Author: Father Albert

Pastor’s Column: Three Notes on Development

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From the bulletin of July 26, 2020      We’ve been looking into the development of doctrine with the help of Blessed Cardinal Newman who laid out 7 “notes” of development in one of his essays. Last week, we looked at four of those notes: Preservation of Type, Continuity of Principles, Power of Assimilation, and Logical Sequence. Today, we’ll finish with the last three.      Anticipation of its Future: This one is closely connected to the previous example of a logical sequence. It means that, when we look at a development of doctrine, should be able to spot its anticipation in...Read More

The Long Defeat

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17th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                              July 26, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Video of 10am Mass: https://youtu.be/pFAzbcNA178 What to do? Pandemic, economic difficulty, racial tension, fake news, political turmoil – what can we do about any of that? It’s easy to feel trapped and powerless, like we just have to watch things fall apart and accept our lack of influence. Frankly, there is a part of me that wishes I could simply point you to a solution, a path of influence, a technique for getting this world off the track...Read More

Pastor Column: 7 Notes on Development Part I

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From the bulletin of July 19, 2020      As we saw last week, Cardinal Newman was an English saint who was known for his teaching, theology, and good example. One of his better known contributions to the Church’s tradition is his essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, in which he gives 7 “notes” which help us to see the difference between a development of doctrine and a divergence from doctrine (also known as heresy). I will try to summarize and explain each of these notes. They can be a little hard to understand, but they are nonetheless a good...Read More

The Waste of Grace

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15th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                              July 12, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Video of 8am Mass: https://youtu.be/Mql4NaKBDL4 What a waste! All that seed wasted on the path, the rocky ground, and the thorns. It’s the sower’s fault, isn’t it, for throwing all that seed there in the first place? But Jesus blames the ground… like it had a choice in whether or not it was walked on, rocky, or full of thorns. I mean, when the plants in my garden don’t grow well, is it the dirt’s fault? Or mine...Read More

Pastor Column: John Henry Newman

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From the bulletin of July 12, 2020      Our next stop in the tour of the Church’s tradition is the life of John Henry Newman, an English convert to Catholicism, a Cardinal, and a saint. Born in 1801, John Henry Newman became an Anglican priest and taught at Oxford. While there, he led the Oxford Movement, which led many in the Church of England to emphasize the more traditional beliefs and practices of Christianity. It eventually led him and several followers to convert to Catholicism in 1845 because they recognized it as the Church with the most legitimate claim to...Read More

Pastor Column: Little Way

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From the Bulletin of July 5, 2020      Recall that we learned about Jansenism last week. That particular heresy greatly impacted French Catholicism and the parts of the world influenced by it, including our own Acadiana. With its emphasis on our unworthiness, it caused a lot of scrupulosity and fear so that many Catholics considered their faith a burden rather than a blessing. The Church, as guardian of the truth, did condemn this error and work to undo it’s effects, but our faith is not a list of ideas. Our doctrines and teachings mean very little unless they are lived...Read More

Spirit of Freedom

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14th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                              July 5, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Video of 8am Mass: https://youtu.be/x38f1Fxdtv4 “His dominion shall be from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the Earth.” That’s the promise of the prophet Zechariah… what he claims will happen when the Messiah, the king comes riding on a donkey. We know this to be Jesus Christ who rode a donkey into Jerusalem. We also know that, just a week later, this same anointed king was put to death on the cross. And...Read More

To Receive

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13 Sunday of Ordinary Time. A                                                                                 June 28, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Video of 8am Mass: https://youtu.be/ft07H9ij7Cs I want to tell you about Fr. Tim. As a child, Fr. Tim was a mystery to me; this foreign priest occasionally present at family gatherings; a quiet man with an accent. I’m not sure I ever had a conversation with him, but it was evident that he was a respected friend of my grandparents and so afforded at least a polite respect from the rest of the family. So he remains a...Read More

Jansenism

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From the Bulletin of June 28, 2020      As we continue our journey through the Church’s history and tradition, we come to a movement that has some influence on our local culture by way of its influence on French culture in the 1600s. That movement is called Jansenism, named after a Dutch theologian Cornelius Jansen. Ultimately, this movement was declared a heresy - a false teaching, but not before it led many people into error.      Essentially, Jansenism over-emphasized the doctrine of Original Sin to the point of considering human nature as totally depraved. They tried to use the teachings...Read More

Science vs. Faith?

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From the Bulletin of June 21, 2020     Last week, I briefly highlighted some great saints to emphasize that God always sends more grace in times when we need it more. The list was woefully short and didn’t even address other well-known saints like John Fisher, Thomas More, John of Avila, Charles Borromeo, Aloysius Gonzaga, and Philip Neri. Towards the end of this tumultuous century, there is another saint named St. Robert Bellarmine, who plays a role what we’re looking at today: the Galileo Controversy.      Spend just a few minutes looking for atheists online and you’ll quickly come across...Read More