If you have followed me for any time on this blog you should know by now that my home parish is in the quaint community of Abita Springs named for St. Jane de Chantal. This beautiful wife and mom went on to become a great nun and founder after the death of her husband. She actually founded the Visitation Sisters which still is very much active today. Being a French woman, it's so appropriate that she be a patron Saint for a parish located inside the Archdiocese of New Orleans. St. Jane kept good company as her spiritual advisor was St. Francis de Sales and she knew St. Vincent de Paul.
Under her patronage my little home parish has exploded in families, ministries and both prayer and faith life. When I became part of this parish around 1996 there were about 400 families and the church was served by Benedictine monks from the local Abbey. Today the total number of families is well over 1,200 and is staffed by Archdiocesan Priests. In fact, we have a Pastor and an Associate Pastor as well as a Priest in residence. His main focus is ministering to the incredibly fast growing Hispanic community. Now that I am back I am one of 4 Permanent Deacons. Yes, we have a lot of clergy. One deacon is over 80 years of age, one deacon functions mainly at our mission church, St. Michaels, located some 20 miles away. This is a busy parish! Mass is offered daily at St. Jane and there is also an evening mass on Thursday nights for the Hispanic community. Evening mass is also offered at St. Michaels on Tuesday night. In case you are counting that totals 8 weekday masses for this growing parish.
Now we come to the weekend and the source of the "big happenings". Our Sunday Mass schedule is changing starting tomorrow, November 29th coinciding with the first Sunday of Advent. Let's back up and discuss the vigil masses first. On Saturday afternoons there is a vigil mass at 4 PM at St. Michael's followed by the vigil mass at St. Jane's in Abita at 6 PM. Yes, that's pretty late for a vigil mass but the vigils were spread out to accommodate the priests in case one would be on vacation. Now we come to Sunday. After years of having two morning masses only at 9 and 11 now the schedule shifts to 8 AM and 10 AM and a new Mass at high noon. And here is more big news: the noon mass is the celebration in the Extraordinary Form. Yes, St. Jane's in Abita Springs will have what is casually called the Latin Mass. This is the approved Mass of the 1962 Missal that Pope Benedict allowed to be used more fully wherever a need exists. Believe it or not there is quite a large group of parishioners from Abita Springs and surrounding areas who worship in the Extraordinary Form. This will be the first time since the 1960's that a regularly scheduled Mass celebrated according to the 1962 Missal will be offered in Abita Springs. At this point the day is far from over. At 2 PM the Mass is celebrated in Spanish. At 6 PM the Mass is celebrated for the youth, although many more than youth attend, with contemporary guitar music and more recent worship songs.
Have you been counting with me. My home parish now offers 7 Masses for the weekend in addition to the 8 weekday Masses. Of course we also have special Masses throughout the year for our CCD program, the necessary funeral Masses and weddings too. Liturgically, what a busy parish.
St. Jane also has a very robust RCIA program, a strong RCIC program, Hispanic outreach, an incredibly well attended adult faith program/Bible study and an awesome CCD program. Many more ministries exist including a St. Vincent de Paul program to help the poor and needy and so many other things too numerous to list.
The main point of this update is to give my readers an appreciation of home life in my parish and to alert locals to the new changes starting tomorrow. And anyone in the general area of Abita Springs who wants to witness and worship at the Extraordinary Form of the Mass please come by.
If anyone reading this is in a parish that has added a Latin Mass in the last few years I would love to hear from you and find out how it's working especially in the overall life of the parish. And if your parish has a unique or super busy lineup on the weekends let me know about it too.
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