St. Benedict Catholic Church

Dear Friends,

The last stanza of the Responsorial Psalm on Palm Sunday proclaims:

I will proclaim your name to my brethren;
in the midst of the assembly I will praise you:
"You who fear the LORD, praise him;
all you descendants of Jacob, give glory to him;
revere him, all you descendants of Israel!"

I invite you to join Deacon Ellis and me for the celebration of Mass for Palm Sunday. The Mass will be posted by 4 p.m. this afternoon (Saturday afternoon) and can found here on our website or on our Youtube channel here. I also made a worship aid to assist you in participating in this Mass that can be accessed here. 

Blessed Palms are available outside of the Church from now until Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m.

As in the past weeks, I am sending you various resources to assist your spiritual life during this time and to help you keep in touch with St. Benedict Church and the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Click on the links below to view or download these resources. There are also new resources for children. A great resource is how to do a family retreat during Holy Week, which has coloring sheets, activities, and children prayer journals (the link is here and at the bottom). When looking at the Clarion Herald, please note that pictures or articles about St. Benedict Catholic Church can be found on pgs. 1, 6, and 18.

This Sunday night at 7 p.m. there will be a Regional Ecumenical Prayer Service to pray "To unite Churches and Christians in praying together simultaneously and purposefully for the stoppage of the Coronavirus and for spiritual renewal in our region, state, and nation." Archbishop Aymond is still in quarantine, so he will be sending another priest to represent him. I encourage everyone to participate in this prayer service from home, which will be aired live on WLAE TV or may be viewed online at praynola.com.

Please continue to pray for our Health Care Heroes, and consider displaying a white ribbon on your home, mailbox, or car. We also have wearable white ribbons with a St. Benedict Parish Pin available in the back of the Church. For our current list of Health Care Heroes, please click here. I suggest that you daily pray Pope Francis's Litany of Supplication, especially for our Health Care Heroes.

I would ask that if you know anyone in need of assistance to please email me. I know many people are starting to have financial difficulties as a result of the stay-at-home order. St. Benedict's and Catholic Charities are here to offer support and assistance. Please, if you or someone you know needs assistance, do not hesitate to contact me. Your fellow parishioners have been generous in providing financial support for those in need right now.

I remain available to anyone who wishes to go to confession, make an appointment to talk, or is in need of a sacramental anointing in an emergency. Please email me, or in the case of an emergency, please call the office at 985-892-5202 and if the voicemail answers, press “2” to be routed to the emergency line. 

Please remember that the church is open daily for you to visit from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the only exception being Sunday mornings when access to the church is limited only to those who have signed-up for an adoration period. 

I again want to thank everyone who sent the parish financial contributions this past week via mail, by dropping off your offering at the office, or by utilizing our new online giving. Your generous support of the parish in the past is needed even more right now, as the primary means of our income—the collection at Sunday Masses—has been suspended. If you are financially able to, I humbly ask you to continue supporting the parish financially during this time of the stay-at-home order. Your generosity helps us to continue paying our staff, cover the normal expenses of the parish, and will enable us to support those who are in dire need of assistance during this time. If you wish to give online, please go to giving.parishsoft.com/app/giving/stbencov. You can download the FAQs and instruction sheet here, or can watch a short demo video here. 

Let us continue to support one another in prayer. I also strongly encourage you to daily to look at our website and Facebook page. I will be sending out an email to everyone by Tuesday to share some of the things we will be doing for Triduum and Easter. Until then, please know of my prayers and love for you!

Have a safe and blessed Holy Week.

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us!


Sincerely yours in Christ,
Father Charles O.S.B V.F.

Lord Jesus, 
you came into the world to heal our infirmities 
and to endure our sufferings. 
You went about healing all 
and bringing comfort to those in pain and need. 
We come before you now in this time of pandemic
asking that you sustain health care workers 
and medical professionals
that they may have strength in body, 
courage in spirit,
steadfastness in moments of exhaustion or pain,
and hope in the midst desolation.
Uphold them, we pray, 
and restore those already afflicted with the Coronavirus 
by the grace of your healing and deliverance,
so that united more closely to your family, the Church, 
we all may give praise and honor to your name.
Amen.