Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: January 17, 2021
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
During the past 10 months much has changed here in the Cathedral Parish. The pandemic has forced us away from each other, unable to gather and hug and eat together like we love to do. This is not just something St. Joseph Parish has experienced, of course: everyone’s family as well as every school and workplace has struggled with the social distancing, mask wearing, and changed experiences of shopping and vacations. We are all so tired of it, but each of us also now probably knows someone who’s had the Covid virus. While it barely registers with some, especially the young, it is also a devastating “far worse than any flu” disease for many. And it’s deadly: in the previous year in the US some 22,000 died from influenza, but in the past year alone over 374,000 have now died from the coronavirus. That’s scary.
Still, God does not abandon us, even in difficult times. As I’ve said quite a few times, “this isn’t the first plague that God’s had to deal with”! What the Lord does call us to do in times of challenge is rely on faith, which gives us perspective on what’s really important in this life and what our ultimate goal is, His eternal love shared in the next life.
Two of the things that are important in nourishing our faith is constant prayer and the grace of the sacraments of the Church. While increased isolation at home may offer more opportunity for prayer, the sacramental life is most typically and best shared in our corporate worship, but that just isn’t happening as much anymore. We’re lucky in Louisiana that we’ve been able to gather in church since early summer, although in greatly reduced numbers. There are a number of places in the country which have not been able to resume public indoor Masses.
Throughout we’ve tried to accommodate those for whom it’s especially dangerous or difficult to come to church. We’ve emphasized that the Church teaches that with the right kind of repentance, even mortal sins are forgiven by God outside of confession. And one may make a “spiritual communion” when actual physical reception of the Eucharist can’t happen. Thank goodness.
Fortunately in all of this, due to the tremendous assistance of Mr. Steve Lee and Mr. Jeff Cotton of CatholicLife Television, we’ve been able to continue our televised Sunday Mass each week. This has been truly helpful for Bishop Duca, who “connects with” his flock in this way. Even more, it is especially good for the increased numbers of homebound persons who can come into contact with God and our Parish family only in this way right now. We hope the prayers and preaching, as well as the music and solemnity of our familiar Catholic rituals, have been a support to you and yours in this time.
Still, our Parish’s Development Committee, which is chaired by Mrs. Bobbie Carey, has been eager to supplement the TV Masses and emailed issues of The Carpenter which have been the backbone of our outreach in the past many months. One idea they’ve come up with is for a regular “virtual” get-together of parishioners, using the Zoom app that many of us discovered in 2020! Their idea is that the Parish can host a regular online meeting of parishioners, for anyone who wants to take part.
We’re calling these sessions Cathedral Chats, and we will begin on Tuesday, January 26. We plan to host one on every 2nd and every 4th Tuesday of each month. Each will begin at 6:15 pm, to go no more than an hour. But the first one is the most important one: that’s when we’ll decide if the day and time are good, and what kinds of things we can discuss. Some people would like me to explain some of the vestments and prayers of the Mass; that would be easy to do. Some would like just a big Q&A session, which will be fine if it doesn’t get too complicated! Others have asked if Bishop Duca could maybe lead it occasionally; he told me last weekend “sure!” Our director of music/organist Mr. David Summers, has a lot of ideas for possible “musical” discussions. Anyone else have any ideas for subjects and speakers? It may well happen that the sessions evolve into some kind of online Bible study or adult formation program, who knows?
The good thing about Zoom sessions is that if you have a computer with a camera and microphone – or just a smartphone – you can participate visually or just with sound only. If you’re not sure how to do this, we will try our best to show you how … but trust me, it’s not hard! A lot of people use Zoom now to stay connected with family members, and many teachers and students are continuing classes by making use of it too. We will share the Zoom “link” by email on the afternoon of each session, so make sure we know what your email address is! (If you get The Carpenter by email you’re already on our list!)
So thank you for considering participating in something new! The conversations should be fun and interesting. And speaking for myself I’ll bet we can’t wait to see each other without our masks on at last!
In the Lord who lives in our midst,
Very Rev. Paul D. Counce
