Pastor’s Corner – August 23, 2020

Pastor’s Corner – August 23, 2020

 

PASTOR’S CORNER

August 22-23, 2020                                                                                                                                          

 

Prot. N. 111/20/I

Most Holy Father,

John Douglas Deshotel, Bishop of Lafayette, feeling of due obedience and filial veneration toward Your Holiness, sincerely cites and faithfully invokes Blessed Pope Pius IX, “when in these most troublesome times the Church is beset by enemies on every side, and is weighed down by calamities so heavy that ungodly men assert that the gates of hell have at last prevailed against her”, through whose Urbis et Orbis Decree “Quemadmodum Deus”, given during the solemn celebration of holy Mass on December 8, 1870 in the Patriarchal Basilicas of Rome, Saint Joseph was declared Patron of the Catholic Church. To piously commemorate this one hundred fiftieth anniversary, His Excellency, moved by the current regrettable state of things, has ordered special holy functions and various spiritual undertakings in all the thirteen churches and mission chapels erected in the Diocese under the title of Saint Joseph throughout a holy year declared in honor of Saint Joseph, from 16 August 2020 to 1 May 2021, so that a salutary devotion toward Saint Joseph may be strengthened among the faithful, and, with his help, their way of life may be ever more conformed to the holy Gospels. So that the treasury of divine grace may be more abundantly opened for the faithful who participate in these celebrations, His Excellency beseeches of Your Holiness the granting of a jubilee Indulgence.

On the first of May 2020

the Apostolic Penitentiary, by mandate of our Most Holy Father, Pope Francis, graciously grants the jubilee Year of Saint Joseph with an attached plenary Indulgence, to be gained on the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, reception of Holy Communion, and prayer according to the intentions of the Holy Father), by the faithful who, truly penitent and motivated by charity, visit in pilgrimage any church or mission chapel under the title of Saint Joseph on the first Saturday and on the 19th day of the month, and there devoutly participate in the sacred functions and pious exercises held in honor of Saint Joseph, or who at least for a fitting period of time offer humble prayer to God for perseverance in the Christian life, for vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and for the defense of the family, concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, the Creed, and invoking the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, Patron of the Catholic Church.

The pious faithful who, due to infirmity and other just causes, are impeded from visiting said churches, can gain the plenary Indulgence, in the place where they are detained, if in the desire of their hearts they make a spiritual visitation, fixing in their minds a hatred for all sin and an intention of fulfilling the three usual conditions, as soon as they are able, reciting the prayers mentioned above, and confidently offering the sufferings and difficulties of their lives to God most merciful.

Since, therefore, access to receiving divine pardon through the keys of the Church more easily comes about by pastoral charity, this Penitentiary earnestly beseeches pastors and chapel rectors, together with duly approved priests, to offer themselves with a prompt and generous spirit to the celebration of the sacrament of Penance and to minister holy Communion often to the infirm.

The present shall hold valid throughout the whole year of Saint Joseph. Anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

Mauro Card. Piacenza

Apostolic Penitentiary

 

Krzysztof Nykiel

Regent

 

 

 

 

APOSTOLIC PENITENTIARY

Prot. N. 112/20/I

DECREE

The Apostolic Penitentiary, by virtue of the special faculties given by His Holiness, Pope Francis, gladly grants to His Excellency, the Most Reverend John Douglas Deshotel, Bishop of Lafayette, that, on the occasion of the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of St Joseph as Patron of the Catholic Church, on a day of his choosing and advantageous to the people, after the solemn offering of the holy Sacrifice, he may impart the Papal Blessing, with its attached plenary Indulgence, to be gained on the usual conditions (sacramental Confession, reception of Holy Communion, and prayer according to the intentions of the Holy Father), to all the faithful present who, truly penitent and motivated by charity, took part in the sacred rites.

The faithful who devoutly receive the Papal Blessing, even if, for reasonable causes, were not physically present during the sacred rites, provided that they followed the rites with pious intention of mind while they were being carried out, broadcast by means of video or audio, are able to obtain the plenary Indulgence, according to the norm of law.

Anything to the contrary notwithstanding.

Given at Rome, at the Apostolic Penitentiary, on the first day of May, in the year of our Lord 2020.

Mauro Card. Piacenza                                                                                                                                                     Apostolic Penitentiary

 

Krzysztof Nykiel

Regent