Author: Father Albert

Pastor Column: Papal Infallibility II

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From the bulletin of August 16, 2020      Continuing our study of Papal Infallibility, this week we’ll consider the way this has been misunderstood and misused. You may recall that some of the people who objected to the decision of Vatican I to proclaim this doctrine did so because they were worried about it being misunderstood. They believed the Holy Spirit infallibly protected the teachings of the Church and that the pope had a special charism to carry out this protection. What they feared was that people would interpret this declaration to mean that everything the pope said had to...Read More

Homily for the 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time: The Ship That Does Not Sink

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19th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  August 9, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Video of Mass: https://youtu.be/ZfHVJ5yehUQ This is one of the more popular scenes from the Gospel and there are a lot of ways to apply it: the power of faith to do the impossible, the importance of keeping your eyes on Jesus, the way that Jesus catches us when we call out to him. Really, it’s one of those passages that seems so familiar, so obvious to interpret that it’s easy for us to stop listening when it comes...Read More

Pastor Column: Papal Infallibility

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From the bulletin of August 9, 2020      As we learned last week, the First Vatican Council was most famous for solemnly declaring that the Pope had the ability to teach doctrine infallibly. It is often called the charism of infallibility. That word “charism” is used by the Church to refer to spiritual gifts and in this case means that the Pope, because of the authority he inherits as successor to St. Peter, has the spiritual gift of teaching without error. Now, it is important to remember that, whenever the Church defines a doctrine, she is not changing what we’ve...Read More

Not Enough

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18th Sunday of Ordinary Time, A                                                                  August 2, 2020Fr. Albert                                                                                St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette Video of 8am Mass: https://youtu.be/H-X4ONLUPvM Not enough. Words that haunt every human being, whispered in the mind, festering in the heart – not good enough, not pretty enough, not rich enough, not strong enough, not popular enough, not holy enough. Scarcity is simply part of our condition. Even the super-rich, super-famous, and super-powerful face this fundamental experience of fallen humanity. An echo of the first temptation given to Adam and Eve, the suspicion that we are not enough...Read More

Pastor Column: Vatican I

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From the bulletin of August 2, 2020      Perhaps you’ve heard of the Second Vatican Council, or simply “Vatican II.” Many of you lived through it and remember the impact it had on the Church at large. When we do get to that council, we will spend a lot of time going through it, but our historical tour hasn’t gotten there just yet. We’re still in the 1800s and now we’re going to take a look at the First Vatican Council. It was called on December 8, 1864 by Pope Pius IX in response to the rising influence of various...Read More

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