ST. BENILDE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

1901 Division Street • Metairie, Louisiana 70001

Church Office: (504) 834-4980 • Church Fax: (504) 831-5810 • Church Email: stbenildechurch@cox.net

www.stbenilde.org

CLERGY Rev. Robert T. Cooper, Pastor Rev. H.L. Brignac, Sacramental Asst. Deacon Biaggio DiGiovanni Deacon Stephen Gordon Deacon Clifford Wright

BAPTISMS First and Third Sundays of the month at 12 Noon. Please call the Parish

Office for more information.

MATRIMONY Please contact a priest/deacon 8 months prior to your wedding.

FUNERALS Arrangements may be made at the Parish Office.

December 16, 2018 Third Sunday of Advent

ORDINARY FAMILIES

EXTRAORDINARY FAITH

DEVOTIONS Holy Hour in Church

Monday, 6:00-7:00 p.m.

Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Following 7 a.m. Mass on Tuesday

NEWCOMERS Call the Parish Office to receive a New

Parishioner Registration Packet.

ST. VINCENT DE PAUL SOCIETY

St. Benilde Conference (504) 233-3246

ST. BENILDE SCHOOL Mr. Thomas Huck, Principal

1801 Division Street • Metairie, LA (504) 833-9894

MASS TIMES Saturday Vigil … 4 p.m.

Sunday … 9:00, 11:00 a.m. & 6 p.m. Monday—Friday … 7:00 a.m.

Monday and Thursday … 5:30 p.m. First Saturday … 8:45 a.m.

HOLY DAYS OF OBLIGATION See Inside the Bulletin for Schedule

CONFESSION TIMES Saturday … 3:00—3:45 p.m. Sunday … 5:00—5:45 p.m. Monday … 6:00—6:45 p.m.

and by appointment at the Parish Office

DIVINE MERCY ADORATION CHAPEL Eucharistic Adoration from 7:00 p.m. Sunday

till 4:00 p.m. Saturday

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God

Ministers of the Liturgy December 15 & 16, 2018

Saturday - 4 P.M. Intention: Merle & Charles Dittmer, Joseph Segari,

Patrick C. McKinney, Branden Giebelhaus (L),

Hubert LaBorde, Pete Muscarello, Jr., Bob Kelly,

William Roa (L), George Spaulding, Audrey LeBlanc,

Austin Burroughs, Judith Theisges, Flora Maria Be,

Russell Joubert, Jr., Melissa Mendel Zimmerman,

Emile Fichter, Edward Van Hoven, Theresa Bacino

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion:

A. & P. Delaup

Cantor: Kevin Rouchell Organist: Jared Croal

Sunday - 9 A.M. Intention: Judith Theisges

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion:

J. Tusa, P. Cifreo, C. Rispoli, B. Soleto

Song Leaders: Traditional Choir

Sunday - 11 A.M. Intention: Dianne & Ronnie Harrison, Kelvin Ducote,

Mary & Melvin Ducote, Nikki Oddo Sanchez,

Joseph Donald Bernard, Paul J. Hymel, Jr.,

Sr. Therese Fletchinger SSND, Joseph Evola, Sr.,

Danny Kelly, Rose Mary Silbernagel, Barbara Ducan,

Patricia Hartmann, Donald J. Schexnayder, Sr.

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion:

C. & T. Pitre, K. Archer, K. Sorensen

Song Leaders: Contemporary Choir

Sunday - 6 P.M. Intention: Parishioners

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion:

M. Drawe, D. Powers

Cantor: Lauren Gisclair Pianist: Beth Kettenring

Weekday Masses Monday 7:00 a.m. Theresa Bacino

5:30 p.m. Joy Rojas

Tuesday 7:00 a.m. Theresa Bacino

Wednesday 7:00 a.m. Judith Theisges

Thursday 7:00 a.m. Floyd Bangs, Sr.

5:30 p.m. Special Intention

Friday 7:00 a.m. Gordon J. Moore

8:15 a.m. June & Marvin Ackermann (L)

The Church Sanctuary Lamp burns in memory of

The Souls in Purgatory

The Blessed Mother

Votive Lamps burn

For a Special Intention

Adoration Chapel

Sanctuary Lamp burns

in memory of

Stuart & Gloria Fourroux

Adoration Chapel Candles

burn in memory of

Deceased Parishioners

Altar Ladies Week of December 16

J. Dunn, C. Batt, Lillian Segari

Linens Large - H. Guichard

Small - E. Beyer

The St. Joseph Votive Lamps

burn for

Prayers Answered

St. Benilde Catholic Church

The Altar Flowers are in memory of

Deceased Parishioners

Stewardship of Treasure Weekend of December 8 & 9

Envelopes …………………………………$23, 846.00

Loose…………………………………………..3,636.00

Electronic Giving ……………………………...756.00

Repairs & Maintenance ………………………787.00

Msgr. Richaud Fund …………………………..260.00

Totaling ……………………………………$29,285.00

Diocesan Priest Retirement Collection……..$702.00

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion

Dec. 22/23 4 PM J. Rodosta, A. Delaup 9 AM C. & R. Ayers, K. Klapatch, R. Theriot 11 AM S. Gordon, L. Peters, N. Bostick, L. Frey 6 PM D. Childers, C. Pitre

Out Of Reverence For The Lord Jesus

who so generously shares with

us His Body and Blood in the

Eucharist, worshipers are

earnestly invited to remain with

the congregation until Mass is

concluded.

St. Benilde Catholic Church Volume 36: Issue 50

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God

Christmas Memorial Greenery and Flowers

The beautiful poinsettias and greenery that adorn

our altar and sanctuary are a special part of the celebration of Christmas at St. Benilde Catholic

Church. We invite all parishioners to share in the

experience through a memorial or thanksgiving gift

by using the Christmas Flowers Memorial

Envelopes found in the vestibule of Church.

Donations toward the cost of Christmas decorations in the Church may be made in memory

or honor of your family members and friends. This

is a wonderful way to remember loved ones, honor

friends, and offer thanksgiving to God for prayers

answered and blessings received during this past year. The suggested donation is $10 per remembrance. Please place your envelopes in the

collection basket, the Poor Box or bring it to the

Parish Office by December 26. Your generosity is

greatly appreciated. Memorial Envelopes will be

placed on the altar throughout the Christmas

Season and names will be published.

Advent Holy Hour and Confessions

The parish will have a Holy Hour from 6:00pm till 7:00pm on Monday, December 17th as we prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of the Christ Child at Christmas. Both Fr. Cooper and Fr. H.L. will be available for Confessions from 6 PM to 7 PM.

Christmas Mass Schedule

Christmas Eve: Monday, December 24: 4 PM and 6 PM

Christmas Day: Tuesday, December 25: 9 AM and 11 AM

Please note that there will be No Christmas Midnight Mass this year due to marginal attendance over the past three calendar years. In Addition, there will be No Confessions or Holy Hour on Monday, December

25, at 6 PM.

*The Adoration Chapel will close at 4 PM on Saturday, December 22, and will re-open at

7:30 AM on Wednesday, December 26.

Parish Office Closed

The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, December 24, through Wednesday,

December 26, in observance of Christmas. We will reopen on Thursday, December 27, at 9 AM.

Fr. Cooper’s Corner

Keeping Love Open to God

On July 25, the Church marked the fiftieth anniversary of the most reviled and rejected magisterial document of all time. Many papal encyclicals remain unread, others are perused and ignored, but Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae was pervasively condemned and opposed. This antipathy came not only from predictable sources, like radical secularists, sexual revolutionaries and anti-Catholic Christians, but also from remarkably atypical ones, such as various Catholic bishops, priests, religious, theologians, and otherwise observant married couples. Since its publication, surveys have shown that over ninety percent of Catholic spouses at some point in their marriage have contravened its moral summons and that most consider its teaching on the immorality of the use of contraception in marriage erroneous. Opposition to it ushered in an age of dissent, both open and private, since if the Church can be wrong in teaching about marital morality, then how can her teaching be trusted in other areas? And the hostile reaction to it has led, among other things, to a severe enfeeblement of the teaching office of the Church, as many clergy, theologians and catechists, called to preach the Gospel in and out of season, have remained mute, refusing out of embarrassment, fear of opposition, or pusillanimity masquerading as prudence, to acknowledge its existence, not to mention faithfully transmit its teaching. So why does the Church celebrate its Golden Jubilee? Because the teaching of Humanae Vitae is nevertheless unmistakably true. Its message, at the dawn of the Sexual Revolution, was both heroic and prophetic. Its predictions of what widespread contraceptive use would lead to have become sadly and conspicuously validated—marital infidelity, general lowering of moral standards, the objectification and instrumentalization of women, the coercive use of it by public authorities. Other negative consequences that were not mentioned but flow from a contraceptive mentality and lifestyle metastasized—promiscuity, divorce, out of wedlock conception, abortion, sexually transmitted diseases, in vitro fertilization, cloning, embryonic experimentation and destruction, widespread under-population, the acceptance of same-sex sexual activity and ultimately the redefinition of marriage according to a non-procreative ideal have resulted. Honest observers are increasingly admitting that Paul VI was right about both effects and cause. Truth in general is often unpopular and rejected. Most of the Old Testament prophets experienced severe rejection, many were persecuted and some were executed. It was only later, once the people had experienced the consequences of persevering in sinful behavior, that their words were acknowledged as coming from God, accepted, and put into practice. Jesus Himself experienced rejection in Nazareth and in Jerusalem, including from religious leaders who conspired with the Romans to kill Him. Even among His disciples in every age, most dissent in practice from His more challenging teachings, like loving one’s enemies, picking up their Cross daily, forgiving seventy times seven, living the Beatitudes, and treating everyone in need as if we were caring for Him personally. And we see the popular rejection of the truth throughout Church history. Saint Jerome wrote during the fourth century, “The whole world awoke with a groan to find itself Arian,” because so many Christian faithful and clergy had accepted the heresy that Christ was really a creature, not God. Truth, however, is not determined by polls of popularity. Pope Paul VI anticipated opposition to Humanae Vitae. “Perhaps not everyone will easily accept this particular teaching,” he wrote, but added that the Church cannot “evade the duty imposed on her of proclaiming humbly but firmly the entire moral law, both natural and evangelical.” He said that the Church, “no less than her divine Founder, is destined to be a ‘sign of contradiction.’” And in the last century,

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God

St. Benilde Catholic Church

there is no way that the Church has been a greater sign of contradiction than with regard to Paul VI’s and the Church’s efforts to keep conjugal love open to the love and will of God. However, to regard the Church’s teaching on contraception as a fundamental “sign of contradiction” is to do it an injustice, because it is not principally a negative retort to Playboy, pills, and prophylatics, but a positive articulation of the goodness of human love in the divine plan. The fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae is a chance for the Church to ponder that Gospel anew and commit herself to understand it better, live it, and proclaim it. At the same time, the Golden Jubilee is an occasion for an honest examination of how we have received the gift of the truth contained in Humanae Vitae, confess where we have failed, and make a firm amendment ecclesially and individually to live and announce its sanctifying message better. We can consider several areas of needed improvement. First, we must do a better job on proposing moral alternatives to contraception. Paul VI noted that there are serious physical, economic, psychological and social reasons why a couple might determine that conceiving a child at the present time would be imprudent. Many think, however, that contraception and complete abstinence are the only options. That is why teaching fertility awareness methods in accordance with the extraordinary growth in scientific knowledge since the “rhythm method” of the 1960s is so important. Not only do fertility awareness methods promote respect for women, increase spousal communication and dramatically decrease divorce rates, but the knowledge they provide are among a couple’s greatest aids when they hope to conceive. Every engaged couple should receive this training. It should also be a standard offering in a parish’s accompaniment of families as well as part of the remote sacramental marriage preparation in every religious education program. Failure to do so is a spiritual malpractice that only abets the contraceptive culture. Second, we must assist couples to involve God in their approach to sex and children. Making love is meant to express in body language what a couple says verbally before the altar–that they give themselves wholly and receive the other just as God made them–without rejecting their built-in capacities to become a mom or dad in the very act God made for those capacities to be expressed. Many couples unfortunately put up in their bedrooms a virtual “No entry” sign to God, eliminating the procreative significance from their love-making and thereby effectively evicting the Creator. Many couples, moreover, make “planning” decisions about family size without prayerfully consulting God. This Jubilee is an opportunity to assist them to unite all aspects of their married life to God. Third, we must honor and thank those couples who have faithfully sought to live by the teaching of the Church without much support and encouragement from fellow couples, their parishes and the wider Church. Whether by generously raising up a large family of disciples or having recourse to moral means when their circumstances do not permit it, many are true heroes of faith whose example should be put on a lampstand. Fourth, we must overcome our shame in preaching the challenging parts of the faith. Many clergy and married couples treat the teaching of Humanae Vitae as “bad news” rather than Good News and clam up out of embarrassment. St. Paul experienced similar shame early in his apostolate with regard to the Cross, but eventually the reality of Jesus’ crucifixion and the need to be “crucified with Christ” became his boast. He would urge us, like he urged the first Christians, not to be ashamed of the Gospel. The teaching of Humanae Vitae is not a peripheral or optional part of the Catholic faith, because essential to our faith is loving God and loving neighbor, and neither God nor one’s spouse is sincerely loved through the sins involved in contraception. The Church needs to proclaim that love with apostolic boldness all the more at a time when many treat lust as a god and when the sexual revolution catalyzed by contraception has left so many hurt and our culture ailing. Fifth, we must strengthen the teaching of Humanae Vitae by communicating its substance in ever fresh and adequate ways. This is what St. Pope John Paul II sought to do. While absolutely agreeing with its conclusions, John Paul thought that Paul VI’s natural law analysis of the “conjugal act” was not the most effective means to communicate the “why” behind the “what” of the Church’s teaching. For a subjectivist, emotivist age, he did not think an objectivistic analysis of spousal actions, however coherent, would be widely convincing. Philosophically, he sketched out a personalistic, anthropological analysis of what the use of contraception does to men, women and their attitudes

St. Benilde Catholic Church Volume 36: Issue 50

Parish Motto—Building the Kingdom of God

toward children–the truth of which readers could verify on the basis of personal experience. Theologically, especially through his famous Catecheses on the “Theology of the Body,” he sought to ground the teaching on contraception in the light of Sacred Scripture, which he was convinced would be more persuasive to people of faith than objectivistic natural law argumentation. Communicating the faith always involves seeking the best methods to convey unchangeable teaching in changing times. The fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae is an opportunity for evangelically faithful creativity. The history of the Church has shown that the reforms of popes, ecumenical councils, and new religious orders often take decades to take root and be appreciated. Sometimes the words of prophets, moreover, are valued only after people have suffered because of a failure to heed them. Humanae Vitae’s fiftieth anniversary is a time to read it with renewed eyes, and to pray that its prophetic teaching on the blessing of marital love in God’s plan—and the affliction that cannot be avoided when that gift is treated as a curse—will be listened to anew and responded to with humble and courageous faith.

Special Second Collection

There will be a special Second Collection taken at all the Christmas Masses to help support Priestly Formation at Notre Dame Seminary and to assist with the various Charitable Organizations of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Thank you for your generosity as we help our young men studying for the priesthood.

Eucharistic Adorers Needed

For the past 10 years, we have been blessed to have Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration here at St. Benilde Parish. Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration is the adoration of Jesus Christ present in the Holy Eucharist. The Eucharist is displayed in a special holder called a monstrance, and people come to pray and worship Jesus continually throughout the day and the night.

Come to our Perpetual Adoration Chapel and spend some time with our Lord. He is waiting there to embrace you, lovingly and mercifully!

If you would like to become a committed adorer, please contact George Rojas at (504) 834-5525 or visit the parish website:

www.stbenilde.org/eucharistic-adoration

Louisiana Life March South

The Louisiana Life March South will be Saturday,

January 26, 2019, in Baton Rouge . There will be a

chartered bus leaving St. Edward the Confessor in

Metairie at 7:45 AM. The price is $15 per seat

(includes bus driver tip and 2 bottles of water). The

deadline to reserve a seat is Friday, January 18, 2019.

Please bring your own lunch and beverages. Royal

blue and white “life” t-shirts are available for $10

each. For more information contact Yvette Fouchi at

504-874-9225 or email yfouchi@yahoo.com.

DECEMBER 16, 2018

ST. BENILDE CATHOLIC CHURCH – ID # 113850

1901 DIVISION ST.

METAIRIE, LA 70001

504-834-4980

NANCY CAROLLO

504-834-4980

MONDAY THROUGH THURSDAYS - 9 A.M. TO 3 P.M.

FRIDAYS - 9 A.M. TO 12 NOON

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: