Altar Servers play a very important role in the Sacred Liturgy. They are part of the procession, handle incense, help prepare the altar for Mass, aid with baptisms, and help with the sacred vessels. Each year the Archdiocese honors altar servers from around the parish that have been nominated by their parish. This year our “altar server of the year” is our newest server: Nathaniel J. Almon! … [Read more...]

On Sunday, March 3, 2024, at St. Catherine of Sienna Church, Archbishop Aymond presented the Order of St. Louis IX Medallion to our parishioners Raymond Bankston and Ken Hamrick The Order of St. Louis IX award was established more than 40 years ago to honor those members of the laity who have contributed their time and talents to the church. Even if you don’t know Raymond and Ken, you know of their work! Raymond is one of our faithful sacristans who opens up the church and sets up for Mass. Ken became very active during COVID in helping us disinfect the church between Masses. He is also very active with the Knights of Columbus. “Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.” (Mt 25:40). … [Read more...]

Saturday, February 11, the Church remembers the apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes to St. Bernadette Soubirous that took place a little over 150 years ago in Lourdes, France.  Since Our Lady of Lourdes Parish down the street on Napoleon Avenue has been closed, I thought a little “refresher course” on the apparitions of Lourdes might be in order. On 11 February 1858, Bernadette Soubirous went with two girlfriends to collect some firewood to sell in order to be able to buy some bread. As she was wading through a river near the Grotto of Massabielle, she heard the wind but did not see the trees and bushes move. As she looked toward the Grotto, she saw a light and a beautiful lady – “Lovelier than I have ever seen” - dressed in white with a blue sash fastened around her waist and two golden … [Read more...]

The symbolism of the pelican feeding her young is rooted in a legend preceding Christianity that when food was scarce, the mother pelican would wound her breast with her beak and feed her young with her blood to prevent starvation. Given this legend, one can understand why the early Christians adapted it to symbolize our Lord, Jesus Christ. The pelican symbolizes Jesus our Redeemer who gave His life for our redemption and continues to feed us with His body and blood in the Holy Eucharist. The pelican is also part of our liturgical tradition. The image of the pelican is popular artwork for altar frontals, tabernacles and arches.  In the hymn “Adoro te devote,” (written by St. Thomas Aquinas, whose feast day we celebrate on January 28, and translated into English by Gerard Manley … [Read more...]

The twenty-fifth day of December. In the five thousand one hundred and ninety-ninth year of the creation of the world from the time when God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth; the two thousand nine hundred and fifty-seventh year after the flood; the two thousand and fifteenth year from the birth of Abraham; the one thousand five hundred and tenth year from Moses and the going forth of the people of Israel from Egypt; the one thousand and thirty-second year from David's being anointed king; in the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel; in the one hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad; the seven hundred and fifty-second year from the foundation of the city of Rome; the forty second year of the reign of Octavian Augustus; the whole world being at peace, in the … [Read more...]

During Advent, we refrain from singing the “Gloria in Excelsis Deo / Glory to God in the Highest.” Why? Let’s start with some basic rules of liturgy set down by the Second Vatican Council in its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Within the cycle of a year the Church “unfolds” the whole mystery of Christ, from the incarnation and birth until the ascension, the day of Pentecost, and the expectation of blessed hope and of the coming of the Lord (no.102). The church is to be particularly directed toward feasts of the Lord that point to salvation (no.108). In other words, a principle in ritual is to celebrates “feasts” and “fasts” in different ways so as to allow the mysteries of Christ to be made clear by the celebration. The Resurrection of Christ takes pre-eminence and is … [Read more...]

The annual St. Alphonsus Cre?che Exhibit will begin on Sunday, Sunday, November 26 to Sunday December 3 at St. Dominic Church in Lakeview There will be over 100 cre?che's from around the world. For more information call Blanche Comiskey at 504-235-2931, or the FOSA office at 504-524-8116. … [Read more...]

St. Monica Feast Day – August 27 St Augustine Feast Day – August 28 St. Augustine, a Roman African, was born in 354 in Thagaste (present-day Algeria) to a pagan father named Patricius and a Christian mother named Monica. At the age of 11, Augustine was sent to school at Madaurus, where he became familiar with Latin literature, as well as pagan beliefs and practices. At age 17, he went to Carthage to continue his education in rhetoric. Although raised as a Christian, Augustine left the church to follow the Manichaean religion, much to the despair of his mother. As a youth Augustine lived hedonistic lifestyle and had a longtime affair with a young woman in Carthage from whom was born his son Adeodatus. Although his mother constantly prayed for him to become a Christian, Augustine's … [Read more...]

Pope Saint Pius X was an Italian named Giuseppe Sarto, who was born in 1835 near Treviso, Italy.  He was the second born of ten children of Giovanni Battista Sarto, the village postman, and Margherita Sanson.  He was baptized on June 3, 1835. Though poor, his parents valued education, and Giuseppe walked 4 miles to school each day.  As a poor boy, he was often teased for his meager lunches and shabby clothes, but he never complained about this to his teachers.  He eventually came to the attention of the parish priest because of his devotion to the Mass as an altar server. In 1850, at the age of 15, he was given a scholarship from Cardinal of Venice (who his parish priest had written) to attend the Seminary of Padua, where he finished his classical, philosophical, and theological studies … [Read more...]

The Catholic Church is the distinctive name of this holy Church which is the mother of us all. She is the bride of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God (for Scripture says: Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her). She is the type and she bears the image of the Jerusalem above that is free and is the mother of us all, that Jerusalem which once was barren but now has many children. The first assembly, that is, the assembly of Israel, was rejected, and now in the second, that is, in the Catholic Church, God has appointed first, apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators and speakers in various tongues, as Paul says; and together with these is found every sort of virtue—wisdom and understanding, … [Read more...]