News - October 2024 RSS Feed

Dear Parishioners, Once again, in the wee hours of the morning of Sunday, November 3rd , we will “fall back” and leave daylight saving time – a yearly change that we all must remember to do so that we’re not an hour early for Mass, work, or appointments if we have any of these on that Sunday morning. So this yearly “change” is one of a number of annual changes we are involved in. With this time change on November 3rd, here at St. Peter’s we will have another “time change,” starting on Saturday, November 9, with the Vigil Mass beginning at 4 pm rather than 5 pm. As your pastor, I feel that this Mass time change has more pros than cons. First, the earliest time that a vigil Mass can take place is 4 pm, and the vast majority of vigil Masses in our archdiocese and beyond begin at 4 pm. Secondly, those Mass-goers who do not like to or can’t drive after dark may now attend the vigil Mass at 4 pm and drive home before or at sunset – it is quite dark already at 6 pm during standard time. Thirdly, the 4 pm vigil Mass allows people, as well as the priests who officiate at these, to attend Catholic weddings that many times take place on Saturday evenings, in addition to other Saturday night events. Ultimately, making the vigil Mass more available to all parishioners who would like to attend is the important consideration here.

Beginning the weekend of November 2nd/3rd, all children in attendance at all Masses, will be invited up to the Altar to place their monetary offering in a special box especially made for their contributions.

Dear Parishioners, In a less than two weeks we will celebrate All Saints’ Day, and for those who have family, friends, and loved ones buried in our venerable cemetery, we might visit the tombs, brings flowers, and hopefully have good and happy memories of those who have been called back to God before us. For some, the pain of loss will still be fresh, for others, the years may have healed us somewhat; however, when our loved ones died, we had to change, adapt, and modify our lives to different extents and in different ways. Those key words – change, adapt, & modify – are not only applicable when we experience a death of someone but are words that we shouldn’t always be afraid of, especially when what we are changing and adapting to, is going on all around us and is not so unique to “just us.” The merge of St. Peter and St. Hubert parishes was announced one year ago, in early November 2023 and is still a relatively new development in our lives as residents of Reserve, Garyville, and Mount Airy. Just as some people ask God “why” when someone dies, it is natural for some to ask God “why” regarding our parish merge, yet God’s Will brought about this, so we should believe, as believers in God, and it is no different with our parish merge. Can we think that Archbishop Aymond, or Archbishop Hughes before him right after Hurricane Katrina, really wanted to make decisions regarding closures and mergers of parishes, resulting in change, adaptation, and modification that were not welcome and wanted? The answer is no, yet they just didn’t make these decisions without the input of informed others, hard data and facts that are real, despite all the commentary by many that the hard data and facts are erroneous and maybe “made up.” None of us would want the job of a bishop because being responsible for the spiritual well-being of people is not easy at all: being a Catholic is subjective – something that can be argued and debated, and we don’t face possible imprisonment by God or the Catholic Church, while being a taxpayer, for example, is objective – we can’t argue or debate paying what we owe in federal and state taxes because of the legal consequences we would face. So the decisions of the bishops and priests of the Church are always subject to scrutiny when people are called to change, adapt, and modify. Let us ask our favorite saints in Heaven, as well as the saints right here in our cemetery, for their intercession in the change, adaptation, and modification we are called to do as members of the Body of Christ. Jesus had to change, adapt, and modify in His life on Earth as our Redeemer and Brother. May we strive to do the same.

Dear Parishioners, For those parishioners who don’t usually enter St. Peter Church by way of the front entrance, you may not have seen the recent improvements that have been done by some parishioners who have been quite generous with their time, talent, and treasure. The concrete benches have been pressure-washed, painted, and sealed, and the large concrete planters have been painted as well – a beautiful terra cotta color – so that they stand out, showing the new plants that they contain. Other potted plants and greenery have been added, as well as seasonal wreaths on the front doors. On behalf of the entire parish family, I want to heartily thank this couple who came to me, asked if they could undertake this project, and for following through with some beautiful results. Speaking of the front entrance and particularly the front doors of the church, in the process of painting and planting, the front doors were cleaned, with all the residue of the “scotch” tape removed as best as it could be. The front doors look great now! Therefore, I’m firmly requesting, effective immediately, that any flyer, announcement, or reminder that is posted on the church doors of St. Peter or St. Hubert, NOT be attached with “scotch” tape, and that if this type of tape is used, when the posted item is removed, any remnants of the tape be removed as well. I ask this because we have to remember something very important: our church, our worship space, is a sacred space – inside and outside. All this tape remnants and residue might seem like a trivial and insignificant thing to some, but just look at the church doors at the north, east, and west entrances, and you’ll see years of what’s left after constant postings on the church doors. Compare them to the south doors, the “front” doors of the church, now that they’ve been cleaned, and I hope you’ll see what I mean.