Bayou Catholic | August 2012

Bayou

Catholic

The magazine for the people of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

n o i s Vi 2012

Holy Cross Church and School, Central Catholic to dedicate Phase 1 and 11 of $10.3 million project Aug. 22 HOUMA, LA ~ AUGUST 2012 ~ COMPLIMENTARY

Journey

Our Philosophy on Hospice Care Includes:

• Allowing the patient to continue seeing their physicians.

• Providing the medications, supplies (diapers, nutritional supplements) and all medical equipment.

• Providing care for those who suffer from: Heart, Liver, and Kidney Disease, Dementia, Cancer, and other chronic illnesses.

• Providing Crisis Care for patients and their caregivers who experience symptoms that are related to the patient’s disease process.

• Providing hospice care for patients while at home, in assisted livings, nursing homes and hospitals.

• Our services are paid by Medicare, Medicaid, Private Insurance, or our indigent program.

• We continue medications and nutritional supplements while on our service.

• Our patients are allowed to be admitted to a hospital for symptom management.

• We use RN’s and LPN’s for our nursing care, along with CNA’s, Social Workers, Chaplains, and Volunteers.

• We provide bereavement for no less than a year following a patient’s passing.

• Along with our Medical Director, we work with the patient’s physician to provide the best continutity of care for the patient.

Hospice

To learn more about our services Call: 985-223-1865 598 Corporate Drive • Houma, LA 70360 24 Hours 7 Days a Week

Contents

On Our Cover

Jesus Is Lord

Father Danny Poche’, pastor of Holy Cross Church parish in Morgan City; Mamie Bergeron, principal of Holy Cross Elementary School; and Deacon Vic Bonnaffee, principal of Central Catholic High School; invite the community to the dedication of its new facilities Wednesday, Aug. 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the new Central Catholic gymnasium.

Cover photo by Lawrence Chatagnier

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What must we do to be saved?

16 The Pope Speaks

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Heavenly Recipes

Central Catholic

Zenobia’s Chicken Parmesan

Graduate Caitlin Morgan receives honor

Couples need to talk each day

Bayou

Catholic

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24

• Welcome

• Question Corner

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Our Churches

2012 Football Football 2012

St. Lawrence, Kraemer/St. James, Choctaw celebrates 50th

The guide to local high schools, colleges, Saints

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• Reflections

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• Young Voices

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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

Bayou Catholic Vol. 33, No. 2 Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

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.

• Seeing Clairely

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• Where Am I?

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Louis G. Aguirre

editor and general manager Lawrence Chatagnier

managing editor Glenn J. Landry, C.P.A.

business manager Peggy Adams

advertising manager Janet Marcel

staff writer Pat Keese

secretary and circulation Lisa Schobel Hebert

graphic designer Janet B. Eschete

accounts payable assistant Meridy Liner

accounts receivable assistant

Where to find us Bayou Catholic magazine can be found at all Catholic churches in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and at the three Catholic high schools in Houma, Morgan City and Thibodaux. 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.

Index to Advertisers Advanced Eye Institute .............................. 19 Barker Honda ............................................. 50 Bueche’s Jewelry ....................................... 30 Cannata’s ................................................... 80 Catholic University of America Collection .. 35 Channel 10 ................................................. 23 Charles A. Page & Sons ............................ 63 Chauvin Funeral Home/Twin City Funeral .. 72 Community Bank ....................................... 57 Family of God Conference ......................... 31 Daigle Himel Daigle ................................... 45 Data Management Services ....................... 49 Diocesan Outreach Line .............................. 5 Diocesan Website ...................................... 77 Dr. Neil Maki, Orthopaedics ....................... 76 Duplantis Design Group, PC ..................... 62 Falgout Funeral Homes, LLC ..................... 67 Family Vision Clinic .................................... 43 Felger’s Footwear ...................................... 49 God’s Precious Word & Gifts ..................... 78 Haydel Spine & Pain .................................. 34 ISR Physical Therapy ................................. 61 Journey Hospice .......................................... 2 KEM Supply House, Inc. ............................ 66 Lafourche Ford Lincoln .............................. 79 Lavis Conoco ............................................. 63 LeBlanc & Associates ................................ 33 Lirette Ford Lincoln ..................................... 59 Marie’s Wrecker Service ............................ 48 Morrison Terrebonne Lumber .................... 64 Mpress ....................................................... 37 Office of Youth Ministry .............................. 51 Re-Bath ...................................................... 36 Robichaux Ford .......................................... 55 Rod’s Superstore ....................................... 27 SEECA .......................................................... 9 Seminary Burse .......................................... 21 Southland Dodge Chrysler Jeep ............... 41 Southland Mall ............................................. 3 Spotlight ....................................................... 6 St. Joseph Manor ....................................... 33 Sunshine Equipment ................................. 71 Synergy Bank ............................................. 65 Taco Bell ..................................................... 69 Taco Bell ..................................................... 73 Terminix ...................................................... 30 TGMC ........................................................... 7 Thibodaux Physical Therapy ..................... 42 Vision Communications ............................. 53

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 or Toll free 1-866-444-4241 or Call the Victim Assistance Coordinator at (985) 850-3129

Línea de Comunicación Diocesana

Con el fin de cumplir con las Políticas de la 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 (previamente la 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 HoumaThibodaux.

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 Llamada gratuita 1-866-444-4241 o Llame al Coordinador de Asistencia para las Víctimas al (985) 850-3129

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 hoaëc Soá mieãn phí: 1-800-444-4241 hoaëc goïi Nhaân vieân Trôï giuùp Naïn nhaân soá (985) 850-3129 www.htdiocese.org

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Welcome

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

Let’s play!

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August is the time of year when football fans in South Louisiana dream of victories, glory and championships. Many readers of the Bayou Catholic eagerly await our football special, which highlights each and every one of our high schools – public and private – as well as Nicholls State, LSU, Tulane and the Saints. Beyond that, this year is the Summer Olympic Games.

Some legitimately ask: “Why place so much emphasis on sports?” Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has an answer. He says team sports can educate participants and spectators in important values, including self sacrifice and respect for one’s adversaries.

Group sporting events, says the pope, are “an important school for educating one in the meaning of respect for others – including the opposing team – the spirit of personal sacrifice for the good of the whole group,” and in the importance of recognizing the talents and skills of each person on a team.

In other words, the pope says, team sports help people “overcome the logic of individualism and selfishness, which often characterize human relations, in order to make room for the logic of brotherhood and love, the only things that can lead to promoting the common good on every level.”

Speaking of the Olympics, the pope expressed his hope that they would help bring peace and reconciliation throughout the world. The games, he said, have “important symbolic value,” and for that reason the Catholic Church looks to them “with special fondness and attention.” He said he prays that the Olympics will be “a true experience of brotherhood between all peoples on earth.”

We pray for the safety of all involved in team sports and hope we will all win much more than glory, recognition and trophies.

A winner has been chosen for Bayou Catholic’s “Where Am I” contest for the month of June.

This photo of a church steeple can be found at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Galliano. Many correct entries were received and a winner was drawn at random.

Audrey Plaisance of Galliano is the winner of a gift card in the amount of $50 from God’s Precious Word and Gifts.

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

Diocesan Programs This Week “Revival”

Host: Bishop Sam G. Jacobs Co-Host: Regina Thibodeaux Wednesday 8:30 p.m.

Friday 9:30 a.m. and Sunday 9:30 a.m.

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.

“Spotlight on the Diocese” Host: Louis Aguirre With Guests: Dr. Faith Ann Spinella

Director of Office of Religious Education

Rev. Joshua Rodrigue

Rector, Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales If you are not receiving these programs in your area, please contact your local cable provider.

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

The prime of life.

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Choose TGMC for life.

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www.htdiocese.org 7/27/12 9:03 AM

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Scripture Readings Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

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and a listing of Feast days and saints.

Thursday

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Friday

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Saturday

Sunday

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Memorial of John Vianney, priest Jeremiah 26:1116, 24 Matthew 14:1-12

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15 Ephesians 4:17, 20-24 John 6:24-35

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Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 2 Peter 1:16-19 Mark 9:2-10

Weekday Jeremiah 30:1-2, 12-15, 18-22 Matthew 14:22-36

Memorial of Dominic, priest Jeremiah 31:1-7 Matthew 15:21-28

Weekday Jeremiah 31:31-34 Matthew 16:13-23

Feast of Lawrence, deacon and martyr 2 Corinthians 9:6-10 John 12:24-26

Memorial of Clare, virgin Hebrews 1:12—2:4 Matthew 17:14-20

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kings 19:4-8 Ephesians 4:30— 5:2 John 6:41-51

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Weekday Ezekiel 1:2-5, 24-28c Matthew 17:22-27

Memorial of Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr Ezekiel 2:8—3:4 Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Revelation 11:19a, 12:1-6a, 10ab 1 Corinthians 15:20-27 Luke 1:39-56

Weekday Ezekiel 12:1-12 Matthew 18:21— 19:1

Weekday Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63 Matthew 19:3-12

Weekday Ezekiel 18:1-10, 13b, 30-32 Matthew 19:13-15

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Proverbs 9:1-6 Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58

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Memorial of Bernard, abbot and doctor of the church Ezekiel 24:15-24 Matthew 19:16-22

Memorial of Pius X, pope Ezekiel 28:1-10 Matthew 19:23-30

Memorial of the Weekday Queenship of the Ezekiel 36:23-28 Blessed Virgin Mary Matthew 22:1-14 Ezekiel 34:1-11 Matthew 20:1-16

Feast of Weekday Bartholomew, Ezekiel 43:1-7b apostle Matthew 23:1-12 Revelation 21:9b-14 John 1:45-51

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Memorial of Monica 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11-12 Matthew 23:13-22

Memorial of Augustine, bishop and doctor of the church 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3a, 14-17 Matthew 23:23-26

Memorial of the Martyrdom of John the Baptist 2 Thessalonians 3:6-10, 16-18 Mark 6:17-29

Weekday 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 Matthew 24:42-51

Weekday 1 Corinthians 1:1725 Matthew 25:1-13

Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b Ephesians 5:21-32 John 6:60-69

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Comment Jesus Is Lord Bishop Sam G. Jacobs

These stained glass images depicting the seven corporal works of mercy serve to illustrate the bishop’s column. They can be found gracing the interior of St. Bridget Church in Schriever.

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Sometimes we tend to emphasize one thing over the other rather than see them the way God desires them to be seen: as both/and. This is particularly true over the issue of the relationship between faith and works for salvation. Because some Christians historically seemed to give the impression that salvation can be earned, others have gone to the opposite extreme and practically reject all works in the plan of God for salvation.

What is the truth found in the Scriptures? We have to approach the revelation of God holistically, which means looking at the whole of the Word of God and not just at a particular passage out of context. For the Word of God is not contradictory; it is truth.

First of all, God is the one who saves. There is no salvation outside of Jesus Christ.

Justification comes from God even prior to our faith response and our good works. That is the heart of the New Testament revelation. Jesus Christ, true God and true man, died on the cross for our salvation. Faith in him directly or indirectly brings us into the process of salvation.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

As an adult, faith in Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, faith in him as Lord and Savior

Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier

is the normal means of salvation.

There are a number of Scripture passages which affirm this. For infants who are baptized, it is the faith of the parents and/or the faith of the community in whom the child is incorporated.

The beginning of salvation comes from God’s unmerited grace and continues through our openness to receive and act on that grace through baptism.

But salvation is a process that is not completed until the day we die. For if we die in Christ we will be with Christ forever; but if we die alienated from him, we will be alienated eternally.

Our works do not earn us salvation, but are reflections of our response to the free gift of God. This response involves a way of life that reflects acceptance and

cooperation with the grace of God that brings us salvation. Again, our works do not save us but they reflect our response to God’s grace.

That is why we are reminded in several citations of the Scriptures how important our actions are.

Recall the final judgment scene in Matthew’s Gospel: “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me’” (Matthew 25:34-36).

All these are works. At the same time those who were rejected from the kingdom, did not do the

Faith alone does not save us; works alone do not save us Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

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same works expected of them by God. Other citations are: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13). Even though salvation is a gift from God, one needs to live in a way that allows that gift to flourish.

“I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, by what they had done … . All were judged by what they had done” (Revelation 20:12-13).

“And I heard a voice from heaven saying. ‘Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.’ ‘Blessed indeed,’ says the Spirit, ‘that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them’” (Revelation 14:13). For deeds to follow us this must mean that works are important as well as faith.

Finally, we have the clearest passage in the Scriptures which gives us the full revelation of God. It is from the Letter of James.

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

“Indeed someone might say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Demonstrate your faith to me without works, and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works. You believe that God is one. You do well.

Even the demons believe that and tremble. Do you want proof, you ignoramus, that faith without works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by the works.

“Thus the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called ‘the

friend of God.’ See how a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by a different route? For just as a body without a spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (James 2:14ff).

Faith alone does not save us.

Works alone do not save us. It is our faith in the saving work of Jesus (his death and resurrection— our justification) that is lived out in our conduct of life. In response, that brings about the full work of God in us, namely our salvation.

In the words of Paul to the Philippians: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philip-

pians 1:6).

In a 1999 joint Catholic-Lutheran statement on the Doctrine of Justification, it was stated: “We confess together that good works— a Christian life lived in faith, hope and love—follow justification and are its fruits. When the justified live in Christ and act in the grace they receive, they bring forth, in biblical terms, good fruit . . . When Catholics affirm the ‘meritorious’ character of good works, they wish to say that, according to the biblical witness, a reward in heaven is promised to these works. Their intention is to emphasize the responsibility of persons for their actions, not to contest the character of those works as gifts, or far less to deny that justification always remains the unmerited gift of grace” (JD 37–38).

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www.htdiocese.org

Comentario

La fe por sí sola no nos salva; las obras por sí solas no nos salvan

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A veces tenemos la tendencia de enfatizar una cosa sobre otra en lugar de verlas como Dios quiere que sean vistas: en conjunto/ambos. Esto lo podemos notar bien con el tema de la relación que existe entre la fe y las obras de salvación.

Debido a que históricamente algunos cristianos parecían dar la impresión de que la salvación debe ganarse, otros se han ido al extremo opuesto y prácticamente rechazan todas las obras dentro del plan de salvación de Dios. ¿Cuál es la verdad de las Escrituras?

Tenemos que estudiar todas las partes de la revelación de Dios, examinar enteramente la Palabra de Dios y no solamente un pasaje fuera de contexto, ya que la Palabra de Dios no se contradice; es la verdad.

Primero, Dios es quien nos da la salvación. No hay salvación sin Jesucristo. La justificación proviene de Dios aun antes de demostrar nuestra fe y llevar a cabo nuestras buenas obras. Esto es el meollo de la revelación del Nuevo Testamento. Jesucristo —Dios verdadero y hombre verdadero— padeció en la cruz para darnos la salvación. La fe en Él nos transporta al proceso de salvación de manera directa o indirecta. «Ustedes han sido salvados por la fe y lo han sido por gracia. Esto no vino de ustedes, sino que es un don de Dios» (Efesios 2:8).

En la vida adulta, la fe en la muerte y resurrección de Jesucristo y la fe de que Jesús es el Señor y Salvador son el vehículo común hacia la salvación. Hay numerosos pasajes bíblicos que confirman esto. Los niños que son bautizados reciben la salvación por medio de la fe de sus padres y/o de su comunidad a la que se incorporan.

El inicio de la salvación proviene de la gracia de Dios

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

Los vitrales demostrando imágenes de las siete obras corporalesde misericordia sirven para ilustrar el artículo del obispo. Estas se pueden encontrar en el interior de la Iglesia St. Bridget en Schriever.

Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier

y continúa a través de nuestra voluntad de recibir la gracia y actuar dentro de la gracia a través del bautismo.

Pero la salvación es un proceso que no se termina hasta el día que morimos. Porque si morimos en Cristo estaremos con Cristo para toda la eternidad; pero si morimos alejados de Él permaneceremos alejados eternamente. Nuestras obras no nos dan la salvación, estas son sólo un reflejo de nuestra respuesta al don de Dios. Esta respuesta requiere un estilo de vida que refleja la aceptación y la cooperación con la gracia de Dios.

Recordemos que nuestras obras no nos dan la salvación sino son sólo un reflejo de nuestra respuesta a la gracia de Dios. He aquí porque diferentes citas bíblicas nos recuerdan la importancia de nuestras acciones.

Recordemos elhecho del juicio final en el Evangelio de Mateo: «Entonces el Rey dirá a los que están a su derecha: ‘Vengan, benditos de mi Padre y tomen posesión del reino que ha sido preparado para ustedes desde el principio del mundo.

Porque tuve hambre y ustedes me dieron de comer; tuve sed y ustedes me dieron de beber. Fui forastero y ustedes me recibieron en su casa. Anduve sin ropas y me vistieron. Estuve enfermo y fueron a visitarme. Estuve en la cárcel y me fueron a ver’» (Mateo 25:34-36).

Todos ellos son obras. Asimismo aquellos que fueron rechazados del Reino no hicieron las mismas obras que Dios esperaba de ellos.

Otras citas son: «Sigan procurando su salvación con temor y temblor, pues Dios es el que produce en ustedes tanto el querer como el actuar

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para agradarle» (Filipenses 2: 1213). A pesar de que la salvación es un regalo de Dios, es necesario vivir de manera que este regalo florezca.

«Y vi a los muertos, grandes y pequeños, de pie ante el trono, mientras eran abiertos unos libros.

Luego fue abierto otro, el libro de la vida. Entonces fueron juzgados los muertos según sus obras…. Cada uno fue juzgado según sus obras» (Apocalipsis 20:12-13).

«Entonces oí una voz que decía desde el cielo: ‘Escribe esto: Felices desde ahora los muertos que mueren en el Señor. Sí, dice el Espíritu, que descansen de sus fatigas, pues sus obras los acompañan’» (Apocalipsis 14:13). El hecho que las obras nos acompañan significa que las obras son tan importantes como la fe.

Finalmente, tenemos el pasaje más claro en las Escrituras que nos brinda la revelación plena de Dios.

Es la Carta de Santiago.

«Hermanos, si uno dice que tiene fe, pero no viene con obras, ¿de qué le sirve?¿Acaso lo salvará esa fe? http://www.usccb.org/bible/james/2 - 67002014-iSi un hermano o una hermana no tienen con qué vestirse ni qué comer, y ustedes les dicen: ‘Que les vaya bien, caliéntense y aliméntense’, sin darles lo necesario para el cuerpo, ¿de qué les sirve eso? Lo mismoocurre con la fe: si no produce obras, es que está muerta.

Y sería fácil decirle a uno: ‘Tú tienes fe, pero yo tengo obras.

Muéstrame tu fe sin obras, y yo te mostraré mi fe a través de las obras. ¿Tú crees que hay un sólo Dios?

Pues muy bien, pero eso lo creen también los demonios y tiemblan’. ¿Será necesario demostrarte, si no lo sabes todavía, que la fe sin obras no tiene sentido? Abrahán, nuestro padre, ¿no fue reconocido justo por sus obras cuando ofreció a su hijo Isaac sobre el altar? Ya ves que la fe acompañaba a sus obras, y por las obras su fe llegó a la madurez.

Esto es lo que recuerda la Escritura: Abrahán creyó en Dios, y por eso fue reconocido justo, y fue llamado amigo de Dios. Entiendan, pues, que uno llega a ser justo a través de las obras y no sólo por la fe. Lo mismo pasó con Rajab, la prostituta: fue admitida entre los justos por sus obras, por haber dado hospedaje a los espías y porque los hizo partir por otro camino. Porque así como un cuerpo sin espíritu está muerto, así también la fe que

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no produce obras está muerta» (Santiago 2:14).

La fe por sí sola no nos salvará.

Las obras por sí solas tampoco nos salvarán. Es nuestra fe en la obra salvadora de Jesús (su muerte y resurrección —nuestra justificación) lo que se expresa en la nuestra vida. En respuesta esto nos brinda la obra completa de Dios en nosotros, principalmente nuestra salvación. Pablo dice en Filipenses: «Y si Dios empezó tan buen trabajo en ustedes, estoy seguro de que lo continuará hasta concluirlo el día de Cristo Jesús» (Filipenses 1:6).

En una declaración conjunta católico-luterano en 1999 sobre la Doctrina de Justificación, se dijo lo siguiente: «Juntos confesamos que

las buenas obras, una vida cristiana de fe, esperanza y amor, surgen después de la justificación y son fruto de ella. Cuando el justificado vive en Cristo y actúa en la gracia que le fue concedida, en términos bíblicos, produce buen fruto….

Cuando los católicos afirman el carácter ‘meritorio’ de las buenas obras, por ello entienden que, conforme al testimonio bíblico, se les promete una recompensa en el cielo. Su intención no es cuestionar la índole de esas obras en cuanto don, ni mucho menos negar que la justificación siempre es un don inmerecido de la gracia, sino poner el énfasis en la responsabilidad del ser humanos por sus actos» (DJ 3738). www.htdiocese.org

Binh luan bang loi

Ñöùc tin khoâng maø thoâi khoâng coù söï cöùu roãi; vieäc laøm maø thoâi cuõng khoâng cöùu ñöôïc ai

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Ñoâi khi chuùng ta nhaán maïnh ñieàu naøy hôn ñieàu kia, nhöng laïi khoâng coù moät caùi nhìn maø Chuùa muoán: nhö caû hai. Ñieàu naøy raát ñuùng khi chuùng nhìn vaøo khía caïnh veà söï lieân heä giöõa ñöùc tin vaø haønh ñoäng töông quan ñeán söï cöùu roãi. Qua lòch söû ôn cöùu ñoä moät soá cho raèng söï cöùu roãi laø do mình kieám ñöôïc, nhöõng ngöôøi khaùc nhìn ngöôïc laïi, cöïc ñoan hôn laø choái boû moïi vieäc thieän trong chöông trình cöùu ñoä.

Kinh thaùnh noùi gì veà ñieåm naøy?

Chuùng ta caàn nhìn vaøo söï maëc khaûi cuûa Thieân Chuùa moät caùch toång quaùt, nghóa laø nhìn vaøo lôøi Chuùa toaøn dieän, chöù khoâng phaûi moät ñoaïn naøo ñoù. Vì lôøi Chuùa khoâng ñi ngöôïc laïi vôùi nhau; laø lôøi chaân thaät.

Thöù nhaát, chæ coù Chuùa laø ngöôøi ban ôn cöùu ñoä. Khoâng coù söï cöùu roãi ngoaøi Chuùa Gieâsu ra. Söï thanh luyeän phaùt xuaát töø Thieân Chuùa keå caû khi ñöùc tin vaø vieäc thieän chöa toàn taïi. Ñoù chính laø troïng taâm maø Taân Öôùc maëc khaûi. Chuùa Gieâsu, vöøa laø Thieân Chuùa vöøa laø con ngöôøi cheát treân thaäp giaù ñeå cöùu roãi chuùng ta. Tin vaøo Ngaøi tröïc tieáp hay giaùn tieáp ñöa chuùng ta ñeán con ñöôøng cöùu ñoä. “Vì aân suûng caùc baïn ñöôïc cöùu roãi vì ñöùc tin, vaø noù khoâng phaùt xuaát töø caùc baïn; maø laø moùn quaø Chuùa ban” (EÂpheâsoâ 2:8).

Laø moät ngöôøi tröôûng thaønh, tin vaøo caùi cheát vaø söï soáng laïi cuûa Chuùa Gieâsu, tin vaøo Ngaøi laø Chuùa vaø laø Ñaáng Cöùa Ñoä ñöa ñeán söï cöùu roãi. Coù nhieàu ñoaïn trong Kinh Thaùnh chöùng minh ñieàu ñoù. Nhö khi röûa toäi moät em beù, vì ñöùc tin cuûa cha meï maø chuùng ta röûa toäi cho em hoaëc vì ñöùc tin cuûa coäng ñoàng. Söï cöùu roãi baét ñaàu töø aân suûng cuûa Thieân Chuùa vaø tieáp tuïc qua söï coäng taùc cuûa chuùng ta qua haønh ñoäng vì bí tích Röûa Toäi. Nhöng giai ñoaïn cöùu roãi khoâng chaám döùt cho ñeán khi ta cheát. Vì khi ta cheát trong Chuùa Kytoâ chuùng ta seõ ôû vôùi Ngaøi luoân maõi; nhöng neáu chuùng ta taùch rôøi khoûi Ngaøi chuùng ta bò phaït ñôøi ñôøi. Vieäc thieän maø chuùng ta thöïc thi maø thoâi khoâng mang ñeán söï

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

cöùu roãi nhöng noù laø phaûn aûnh chuùng ta nhaän ôn cuûa Ngaøi. Söï phaûn aûnh naøy baèng cuoäc soáng baèng caùch chaáp nhaän vaø coäng taùc vôùi aân suûng cuûa Chuùa ñöa chuùng ta ñeán cöùu ñoä. Moät laàn nöõa vieäc thieân maø thoâi khoâng cöùu ñöôïc chuùng ta, nhöng laø haønh ñoäng ñaùp laïi ôn Chuùa. Chính vì theá chuùng ta ñöôïc nhaéc nhôû qua vaøi ñoaïn Kinh Thaùnh vieäc laøm quan troïng laø chöøng naøo.

Haõy nhìn vaøo ñoaïn Kinh Thaùnh vaøo ngaøy phaùn xeùt trong Phuùc AÂm Maùtheâu: “Roài Vua noùi vôùi nhöõng ngöôøi ñöùùng beân phaûi, ‘Haõy ñeán beân Ta, nhöõng ai do Cha Ta chuùc phuùc.

Nhaän laáy phaàn thöôûng ñaõ doïn saün töø khi taïo thieân laäp ñòa. Vì khi Ta ñoùi caùc ngöôi cho aên, khi Ta khaùt caùc ngöôi cho uoáng, khaùch laï caùc ngöôi cho ôû, traàn truoàng cho maëc, bònh vaø caùc ngöôi saên soùc, tuø ñaày caùc ngöôi ñaõ thaêm vieáng’” (Mt 25:33-36).

Nhöõng thöù ñoù laø vieäc thieän. Cuøng luùc ñoù nhöõng ai choái boû boû nöôùc trôøi ñaõ

khoâng thöïc thi nhöõng vieäc thieän nhö treân.

Vaøi lôøi trích khaùc nhö: “Haõy tìm kieám söï cöùu roãi cho caùc ngöôi baèng söï sôï haõi vaø run raåy vì Chuùa haønh ñoäng trong ngöôi vôùi thaùnh yù Ngaøi vaø laøm saùng danh Ngaøi” (Philípheâ 2:12-13). Tuy ôn cöùu ñoä ñeán töø Thieân Chuùa, baïn caàn phaûi soáng theá naøo ñeå ôn thaùnh Chuùa ñöôïc mang hoa keát quaû. “Toâi nhìn thaáy nhieàu ngöôøi ñaõ cheát, giaø treû lôùn beù, ñang ñöùng caïnh tröôùc ngai vaøng, vaø nhieàu cuoán saùch ñöôïc môû ra. Cuõng theá moät cuoán saùch khaùc, goïi laø saùch söï soáng, cuõng ñöôïc môû ra. Vaø nhöõng nguôøi cheát bò phaùn xeùt döïa treân nhöõng gì ghi trong ñoù….

Taát caû bò phaùn xeùt qua vieäc laøm” (Maëc Khaûi 20:12-13).

“Vaø toâi nghe coù tieáng töø trôøi phaùn.

‘Vieát xuoáng: phuùc cho ai ñaõ cheát vì töø baây giôø hoï cheát trong Chuùa.’ ‘Quaû nhieân ñöôïc chuùc phuùc,’ thaàn khí noùi, ‘raèng hoï ñöôïc an nghæ trong vieäc thieän hoï laøm, vì nhöõng vieäc

a

Nhöõng taám kieáng maøu naøy dieãn taû baûy coâng vieäc thieän baèng theå xaùc ñeå chöùng minh baøi vieát cuûa ñöùc giaùm muïc. Chuùng ñöôïc trình baøy beân trong nhaø thôø Thaùnh Bridgit ôû Shriever.

Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier

15 thieän ñoù ñaõ ñoàng haønh vôùi hoï’” (Maëc Khaûi 14:13). Vì vieäc thieän cuøng ñoàng haønh vôùi ta coù nghó laø noù raát quan troïng nhö nieàm tin vaäy.

Sau cuøng, chuùng ta coù moät ñoaïn raát minh baïch trong Kinh Thaùnh cho chuùng ta thaáy maëc khaûi cuûa Chuùa. Ñoaïn ñoù cuûa Thaùnh Giacoâbeâ.

“Coù gì toát ñaâu, caùc baïn thaân meán, neáu coù ai noùi coù ñöùc tin nhöng khoâng coù vieäc thieän? Ñöùc tin ñoù cöùu ñöôïc hoï khoâng? http://www.usccb.org/ bible/james/2-67002014-2 Neáu anh em baïn khoâng ñoà aên vaø aùo maëc moät trong caùc baïn noùi raèng, ‘Haõy ñi bình an, giöõ cho aám vaø aên ngon,’ nhöng khoâng cho hoï nhöõng gì caàn thieát cho cô theå, nhö vaäy coù gì toát ñaâu? Vì theá, ñöùc tin maø khoâng coù vieäc laøm laø ñöùc tin cheát.

“Thaät vaäy, moät ngöôøi coù theå noùi, ‘Baïn coù ñöùc tin vaø toâi coù vieäc laøm.’

Haõy chöùng minh ñöùc tin khoâng vieäc laøm cuûa baïn cho toâi thaáy vaø toâi chöùng minh ñöùc tin baèng vieäc laøm cuûa toâi cho baïn thaáy. Baïn tin raèng Chuùa laø moät. Ñöùc tin toát ñaáy. Keå caû quyû cuõng tin nhö theá vaø vôùi söï run raåy nöõa kìa.

Baïn chöùng minh ñöôïc khoâng, ñoà ngu daïi, ñöùc tin khoâng haønh ñoäng laø voâ

hieäu? Coù phaûi toå phuï Abraham ñaõ ñöôïc tinh luyeän qua haønh ñoäng khoâng khi ngaøi daâng hieán con mình laø Isaac treân baøn thôø? Baïn thaáy khoâng, ñöùc tin soáng ñoäng cuøng ñi ñoâi vôùi haønh ñoäng, vaø ñöùc tin ñoù toaøn haûo vì coù vieäc thieän.”

“Vì theá Kinh Thaùnh ñaõ ñöôïc troïn veïn vì noùi raèng, ‘Toå phuï Abraham ñaõ tin vaøo Chuùa, vaø Thaùnh kinh cho raèng ngaøi laø ngöôøi coâng chính, vaø ñaõ ñöôïc mang danh hieäu laø ‘baïn cuûa Thieân Chuùa.’ Haõy nhìn moät ngöôøi ñöôïc tinh luyeän nhö theá naøo qua vieäc laøm, khoâng chæ baèng ñöùc tin maø thoâi. Vaø cuøng moät con ñöôøng ñoù coâ gaùi ñieám Rahab cuõng ñöôïc tinh luyeän bôûi vieäc laøm khi naøng chaáp nhaän caùc ñaáng thieân sai vaø göûi hoï ñi baèng nhieàu con ñöôøng khaùc nhau? Vì thaân xaùc maø khoâng coù linh hoàn laø thaân xaùc cheát, ñöùc tin cuõng theá khoâng vieäc laøm cuõng laø ñöùc tin cheát” (Giacoâbeâ 2:14ff). Ñöùc tin khoâng maø thoâi khoâng coù söï cöùu roãi. Chæ coù vieäc laøm maø thoâi cuõng khoâng cöùu ñöôïc ai. Tin vaøo söï cöùu ñoä cuûa Chuùa Gieâsu, qua caùi cheá vaø söï phuïc sinh cuûa Ngaøi-ñöa ñeán thanh luyeän, cuøng vôùi caùch soáng cuûa chuùng ta. Ñaùp laïi söï môøi goïi nhö theá ñöa

ñeán toaøn dieän coâng trình cuûa Chuùa trong chuùng ta, nghóa laø söï cöùu ñoä. Lôøi Thaùnh Phaoloâ göûi giaùo ñoaøn Philípheâ: “Toâi coù nieàm tin xaùc tin raèng Ngöôøi maø khôûi söï coâng vieäc toát trong baïn seõ giuùp baïn hoaøn thaønh noù trong ngaøy Chuùa Gieâsu ñeán” (Philípheâ 1:6).

Naêm 1999 giöõa Coâng Giaùo vaø Tin Laønh Luther kyù moät baûn tuyeân ngoân veà thanh luyeän noùi nhö sau: “Chuùng toâi tuyeân boá raèng vieäc thieän chính laø ñôøi soáng Kytoâ trong ñöùc tin, hy voïng vaø tình yeâu-tieáp noái laø thanh luyeän laø nhöõng hoa traùi cuûa ñöùc tin. Khi nhöõng Kytoâ höõu ñöôïc thanh luyeän soáng trong Chuùa Kytoâ vaø haønh ñoäng vì aân suûnh mình nhaän ñöôïc, hoï mang laïi keát quaû maø Kinh Thaùnh goïi laø hoa traùi…Khi ngöôøi Coâng Giaùo xaùc tín ñöôïc baûn chaát ñaùng löu yù cuûa vieäc thieän, hoï muoán noùi theá, vì döïa vaøo chöùng nhaân trong Kinh Thaùnh, phaàn thöôûng höùa ban laø vì nhöõng vieäc thieän ñoù. Quyeát taâm cuûa hoï laø nhaán maïnh ñeán traùch nhieäm cuûa hoï qua haønh ñoäng, khoâng phaûi ñeå choáng laïi baûn tính cuûa nhöõng vieäc thieän nhö nhöõng moùn quaø, hay teä hôn nöõa laø töø choái raèng thanh luyeän khoâng phaûi laø hoa quaû phaùt xuaát töø ôn thaùnh” (JD 37-38). www.htdiocese.org

Comment

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

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The Pope Speaks

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Going to Mass together and setting aside time each day to talk to each other are two simple practices that can help Catholic couples strengthen their marriage and be examples to others, said a papal message.

Pope Benedict XVI “invites Christian couples to be ‘the gentle and smiling face of the church,’ the best and most convincing heralds

of love sustained and nourished by faith,” said a message to the participants in the international meeting of the Teams of Our Lady.

The group, a movement for Catholic couples started in France in 1938, was meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, July 21-26. The papal message to the couples was signed

by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state.

While pressures on married couples have increased since the movement’s founding, the message said, members continue to be committed to proclaiming, “not only in words, but also through their lives, the fundamental truths about human love” and how it is a reflection of God’s love for humanity.

The movement helps couples recognize the grace of the sacrament of marriage and encourages them to attend Mass together, Cardinal Bertone said. It also gives them

“simple and practical ideas to daily live an embodied spirituality for Christian spouses.”

One of the key ideas, he said, is “the ‘sit down,’ that is to say, a commitment to setting a regular time for personal dialogue between the spouses, in which each presents to the other, with all sincerity and in a climate of mutual listening, the issues and topics most important to life as a couple.”

“In our world, so marked by individualism, activism, eagerness and distraction,” Cardinal Bertone wrote, “sincere and constant dialogue between the spouses is essential for avoiding the emergence of misunderstandings that grow and harden,” and which can cause irreparable damage.

“Cultivate this precious habit of sitting down beside each other to talk and listen so that you understand each other,” he said.

Pope: Couples need to set aside time to talk each day

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

Question Corner Father Kenneth Doyle

Putting a grandmother’s funeral worries to rest

Q

My grandmother, who is in a nursing home, has used her life’s savings to pay for her care. Now she is on Medicaid and any income that she has (namely, her Social Security monthly check) goes directly to the nursing home.

(She is allowed $30 a month to pay for her personal needs.)

For 35 years, she has been a member of our local Catholic parish. She owns a burial plot in our parish cemetery and has her funeral expenses prepaid. For many years, she contributed to the financial support of our parish but because of her current limited income, she is now unable to do so. She is terribly worried that the parish might refuse to host her funeral Mass and provide for her burial because she is not an active donor. If you could tell me the church’s position on this, perhaps I could put her mind at ease.(New Jersey) I feel sad, and even a bit embarrassed, that such a question would even occur to your grandmother. Please assure her that her parish will certainly be willing to celebrate her funeral rites. First of all, even by right, this would seem the only logical conclusion from Canon No. 1176 of the Code of Canon Law, which says, “Deceased members of the Christian faithful must be given ecclesiastical funerals according to the norm of law” and from Canon No. 1177, which provides that “a funeral for any deceased member of the faithful must generally be celebrated in his or her parish church.”

A

Leaving the law aside, Christian charity should dictate the decision. I don’t know of any pastor --and hope that none exists -- who would refuse to host your grandmother’s liturgy because of her understandable inability to contribute to the parish financially. (As a matter of fact, for the past 20 years as a pastor, I have made it a point never to look at the figures for an individual’s parish donations so that my judgment will never be colored by those numbers.)

I know of parishes that decline to celebrate the funerals or weddings of someone who is neither registered as a parishioner nor regularly attends services there. These tend to be larger city parishes that serve as a mecca for families desiring a funeral or a wedding because of the church’s particular beauty or convenience -- and which often these days are staffed by only one priest. Such a guideline is probably reasonable in

those circumstances. My tendency is to accommodate anyone who wants to come --- grateful simply because the family wants a religious setting for their service.

2012 Catholic News Service

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

17

Did you know?

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

The symbolism of the mother pelican feeding her little baby pelicans is rooted in an ancient legend which preceded Christianity. The legend was that in time of famine, the mother pelican wounded herself, striking her breast with the beak to feed her young with her blood to prevent starvation. Another version of the legend was that the mother fed her dying young with her blood to revive them from death, but in turn lost her own life. Given this tradition, one can easily see 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 the atonement he made through his passion and death. We were dead to sin and have found new life through the Blood of Christ. Moreover, Jesus continues to feed us with his body and blood in the holy Eucharist. www.htdiocese.org

Reflections Readings Between The Lines Father Glenn LeCompte

Suffering manifests God’s power, triumph

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The drama of Mark’s narrative reaches its peak in the Passion Narrative (Mark 14:1-15:43), which begins with Jesus and his disciples preparing for a Passover meal once Jesus has finished his Eschatological/Apocalyptic discourse (13:1-37). While it might not be apparent at first glance, Jesus’ final discourse flows neatly into the Marcan Passion Narrative.

Several narrative themes connect the two sections, consequently Jesus’ Passion takes on an apocalyptic character. Paradoxically, Jesus’ death will be the means by which God overcomes the forces of evil, personified in the treachery of the religious leaders.

In fact the very first verse of the Passion Narrative neatly juxtaposes two subplots, Jesus’ and his disciples’ celebration of the Passover (which he will connect with his death) and the religious leaders’ conspiracy to kill him.

If Jesus warns his disciples that in the time before the Son of Man’s advent “brother will hand over brother to death,” Jesus himself experiences this very phenomenon through the actions of Judas, one of the Twelve (14:18, 20-21, 4246). Though it seems Judas and the forces of evil have overtaken Jesus, the connection of this detail to Jesus’ earlier apocalyptic statement about betrayal casts the apparent defeat of Jesus as part of the birth pangs of the new order God is establishing.

Jesus reinterprets the Passover

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

ironically contrasts with the former.

At Jesus’ arrest “all forsook him and fled” (14:50), and in an event uniquely reported by Mark, a young male disciple flees, tearing out of his robe as a guard grabs it and he runs off naked. In 8:35 Jesus warned his disciples that whoever wished to save his life would lose it. Such is the situation of this young man; his loss is exemplified by his nakedness.

The handing over of Jesus to Pilate by his fellow countrymen also contributes to Mark’s portrait of the abandoned Messiah. Jesus’ abandonment makes him like the righteous sufferer of Psalm 22:11 or the Lord’s suffering servant (Isaiah 53:3). His abandonment, therefore, represents a fulfillment of prophecy.

Although his enemies have attacked his credibility, the abandoned Jesus is identified with a revered figure of Jewish tradition.

In Mark’s Gospel Jesus does not carry his cross, rather, Simon of Cyrene is compelled to do so (15:21).

He is a favorable character who exemplifies Mark. Earlier Jesus told his disciples they must take up their crosses (8:34). Simon is at one with Jesus in bearing the cross.

As Jesus dies on the cross a centurion nearby utters the most important sentence in the Gospel: “Truly this man was the Son of God.” He (a Gentile!) understands what the disciples needed to understand, but even at this point in Mark’s narrative have not understood.

Jesus’ Messiahship is most properly manifested in his suffering and dying.

The tough lesson that every Christian must learn is that righteous suffering is the means by which God’s power and triumph are manifested to the world!

(14:22-24). His blood, not that of the paschal lamb, is now the blood of the covenant, and his broken body will replace that of the slaughtered lamb. The Passover celebrated an act of deliverance by God; by the death of his beloved Son God will effect the ultimate deliverance.

When Jesus says that he will not drink wine again until he drinks it new in the Kingdom (14:25) he connects his death with God’s plan to usher in the Kingdom.

The climactic connection between Jesus’ death and God’s ultimate victory over evil comes in the dramatic dialog between Jesus and the high priest (14:60-62). When the high priest asks Jesus under sacred oath if he is “the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed,” Jesus answers “I AM.” Not only does he confess the truth of his identity, but he associates himself with the divine name.

This is why the high priest rends his robes and charges Jesus with blasphemy. When Jesus further asserts “You [plural] will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” This statement recalls in almost the same words Mark 13:26, in which Jesus predicted that he would return as the glorious, endtime, victorious Son of Man. Jesus is sentenced to death because of his words indicating his end-time divine victory, thus his death is once again depicted as part of God’s plan for the establishment of the Kingdom.

Mark stresses the utter abandonment of Jesus as he narrates Jesus’ Passion. Peter’s denial of Jesus (14:66-72) exemplifies Jesus’ abandonment, by one of Jesus’ closest followers no less! Placed by Mark adjacent to Jesus’ confession of his divine identity, Peter’s denial

ons

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Maximilian Kolbe 1894-1941 August 14

Crosiers

Raimund Kolbe, born in Russian Poland, was ordained a Franciscan, Maximilian Mary, in Rome. In the 1920s, he reopened a ruined Polish friary, started a Marian press and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Despite his illness, he had successful Marian missions to Japan and India before returning to Poland in 1936. After the 1939 invasion of Poland, the Franciscans’ criticism of the occupiers prompted the arrest of Maximilian and four others, who ended up in the Nazi death camp Auschwitz. Maximilian volunteered for martyrdom, taking the place of a married man being executed by starvation. This man was present at the saint’s 1982 canonization.

Maximilian is the patron of prisoners, journalists and others.

Saints

Philip Benizi 1233-1285 August 23

Crosiers

Though he studied medicine in Paris and practiced briefly in his hometown of Florence, Italy, this son of two noble families became a lay brother in the Servites and eventually a Servite priest. In 1267, he was unanimously elected head of the order, thereafter guiding its growth. He also mediated a conflict between warring Guelfs and Ghibellines in northern Italy, assisted at a general church council and helped establish the Servite nuns’ order. When Pope Clement IV died in 1268 and he was mentioned as a successor, Philip reportedly hid in the hills until another man was chosen. He was canonized in 1671 and is the patron of a minor basilica near Florence.

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Saints

Jeanne Jugan 1792-1879 August 30

Little Sisters of the Poor

Born in Brittany, in France, Jeanne was four when her fisherman father died. Her mother supported six children as a farm laborer.

Jeanne became a kitchen maid at 16, and her mistress took her on visits to the sick and poor. She joined a third order at 25, working in a hospital for six years, then returned to domestic service. Soon, however, she began devoting herself entirely to care of the poor, especially widows, living in community with two other women.

Though she established the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1842, she was not recognized as the order’s founder until 1893. Canonized in 2009, she is considered a patron of the elderly.

Saints www.htdiocese.org

n St. Lawrence the Martyr Church Parish in Kraemer and St. James Mission in Choctaw are culminating a yearlong observance of their 50th anniversary Aug. 12, with a 10 a.m. Mass followed by a reception in the Life Center. The all-day gathering will include food, entertainment, a PowerPoint presentation of the parish history, games and music. n Woman of God Gathering, Tuesday, Aug. 14, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6 p.m. Meal will be served at 6 p.m.; events begin at 6:30 p.m.

Free event, all women over 18 years of age are invited. n Acadian Mass, Wednesday, Aug. 15, 6:30 p.m., St. Hilary of Poitiers Church, Mathews. n aNew Experience, Thursday, Aug. 16, 7 p.m., St. Thomas Aqui-

SEPTEMBER

20

n Food for the Journey, Tuesday, Sept. 4, Quality Inn, Houma, 11:30 a.m. Speaker, Father Clyde Mahler. n Adult Faith Formation-Proclaiming and Living Our Faith Level, Wednesdays, Sept. 5, 12, 19, 26, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “Scripture II-The New Testament.”

Speaker, Deacon John Pippenger. n DRE/CRE Meeting, Thursday, Sept. 6, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 9:30 a.m. to Noon. n Adult Faith Formation-Faith Enrichment, Thursday, Sept. 6, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “God and the Human Person.”

Speaker, Katie Austin. n Marriage Preparation Day for pre-registered couples, Sunday,

OCTOBER

n Food for the Journey, Tuesday, Oct. 2, Quality Inn, Houma, 10:45-12:45 p.m. Speaker, Bishop Sam G. Jacobs. n Red Mass, Thursday, Oct. 4, St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, Thibodaux, 10:30 a.m. n Adult Faith Formation, Thursday, Oct. 4, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “The Old Testament.”

Speaker, Deacon John Pippenger. n White Mass, Sunday, Oct. 14, celebrated at each church parish on this day.

DIOCESAN

AUGUST

nas Church, Thibodaux. n Adult Faith Formation-Faith Enrichment, Thursday, Aug. 16, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “Components of Effective Teaching-High School.” Speaker, Mike DiSalvo. n Day of Prayer and Song, “Mary, the Mother of Jesus: Our Primary Model of Discipleship,” Aug. 17, 9:30 a.m.-Noon, Lumen Christi Retreat Center. Father Glenn LeCompte will direct the day. n Adult Faith Formation-Proclaiming and Living Our Faith, Wednesdays, Aug. 22, 29, 6-8:15 p.m., diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall. Topic, “Scripture II-The New Testament.” Speaker, Deacon John Pippenger. n Adult Faith Formation-Faith

Enrichment, Thursday, Aug. 23, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “Components of Effective Teaching-Elementary.” Speakers, Julie Brunet and Renee McAlister. n Family of God Mini-Conference, Saturday, Aug. 25, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. n Evening of Prayer and Song, “The Scriptures, God’s Word of Love and Life,” Aug. 28, 6:308:30 p.m., Lumen Christi Retreat Center. Father Glenn LeCompte will direct the evening. n Adult Faith Formation-Faith Enrichment, Thursday, Aug. 30, diocesan Pastoral Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “The Call to Holiness.” Speaker, Paul George.

Sept. 16, 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall. Contact your church parish or call the Office of Family Ministries at (985) 850-3129 for registration details. Additional information is available online at www.htdiocese.org/fm. n Man of God Gathering, Tuesday, Sept. 18, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6 p.m.

Meal will be served at 6 p.m.; events begin at 6:30 p.m. Free event, all men over 18 years of age are invited. n aNew Experience, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 7-9 p.m., Maria Immacolata Church, Houma. n Blue Mass, Thursday, Sept.

20, St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, Thibodaux, 11 a.m. n Adult Faith Formation-Faith Enrichment, Thursday, Sept. 20,

diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “Revelation, Tradition and Magisterium.” Speaker, Katie Austin. n Day of Prayer and Song, “The Scriptures, God’s Word of Love and Life,” Sept. 21, 9:30 a.m.-Noon, Lumen Christi Retreat Center. Father Glenn LeCompte will direct the day. n Youth Ministry Adult Retreat, Saturday, Sept. 22-23, Lumen Christi Retreat Center’s Souby Building, Schriever, 10 a.m. n Evening of Prayer and Song, “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit: Assuming the Spirituality of the Poor,” Sept. 25, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Lumen Christi Retreat Center. Father Glenn LeCompte will direct the evening.

n Diocesan Wedding Anniversary Celebration, Sunday, Oct. 14, St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, Thibodaux. Prayer Service begins at 2 p.m.; reception to follow in St. Joseph Life Center. Couples celebrating 25, 40, 50, 60 years and beyond will be honored. n Adult Faith Formation, Thursday, Oct. 18, diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall, 6-8:15 p.m. Topic, “Jesus in the Gospels.” Speaker, Deacon John Pippenger. n Day of Prayer and Song,

“Blessed are the Poor in Spirit: Assuming the Spirituality of the Poor,” Oct. 19, 9:30 a.m.-Noon, Lumen Christi Retreat Center. Father Glenn LeCompte will direct the day. n Evening of Prayer and Song, “Whoever Lives and Believes in Me Shall Never Die: A Reflection on the Christian Meaning of Death,” Oct. 30, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Lumen Christi Retreat Center. Father Glenn LeCompte will direct the evening.

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

EVENTS

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, 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

- Clay Sr. & Evelida Duplantis

- Mr. & Mrs. C. Thomas Bienvenu

- C. Remie Duplantis

- Harry Booker

- Marie Elise Duplantis

- Bishop Warren L. Boudreaux (3)*

- Warren J. Harang, Jr.

- Rev. Adrian J. Caillouet

- Msgr. Raphael C. Labit

- Rev. James Louis Caillouet

- Msgr. Francis J. Legendre

- Bishop L. Abel Caillouet

- Rev. Charles Menard

- Judge/Mrs L. P. Caillouet

- Donald Peltier, Sr. (2)*

- Msgr. Lucien J. Caillouet

- Harvey Peltier (30)*

- Abdon J. & Ada B. Callais

- Richard Peltier

- Harold & Gloria Callais Family

- Orleans & Louella Pitre

- Paul A. Callais

- Msgr. Joseph Wester

- Peter W. Callais

- Robert R. Wright, Jr.

- Vincent & Fannie Cannata

- Rev. Kermit Trahan

- Minor Sr. & Lou Ella Cheramie

- Diocesan K of C

- Maude & Edith Daspit

- Endowment Fund - $119,136.90

June 2012 Burse Contributions Donald Peltier, Sr. #3 ..................................... $1,000.00 Anawin Community ......................................... $400.00 Catholic Daughters ........................................... $300.00 Elie & Dot Klingman .......................................... $40.00 21

- Mr. & Mrs. Caliste Duplantis family (3)*

Open Burses with Balance as of 6/30/12 Mr. Eledier Broussard

................. $11,800.00

Harry Booker #2 .................................... $4,138.00

Rev. Guy Zeringue ................................ $1,150.00

Sidney J. & Lydie C. Duplantis ........... $10,800.00

Rev. Gerard Hayes ................................ $3,886.00

Rev. Clemens Schneider ....................... $1,000.00

Msgr. Raphael C. Labit #2 .................. $10,720.00

Rev. Henry Naquin ................................ $3,810.00

St. Joseph Italian Society ...................... $1,000.00

Harvey Peltier #31 .............................. $10,486.91

Msgr. William Koninkx ........................... $3,700.00

Bishop Warren L. Boudreaux #4 ........... $1,000.00

Clay Sr. & Evelida Duplantis #2 .......... $10,000.00

Kelly Curole Frazier ............................... $3,490.96

Msgr. John G. Keller .............................. $1,000.00

C. Remie Duplantis #2 ........................ $10,000.00

J. R. Occhipinti ...................................... $3,400.00

Warren J. Harang, Jr. #2 .......................... $900.00

Marie Elise Duplantis #2 ..................... $10,000.00

Catholic Daughters ................................ $3,230.00

Deacon Willie Orgeron ............................. $800.00

Maude & Edith Daspit #2 .................... $10,000.00

Joseph “Jay” Fertitta .............................. $3,145.00

Rev. Anthony Rousso ............................... $800.00

Msgr. George A. Landry ...................... $10,000.00

Mr. & Mrs. Galip Jacobs ........................ $3,060.00

Deacon Roland Dufrene ........................... $750.00

St. Bernadette Men’s Club .................... $8,100.00

St. Jude ................................................. $3,000.00

Mr. & Mrs. John Marmande ...................... $700.00

Donald Peltier, Sr. # 3 ............................ $7,100.00

Diocesan K of C #2 ............................... $2,894.62

Deacon Edward J. Blanchard ................... $660.00

Rev. Victor Toth ..................................... $7,000.00

Rev. Peter H. Brewerton ........................ $2,600.00

James J. Buquet, Jr. ................................. $650.00

Mr. & Mrs. George C. Fakier ................. $6,700.00

Mrs. Ayres A. Champagne ..................... $2,000.00

Deacon Raymond LeBouef ...................... $550.00

Brides of the Most Blessed Trinity ......... $5,935.00

Rev. H. C. Paul Daigle ........................... $1,900.00

Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Cannata .................... $500.00

Rev. Peter Nies ..................................... $5,540.00

Anawin Community ............................... $1,900.00

Deacon Robert Dusse’ ............................. $450.00

Mr. & Mrs. Love W. Pellegrin ................. $5,000.00

Msgr. Francis J. Legendre #2 ................ $1,645.00

Deacon Harold Kurtz ................................ $300.00

Anonymous #2 ...................................... $5,000.00

Msgr. Emile J. Fossier ........................... $1,545.00

Richard Peltier #2 ..................................... $300.00

Mr. & Mrs. Caliste Duplantis Fmly.#4..... $5,000.00

Dr. William Barlette, Sr........................... $1,525.00

Claude Bergeron ...................................... $200.00

Rev. William M. Fleming ........................ $5,000.00

Msgr. Stanislaus Manikowski ................ $1,525.00

Mr. & Mrs. Arthur Naquin .......................... $150.00

Rev. Kasimir Chmielewski ..................... $4,839.00

Rev. Robert J. Sevigny .......................... $1,400.00

Rev. Hubert C. Broussard ........................ $ 50.00

Elie & Dot Klingman .............................. $4,780.00

Msgr. John L. Newfield .......................... $1,200.00

Overall Seminarian Burse Totals: $1,340,842.39 www.htdiocese.org

Young Voices

you into who you are today?

My faith and the wonderful people in my life have helped shaped me into the person I am today. From a young age, I began learning about my faith when my parents took me to Mass and taught me my prayers, namely the rosary. My mother began home-schooling me using a Catholic curriculum from kindergarten to eighth grade. I studied the Baltimore Catechism, Bible History, The Story of the Church, and many saints’ biographies, along with other academics which surely helped form my character.

I have been blessed with wonderful parents and three siblings. I have been an altar server for 10 years and a lector for two years under the guidance of many

holy priests. In high school, I have had many outstanding teachers. I am a senior brother of Fraternus of South Lafourche, a brotherhood for boys in 6th to 12th grade that helps teach young boys virtues to become true men and defenders of the Catholic faith. Recently, I attended Boys State at Northwestern University. Not only did I learn about government and to appreciate our officials, but I also gained much respect for people in general. Overall, these events have truly shaped me into who I am today.

Michael Charpentier, 17 years old Sacred Heart Church parish, Cut Off South Lafourche High School

I would say the retreats the diocese has put on have helped me be the person I am now. They have helped me overcome my fears and even helped me decide my career. But most importantly, the retreats have helped me realize God loves me no matter what and that’s a great thing that has happened and definitely has changed me.

22

Carmen Araujo, 17 years old Sacred Heart Church parish, Morgan City Hispanic Ministry Morgan City High School

Some events that have helped shape me into who I am today are attending many youth events in and out of my parish and experiencing God’s power when my family had to deal with my dad’s illness. I have attended youth events, like Youth Rally and aNew, since 8th grade. I have always looked forward to those events because I felt like I could truly worship God in a way that I could not do on a daily basis. My dad’s battle with cancer has also shaped me into who I am because I witnessed God in action. My dad pulled through his battle and became cancer free; not just with the help of the doctors, but with the help of his faith in God which has taught me how powerful God truly is. Experiencing all of these events has taught me about myself and about my faith in God.

Brittany Legendre, 17 years old St. Lawrence the Martyr Church parish, Kraemer Thibodaux High School

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

The events that have helped to shape me into the person I am today would have to be my parish youth retreats, Franciscan LEAD, and Sunday night youth Mass. My parish youth retreats are where I really started getting into my faith, which eventually led to me giving talks at those retreats and many others. Franciscan LEAD is where I evolved my faith tenfold through prayer and action by meeting so many amazing people. Of course, Annunziata parish youth Mass was and still is a staple of my faith, especially because of the awesome Masses which were celebrated by Father Mike Bergeron while he was pastor.

Joshua Fabre, 18 years old Annunziata Church parish Nicholls State University

Tune In To...

Quality Family Programming for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux

~ Channel 10* on Comcast of Houma and CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS of Terrebonne Parish. ~ Channel 10* on CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS in Thibodaux. ~ Channel 10* on VISION COMMUNICATIONS of South and Central Lafourche *Channel 10 is provided by and in cooperation with HTV of Houma. ~ Channel 71, ALLEN’S TV CABLE of Morgan City

SUNDAY

6:30 A.M. 9:00 A.M. 9:30 P.M.

Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary Closer Walk Spotlight/Revival

6:30 A.M. 9:00 A.M. 9:30 A.M.

Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary The Choices We Face Spotlight/Revival

6:30 A.M. 9:00 A.M. 9:30 A.M.

Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary Divine Intervention Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary

MONDAY

TUESDAY

23

WEDNESDAY Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary

6:30 A.M. 9:00 A.M. 9:30 A.M.

6:30 A.M. 9:00 A.M. 9:30 A.M. 11:00 P.M.

6:30 A.M. 9:00 A.M. 9:30 A.M.

6:30 A.M. 9:00 A.M. 9:30 A.M.

Closer Walk Live With Passion

THURSDAY Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary Living Scripture Spotlight/Revival Spotlight/Revival

FRIDAY

Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary Live With Passion Spotlight/Revival

SATURDAY Proclaim the Good News/The Rosary Real Food Spotlight/Revival

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

Heavenly Recipes

Zenobia’s

n e k c i h C Parmesan

Story and Photo

by Lawrence Chatagnier

This month’s heavenly recipe, Zenobia’s Chicken Parmesan, is a healthy one.

Zenobia Boatner, who cooks at the rectory at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux, is no stranger to the kitchen. She cooked at St. Thomas Aquinas for six years and has been cooking at St. Joseph for the past 18 years.

“I find cooking relaxing. I like to cook. It is enjoyable when people like the food that you cook,” says Boatner. “I went to cooking school 24 in Houma in the 1970’s. I also took classes in Chicago, IL. My motherin-law who is a great cook also taught me a lot about cooking,” she says.

Lately at St. Joseph she finds herself cooking healthy foods more often. “Father Jay Baker likes healthy foods. This has helped me learn to cook healthy foods and enjoy healthy meals myself. The meals I prepare are good for you.

It doesn’t take a lot of preparation and it doesn’t take long to cook them. When I go home I try some of the recipes and prepare the food for my kids. They love it. I have also lost some weight since I began eating healthier foods,” says the cook.

“I usually cook for seven to eight people on a daily basis at the rectory.

Sometimes I will get help from my sister who is the housekeeper here if I have to cook for many people such as for deanery meetings,” she says.

While she finds cooking relaxing, her great love is baking. “I love to bake cakes. I like eating them, too!

I bake everything from scratch, says Boatner. That may be a story for another day …

Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

Zenobia’s Chicken Parmesan Serves 4; prep time 35 minutes; cooking time 35 minutes Ingredients 3/4 cup plain breadcrumbs 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 8 chicken cutlets or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved horizontally (about 1 1/2 pounds total) Salt and fresh ground pepper 1 large egg, lightly beaten 2 cups tomato sauce or Easy Chunky Stewed Tomatoes 1/4 cup olive oil 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, preferably fresh, cut into eight 1/4 inch thick slices Heat broiler. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan in a shallow bowl.

Season both sides of chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Dip chicken in the beaten egg, and then dredge in breadcrumb mixture, turning to coat on both sides.

Spread stewed tomatoes onto the bottom of a 10x15 inch baking dish.

Heat two tablespoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Place four chicken cutlets in skillet; cook until golden brown, 1-2 minutes on each side. Using a spatula transfer browned cutlets to baking dish, placing them on top of stewed tomatoes. Repeat with remaining oil and cutlets.

Top each cutlet with a slice of mozzarella. Broil about four inches from heat source until sauce is hot and cheese is melted and lightly browned in spots, five to eight minutes. Serve immediately.

NOTE: Dredging the chicken: Use shallow bowls for the egg and the coating mixture. After dipping the chicken in egg, let the excess egg drip off before coating the cutlet in the breadcrumb mixture.

Entertainment

Seeing Clairely

A change of habitat

Claire Joller

W

When we chose where to build a new home several years ago, one of the most appealing points about the location to us was the pasture land behind the lot.

It was a great expanse of grass punctuated by tree lines parallel to the back confines of our smallish lot. Brown and white cows moved lazily from shade to sun, all the way up to the old barbed wire fence that separated our and our neighbors’ terrain from theirs.

After we moved in, the view from our back windows was a peaceful one of grazing cows, white cattle egrets hitching rides on their reddish-brown backs or stalking close to their hoofs.

Familiar birds darted above them. Mockingbirds, sparrows by the dozens, doves, brown thrashers, blue jays and cardinals streaked in unimpeded flight over the open spaces, and found haven in the trees.

From longtime residents of the area near us, we learned that this expanse of land had been virtually open and unchanged for up to 50 years.

After the parish-born outof-state owner sold the entire property, drastic changes came at the hands of the purchasers.

The shorter end of two newlydug canals configured in a long L abuts the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (but has not been cut through to it as yet). The longer part runs roughly perpendicular to the backs of houses along our street.

While digging proceeded on the canals, enormous trucks and earth-moving equipment hauled, heaved and plopped tons of dirt to form a greatly altered surface contour of the former pasture.

LAWRENCE CHATAGNIER/BAYOU CATHOLIC

This long-term interim expanse was bare dirt (and oh, the dust!) still not compacted and lacking grass.

We had bemoaned the loss of not only the cows and horses, but also the birds that had disappeared with the trees and the grass.

But then, the bleak grassless expanse yielded appealing surprises. Not the smaller cattle egrets, but the elegant great egrets began to flock to the area in greater numbers. In the mud flats at the bottom of the canals, they were joined by large blue herons, other shore and water birds, and even roseate spoonbills.

Their deep blues, whites, and pinks were a relieving splash of color against the muddy landscape.

After the contouring ended, a stage followed when the land was left on its own. Bulkheading continued on the canals, but grass inevitably sprang up on the compacted surface of the land . . . first timidly, then rampantly.

Meadow birds began to appear, the most striking among them redwinged blackbirds. They perched

atop slender weed stalks that seemed too frail to support even a bird’s frame, and began to coexist with back yard birds near our feeder.

Flocks and flocks of European starlings took advantage of this phase, as well. The sociable dark birds performed precision air shows above the grass, and landed en masse in the tall grass.

The developers are now sending a grass cutter at regular intervals, and the huge lots lie seemingly at the ready. This latest stage has brought with it again the familiar fliers of neighborhoods.

This summer we have had cardinals, even more sparrows, blue jays, doves, thrashers, mockingbirds, purple finches, hummingbirds—and even the occasional sea gull flock.

Now we see a new sight. Dozens of fulvous tree ducks, with their orange beaks and their bold white striped wings, swoop down near the canals around dusk.

I can’t wait to see what the opened canals and new residents’ pleasure craft will bring. www.htdiocese.org

25

Special

Leadership Awards recognizing outstanding youth

Ramona Portero/BAYOU CATHOLIC

Story by Janet Marcel

26

The Diocesan Leadership Awards, sponsored annually by the Office of Youth Ministry for over 25 years, recognizes youth who have demonstrated exceptional character, leadership skills, service and Catholic identity in their church parish or school. It is the highest honor and achievement that a high school junior, senior or college freshman can receive.

The youth for this award are selected at the church parish and school level. “A letter is sent to the pastor of each church parish, the DRE or CRE, and parish youth minister, as well as the principals and campus ministers at the three Catholic high schools,” says Rachel LeBouef, assistant director for the diocesan Office of Youth Ministry and coordinator of the program.

LeBouef explains that the qualifications for selection of each of the candidates are as follows: n must be a witness to others through their involvement with their church parish, school and family by sharing of their gifts of time, talent and treasure; n must share their leadership skills, dedication, responsibility and faith with others in their church parish, school and family; n should be involved in diocesan ministry such as Teens Encounter Christ (TEC), Christian Leadership Institute (CLI), aNEW, Youth Rally, Steubenville on the Bayou, etc.

Each young person receives an Eagle of the Cross medal comprised of a white and red banner, image of an eagle, a cross and the diocesan crest, which Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

is symbolic of the award. The white in the banner represents one’s baptism; the red signifies the Holy Spirit and the blood of Jesus Christ. The image of the eagle signifies the many qualities of a leader such as courage, strength, loyalty, self-confidence, passion and perseverance. The cross is one of the most recognizable symbols of Catholic Christian faith. And, the diocesan crest represents the place where the recipients of the award were nurtured to become the outstanding young people they are today.

Recipients of this year’s Diocesan Leadership Awards were honored at an appreciation banquet and Mass at Annunziata Church in Houma. They are: Joshua Fabre, Hope Hunter, Annunziata, Houma; Wayne Vice Jr., Christ the Redeemer, Thibodaux; Caroline Byrne, Aaron LeCompte, Holy Cross, Morgan City; Heather Lagarde, Marissa Trosclair, Holy Family, Grand Caillou; Candy Baudoin, Austin Trosclair, Holy Savior, Lockport; Hunter Blandino, Jacqueline Brewster, Maria Immacolata, Houma; Grace Calloway, Tess Champagne, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary, Houma; Whitney Curole, Jovan Fuselier, Our Lady of the Rosary, Larose; Amber Granier, Aimee Webre, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Chackbay; Mark Callais, Alora Verdin, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Golden Meadow; Braden Eymard, Maria Terrebonne, Sacred Heart, Cut Off; Angelica Broussard, Tiffany Naquin, Sacred Heart, Montegut; Collin Conner, Ashley Jennings, Sacred Heart, Morgan City; Matthew Alleman, Tori Benoit, St. Andrew, Amelia; Cassidy Charpentier,

a

Joshua Falgout, Tyler Neil, St. Ann, Bourg; Lindsey Lerille, St. Anthony, Gheens; Christopher Boquet, Sarah Ruckstuhl, St. Anthony of Padua, Bayou Black; Shane Fos, Michaela LeBoeuf, Seth Louviere, St. Bernadette, Houma; Tori Dufrene, Katelyn Guidry, St. Bridget, Schriever; Katlyn Chamberlain, Jacob Foret, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Charles; Johnathan Neil, Amy Windham, St. Charles Borromeo, Pointe-aux-Chenes; Christian Burgo, Jamie Marcel, St. Eloi, Theriot; Allison Curth, Benjamin Lirette, Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales, Houma; Sam Daigle, Meredith Robichaux, St. Genevieve, Thibodaux; Bryan Bunn Jr., Hannah Hornsby, St. Gregory, Houma; Julianne Leblanc, Andrew Roussell, St. Hilary of Poitiers, Mathews; Justin Aysen, Alana Gautreaux, Dyllan Thibodeaux, St. John the Evangelist, Thibodaux; Joey Blake, Gabrielle Pravata, St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, Thibodaux; Lawrence Arceneaux III, Emily Robichaux, St. Joseph, Chauvin; Olivia Bourgeois, Michael Charpentier, St. Joseph, Galliano; Ulrik Herendez, Brittany Legendre, St. Lawrence the Martyr, Kraemer; Elizabeth Bergeron, St. Louis, Bayou Blue; Nicole Falgoust, Sarah Zeringue, St. Mary’s Nativity, Raceland; Jordan Borne, Avery Theriot, St. Thomas Aquinas, Thibodaux; Carmen Araujo, Ministerio Hispanic; Cary Laiche, Hailee Thomas, Central Catholic High School, Morgan City; Brandon Borne, Kristen Daigle, E.D. White Catholic High School, Thibodaux; James Daigle, Abby Knight, Vandebilt Catholic High School, Houma.

27

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Our Churches

St. Lawrence the 50 years of love and service to Kraemer, Choctaw communities

Martyr

Story by Janet Marcel Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier

St. Lawrence the Martyr Church parish in Kraemer, which was dedicated as an independent parish with St. James Chapel in Choctaw as its mission on Aug. 10, 1962, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

A Catholic presence in the communities of Kraemer (formerly Bayou Boeuf) and Choctaw can be traced as far back as the late 1800s when a priest from the neighboring town of Vacherie would row through Lake Des Allemands and up Bayou Boeuf to administer to the spiritual needs of the people there. In 1892 Bayou Boeuf became a mission of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church parish in Chackbay.

In 1952, Father Roland Boudreaux, pastor of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, started a fundraising effort for a new church building that would continue for the next nine years. Construction began on a new church in 1961 for a cost of $125,000, of which only $25,000 was borrowed. Father Kermit Trahan served as the first pastor of the new St. Lawrence the Martyr Church parish and St. James mission.

Prior to 1920, the people of Choctaw were ministered to by the pastor of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church parish in Chackbay in the homes of various parishioners. In May 1920, a piece of land housing an abandoned one-room school building was donated to use for the celebration of Mass. A new chapel was built in 1936; 22 years later the existing chapel was completely renovated and enlarged. The chapel was renovated once again in 1982, and in 2007 it was restored back to its original look.

Father Baby “Philip” Kuruvilla, I.M.S., pastor of the parish since July 2008, says there are currently about 700 families in the parish, most being older families with some younger families. He notes that many younger families are leaving the community since space is limited and there are not many jobs in the immediate area.

“The community basically revolves around the church parish. There are no grocery stores or gas stations in the area. It’s like a small village where the people all know each other and are related in some way; being here reminds me of my home in India,” says the pastor.

The 50th anniversary theme was “Celebrating 50 Years of Faith and Community.” A 13-member planning committee was in charge of the various activities and events which took place throughout the year. Among these activities/events was an opening Mass on the Feast of St. Lawrence the Martyr last year, rotating the St. Lawrence relic to every family throughout the parish, a new parish photo directory, an anniversary T-shirt and evangelization committee members went house to house visiting the people.

Also, as part of its 50th anniversary parishioners were asked to submit some of their memories of the early days of the parish and mission. Following are a few of their responses: Morris Cortez says, “I remember the planning and development of the St. Lawrence property for the construction of the new church. Trees were cut; property cleared of debris, men came forward to strip bark off trees for the pilings … . The community was asked to pledge $2 a week for 10 years until there was enough money to build the church. In the ‘50s this was a lot of money for a family.”

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Linda Faye Rome Landry says, “As a nine year old girl I remember the day of the St. Lawrence church building and parish dedication as a happy and joyous time. The church grounds that day were filled with smiles. For a long time our parents and our community worked together to complete the process of the church building – but more important, they would 30 work hard together in the community to instill faith in their children. We owe much gratitude to our pastors, our teachers, our parents and the whole community.”

Elaine K. Delatte says, “St. James Chapel is a quiet and peaceful church where everyone comes together as a community welcoming all to come in and pray.

The chapel has come from a small, plain, ordinary place to a beautiful, in style and updated building thanks to the people who gave up a lot of their time to work to make it look like it does today.”

The parish has a number of organizations/ministries including Knights of Columbus Council No. 10800, Ladies Altar Society, a bereavement group, Bible study group, Teens for Christ, a rosary group, an annual St. Joseph Altar, a choir and an evangelization committee.

Father Kuruvilla says he enjoys being in this

community. “The people are so generous and friendly here. When the parish has a need for something, the people come forward and are more than willing to help by giving of their time or finances.”

St. Lawrence the Martyr Church parish in Kraemer and St. James Mission in Choctaw will culminate the yearlong observance of their 50th anniversary Sunday, Aug. 12, with a 10 a.m. Mass celebrated by Bishop Sam G. Jacobs and concelebrated by former pastors, followed by an all-day gathering that will include food, entertainment, a PowerPoint presentation of the parish history, games and music.

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FOR INSPECTION

Staff St. Lawrence the Martyr/ St. James Mission church parish personnel are from left, Douglas Cortez, maintenance; Nellie Matherne, DRE; Father Baby “Philip� Kuruvilla, I.M.S.; Mechell Pitre, secretary; and Leeann Cortez, housekeeper.

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www.htdiocese.org

Special Events

ADORE Nights set Sept. 5, Nov. 28

Conference is Aug. 25 32

Guest Columnist Shawn Lapeyrouse

The 2012 Family of God Conference will dive into the beauty of God’s creation of us as man or woman, and the communion of the family. The conference will touch upon topics such as how our individual hurts and issues affect the family, but also what a great role each person’s gifts and talents brings to a family’s foundation.

This one-day conference will begin with breakout sessions based upon the various age groups of the children, one for teens, one for young adults and one for adults.

Within these breakout sessions, participants will learn a general concept of Theology of the Body (age appropriate per group), learn to recognize their weaknesses or issues and how to identify their gifts. The day will culminate with a family activity bringing everyone’s gifts together for a family project showcasing the strengths and gifts of the whole family unit. The Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

day will conclude with the family joining in the celebration of Mass.

The Family of God Conference will be held Saturday, Aug. 25, at the diocesan Pastoral Center Conference Hall at 2779 Highway 311 in Schriever. Doors open at 9 a.m. The conference begins at 10 a.m. and concludes with a closing Mass beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Early registration is now open.

To register online go to www. htconferences.org and select “Family Conference” in the main menu bar, or call (985) 8503171. Registration ends at 1 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 22. Registration is $65 for a family with children and $45 for a married couple, which includes lunch and snacks during breaks. After 1 p.m. on Aug. 22, registration fees go up an additional $20.

During breakout sessions, children (and babies) of all ages will be cared for so that parents can attend their sessions. Babysitting during the main sessions is available to those who register for the service by Aug. 22; however children over two years of age are strongly encouraged to be involved in the main session activities. Cost for babysitting is $5 per child.

For more information, please contact the Conference Office at (985) 850-3171.

The diocesan Conference Office will be offering ADORE Nights in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

The fall 2012 semester nights will be held Wednesdays, Sept. 5 and Nov. 28, at the Houma Municipal Auditorium.

Bishop Sam G. Jacobs encourages men and women of all ages to take advantage of this opportunity to spend an evening to ADORE our Lord Jesus Christ. Teachings will be led by Bishop Jacobs, Father Andre’ Melancon, and others.

Music will be led by “More Than Sunday.” The evenings begin at 7 p.m. and conclude with eucharistic adoration.

Wedding Anniversary celebration Sunday, Oct. 14 Anniversary couples celebrating 25, 40, 50, 60 and beyond years of marriage this year will be honored Sunday, Oct. 14 at a prayer service at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux beginning at 2 p.m.

A reception will follow in the Life Center. Couples wishing to participate in this program must contact their church parish before Aug. 20 to register. All registered anniversary couples will receive an inscribed diocesan certificate in their own church parish during their scheduled parish celebration.

Food for the Journey Sept. 4, to feature Father Clyde Mahler 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 Sept. 4 is Kraemer native Father Clyde Mahler.

Father Mahler, pastor of Maria Immacolata Church parish in Houma since June 2004, attended St. Joseph Seminary in St. Benedict and Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. He was ordained to the priesthood May 22, 1999.

He has served as associate pastor of St. Genevieve Church parish in Thibodaux and St. Bernadette Church parish in Houma. He is a member of the priests council, diocesan chaplain for the Knights of Columbus, diocesan assistant master of ceremonies, and a member of the Vandebilt Catholic High School Advisory Council.

Those who plan to attend the Sept. 4th event should RSVP with their name, phone number and church parish by Thursday, Aug. 30. To RSVP, email FoodForTheJourney@htdiocese.org or call (985) 850-3178.

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 $13 and includes meal, drink and tip. Only cash or checks will be accepted.

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

Rev. Clyde Mahler

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Feature

Central Catholic graduate honored Caitlin Morgan, parishioner of St. Anthony of Padua Church parish in Bayou Black and 2012 graduate of Central Catholic High School (CCHS) in Morgan City, was the international winner of the Knights of Columbus Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest at the 12th grade level for her theme “The Responsibility of a Catholic Citizen in a Free Society.”

She received a framed certificate, a plaque and $700 – $100 from the Knights of Columbus Council No. 1710 in Patterson; $300 from the National Council and $300 from the Louisiana State Council – which she says she will use for college expenses.

Morgan has been a member of the Kepha Youth Group in her church parish and a Missionary of the Poor volunteer to Kingston, Jamaica. She has attended the diocesan youth rally, Christian Leadership Institute (CLI), Teens Encounter Christ (TEC), 4-1-1 Retreat, Steubenville on the Bayou for five years, and was a Junior High Faith Experience retreat team leader.

During her high school career she was Executive Student Council vice-president, Key Club president, Senior Retreat Team leader, dance team co-captain, a member of National Honor Society, track team, cross 34 country, Big Brother/Big Sister program, Advisor/ Advisee program, SADD Club member, Louisiana Girl’s State participant, CCHS choir member, and CCHS B.L.A.S.T retreat team leader.

She will be attending Nicholls State University in Thibodaux this fall to pursue a nursing degree.

Morgan says that when she wrote the essay she thought she was simply entering a school wide contest and had no idea it would end up going so far as to win first place in the KC National Essay Contest.

“It means a great deal to me to know that by writing this essay Louisiana is now going to have our own

Michael S. Haydel, M.D., FIPP

Caitlin Morgan, international winner of the Knights of Columbus Catholic Citizenship Essay Contest at the 12th grade level, is pictured with a certificate of achievement from the Knights of Columbus National Council and a plaque from Patterson KC Council No. 1710.

Story by Janet Marcel Photo by Lawrence Chatagnier statewide KC Essay Contest next year!” says Morgan.

“The most important part of this contest is that it gives teens the opportunity to research, analyze and write about real religious issues that are occurring in our world today. We are blessed to have the KCs in our area that go above and beyond to sponsor these youth programs. I hope this contest continues to be a huge success for our state.”

Following is her winning essay: “The responsibility of a Catholic Citizen in a Free Society begins with development. In order to fulfill the duties as Catholics we must first form a good conscience. We must understand the difference between right and wrong. We also have to learn the tradition and history of our faith. Obtaining this knowledge prepares one to be capable to defend and proclaim God’s word. I believe that without a

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good Catholic foundation it would be most difficult to succeed as a good Catholic citizen. Although we may not fully comprehend God or His love for us, we must continue to grow in our faith and knowledge throughout our lifetime.

“Once a Catholic has a better understanding of God’s love, he/she now has further responsibility to live out the Corporal Works of Mercy. I was privileged to have the opportunity to go to Kingston, Jamaica, with my Church parish, Saint Anthony of Padua. We spent the week assisting the priests and brothers of Missionaries of the Poor, by helping feed, clothe and take care of the poorest of the poor in Jamaica. The trip involved hard work and a lot of open-mindedness. As missionaries, we had to forget about our comfort zones and jump right into helping out with the physically/mentally disabled residents living at the five centers. This trip truly taught me what matters most in life and about my own life.

Everyday was a new experience, a new story, a new struggle, and a new triumph. The brothers truly live by the beatitudes through their charity. They live to serve. After spending a week forgetting about all material things, electronics, and other distractions of the everyday life, it became apparent to me how God works in our lives. It allowed me to look past the physical and mental disabilities of the residents and be able to literally see God and His love through them.

“As a Catholic Citizen we have the responsibility to serve our own communities as well as others in need.

We do not have to go across country; we can help those

that are around us. In our society, there are so many people that need God in their lives. We can serve others by just being a good listener or by making someone feel good about themselves. The simplest form of service is a simple prayer for someone in need.

“As we move into the Lenten season, we should focus on the meaning of Lent and our participation during this time. Lent involves fasting, prayer, and almsgiving. By making sacrifices, our responsibility as Catholics is to better ourselves for Christ and others. Personally, this Lent I am focusing on doing rather than just giving up. This is a time for us to step back and carry out Corporal Works of Mercy in our everyday lives.

“With our country currently being in a political struggle, as Catholics we especially have a duty to defend our faith. After forming a morally correct conscience, we are called to defend the dignity of the human person, right of the unborn, and to restore our religious liberty and rights of conscience. We should write to our senators and congressmen on these issues. In the upcoming elections, as Catholics, we should vote with a moral conscience not just along party lines.

“Clearly, being a Catholic Citizen in a Free Society involves lots of responsibilities. Though these responsibilities are often times challenging, the reward of God’s eternal kingdom is more than worth the struggle. We must remember that it’s not just about having the title of being a Catholic, it’s about truly living it.”

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Cover Story

n o i s Vi 2 1 0 2

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$10.3 million building project benefits Holy Cross Church and School, Central Catholic High School n

Dedication Aug. 22

Father Danny Poche’, pastor of Holy Cross Church parish in Morgan City, and Mamie Bergeron, principal of Holy Cross Elementary School, touch a wooden cross which was made from a banister on a stairway in Aiden Hall where the Marianite Sisters of the Holy Cross lived years ago when the sisters staffed the school. The cross is hanging in the new classroom building at the school.

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‘Amazing... unbelievable... remarkable’ Story by Janet Marcel Photos by Lawrence Chatagnier “Amazing … unbelievable … remarkable” are just a few of the words used by those involved to describe the overwhelming success of the Vision 2012 Capital Campaign.

“The whole community supported the project and made it a success. This project was a huge undertaking with three entities, Holy Cross Church parish, Holy Cross Elementary School and Central Catholic High School, all working together for one purpose,” says Burt Adams, capital campaign chair and building committee co-chair, who adds that to his knowledge this project is the largest of its type in this century in St. Mary Parish.

Members of the community including Catholic and non-Catholic parents, grandparents, parishioners, local businessmen and women, and friends of Holy Cross Church parish and elementary school and Central Catholic High School (CCHS) have pledged $10 million of the $10.3 million building project costs, reports Adams.

Father Danny Poche’, pastor of Holy Cross Church parish in Morgan City, says “The support for Catholic Christian education in this area by our Catholic and non-Catholic friends and families has been exceptional. The Christian values taught at both schools are made available to all faiths and the support for this project came from people of all faiths in the community.”

The new structures, says the pastor, were built to better the existing facilities in order to prepare for the future and to enhance the spiritual, academic and physical life of the students and the parishioners.

According to Jimmie Danos, diocesan director of the Office of Building and Construction, the project was a “design-build” (which means there was no bidding involved) as opposed to a design, bid, build. “Roger McChargue Construction, LLC, contractor, provided a ‘total package’ which included architectural and engineering services in addition to the general contracting aspect of the project, so it was truly a turnkey project,” says Danos.

Construction began in March 2011 on six new classrooms for Holy Cross Elementary School, a new library which will be shared by Holy Cross Elementary and CCHS (Phase I) and a new gymnasium for CCHS (Phase II). The old CCHS library will be the high school’s administration and development offices, freeing up two classrooms for the school.

“The completion of the first two phases of Vision 2012 helps to complete the dream of a community and its benefactors who envisioned facilities which would be used for the sacraments, for education, and for charitable services,” says Deacon Vic Bonnaffee, principal of Central Catholic High School.

Mamie Bergeron, principal of Holy Cross

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Father Danny Poche’ and Mamie Bergeron view an interactive white board, a new technological tool found in the classrooms at Holy Cross Elementary School.

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Forum for student, faculty and speaker presentations

Elementary School, says, “The new buildings are a tribute to the people of our community who contributed time and finances to the project. Because of their strong belief in Catholic education we have new facilities that are beautiful and create an environment for active and viable learning experiences. The future is upon us and we are ready.”

Phase III of the project is a new church parish life center which will be built where Aiden Hall was located. Aiden Hall, which housed several elementary 38 school classrooms, a computer lab, the elementary school’s library and the parish administration offices, was recently demolished. The present rectory will become the new home of the parish administration offices. The new life center, projected to be completed in July 2013, will be utilized for church parish and school functions. All buildings can be used by the entire church parish and school community.

The dedication of the new buildings will take place Wednesday, Aug. 22, at 6:30 p.m., in the new CCHS gymnasium; a reception will follow.

Central Catholic High School library Bayou Catholic • Houma, LA • August 2012

Holy Cross Elementary School library

Holy Cross Elementary School computer lab

Central Catholic High School competition gym