentucky’s Gethsemani Monastery when a manuscript of his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain was sent to Evelyn Waugh by his publisher hoping for an endorsement. Waugh, newly famous in America for his book, Brideshead Revisited answered promptly with glowing praise.

Like Merton, Waugh’s life story was eerily similar … “a dissolute youth spent at one of England’s great universities, serious emotional setbacks in early adult relationships, a drift toward a literary career, and finally conversion to Catholicism.”

Merton’s life’s story had even more drama; born in France “to bohemian artist parents, both of whom died by the time he was fifteen,” spending a “year of debauchery that ended in what seems to have been a paternity suit which, without the help of his father’s wealthy friend”

might have proved an ignominious barrier to his priestly vocation. The two began a spirited and absorbing correspondence, 20 of those letters included here. Waugh became Thomas’ mentor and Merton, in turn, became Waugh’s spiritual advisor. Their writings “long after their deaths, are still explored and loved.”

discovered in a book describing a similar procedure done on horses.

But humans? The world of medicine in 1929 was not ready for that and he was advised (ordered?) to try it on animals first. Impatient, he decided to experiment on himself and with only the assistance of an OR nurse, he inserted a catheter into an incision in his arm and pushed it until it stopped. His nurse then helped him walk down two floors to the X-Ray lab. When the image showed he had only reached his heart’s exterior, he pushed the tube in further until the final picture (included) showed it inside his heart. He had done it! It was a breakthrough as radical and thrilling as the mechanical heart and heart transplant are today.

Forssmann was awarded the Nobel Prize along with two Americans, Andre’ Cournand and Dickinson Richards, who had adapted and refined his method.

The Man Who Touched His Own Heart

27

By Rob Dunn Little, Brown $27 Twenty-five year old Werner Forssmann, the man in the title, was consumed with the idea of reaching inside a person’s beating heart while undergoing surgery.

He had only the year before received his medical degree but was fascinated by sketches he

Houma and Lafourche in retrospect

Anyone looking for a trip back in time will find it in these three volumes from Images of America, Arcadia Publishing ($21.99 each). The oldest in the series, Houma published in 2004 by Thomas Blum Cobb and Mara Currie celebrated the city’s 100th anniversary in 1934 with archival photos of those events and many more. In a more recent (2014) volume, Forgotten Houma author Rachel E. Cherry offers even more scenes of Houma and Terrebonne. In Lafourche Parish, NSU Archivist Clifton P. Theriot pictures scenes from St. John and Chackbay through Thibodaux, Raceland, Golden Meadow, Leeville and all between.

Nostalgia lovers and local historians should delight in all three. www.bayoucatholic.com

Personalities

God planned the ‘perfect life’ Story by Janet Marcel Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier Father Baby “Philip” Kuruvilla, pastor of St. Lawrence the Martyr Church parish and St. James Mission in Kraemer since July 2008, recently celebrated the 25th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. He was ordained May 12, 1990, in his hometown of Koodalloor, Kerala, India. In 2007, he came to the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and was incardinated into the diocese in January 2014.

Of his decision to be incardinated into this diocese, Father Kuruvilla says, “When I started to work here I somehow felt God was calling me to minister here for the rest of my life. Also, there was a real need for priests over 28 here whereas in India we had enough priests there. I also started to really enjoy my work over here as a priest and all of the priestly ministries I am involved with. I did my work among the people of other faiths for 17 years. I have lots of pastoral fulfillment here.”

Father Kuruvilla says that his family and surroundings are what influenced him to become a priest.

He had four sisters and three brothers; two of his brothers are deceased. Two of his sisters are nuns.

“I had an older sister who was a nun, and an uncle who was a priest that influenced me a lot. My parents were very religious and we had prayers every day at home. They used to take me to the church regularly, which also had an influence on my decision to become a priest.”

If he hadn’t become a priest, Father Kuruvilla doesn’t know what he would have done, but says perhaps he might have been a teacher.

He had 13 years of seminary life which began with three years in minor seminary that included

schooling in 11th and 12th grade, followed by one year of Novitiate, two years of philosophy and two years of college studies. Then he had one year of practical experience in the Missions, which was followed by four years of theology.

“My seminary life was in North India and my home was in South India. When I reached the seminary, it was a total change of language, food, weather and culture. In India, every state has a different language and culture.

It was a struggle to get through it in the beginning.

But I got used to it soon and I had a good experience in all my seminary life,” says Father Kuruvilla.

At St. Charles Seminary in India, there were about 150 seminarians from different parts of India belonging to different dioceses and religious orders. Father Kuruvilla says it helped him to interact with them and to have pastoral experiences in different parishes there.

His studies were hard at the beginning, but he says he was able to come out with flying colors in the end.

Father Kuruvilla says one memory that stands out about his ordination was being able hold the chalice in his hand and celebrate Mass for the first time.

“My life as a priest had been so wonderful. I had 17 years of mission life in the northern part of India where most of the people belonged to other faiths. It was a challenging mission life. But wherever I worked, I was able to enjoy my priestly ministry,” he says. “I enjoyed visiting the people, conducting prayer meetings, celebrating Mass, praying over the people, especially the sick and elderly. I have a great satisfaction when people benefit from my ministry and look forward to my visit.”

Father Kuruvilla says the most challenging aspect of being a priest for him is when people criticize him or do not understand him. His most challenging

for Father Kuruvilla

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

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29

experiences were in the missions he worked. “There were days without electricity; it was too hot and I could not sleep. There were nights when I had to fight with mosquitoes. And there were times when I feared death, as in some missions the people were hostile. In some areas I worked, the priests were attacked and beaten up,” says the priest.

His most memorable moments as a priest have been administering the anointing of the sick or the last sacrament and seeing people die peacefully right before him. He also enjoys hearing confession and having it touch someone so deeply that they go out in tears.

Father Kuruvilla says the greatest accomplishment he can think of is that he has been able to touch the lives of many people, bring them close to God and know that many changed their way of life because of his priestly ministry.

In his free time, Father Kuruvilla enjoys traveling, gardening, fishing and visiting people.

“I do not think I would have been happier anywhere else than in my priesthood. It was the perfect life God had planned for me,” says Father Kuruvilla.

Father Philip Kuruvilla, pastor of St. Lawrence the Martyr Church parish in Kraemer, recently celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving for his 25th anniversary to the priesthood. Bishop Emeritus Sam G. Jacobs was the main celebrant of the Mass which was concelebrated by Father Mahendra Paul, I.M.S., superior of the Indian Missionary Society; Father Kuruvilla, and Father Roch Naquin. During the homily Father Kuruvilla thanked all in attendance and expressed his love for the parishioners of St. Lawrence. www.bayoucatholic.com

Personalities

30

31 years of charitable work Wanda Dugas, office manager for Catholic Charities When she first started there, the only programs Houma Thibodaux, is retiring after almost 31 years the agency offered were Emergency Assistance, the with the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

Adoptions Program and Parish Social Ministry.

After the Thibodaux native graduated from high “After Hurricane Katrina,” she recalls, “things school, she began working for the telephone company, ‘really snowballed.’ Once the assistance part was then as a secretary for the state. Following that job finished, there was money left over from Catholic she went to work for the Lafourche Parish School Charities USA. Rob (Gorman, executive director of Board (LPSB). She wasn’t working in 1984 when she Catholic Charities) contacted them about starting the saw an ad in the paper that the Diocese of HoumaC.E.N.T.S. Program and Catholic Housing, because Thibodaux was hiring. there was a need for both. People were out of work Dugas credits her experience with the state lunch because of Katrina and they needed housing, also.” program at the LPSB as the reason why she was hired Dugas says she has enjoyed meeting so many new to get a state lunch program started at St. Lucy Child people and helping people in need. “It was always Development Center. exciting because we always had something new going Two years later in 1986, Sister Miriam Mitchell, on and new people coming in.”

S.H.Sp., then executive director for Catholic Social She is most proud of how she has grown as a person Services, approached Dugas about becoming the while working for Catholic Charities. “I became a agency’s office manager. lot more understanding of people in need, the way Things have certainly changed over the years, says they act and the way they feel having to come here Dugas. When she first started as the office manager, to ask for assistance. Just learning how to deal with there were only three other employees in the building them, how to talk to them and being compassionate on Aycock Street. in understanding where they were coming from has “We had an old DECmate computer; the printer was really helped me to grow as a person.” about four feet wide and Her most memorable four feet high, and there moments from working Story by Janet Marcel were no fax machines, for Catholic Charities only the copy machine were in the aftermath of Photo by Lawrence Chatagnier and a typewriter.”

Hurricane Katrina.

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

a

“The chaos of people calling from all over the United States and Canada wanting directions to make deliveries, and people calling here who desperately needed our help was just a whole new experience.

The staff went out to do field work wherever we were needed; and talking to and listening to the stories of the evacuees really made me feel so humble and just touched my heart,” she says.

While at Catholic Charities, Dugas worked for two different directors, Sister Miriam and Rob Gorman.

Both, she says, taught her different things.

“Sister Miriam taught me a lot about understanding people in need and how to deal with them through compassion … she taught me about the ministry aspect of my job,” says Dugas.

“Rob was always open to suggestions and ready to discuss any ideas or problems I had. Our biggest difference of opinion was him wanting me to keep a “to do” list which I always had trouble doing! I will always look back on our years of working together with fond memories.”

She also enjoyed the fact that neither of them looked over her shoulder. “I was always allowed to work on my own and they trusted me to do the job right.

It was really a learning experience working with both of them because they were two totally different personalities. I really appreciated working with each of them and learning from each of them.”

Dugas says that what she will miss most about working for Catholic Charities is the staff, many of whom she has worked with the entire time she has

been there. “They have all become my good friends.”

For about the first two months after she retires, Dugas says she plans to do absolutely nothing except sleep late and just take it easy. “After that I’ll see what life brings.”

She adds that she loves to read and is looking forward to having more time to do that.

“I have really enjoyed working here. I only started thinking of retiring about a year ago. When I first came here I remember thinking that I had 10 or 15 good years to give the agency. I ended up doubling that, staying over 30 years and enjoying every one of them,” recalls Dugas.

Gorman says he can barely remember Catholic Charities without Wanda there and that it will be a real adjustment when she retires. “We have worked together for so long that we can finish each other’s sentences! She knows our office, our staff, our programs and our diocese so well that she can handle almost any situation without even having to think very hard about it. Wanda has remained active and enthusiastic past the time when many other staff has retired and she still excels at her job.

It’s been a pleasure to work with her for 29 years here at Catholic Charities and for two years before that at St. Lucy Child Development Center. I’ll miss her patience, teamwork, professionalism and daily friendship - but she has promised to be available for advice and I expect to hold her to that!”

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31

EVENTS

DIOCESAN June n Bishop Shelton J. Fabre will lead a Corpus Christi procession, Saturday, June 6 following the 4 p.m. Mass for Feast of Corpus Christi at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma.

july n Food for the Journey, Tuesday, July 7, Quality Hotel, Houma, 10:45-12:45 p.m. Speaker, Father Michael Bergeron. n Saint Kateri Mass, Friday, July 10, 6:30 p.m., Holy Family, Grand Caillou. n Christian Leadership Institute, July 15-19, Lumen Christi Retreat

august 32

n Food for the Journey, Tuesday, Aug. 4, Quality Hotel, Houma, 10:45-12:45 p.m. Speaker, Father Joseph Pilola. n Spirituality, Wednesdays, Aug. 5, 12 and 19, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Speaker, Jimmie Danos. n Married Couples Date Night, Saturday, Aug. 15, Courtyard by Marriott Ballroom, Houma, 6 p.m. Full service dinner including appetizer,

n Steubenville on the Bayou, June 26-28, Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center, Houma, 6 p.m. Registration now open. Visit www.

SteubenvilleOnTheBayou.com for more information.

Center’s Souby Building.

n 76th Annual Tekakwitha Conference, July 22-26, Alexandria, LA. Anyone is welcome to attend. Additional information is available online at www.tekconf.org or by emailing tekconf@gmail.com.

salad, main course and dessert. n Woman of God Gathering, Tuesday, Aug. 18, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall. Meal served at 6 p.m.; events begin at 6:30 p.m. Free event, all women over 18 years of age are invited. n Adore, Wednesday, Aug. 26, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 7 p.m.

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Walk-in Tubs

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The collection will be held June 27 and 28.

Thank you for your generosity.

www.bayoucatholic.com

Our Churches

34

Blessed Sacrament offering traditional worship experience Story by Janet Marcel Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier

The Blessed Sacrament Chapel in Gibson, formerly St. Patrick Church, was established in 2006 for individuals who want an experience of worship in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite or a traditional Latin Mass. Father Van Constant is the priest in charge.

St. Patrick in Gibson was established in 1920 as a mission church. The current wooden country church was built in 1940, the fifth church building in that location. The first three were destroyed by hurricanes and the fourth by fire. It is located on what used to be an island; the land was closed in around the front of the church, but is still surrounded by water on three sides.

When the old St. Rita’s Church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans was torn down to build a new one, many of its contents were donated to the church in Gibson.

The stained glass windows, the altar, some statues and pedestals, and the pews all come from St. Rita’s.

Father Constant says that 140 to 160 young to middle aged people attend Mass at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel each week. Most of the people who attend Mass there are regulars; however people come from as far away as Metairie and Jeanerette for the traditional worship experience.

The chapel has no canonical jurisdiction; however the building is consecrated because it used to be part of a parish, adds the priest.

According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ teachings on the Extraordinary

a

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

35 Form of the Mass, “St. John Paul II, with a special indult issued in 1984 by the Congregation for Divine Worship, granted the faculty under certain conditions to restore the use of the Missal promulgated by Blessed John XXIII. He then promulgated the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei in 1988 which established a Commission for the pastoral oversight of those Catholics who remain attached to the Mass as it was celebrated in the Missale Romanum of 1962.”

Father Constant explains some of the differences between the traditional Latin Mass (Extraordinary Form) and the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite that most Catholics today are more familiar with.

“At a traditional Latin Mass, the priest celebrates Mass facing east to focus on Christ crucified and highlight the sacrificial nature of Mass; the congregation kneels for reception of the Eucharist on the tongue, and traditional expressions of silence before the Blessed Sacrament are observed.

The Gregorian Chant, which is the traditional chant of the Roman Rite, is also used,” says Father Constant.

“In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI issued another motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum, which expanded and simplified the permissions to celebrate the whole liturgy according to the norms of 1962. He has clarified that the 1962 Missale and the 2008 Missale are both legitimate forms of the one Roman Rite, respectively called the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms (Extraordinary Form of the Mass, USCCB). www.bayoucatholic.com

Cover Story

Confirmation

Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit Guest Columnist Very Rev. Joshua Rodrigue, S.T.L.

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Receiving baptism in the Jordan by John, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus (Mark 1:10) and remained with him (John 1:32) to assist in fulfilling his mission as the Messiah. Jesus later promised his disciples that the Holy Spirit would encourage them also to fulfill their mission in bearing witness to their faith after he would ascend to the Father, especially in times of tribulation. Finally on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down in an extraordinary way on the Apostles, and they went out to fulfill the Lord’s mandate, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20).

Those who entered the faith were baptized, and they too received “the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38) by the laying on of hands to complete the baptismal grace. This anointing by the Holy Spirit is seen as the beginning of the sacrament of confirmation, perpetuating the grace of Pentecost.

The Sacrament of Confirmation The sacrament of confirmation

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

has always been a sacrament in the church; however, it was celebrated with the sacrament of baptism as the post-baptismal anointing with chrism (consecrated vegetable oil mixed with perfumed balsam).

In the early church, adults were converting to Christianity and were receiving the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist) by the bishop at the Paschal Vigil. After 800 A.D., the post-baptismal anointing with chrism by the bishop became separated from baptism by many years since the bishop was unable to be at every parish each Sunday.

Therefore, the post-baptismal anointing developed its own ritual as a separate sacrament from

baptism around the 11th or 12th century and is called confirmation.

Since one could not receive Communion until after confirmation, the sequence of the sacraments of initiation remained the same—baptism, confirmation and Eucharist. The sequence was altered in 1903 when Pope Pius X lowered the age of first Communion to around six or seven years old. Currently in most dioceses, the sequence is baptism, first reconciliation, first Eucharist and confirmation. This lends perhaps to a greater confusion as to the purpose of confirmation in the life of a Christian. Without the sacrament, our initiation into the faith is incomplete.

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Programs produced by the Diocesan Office of TV Communications. We reserve the right to make program changes. www.bayoucatholic.com

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Cover Story

Confirmation Matter & Form For a sacrament to be valid, certain material (matter) is to be used along with specific words (a formula or form) to be said. For example, in baptism, water must be used along with the form, “(Name), I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Confirmation likewise has specific matter and form for it to be valid.

In the New Testament, we see instances in the early Christian communities of laying on of hands, prayer and anointing. Continuing in the subsequent centuries, the bishop would lay hands with a prayer and then anoint. Pope Paul VI clarified what specifically constitutes the matter and form for confirmation in his Apostolic Constitution on the sacrament of confirmation, Divinae consortium naturae (1971) as he explained, 38 “The sacrament of confirmation is conferred through the anointing with chrism on the forehead, which is done by the laying on of the hand, and through the words: ‘Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” It also makes clear that the laying on of the hand with the prescribed prayer is not essential to the sacrament for validity but is to be held in high esteem because it “contributes to the integral perfection of that rite and to a clearer understanding of the sacrament.”

Minister In the Latin rite, the ordinary minister of the sacrament of confirmation is a bishop. While in baptism we are built into a spiritual dwelling, confirmation consecrates us into a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Just as when a church is formally consecrated, a bishop is the one in the ritual who anoints its walls and altar with chrism. However, a priest who baptizes or receives an adult into full communion with the Catholic Church is given the faculty by the bishop to confirm the person.

Recipient Any baptized Christian who has Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

not yet received the sacrament of confirmation can receive it. The discussion comes with regard to the age of reception. Should it be when a person is an adult, teenager or youth? “Although confirmation is sometimes called the ‘sacrament of Christian maturity,’ we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need ‘ratification’ to become effective” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1308). We can mistakenly imply baptism belonging to the immature while confirmation for the mature. The church requires a person to be at least seven years old, but the local bishop ultimately decides the appropriate age of the recipients in his diocese.

Effects The sacrament of confirmation completes the sacrament of baptism, and in receiving it after holy Communion, also completes the Sacraments of Initiation. Just as Pentecost completes Easter, confirmation closes baptism. It grants a fullness of the grace of the Holy Spirit received first at baptism. Like baptism, it imparts an indelible seal or mark on the soul which cannot be repeated or removed.

While baptism binds a Christian intimately to Christ and his church, confirmation commissions the Christian to spread and defend publically the faith both by word and by deed as a true witness

of Christ. Baptism focuses upon the individual formation of the Christian, but confirmation stresses the communal participation of the member of the church in order to build up the body of Christ. The Christian goes from receptivity to activity. The Holy Spirit moves the Christian in a particular direction to fulfill the will of God and God’s plan for salvation.

The Holy Spirit gives the strength to live out the faith by the sevenfold Gift received: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of wonder and awe in God’s presence.

Do we have to receive confirmation?

Confirmation is not necessary for salvation; however, St. Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologiae (III, question 72, a.1.) says that the sacrament is necessary for the perfection of salvation since baptism is necessary for salvation.

The sacrament is an expression of our dependence upon God’s Holy Spirit.

The character of the sacrament qualifies people for any activity that is required for the life of the church and for that of the whole world. Thus, couples who are preparing for marriage are recommended (while not absolutely required) to be confirmed first since they are entering into a vocational sacrament that gives life to the church and witnesses to the fidelity of Christ to his bride the church.

The couple may eventually become parents who are given charge of raising their children in the practice of the faith. Since confirmation is necessary for a Catholic to be a sponsor or godparent, it is only logical that parents, too, should be confirmed.

In a world that can be difficult to discern and do God’s will and fight against the temptations of daily life, who would not want extra help and strength to be victorious in our struggle. Through the sacrament of confirmation, we are given that supernatural assistance. Let us not only receive the gift of the Holy Spirit but actually unwrap it and put it into use for the good of our own souls and that of our brothers and sisters.

Collection For Nepal It’s not too late to make a donation for the Collection For Nepal.

All gifts are greatly appreciated.

You may send your donation to: Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux Collection For Nepal P.O. Box 505 Schriever, LA 70395

Thank you for your generosity.

Special Events

Tekakwitha Conference is July 22-26 in Alexandria

By Janet Marcel The Dioceses of HoumaThibodaux and Alexandria are partners and co-hosts with the Tekakwitha Conference in planning the 76th Annual National Tekakwitha Conference that will be held July 22-26 at the Alexandria Riverfront Center. This year’s conference theme is “Saint Kateri Embraces the Wetlands.”

“Kateri Tekakwitha was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI as the First Native American Saint in October 2012, and her spirit continues to ‘sweep’ across this land.

This event is inter-tribal, multi40 cultural with the people of God who travel from many areas across North America, and at times from other countries knowing that all are welcome!” says Sister Kateri Mitchell, S.S.A., executive director of the Tekakwitha Conference, a non-profit organization that has continued to honor its patroness since 1939.

Approximately 850-900 people attend the conference annually.

All are invited to attend, says Sister Kateri. “Come and join the first peoples of this land, our missionaries and friends as each gives praise, honor and thanksgiving to our Creator for the gifts of life, faith, culture and talent expressed in the planned daily sunrise services, morning prayers, eucharistic liturgies, keynote speakers, workshops, entertainment, and of course, great food.” Bishop Shelton J. Fabre will give a keynote address and celebrate Mass during the conference.

The following people from the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux will be workshop presenters: Bishop Emeritus Sam G. Jacobs will present a workshop entitled, “New Evangelization,” respondBayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

This logo for the Tekakwitha Conference was designed by Peter Verdin, a parishioner of Holy Family Church parish in Grand Caillou.

ing to the call of the church to be encountered by Christ to proclaim the Gospel of Love to others. Bishop Jacobs will also give a keynote address and celebrate Mass during the conference.

Donald Dardar, parishioner of St. Charles Borromeo Church in Pointe-aux-Chenes and member of the Pointe au Chien Indian Tribe, will present a workshop entitled, “Living on the Bayou: Embracing the Wetlands.” The workshop will show how our community keeps its culture and traditions alive by fishing and through agriculture.

Father Glenn LeCompte, diocesan director of the Office of Worship, will present a workshop entitled, “Why Read the Bible? How Do I Read It?” to help participants understand the significance of the Bible in the life of the church and the spiritual life of the individual, encourage them to make reading the Scriptures an integral part of their spiritual lives, as well as give them tips for understanding what they read in the Bible.

Father Roch Naquin, retired priest of the Diocese of HoumaThibodaux, will lead a Reconciliation and Healing Service during the conference.

Barbara Naquin, planning committee chair, says attending the Tekakwitha Conference is a unique experience.

“I believe the greatest benefit of attending the conference is the sharing of concerns that we as Natives still encounter. Even though there have been positive advances for many tribes, there are still a great many tribal nations who struggle for basic rights. Identifying and recognizing our common struggles helps formulate strategies to resolve those issues,” says Naquin. “As we gather to honor and pray for the intercessions of our beloved native Saint Kateri, our sharing of faith, love and laughter brings great joy, healing and renewed commitment to follow God’s teachings and emulate her as we evangelize and care for one another and our precious Mother Earth. I know I always return from each conference with a deeper love of God and appreciation for my Catholic faith.”

Registration for the entire conference as well as one and twoday registration is available. Visit www.tekconf.org and/or call (318) 483-3908 to register or for more information about the conference.

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St. Joseph Manor, an assisted living facility in Thibodaux, recently celebrated its 20th anniversary with a special luncheon for the residents.

Ann Thibodaux, administrator, spoke to those in residence about how the late Msgr. Francis Amedee’s dream became a reality. Board member Jerald Block also spoke about Msgr.

Amedee and his contribution to the manor and the Thibodaux community.

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Special Events

Steubenville on the Bayou June 26-28 The 10th annual Steubenville on the Bayou Catholic Youth Conference will be held June 2628, at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center for youth in grades 8-12.

This year’s theme is “Limitless.”

One of 23 nation-wide conferences co-sponsored by Franciscan University in Steubenville, OH, the event will provide many opportunities for youth to learn, network and share their Catholic faith. Approximately 3,000 people will travel from all over the south to attend the conference this year.

Headlining the event are Bishop Shelton J. Fabre and Bishop Emeritus Sam G. Jacobs. There will be a dynamic lineup of speakers including: Chris Stefanick, Catholic speaker and author; Megan

Mastroianni, pro-life and chastity speaker; Brian Greenfield, African American Catholic evangelist; and Paul Kim, international youth speaker, vocalist and beatboxer.

Praise and worship music will be by More Than Sunday, featuring Lonnie Lapeyrouse, Matt Bourgeois, Mark Duplantis, Doug Hamilton and Kayla LeBlanc.

A new opportunity for 2015 is the Encounter Conference, a young adult conference which will run concurrently with the youth conference. As always, young adults are also welcome to apply for Mercy Crew which is a six-day mission of service that includes a retreat prior to the conference weekend and service during the conference in any capacity needed.

Adults are needed to volunteer in many areas, including ushers, prayer ministers, security, food service, first aid, stage crew, etc.

Participants must register with a group, preferably their church parish group. If not currently linked with a church parish, contact the Conference Office at (985) 8503171 for assistance.

More information about the Conference can be found at www.

SteubenvilleOnTheBayou.com.

Everyone is invited to watch the conference via live feed by going to the website or on Facebook (www. facebook.com/SteubieBayou). This is a great way to experience the conference and to see what the youth of the church are receiving from this powerful event.

Donate gently worn shoes for poor 42

This year Steubenville on the Bayou is once again teaming up with Funds2Orgs for our Share the Glory project. Funds2Orgs partners with organizations to collect unwanted pairs of shoes and deliver them to developing nations where they are repurposed, creating micro-enterprise opportunities (a small business with minimal employees and minimal capital). In a developing country, necessity compels micro-enterprises to represent the vast majority of the small business sector.

Due to a lack of formal jobs and training available to the poor, micro-enterprises add value to the economy by creating micro-jobs, enhancing income and lowering the overall cost of business.

In a nutshell it works like this: groups collect shoes, Funds2Orgs sends them to hub operators in developing nations, then sells the collected items to vendors in developing countries who clean and repair the items and begin selling for a profit margin!

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

What are we asking from each group attending the conference? Collect bags of gently worn pairs of shoes and bring them to the conference. We strongly

encourage you to have each participant work on collecting an entire bag of shoes!

How is this incorporated into the conference? On Saturday,

we ask that each group participate in the service project during their designated times. The participants will assist us in packaging the shoes for shipment. This allows the participants to have a handson experience in helping the developing countries who are in need of the shoes. Funds2Orgs will send a truck to pick up the packaged shoes.

What is Funds2Orgs’ role? In developing countries, families that receive items from Funds2Orgs are families who have little to no income or livelihood. These items, and their ability to be resold, represent micro-enterprise opportunities. In many cases, it is the only possibility for true self-sustainability.

What about the funds received by SOTB? A large portion of the funds that Steubenville on the Bayou receives as a result of the collection of the shoes will go to a charity of the conference participants’ choice. Participants can vote for the winning charity by visiting the “Share the Glory” page on www.

SteubenvilleOnTheBayou.com.

About Us Bishop’s Office Contact Us Deanery Organization …will Support Local Parish Needs

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For more information, visit: www.htdiocese.org

Bishop Shelton J. Fabre

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Special Events

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

44 Bishop Shelton J. Fabre was invested to the Order of the Fleur de Lis recently at the Pastoral Center in Schriever. The bishop received the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order for his display of religious and civic virtue. Those attending the investiture ceremony from

left are Commander Mike Callais, Commander Nathan Arceneaux, Grand Chancellor Michael Horten, Bishop Fabre, Commander Easton J. Pitre, Commander Cliff McCain, and Grand Prior Rev. Archimandrite Herbert J. May.

Food for the Journey is July 7 The diocesan Office of Religious Education sponsors a monthly lunchtime speaker series on the first Tuesday of the month at the Quality Hotel on Hollywood Road in Houma across from Vandebilt Catholic High School.

The speaker for July 7 is Houma native Father Michael Bergeron.

Father Bergeron, pastor of St. John the Evangelist Church parish in Thibodaux, was ordained to the priesthood June 8, 1996. He has served as associate pastor at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux and St. Bernadette Church parish in Houma; and as pastor of St. Bridget Church parish in Schriever, St. Lawrence Church parish in Chacahoula, St. Anthony Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Rev. Michael Bergeron

of Padua Church parish in Bayou Black, Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church parish in Golden Meadow and Annunziata Church parish in Houma. He also served as Dean of

the Upper Lafourche Deanery and is currently the chaplain for the Marian Servants of the Word in Thibodaux.

Those who plan to attend the July 7th event should RSVP with their name, phone number and church parish by Thursday, July 2nd. To RSVP, email FoodForTheJourney@ htdiocese.org or call (985) 8503178.

Doors open at 10:45 a.m. Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. The program begins at Noon with the speaker’s presentation from 12:10-12:45 p.m.

Cost is $17 and includes meal, drink and tip. Only cash or checks will be accepted.

All are invited to come “eat and be fed.”

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

Corpus Christi procession set in Houma June 6

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Bishop Shelton J. Fabre will lead a Corpus Christi procession, Saturday, June 6 following the 4 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi).

The Feast of Corpus Christi in the universal calendar of the church is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, and celebrating it on a Thursday seems intentional because it ties it to Holy Thursday.

However, for pastoral reasons, in the United States the Feast of Corpus Christi is celebrated on the weekend after the celebration of the Most Holy Trinity. “A Corpus Christi procession is an outward indication of our understanding that we are to bring the presence of Jesus to all places beyond the walls of the church: into our homes and schools; into our workplace and the marketplace; and indeed into the streets and all places where we go each and every day. In a Corpus Christi procession we literally take the presence of Jesus Christ beyond the church walls, indicating our desire to bring him to the world,� says Bishop Shelton J. Fabre.

Everyone is invited to attend the Corpus Christi procession. www.bayoucatholic.com

Special

Eight educators, one staff member retire Story by Janet Marcel Eight educators and one staff member in the Catholic schools of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux retired at the end of the 2014-2015 school year with 301 combined years of service in Catholic education.

Ellen Baudoin, who taught 2nd grade for two years, 1st grade for five years and pre-kindergarten for eight years, and is currently teaching 5th, 6th and 7th grade ELA at St. Gregory Elementary School in Houma, retired after 22 years of service to the school.

Jane Bernard, who has served as technology coordinator and development director at Holy Cross Elementary School in Morgan City, retired after 25 years of service to the school.

Joe Casse, who taught religion and social studies at E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux, retired after 40 years of service to the school.

Nadine Delatte, who currently serves as the library-media specialist, and has taught 5th grade language arts; 5th and 6th grade math; 6th and 7th grade science and social studies at St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in Thibodaux, retired after 38 46 years of service to the school.

Elizabeth Larke, who has been serving as alumni director at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma for the past three years; taught second grade and was resource director at St. Francis de Sales Cathedral School in Houma for 27 years, retired after 30 years of service to the Catholic schools in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

Joan LeBouef, who has been serving as principal at St. Bernadette Elementary School in Houma for the past five years; and has served as principal at Holy Rosary Elementary School in Larose for 10 years, and taught all subjects, 4th through 7th grade, for 21 years at Holy Rosary, retired after 36 years of service to the Catholic schools in the Diocese of HoumaThibodaux.

Preston Lejeune, who currently serves as

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advancement director, and served as the athletic director, taught science and physical education, and was the head football, baseball and golf coach at E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux, retired after 48 years of service to the school.

Shellen Liner, who currently teaches 8th grade reading and has taught 8th grade English at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, retired after 20 years of service to the school.

Judy Poimboeuf, who currently teaches physical education and serves as the religion program coordinator at St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in Thibodaux (35 years), and taught physical education at E.D. White Catholic High School in Thibodaux (seven years), retired after 42 years of service to the schools.

“God has given you many gifts and we are so grateful that you have chosen to share some of these with us during your years in Catholic schools. As you open a new chapter in your life, I wish you continued grace, blessings and health in your retirement,” says Marian Fertitta, diocesan superintendent of Catholic Schools.

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Church Life

Bishop Fabre announces twenty-two pastoral appointments In order to provide pastoral care for the people of God in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Bishop Shelton J. Fabre has made the following appointments: Pastors The Rev. Robert-Joel Cruz, who has been serving as pastor of 48 Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church parish in Chackbay since June 2008, has been appointed pastor of Sacred Heart Church parish in Montegut. Father Cruz is a native of Lucban, Quezon, Philippines. He was ordained June 8, 1996.

The Rev. Alexis “Alex” Lazarra, who has been serving as administrator of Holy Family Church parish in Grand Caillou since July 2014, has been appointed pastor of Holy Family Church parish in Grand Caillou. Father Lazarra is a native of Can-Avid, E. Samar, Philippines. He was ordained June 5, 2010.

The Rev. Glenn LeCompte, who has been serving as diocesan director of the Offices of Worship and Clergy Continuing Education since June 2008, as well as spiritual director of the Lumen Christi Retreat Center since June 2010, will remain the full-time director of the diocesan Offices of Worship and Clergy Continuing Education and is assigned to residence at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma. Father LeCompte is a native of Houma, LA. He was ordained May 24, 1986.

The Rev. P.J. Madden, who has been serving in Ireland since

a

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Deacon Daniel Blake

Deacon Joseph Bourgeois

Deacon Cody Chatagnier

Deacon Lee Crochet

Rev. RobertJoel Cruz

Rev. Simon Peter Engurait

Rev. Alex Gaudet

Rev. Alex Lazarra

Rev. Glenn LeCompte

Deacon Stephen Lefort

Rev. Jacob Lipari

Deacon Joey Lirette

Rev. P. J. Madden

April 2009, has been appointed pastor of St. Hilary of Poitiers Church parish in Mathews. Father Madden is a native of Ballinasloe, Ireland. He was ordained May 14, 2004.

The Rev. John Nambusseril, C.M.I., who has been serving as pastor of Sacred Heart Church parish in Montegut since June 2011, has been appointed pastor of Holy Savior Church parish in Lockport. Father Nambusseril is a native of Kunhome, India. He was ordained Dec. 29, 1993.

The Rev. Sabino “Benny�

Rebosura II, who has been serving as pastor of St. Hilary of Poitiers Church parish in Mathews since June 2009, has been appointed pastor of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church parish in Chackbay. Father Rebosura is a native of Bohol, Philippines. He was ordained April 22, 1987.

The Very Rev. Robert Rogers, who has been serving as pastor of Holy Savior Church parish in Lockport since June 2009, has been appointed pastor of St. Louis Church parish in Bayou Blue. Father Rogers is a native of Houma, LA. He was ordained June 13, 1992.

The Rev. Carlos Talavera, who has been serving as pastor of St. Louis Church parish in Bayou Blue since June 2009, has been appointed pastor of Our Lady of the Isle Church parish in Grand Isle.

Father Talavera is a native of Iriga City, Philippines. He was ordained May 31, 1997.

The Rev. Joseph Tregre, who has been serving as administrator of St. Joseph Church parish in Galliano since July 2014, has been

Rev. John Nambusseril

Rev. Vanathuraj Rayappan

Deacon Jeff Pitre

Rev. Sabino Rebosura

Very Rev. Robert Rogers

Rev. Blair Sabaricos

Rev. Carlos Talavera

Rev. Joseph Tregre

Rev. Joseph Varughese

appointed pastor of St. Joseph Church parish in Galliano. Father Tregre is a native of Houma, LA. He was ordained May 26, 2012.

All appointments for pastors are effective July 1, 2015, for a six-year term, which may be renewed. *** Associate Pastors The Rev. Simon Peter Engurait, who has been serving as associate pastor of the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma since June 2013, has been appointed associate pastor of St. Genevieve

Church parish in Thibodaux, effective August 1, 2015. Father Engurait is a native of Uganda, East Africa. He was ordained May 25, 2013.

The Rev. Alex Gaudet has been appointed associate pastor of the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma, effective July 1, 2015. Father Gaudet is a native of Thibodaux, LA. He was ordained May 30, 2015.

The Rev. Jacob Lipari III has been appointed associate pastor of St. Bernadette Church

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Church Life

Twenty-two appointments announced

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parish in Houma, effective July 1, 2015. Father Lipari is a native of Houma, LA. He was ordained May 30, 2015.

The Rev. Vanathuraj “Raj” Rayappan, who has been serving as associate pastor of St. Bernadette Church parish in Houma since June 2013, has been appointed associate pastor of Maria Immacolata Church parish in Houma, effective July 1, 2015.

Father Rayappan is a native of Elamangalam, Tamil Nagu. He was ordained Dec. 27, 2007.

The Rev. Blair Sabaricos, who has been serving as associate pastor of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux since July 2014, has been appointed associate pastor

of Christ the Redeemer Church parish in Thibodaux, effective July 1, 2015. Father Sabaricos is a native of Tagbilaran, Bohol, Philippines. He was ordained April 10, 1991.

The Rev. Joseph Varughese, who has been serving as associate pastor of Maria Immacolata Church parish in Houma since July 2013, has been appointed associate pastor of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux, effective July 1, 2015. Father Varughese is a native of Kerala, India. He was ordained April 11, 1994. *** Permanent Deacons Deacon Daniel Blake has been appointed deacon at St. Joseph CoCathedral in Thibodaux and to the diocesan Prison Apostolate.

Deacon Joseph Bourgeois has been appointed chaplain to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center in Thibodaux and deacon at St. Lawrence Church parish in Chacahoula.

Deacon Lee Crochet has been

appointed deacon at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales in Houma.

Deacon Joey Lirette has been appointed deacon at St. Ann Church parish in Bourg and to the diocesan Prison Apostolate.

Deacon Jeff Pitre has been appointed Chaplain to Lady of the Sea Hospital in Galliano, and deacon at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church parish in Golden Meadow and St. Joseph Church parish in Galliano.

All appointments for permanent deacons are effective June 1, 2015, for a six year term, which may be renewed. *** Transitional Deacons Deacon Cody Chatagnier is appointed as deacon intern to St. Thomas Aquinas Church parish in Thibodaux, effective from June until October 2015.

Deacon Stephen Lefort is appointed as deacon intern to Holy Cross Church parish in Morgan City, effective from June until October 2015.

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Catechists certified Twenty-three catechists from across the Diocese of HoumaThibodaux received either basic or master catechist certification recently during a prayer service at the Pastoral Center in Schriever. Bishop Shelton J. Fabre presented the certification certificates to those in attendance. Master catechists in photo at right are Wanda Moore, Dana Dupre and Jennifer Russell. Those receiving basic certification in bottom photo are front row Roxanne Reed, Suzanna Pitre, Alisa Ward, Sera Abadie, Rosa Escalante, Theresa Bellanger, Cheryl Breaux and Lisa Levron. Back row, Dr. Faith Ann Spinella, diocesan director of the Office of Religious Education; Cheryl Johnson, Danielle Bryant, Jackie Cazayoux, Carol Domangue, Andrea Martin, Bishop Fabre, Kecera Rodrigue, Chalisse Naquin, Abby Tregre, Meggie Mayberry, Debra Pilot and Margaret Vargas, administrative assistant for the diocesan Office of Religious Education. Not pictured are Chad Bellanger and Lotty Cantrelle.

Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier

51

Diocesan Programs This Month

“Spotlight on the Diocese” Host: Louis Aguirre With Guests: Ann Thibodaux Administrator, St. Joseph Manor Natalie Barbera Social Director, Cardinal Place

HTV/VISION COMMUNICATIONS, ~ CHARTER COMM. & COMCAST ~ CHANNEL 10 ~ ALLEN’S TV CABLE MORGAN CITY ~ CHANNEL 71 (Digital Channel 30.1-UHF & Channel 7.1-VHF) Mondays - 9:30 a.m. • Thursdays - 9:30 a.m. & 11:00 p.m. • Saturdays - 9:30 p.m.

If you are not receiving these programs in your area, please contact your local cable provider.

www.bayoucatholic.com

Special

A day in the life of a ...

Charter Captain 52

A charter captain’s day at work begins early, before sunrise. There are ice chests to fill, fishing tackle to be loaded on the boat and a boat inspection to make sure that everything is in order for a safe trip for the customer.

Captain Bill Lake of Bayou Guide Fishing Charters has been a full-time charter captain for almost 25 years. He credits his father for introducing him to the outdoors, in particular hunting and fishing. “I was very fortunate to have a father who loved the outdoors. I grew up hunting and fishing with him.

He set the foundation for me. He had a boat that we would use for freshwater fishing. We would fish for bass and sac-a-lait. I remember doing that kind of fishing beginning when I was about seven or eight years old into my teen years,” says Lake.

It was when Lake was 15 years old that he got hooked on saltwater fishing. “My dad’s friend, a dentist named Dr. Tommy Tyler, took us saltwater fishing at Last Island on the coast below Terrebonne Parish.

We spent the night on the island in a tent. We fished all day and caught flounder all night. I don’t think I went to sleep that night. In the course of two days, we caught hundreds of trout. I think of that trip as one of the best weekends of Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

my life. I was hooked on saltwater fishing from that moment on.”

Today, Lake is considered as one of the area’s premier fishing guides. Eighty percent of his customers are repeat clients who come from across the country to enjoy fishing in South Louisiana.

“The customers range from novice to experienced fishermen. I book many people from online. In many instances you never know who will step on the boat. Sometimes our job as a guide is to teach people how to fish. Sometimes people will see a fishing show on TV and think that they want to do that and may not know how to fish. As guides we will teach those clients how to cast a spinning reel and how to actually catch a fish. When you have very novice customers you can’t be too concerned with catching limits of fish. Most of the time the novice clients are happy to just be catching fish.”

A typical fishing trip begins before sunrise. “Our customers arrive early in the morning and the boat is loaded with drinks and food. We go over a short objective

Story and Photos

by Lawrence Chatagnier

of what the plans are for the trip.

After a quick check on the weather, we are on our way. My guide service specializes in speckled trout. You have to catch the ‘early bite.’ The action really heats up before sunrise and continues for a couple of hours after the sun rises,” says Lake.

Some fishing trips are more challenging than others in many ways; one of which, is weather conditions. “In the 20 plus years that I have fished, I have been in every possible weather situation.

We have even been in hailstorms in the gulf. You have to be on your toes and watch the weather conditions around you. In the summertime a supercell can come on you in a hurry when you’re on the water.”

Through the years being outdoors, Lake has developed a great appreciation for the beauty of nature and God’s creation. “We as captains see more beautiful scenery that nature has to offer than most people. There are magnificent sunrises, an abundance of wildlife, beautiful plants and scenes that many do not have the opportunity to witness. It makes me feel good when people who are from another part of the country get to see what Louisiana has to offer, what nature has to offer here,” he says.

Charter captain’s life A licensed charter captain is trained through the United States Coast Guard and has the knowledge of navigating a water vessel safely under diverse conditions. Capt.

Lake is eager to help his clients on their fishing trip. Keeping a boat clean and the deck free of fish slime helps prevent slipping in the boat while fishing.

53

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Special

54

Family of the Year

Immacolata KC Council 13819 announces that one of their members and his family has been named the State Family of the Year by the Louisiana State Council of the Knights of Columbus. Darryl Barrios, his wife Anne, and their children Dylan, Kathleen and Jennifer, were presented the award recently at the 110th Louisiana State Knights of Columbus Convention in Baton Rouge. Nominations are taken from all 312 KC councils in the state. The Barrios family will now compete against families from around the world in the international level of competition. Immacolata Council 13819 and its members serve Maria Immacolata Church parish. Pictured from left are Vernon Ducote, state deputy, KC Louisiana State Council; Darryl, Anne, Dylan, Jennifer, Kathleen, and Louisiana State Family director George Martin.

Chris Domingue

Chris Domingue has been appointed director of Lumen Christi Retreat Center in Schriever, effective July 1, 2015. Domingue is a native of Lafayette, LA, and a graduate of Lafayette High School. He is a parishioner of St. Lucy Church parish in Houma. Before coming to the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, he was the director of Facilities and Student Services at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Knights of Columbus Houma Council 1317 presents its 2015 Catholic Youth Leadership Award winners. They are Allison LaRose and William Curth. Both are 2015 graduates of Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma. Making the presentation of the awards is Jay Luke, C.Y.L.A. chairman, Houma Council 1317.

World

Castro: Pope so impressive he may start praying again

By Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After spending close to an hour with Pope Francis, Cuban President Raul Castro told reporters he is so impressed by what the pope does and says that he might start praying and could even return to the church.

“I had a very agreeable meeting this morning with Pope Francis.

He is a Jesuit, as you well know. I am, too, in a certain sense because I was always in Jesuit schools,” Castro told reporters May 10.

“When the pope comes to Cuba in September, I promise to go to all his Masses and will do so happily,” the president told reporters at a news conference he held later in the day with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

Castro said he left his meeting with the pope “very much struck by his wisdom, his humility and all the virtues that we all know he has.”

“I read all the speeches of the pope,” Castro said, and he told reporters that he already had told Renzi, “if the pope continues to speak this way, sooner or later I could start praying again and return to the Catholic Church. I’m not kidding. I’m a communist, (a member) of the Cuban Communist Party. The party has never admitted believers.”

Today, he said, the country allows people to hold important positions even if they are not members of the party. “It’s a step forward,” he said, although many of the reforms he would like to make are still being implemented.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said that during their private meeting in a studio of the Vatican audience hall, Castro thanked Pope Francis for “the active role he played in improving relations between Cuba and the United States of America.”

In December, Castro and U.S. President Barack Obama announced that their nations were

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano, pool

Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Cuban President Raul Castro during a private audience at the Vatican May 10.

working toward re-establishing official diplomatic relations. Both leaders credited Pope Francis with helping to secure the deal through his letter-writing and by hosting a secret meeting at the Vatican between Cuban and U.S. representatives last fall.

Castro also relayed to the pope the expectations of the Cuban people for his upcoming trip to the nation and outlined how the preparations were going, Father Lombardi said.

During the traditional exchange of gifts, Castro gave Pope Francis a commemorative medal featuring

Havana’s cathedral and, in honor of Pope Francis’ concern for migrants, a contemporary painting of a cross made up of migrants’ boats 55 with a migrant kneeling before it in prayer.

Pope Francis gave Castro a copy of his apostolic exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel,” and a large medallion featuring St. Martin of Tours covering a poor man with his cloak. Father Lombardi said Pope Francis told Castro the medallion is a reminder not only of the obligation “to assist and protect the poor, but also to actively promote their dignity.”

Pope to visit Cuba Sept. 19-22

By Catholic News Service HAVANA (CNS) -- The Cuban bishops’ conference announced that Pope Francis will visit the island Sept. 19-Sept. 22.

An advisory posted on the bishops’ conference Facebook page May 11 said the visit will begin in Havana. Other events under consideration include a visit to the city of Holguin, in eastern Cuba, as well as a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, the patroness of Cuba, and the nearby city of Santiago de Cuba, the second-largest city on the island.

From Santiago, the pope is expected to take off to his Sept. 22-27 visit in the United States.

The pope’s trip to Cuba will mark the third time a pope has visited the island. St. John Paul II visited Cuba in 1998, and Pope Benedict XVI visited in 2012.

On May 10, the pope met with Cuban President Raul Castro at the Vatican, where Castro thanked him for the “active role he played in improving relations between Cuba and the United States of America,” said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. www.bayoucatholic.com

World

World Youth Day in Poland for 2016

By Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A new airport, improved road and rail links, a fleet of dream buses and “Youth Bible” are among features projected for the Catholic Church’s 14th international celebration of World Youth Day in Krakow, Poland, in 2016.

“It’s still 16 months to go, but the 56 planning is well advanced,” said Msgr. Bronislaw Fidelus, a co-organizer of the event scheduled for July 26-Aug. 1.

“There’s huge interest abroad, and we’ve already registered large church groups from the U.S., Europe and Latin America. We’re sure the theme of Divine Mercy, chosen specially by the pope, will create a real openness to Christ among young participants,” Msgr.

Fidelus said.

World Youth Day organizers expect the 13th international event will attract more than 2 million people from around the world.

Msgr. Fidelus said the program was approved March 13 by a Vatican delegation under Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for Laity, adding that the Polish church counted on the five-day event to renew the faith among young Catholics everywhere.

Meanwhile, a Krakow official said work was underway to expand the city’s communication and transport network and road and rail links with Europe as well as to renovate local schools to accommodate pilgrims.

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

“Having hosted several pilgrimages by the late St. John Paul II to his home city, Krakow is well equipped and prepared for largescale events like this,” Filip Szatanik, spokesman for the Krakow City Council, told Catholic News Service.

“It’s also a great church city, full of sacral buildings and objects and closely linked to Poland’s Christian history. We can count especially on this side of its character to make this a major promotional opportunity,” he said.

Launched by St. John Paul II in 1985, World Youth Day is celebrated annually on a local level and every two or three years with an

international gathering with the pope.

Krakow was announced as the 2016 venue by Pope Francis at the last World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in 2013.

World Youth Day will have the theme, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matthew 5:7), and will follow April 2016 church-state celebrations of the 1,050th anniversary of Poland’s Christian conversion.

Pope Francis is scheduled to lead a televised Way of the Cross procession from the city’s Divine Mercy Sanctuary, followed by a prayer vigil on youth issues near the Wieliczka Salt Mine, and

a

a final Mass in Krakow’s Blonia Park.

The World Youth Day website said the festival would feature a tent museum with Vatican exhibits and concerts and exhibitions at more than 100 locations, as well as “wayside catechesis” sessions in 30 languages and a “reconciliation zone” with several hundred confessionals.

It added that Poland’s 16 archdioceses and 28 dioceses had so far pledged accommodation for 373,000 foreign visitors, and said the organizing committee had been asked to add canoe trips and mountain hikes to enable foreign pilgrims to sample the life of St. John Paul II, who was archbishop of Krakow from 1964 to 1978.

Pope Francis also has been invited to visit Wadowice, where John Paul II was born in 1920, during his visit.

Organizers said the “Youth Bible,” under preparation at the Catholic University of Lublin,

would present the New Testament in contemporary language without “archaic expressions.”

They added that the “virtual prayer marathon,” launched March

Event will offer ‘Message of Mercy’ 13, would enable young Christians to show where they were “praying to change the world,” or requesting prayers, by clicking on a website, www.mayfeelings.com/prayforwyd.

Beginning in July, a fleet of yellow “dream buses,” chartered by

young Catholics at Poland’s Kalwaria Zebrzydowska Marian sanctuary, is to travel throughout Europe to publicize the celebration.

Meanwhile, a World Youth Day cross, made in 1983, has been taken to the Jasna Gora national sanctuary and the former Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. It was to tour Poland until the festival.

Father Tomasz Kijowski, World Youth Day spokesman, predicted the event would also have an “activating effect” on young people in Poland.

“The young have been leaving the church here -- we need some shock, some impulse, to halt and reverse this trend,” Father Kijowski told KAI, Poland’s Catholic information agency.

“I wouldn’t want to suggest we’re working out some vision for a Christian Poland, but we want to initiate certain processes which will continue after the World Youth Day, instead of ending when the pope flies out.”

57

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World

Ecology encyclical Catholic groups prepare for pope’s message

58 By Dennis Sadowski

Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Few papal encyclicals have been as eagerly awaited as Pope Francis’ upcoming statement on the environment.

While no date other than early summer for its release has been announced, anticipation is building among Catholics as well as nonCatholics and advocates for the environment. Based on the pope’s past statements, they expect the document will call people to protect human life and dignity through greater appreciation and preservation of God’s creation.

What Pope Francis is expected to say has its roots in God’s creation of the world, Dan Misleh, executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant, told the First Friday Forum of Lorain County in Elyria, Ohio, in early April.

“Pope Francis is first a priest and a pastor,” Misleh explained. “He is a Catholic Christian who is reflecting on and articulating the best of our tradition.

“Let us remind ourselves that our creation care tradition goes back to Genesis, not Earth Day. Let us remind ourselves that Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

this ancient teaching is the teaching that was familiar, too, and articulated in new ways by Jesus Christ, reinforced by the witness of St. Francis, expounded upon by St. Thomas Aquinas as well as by St. John Paul and especially Pope Benedict, the ‘green pope.’

“Let us remember that what Pope Francis is offering here and will offer in the encyclical is not new teaching, but a new application of that old teaching,” Misleh said.

That understanding has made it easier for organizations such as the U.S. and Australian Catholic bishops’ conferences, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic advocacy groups and local environmental ministry programs to prepare resources for disseminating and implementing the pope’s message.

Representatives of Catholic organizations told Catholic News Service they are not only preparing for active study of the encyclical in parishes and schools, but that they are hopeful the document will open doors with leaders of other faiths and religious traditions, secular environmental groups and policymakers in the U.S. and around the world.

The encyclical and follow-up programs also are being seen as a way to build momentum for Pope Francis’ first U.S. visit in September and move world leaders to reach a climate change pact during the U.N. Climate Change Conference meeting in Paris Nov. 30-Dec. 11.

“We want to ensure as best we can that this encyclical is not just written and stuck on a shelf in a library and discussed only by theologians and others in schools. We want this to be a call to action,” said Patrick Carolan, executive director of the Franciscan Action Network.

Carolan will be in Rome May 6-8 to meet with representatives of the Global Catholic Climate Movement to discuss how they can best develop and share resources based on Pope Francis’ message. A handful of GCCM members were to meet with Pope Francis as well during an audience May 6.

Meanwhile, organizations such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Relief Services, Catholic Climate Covenant and Catholic Rural Life are working on joint programs as well as complementary resources to share the pope’s document.

a

The bishops will discuss steps to spread the encyclical’s message during its spring meeting in June in St. Louis.

“As with any encyclical, I think the conference is going to give an analysis, a read of it, provide some content for people who want to get to know the document,” said Mark Rohlena, director of the bishops’ Office of Domestic Social Development and its Environmental Justice Program.

CRS planned to highlight its work around the world in communities already affected by climate change, said Joan Rosenhauer, executive vice president for U.S. operations for the agency. “We want to lift up those stories to illustrate what the Holy Father is talking about,” she told CNS. “He’s been talking about the intersection of the environment and humanity and the dignity of every person and care for the poor,” Rosenhauer explained. “We can illustrate what he has been talking about.”

CRS unveiled a new page on its

website April 22, Earth Day, offering elementary school programs, a prayer and links to other resources in preparation for the encyclical.

The Catholic Climate Covenant is developing a series of videos outlining the church’s long teaching tradition on the environment.

Misleh said they will be part of an online and social media effort the organization is planning.

In addition, Misleh and his staff are planning to send homily aids to parishes as a way to encourage priests to discuss the encyclical at Masses.

Around the world, church organizations and Catholic environmental advocates also are preparing educational programs, pamphlets, study guides, classroom aids and special events to introduce and share Pope Francis’ message.

“The encyclical just ups the ante in every sense, which is energizing and wonderful. It provides great impetus,” said Jacqui Remond, national director of Catholic Earthcare Australia, the ecological program of the Australian Catholic

Bishops’ Conference.

Remond told CNS the office is working with Caritas Australia to host an information session on the encyclical in August at Parliament House for all elected officials. She called such sessions crucial to helping policymakers understand the church’s teaching and the need to act to protect creation.

The real effect of the encyclical will be felt locally in parishes, schools and neighborhoods.

Father Robert Sanson, senior parochial vicar at St. Peter Parish in North Ridgeville, Ohio, is expecting to use the encyclical as a way to share the church’s teaching with parishioners who may not be familiar with it.

“I hope to be able to carefully articulate the difference between the church’s moral position and political posturing that creates so much divisiveness,” he said. “We have to raise the issues of fracking, of capital punishment, of ethical investing and hope they will create a conversation as Pope Francis has asked us.”

59

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From Our Archives

60

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

Memoirs of a Cajun Bishop Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux’s founding Bishop Warren L. Boudreaux is all smiles as he holds the first copy of his book, Memoirs of a Cajun Bishop. Published in 1995 the book became an instant success, especially in those areas where he ministered: Houma-Thibodaux, Lafayette and Beaumont. Born in Berwick Jan. 25, 1918, Bishop Boudreaux was ordained to the priesthood in 1942. He was ordained to the episcopacy and appointed auxiliary bishop of Lafayette in 1962. He was installed as bishop of Beaumont in 1971 and in 1977 became the first bishop of Houma-Thibodaux. He died Oct. 6, 1997.

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

Sports

61

Central Catholic softball team wins Class 1A state title Guest Columnist Wil Touchet

Winning a state championship in softball is no easy feat. The team must be hard-working, dedicated and willing to make sacrifices to achieve that level of success.

Central Catholic of Morgan City softball coach Joe Russo credits his team for having all those attributes.

But he credits one other attribute of his team above all that was the key to the success – having faith.

Russo led the Eagles to the 2015 Class 1A state softball title on May 2 at the Fastpitch 56 tournament in Sulphur. Central Catholic defeated Cedar Creek 6-4 in the championship game.

The veteran coach of 15 years believes it was the faith of the girls on his team that led them to the championship.

“We were a very faith-filled team.

We always gave God the glory and always thanked him for the talent he provided the girls,” Russo said.

“We had long discussions that God already knows who the state champion would be. We have a lot

of faithful players on our team.

They’ve always had the philosophy that God wants you to do your best and perform to the best of your ability. It’s about what he has planned for us. I firmly believe that and our entire team bought into that as well. We knew that we were going to give 100 percent on every pitch of every game, taking one game at a time. And if we get it, then that was the plan. We also knew that we had choices to make and if we didn’t work hard, it might have prevented us from getting what we wanted. We worked hard, practiced every day, and made the adjustments necessary. This was our time.”

This championship time

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www.bayoucatholic.com

Sports for Central Catholic had been three years in the making. The Eagles were knocked out of the quarterfinals in 2013 and lost in the semifinals in 2014. While getting one step closer to a title each season, the Eagles headed into the 2015 campaign with seven seniors, while replacing three key players from the previous season.

“This was the most seniors I’ve ever had on a team. I think that made a big difference because these were some of the same kids that fought it out in the semis last year. Now they were a lot more mature, more focused, and were able to be leaders,” Russo said.

“We had lost three seniors from last year’s team – our shortstop, our centerfielder, and our catcher, who were major players for us. We had to replace those positions. We had five position changes this year.

We had to do some evaluating of talent and moving of kids around to where we thought they would help the team. They were very unselfish. They allowed us to use them in the positions we needed them. It was a building process 62 from previous years. Once we made those changes and after going to Sulphur two times, our goal was to make it to the championship game this time and bring it home. That was the focus from the first day of practice.”

Central Catholic finished the season with an overall record of 26-3, going 11-1 in District 7-1A. The Eagles entered the playoffs as the No. 4 seed and defeated No. 29 Logansport 15-0 in four innings in the first round. The road to the title got much tougher after the opening round victory. The Eagles went on to defeat No. 13 False River 2-0 in the second round in a hard-fought game.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, and it wasn’t easy,” Russo said. “We had to fight it out. We knew that at any time any team could beat us, especially when we got to the tournament. I think it was to our advantage to fight it through. False River came in and played their hearts out. You have to give a lot of credit to them for playing their game and giving us everything we could handle.”

The Eagles moved on to face No. 5 Ascension Catholic in the Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • June 2015

quarterfinals. Ascension Catholic had knocked out the Eagles in the semifinals the previous year.

Central Catholic exacted revenge with a 1-0 victory on a bases-loaded walk in eight innings.

Central Catholic then moved on to the semifinals and defeated No. 1 Catholic-Pointe Coupee for their second straight 1-0 win on a suicide squeeze play.

Russo credited the Eagles’ small ball philosophy for the victories in the tight low-scoring contests.

“We went on to play Ascension Catholic which was the team that knocked us out of the semis last year. After scouting them, we knew we would have to be more disciplined at the plate. We were

Faith guides Lady Eagles, Coach Russo to state softball title and it really paid off for us,” Russo said. “We had to really fight for that one in an eight-inning one-run ball game. Now we go on to play Catholic-Pointe Coupee who was ranked first all year. I told our team that we just had to keep working, keep fighting, and keep playing your best. If God wants it for you, it’ll be there. In the Pointe Coupee game, we ended up winning that on suicide squeeze. The philosophy for all the years I’ve been coaching is that small ball wins you ballgames.

And it won us that semifinal game as well as the championship game.”

The Eagles captured the state title in the next game in dramatic fashion versus a hungry Cedar Creek squad. It took another strong

outing in the circle by standout pitcher and Nicholls State signee Megan Landry.

“I’m still exhausted. Every time I think about that game I get exhausted,” Russo said. “Cedar Creek is a very young, talented team. You have to give them a lot of credit. They overcame a lot of adversity in that game. That team never did quit. They just kept coming at us. We were able to get the breaks. The umpires made some tough but correct calls.

There were some big plays that went against them, but they never gave up. We took advantage of our small ball opportunities to move some runners and score some runs.

Megan had a really good game.

We knew we were going to be in a battle. We had to put it all out on the field and regardless of the outcome we were going to accept that. No regrets.”

Russo also gave credit to the players who supported Landry throughout the season including the following seniors: catcher Paige Thomas, first baseman Bridgette Swan, second baseman Brittany Longman and third baseman Kaitlyn Gros.

Russo reflected on what it meant to him and his team to accomplish their goal in becoming state softball champions.

“It was an amazing feeling,” Russo said. “I have three daughters that I have coached. My youngest daughter, Kelly, is a freshman on this team and scored two runs as a courtesy runner for Megan (Landry). That was special to me.

My wife was there with my other two kids. Softball has been a blessing to me and my family. On a personal note, that’s a moment that I’ll never forget. For those kids, to work as hard as they’ve worked and do everything we’ve asked them to, it was well-deserved. I was real proud of them to have that opportunity to get that memory in their lives, a state championship.

It was a humbling feeling as well from all the support given not just by our school community, but our parish community and surrounding area as well. It was the best feeling a coach could have. That state championship was ours. No one can ever take that away from those kids.”

A SAINTS strength “Call us may suddenly be First” a question mark Overtime Ed Daniels

I

It is obvious that Saints head coach Sean Payton really likes his draft class of 2015.

After two days of rookie mini-camp, Payton said it was important that players coming to the Saints “had all the boxes checked.”

It was an obvious reference to some past selections that didn’t fit in the Saints locker room.

“If you go back and look at the previous drafts,” said Payton, “on some of those players, one of those checked off boxes was gray.”

Payton added this little nugget.

“Do they have the makeup of what we were looking for?”

Clearly the Saints have improved their defense. First round pick Stephone Anthony of Clemson will have a chance to win the job at middle linebacker.

Hau’oli Kikaha, a second round choice from Washington, is expected to provide immediate help as an edge rusher.

But, I have a question.

Have the Saints taken a major step back, offensively?

They traded their two leading receivers.

Tight end Jimmy Graham (85 catches) was dealt to Seattle.

Wide receiver Kenny Stills (63 receptions) was traded to Miami.

So, does Marques Colston reverse a trend of declining production?

Colston caught 83 passes in 2012, then 75 in 2013, and 59 last season.

The Saints re-signed wide receiver Joe Morgan. Can Morgan, Nick Toon, or a pair of free agents from a year ago, Seantavious Jones or Brandon Coleman provide some big plays?

The Saints did not draft a wide receiver or a tight end.

Josh Hill, who caught five TD passes, will get every chance to prove he is a number one tight end in the NFL. The Saints did draft a running back in the seventh round, Marcus Murphy from Missouri.

But, Murphy will get every chance to be the Saints primary kick returner.

Running back Mark Ingram made a major step forward in 2014. Are his nine rushing touchdowns and 964 rush yards a true barometer as he heads to his prime years?

One of the Saints more intriguing pickups was former first round pick CJ Spiller. A free agent running back from Buffalo, Spiller has edge speed that the Saints sorely need.

But, his rushing totals have declined in the past three years from 1,244 to 933 to 300.

In 2014, the Saints led the NFL in total offense, averaging 411.4 yards per game.

But, the Saints were ninth in points per game at 25.1.

At home, the Saints were not nearly as dominating.

They lost their last five games at the Superdome, and scored 24 points or less at home in five different games.

So, Sean Payton likes his draft, and likes the vibe that his rookie class of 2015 has provided.

But, a Saints strength, may suddenly be a question mark.

Mimi Wilson, OT, PA-C Jimmy N. Ponder, Jr., MD Adolfo Cuadra, MD

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