In the Sept. 30 of the The Catholic Commentator the “Question Corner” was disturbing, to say the least. A reader told the priest that their family went to a parish that had recently returned to the traditional ad orientem of Christian worship.

Their children however preferred a parish that “(…has people go to confession by writing things on pieces of paper to be burnt.)” One would certainly think that the priest columnist would be horrified at this practice and emphatically explain how this was NOT a valid

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On July 17, 2016 our family was forever changed. We lost our beloved son, Brad. Our hearts are so broken and the hurt is so deep, but we are so proud of our son. On behalf of our daughter-in- law Tonja, the children, Brad’s brothers – Brian and family, and John Brett and family, we would like to say thank you for the love and kindness, prayers, cards and the support that we have gotten, even from total strangers telling us our son is a hero. It

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For decades, St. Sharbel has been the focus of many special occurrences and happenings, which have been declared additional miracles or special healings.

On the 22nd of every month, believers gather to pray and celebrate Mass in the hermitage of St. Sharbel to acknowledge a special healing and miracle which occurred on the night of Jan. 22, 1993. Many priests of the Lebanese Maronite Order continue this tradition, which is currently being done in Baton Rouge (by Father Charbel El-Jamhoury) at St. Agnes Catholic Church at 6

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In the July 8 issue of The Catholic Commentator Father Kenneth Doyle responded to a letter from someone who asked if it was appropriate for a priest or eucharastic minister to say the name of the communicant when he gave them Communion. 

As Catholics we are blessed to be able to receive the body and blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It only takes a moment for a priest to place the host in our hands and for us to receive Jesus into our bodies. In

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Excellent article in the May 27 paper by Debbie Shelley, Tracking History. Kudos to that great family for being true to their faith despite their findings about Catholicism and in particular the Jesuits of Georgetown. There is no excuse for what the Jesuits did. I just hope that the current administration at Georgetown does more than  take stock and see what it needs to do. True positive action trumps any words.

John Schott

Tickfaw

A small group of lay people is meeting bimonthly throughout the Jubilee Year of Mercy at St. Agnes parish to discuss our reading of Diary: Divine Mercy in My Soul by St. Faustina.

The church is now more than halfway into the Year of Mercy, and our group members, strongly affected by the words our Lord spoke to St. Faustina, wish to encourage and appeal to our dear priests to speak out often from

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On Behalf of the Pastoral Planning Task Force:

It was over two years ago when Father Than Vu approached me on behalf of Bishop Muench and asked me to lead what has come to be known as our Pastoral Planning Task Force. It has been

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Thank you for the wonderful faith witness story of the Port Allen family and the glorious photos of Father David Allen performing immersion baptisms of Rhett and Wyatt. The baptism of these children is the realized crescendo of a challenging faith journey of a family walking with God in faith, hope and love. The children’s baptism welcomes and celebrates them within their Catholic community. It is a wonderful story of shared faith experience and teaching.

Also, the story about Carville is another story about God working in and

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Thanks to Father Carville for reviewing “Amoris Laetitia” and subjective matter that doesn’t determine practice, but makes interesting reading. Father considers “Amoris Laetitia” in itself. I’ll place it within the church.

“Amoris Laetitia” is properly interpreted from the church’s heart by faithfulness to pre-existing teaching: Scripture, catechism, canon law and infallible magisterial pronouncements within previous documents (e.g., Familiaris Consortio 84, Veritatis Splendor 52). These treat irregular situations like second marriages without annulment in such depth that no question of objective morality remains unanswered. No result regularizing these

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I was relieved to read in Father (John) Carville’s article “Why was Jesus Crucified?” his words, “To say that God the father had to be satisfied, appeased, by Jesus’ crucifixion for the insult and rejection caused by all our sins makes God some kind of blood thirsty, thin-skinned human potentate.”

I agree completely. Jesus was silenced by the Jews simply because he was denouncing their church laws – those Mosaic laws that they held as sacred, even though they were burdensome, uncharitable and unjust. Jesus finally had

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I have been following the five responses to Sister Joel Gubler’s letter regarding Catholics being refused the Eucharist (love over law), noting especially in three of them all of the laws cited which our church demands that we obey in order to be saved.

Well, aren’t we fortunate that Jesus did not obediently uphold the numerous laws of his church. He would never have been branded a blasphemer and rabble-rouser and would have died from natural causes, with private thoughts of how life could be lived in

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This letter is in response to the letter to the editor from Rick Blackstone, Terry Cormier, Claude Culross, Joe Goodson, Errol Lemoine, and John Stuart Jr. I don’t dispute the fact that Jesus proclaims marriage as a covenantal relationship.

I do dispute our response as God’s church to those whose marriages have broken for whatever reasons. I think what Sister Joel Gubler meant in her previous letter is that she cannot imagine Jesus denying his touch. Jesus always healed by touch. And the Eucharist is the kiss or touch

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Recently in the Catholic Commentator, (Jan. 8, 2016) scriptural references are presented to justify the current practice of disallowing reception of Eucharist by divorced and remarried individuals. The authors first cite St. Mark (10: 11-12). I decided to read for myself the entire section in that it deals with “marriage and divorce” (Mk 10:1-12).

As the authors suggest, Jesus verifies the law forbidding adultery. He references the creation story that from the beginning and clearly indicates ancient law forbids divorce.

So how

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In a recent issue of The Catholic Commentator the election of John Bel Edwards was presented as a rejection of the current state administration. I disagree. My wife and I voted for Edwards because a very good friend from Amite assured us he is a good man. The only other time we have voted for the democratic candidate was when Edwin Edwards ran against David Duke, but that was following the directive of the bumper stickers that read, “Vote for the crook, it’s important.”

I am amazed of how

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Sister Joel Gubler asks us to imagine divorced and remarried people approaching Jesus and being told “Go back to your pew.” But why imagine? Jesus teaches: “Whoever divorces his wife (her husband) and marries another, commits adultery against her (him)” (Mk 10:11-12). It is Jesus who prohibits divorce and remarriage, not “a group of men years ago.”

 Much as we want communion for someone like physically abused women remarrying for assistance with childrearing, the fact is Jesus’ unconditional teaching covers even that rare, unfortunate circumstance. Any imaginary window

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This letter is in response to a letter submitted by Sister Joel Gubler OP in The Catholic Commentator Dec. 11 issue. In her letter, Sister Joel espouses, in her words, love over law.

I would like to address a couple of points she makes. Sister Joel says, “Can we imagine a good person who has had the misfortune of having to divorce and remarry?” Marriage is a choice, a person does not “have to marry.”

Following divorce, our church offers the healing  process of an annulment. It is

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Within the Synod of the Family meetings, our pope has tried to encourage compassion for our divorced and remarried who have been denied the Eucharist. Of course, some bishops have opposed any changes, holding firmly to a church law formulated by a group of men years ago.

Can any of us imagine a good person who has had the misfortune of having to divorce and remarry walking up to Jesus for an encounter and being told by him, “Sorry, but you’re not worthy to receive me. Go

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We should be exceedingly thankful to, and grateful for heroic citizens and public servants like Kim Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky who was willing to stand up for religious freedom and her conscience and go to jail in the face of the blatantly idiotic ruling by five unelected justices to mandate that homosexual marriage (a total oxymoron) be the law of the land. This bare majority ruling, by a too-self-important-to-be-embarrassed Supreme Court of the U.S. included two justices who should have recused themselves based on prior public rulings in similar cases. It was

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When I am interviewed, I am always hopeful that what I’m saying is being captured accurately in the reporter’s ubiquitous notepad. Sometimes, unfortunately, I’m disappointed. Such apparently is the case with the article on page 7 of the Sept. 18 issue of The Catholic Commentator. There are more than a few inaccuracies in the text of the article – I said “conscience” and not “conscious” in the statements I made for your third-to-last paragraph, for example.

But the worst thing about the article is something I never

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In response to Father Kenneth Doyle’s Question Corner, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teaching on those who died before Jesus, I can’t believe that our church is still teaching that billions of souls were just floating around somewhere up there for hundreds of thousands of years, waiting for Jesus to die.

Seems they were locked out of the “gates of heaven.” Heaven has gates? Why did they have to wait for Jesus to die? Wouldn’t their loving creator have immediately received them when their souls

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On Sept. 9, California’s General Assembly approved legislation legalizing the regulation of doctor-assisted suicide. If the Senate follows through as predicted, California will be the fourth state to allow for individuals living with advanced illnesses to take their own life with the direct help of their physician and pharmacist. To some this news may be a welcome sign of progress in this era of patient autonomy and control. However, most Americans, especially physicians, understand that helping someone end their life is incompatible with a doctor’s fundamental role as a healer. It is understandable that

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In one of the recent issues of the Commentator I was reading the advice column of Father Doyle in which someone wanted clarification from him in order to disregard the Vatican’s policy toward the plight of Palestinian Christians. The writer voiced his strong support of Israel. This never fails to shock me. Western Christians, particularly Roman Catholics who support a government who has done its best to expel all native Christians from the Holy Land, while expropriating their land so that they may repopulate it with their own preferred religious followers.

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(The recent opinion article by Father John Carville has created many and diverse reactions. The Catholic Commentator appreciates the responses which help bring about more clearly the implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on this matter. The Diocese of Baton Rouge recognizes the complexity of the Supreme Court’s decision and is relying on the guidance of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops regarding the consequences of this ruling. See page 16 for the recent statement from the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops regarding the Supreme

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So, this past weekend, there I was, standing at my assigned station offering Communion during the 9:45 a.m. Mass. Church was packed with people of all ages, cultures and backgrounds. It was, as it usually is, a beautiful celebration of church.

However, in this moment, something was different. I had to consciously take a deep breath and clear my head, because I was really, really tired. I had been “all over creation,” as they say, the day before for various ministry tasks in and out of town.

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Christ’s Peace! As the rectors of Notre Dame Seminary and St. Joseph Seminary College, we have the privilege of educating and forming men for the priesthood who will serve as spiritual shepherds in the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

It is a blessing that in recent years enrollment has risen to record levels at both Notre Dame Seminary and St. Joseph Seminary College, the two institutions where vocations to the priesthood are nurtured in our archdiocese.

In the fall, St. Joseph

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In its editorial of May 1, The Catholic Commentator calls the State Legislature’s discussion of the method for performing the death penalty “fatuous.” In doing so, it at least finally acknowledges that the Catholic Church allows the death penalty when there is a threat to the community.

It continues its errors, however, when it states that in the United States a prisoner “properly incarcerated” is no longer a threat. Thus one should be an advocate for the convicted felon as well as the unborn child.

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In response to a recent editorial on the Affordable Care Act, I looked up some facts on the Congressional Budget Office website. Before the ACA, 30 million people in our country were uninsured. In the years between 2016 and 2024, which as far as was calculated, we will still have 30 million uninsured. Even with all of its promises, the ACA will not insure more people.

The ACA was passed before Congress had a chance to read the law. What intelligent Christian in good conscience could pass

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As chairman of the Pastoral Planning Task Force of our diocese it has been my pleasure to work for these past two years with an extraordinary group of people. Our Task Force is comprised of laity, religious, permanent deacons and priests. They have all worked very hard to help us come to the point of engaging parishioners throughout our diocese in dialogue.

I am particularly grateful to Bishop Robert W. Muench for his encouragement and support of our efforts. Without this, we would not be where we

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Words can never express our grateful thanks for the kindness you extended to our family this past month. The outpouring of love and friendship during this difficult time has been overwhelming. Your support, kind words and prayers helped make a very sorrowful time a little easier to bear. You are and will continue to be in our prayers.

We are sincerely thankful for the letters, cards and, most of all, the sharing of your memories of Father Than. We miss him dearly. Yet, your wonderful memories of him helped lift our spirits by reminding us just how much he was loved and how greatly he

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