J.M.J.

What a day and what a week! Thank you to LaSandra Gordon for organizing a massive distribution event this past Wednesday (pictures above). I have never seen so many cars in our parking lot. It was a great success! We distributed a large quantity of supplies from our Friends of St. Joseph food pantry and distribution center in addition to all the donations from the sponsors of the event. We still have personal care items, baby and toddler diapers and formula, and a stocked pantry. When we have regular hours for the food pantry and what remains of the distribution center, I will pass them on to you.

The three Nights of Catechesis concluded this past Thursday and I sincerely thank all those who attended and those who shared their feedback in the initial questionnaires. Following these steps set out by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, we are ready to work with an architect to create a master plan for our parish. This will help us when we make repairs to work from a vision for our church's future. The priorities are to rehabilitate the Church Community Center, to fix the roof and ceiling in the wing of the church, and finish the sanctuary floor.

Thank you to our Parish School of Religion coordinators LaSandra Gordon and Thérèse Faucheux, to all of our catechists, and to our students and their families for making our first day of in-person PSR in a year and a half such a blessing. Seeing so many families at our 10 am Mass was breathtaking! I would like to invite everyone to participate in continuing parish catechesis at home by watching the videos of Francis Cardinal Arinze linked below. If you would like a more structured review of the Catholic faith, please consider gathering a group together and hosting Family Catechesis at your house. This is the same curriculum used by our 10-12th graders and is very flexible. I would love to be there for the first session to pray with you and introduce you to this dynamic program. If you are interested in knowing more, please indicate below.

Please pray for our eleven candidates for Confirmation, the six candidates from St. John the Baptist in Paradis, and three candidates from St. Gertrude the Great who will gather this evening at 7 pm for rehearsal and then on Thursday, October 28th at 7 pm for the great Sacrament of Confirmation. We are now hosting the Mass for the Conferral of Confirmation here at Holy Rosary, because we have a little more light in our parking lot after Ida than the neighboring churches that are joining us.

If you are able to help remove a fence for one of our parishioners in Hahnville next Saturday, October 30th after the 8 am Mass, I would love to work with you. Please RSVP below. If you know of anyone who is still in need of assistance, please let me know and we'll try to get groups out as soon as possible. Be assured of my continued prayers and may God richly bless you and your families.

In Christ,