Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: February 23, 2020
This week’s issue of The Carpenter is being written and read in the middle of the carnival season. Have you been able to take part in a parade, wear some purple-green-and-gold, or savor a bit of “King Cake” yet this year?
If so, I hope you realize that carnival originally was a religious celebration. Recognizing that the austere, even severe, penitential season of Lent was coming, Christians in many European societies in the late Middle Ages would make sure to enjoy a bit more of fun, feasting and family prior to Ash Wednesday.
We all admit – and regret – that some traditional fun of Mardi Gras has been tarnished by vulgarity and excess. It’s not good Catholics who are to blame for the occasional ruination of the carnival season. No, wholly selfish and irreligious people who never do any penance are. Yet their ignorance and even immorality don’t control us, or rob us of joy. Although we are more and more a minority in a far too-secular world, the coming Lenten season of self-denial for us motivates us to savor opportunities we do have to smile, to enjoy some relaxation and partying with family and friends, and to support Louisiana’s cultural distinctiveness.
So Happy Mardi Gras! If you don’t want to bother with parades, at least take a day off from the usual routine. Go on a picnic, walk on the levee, adopt a pet, drop a line in the water, finish that paperback, visit a museum, bake cookies with some children, share hot chocolate and giggles with your bestie! You get the idea. In fact, instead of excessive partying, wholesome activities like these really are the best!
But the end is in sight. Once this weekend and the Mardi Gras holidays are over, Lent begins this week. Get it off to a good start: Mass on Ash Wednesday, February 26, will be at 7:30 am, 12 noon, and 5 pm. Stations of the Cross will be prayed on Lenten Fridays at 11:30 am, just before noontime Mass. And I’ll try to be in the confessional by 11:15 am on weekdays too.
Finally, let me say just two words of thanks. The first to those who offered their supportive comments last weekend after my Stewardship of Finance talk at all of the Masses. (And since I know you want to ask: no, nobody offered any critical comments!) Everybody seemed to appreciate how the Cathedral Church Parish herself is a “good steward” of their gifts, and so are well-disposed to increase their support if at all possible. As I mentioned, some of our parishioners and friends are on limited and fixed incomes, and so can’t really do much more than they’re doing now. But most of us are able to put a bit more of a priority on God and in thanksgiving for His blessings increase their giving. So that’s my second word of thanks: to everyone whose generosity supports St. Joseph Cathedral Parish and her works, ministries and buildings. For almost 228 years we have maintained a reassuring presence of God in the midst of Baton Rouge, due to the reassuring faith of parishioners and friends like you!
In the Lord,
Father Paul Counce
