Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: October 15, 2017
Next Sunday, October 22, it’s GRAND Day in St. Joseph Cathedral Parish. At and after our 12 noon Mass we especially welcome grandchildren and grandparents and their families to a special Mass and party afterwards! Our Eucharist focuses on the joy of family life, and the free fun afterwards in our Hall and on Cathedral Square puts everyone in a great mood. The petting zoo and pony rides are popular, as are the face-painting, hamburgers and hot dogs, and ice cream. Music, a train to ride, and even “Bubbles the Camel” are guaranteed to make it a few hours of fun for everyone! Make sure that this is something you invite your whole family to come and enjoy!
Before that happens, this week I’ll actually be up in Indianapolis for the annual national convention of the Canon Law Society of America. As one of its active members and former officers, it is a meeting I rarely miss. Father Jamin David of our diocese also will be there. This year’s meeting takes on a bit more significance than usual since Father Jamin and I will be the local hosts for this year’s regional convention of the CLSA in the very last week of November. We have to make sure we’re prepared! Here we’ll be housing everyone from our region (the eleven dioceses of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana) at the Hampton Inn a block away from Cathedral Square, holding the various talks and at least one meal in our Parish Hall, and of course celebrating a special Eucharist in the Cathedral itself. If I end up needing some help with hosting this project, thank you already for being willing to pitch in!
At the end of October comes the Solemnity of All Saints on Wednesday, November 1. It’s a holy day of obligation, with Masses here at the Cathedral at both 7:30 am and 12 noon. We’ll also have our annual special Cemetery Blessings, at 4 pm at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery on Main Street behind the old Goudchaux’s building, and at 7 pm at historic Highland Cemetery on Oxford Street near the South Gates of LSU on Highland Road.
Please remember your departed loved ones in prayer during November, the month of the Holy Souls, and in particular do your part in maintaining their tombs and gravesites – in whatever cemetery their remains lie at rest – until we all meet in heavenly peace together. You may enroll the names of deceased persons in our “Book of Remembrance” in the church: these names are known collectively as the Purgatorial List, and they are specially held up to the Lord Jesus in prayer at Mass each Tuesday throughout the year. And you may wish to go to the candlestand in church and light a candle in their memory: this symbolizes our ongoing prayer for them as they await Judgment Day in God’s sight.
Sincerely in the Lord,
Fr. Paul
