St. Peter Catholic Church
Office of the Parochial Vicar
The Oldest Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans on the Northshore
125 E. 19th Avenue ∙ Covington, Louisiana 70433
Phone (985) 892-2422 ∙ Fax (985) 898-1988
Email: [email protected] ∙ Website: stpeterparish.com
The Springtime of the New Evangelization
The Holy Season of Lent 2011
Dear Parishioners
Our local ordinary, Archbishop Gregory Aymond, has appealed to the Church in and of New
Orleans, to make this Lenten Season a time of renewed efforts in the springtime of the new
evangelization. All of us recognize the need that we bear in our own soul, to ceaselessly seek out the
mercy of God and the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, as we meet and face the challenges that come
upon us throughout life. And we pray that the Father in Heaven will make of our own hearts,
temples for a renewed and re-invigorated faith during this holy season of Lenten conversion.
At the same time, almost every one of us knows someone who has strayed from the way of the
Catholic Faith, who has abandoned the practice of the Sacraments and who suffers the narrowed
flow of grace that must result when a child of the Church wanders from the shelter which Baptism
and Confirmation have made his true home.
It is our aim, during this Lenten Season, to devote as much of our energies as possible to finding,
encouraging and restoring to the practice of the Faith, those people whom we know to have
wandered and who are perhaps awaiting our invitation to come back home, to grow and rejoice once
more in the fellowship of the Church and to take comfort and strength from those holy Sacraments
which only the Church has to offer.
Christ Himself invites and urges us to this effort and teaches us that in Heaven there will be greater
rejoicing over the one who was lost and brought back than over the many who never strayed.
Faithful to His teaching, St. Peter Parish will be encouraging our parishioners to reach out to those
who have become distant, and to make a return to the Catholic Faith welcome and inviting to those
who may harbor the desire to ―come home.‖
We have a duty to bear witness to God. It is a duty of delight, a duty we carry out with joy and
thanksgiving. We want the world beginning with those nearest to us, to share in what we have been
given – the free gift of God's grace and the joy that comes with knowing the truth that sets us free.
Proclaiming Christ is more than handing on a set of doctrines or a philosophy of life. Proclaiming
Christ means bringing men and women into a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. It means
bringing people to Jesus and Jesus to people. It means telling people who Christ is, what He
teaches and how we can come to know Him better in our lives.
The doorway event for this new evangelization will include numerous television commercials, print
advertisement and virtual media which will appear on local television channels and publications
during the Lenten Season. These commercials are sponsored by the Archdiocese of New Orleans in
collaboration with CatholicsComeHome.org. The various commercials and personal testimonies will
invite inactive Catholics to come home to the Catholic Faith. In conjunction with this media
campaign, we are implementing a St. Peter Parish Postcard Campaign – encouraging our
parishioners to submit names of inactive Catholics from our community to the parish rectory. These
individuals (whose names have been submitted by loved ones and friends) will receive a personal
letter from the parish inviting them back to the Church as well as additional information about the
St. Peter Parish family. Our parish will also offer additional resources to help individuals come home
to the Church. Parishioners will also have the opportunity to submit names of inactive Catholics
directly (via postcard) to Archbishop Aymond. The Archbishop will send a ―Welcome Home‖ Letter to
these individuals on behalf of the local Church in and of New Orleans.
As we enter into the Lenten Season, may we join now with the will of Jesus Christ our Savior, who
has instructed us to go and search out the lost, the strayed, the disconsolate — to enfold them into
our loving care, to lift them upon the shoulders of our own strength and to bear them home to the
safety and to the contentment of the pasture they once knew but have left behind, the pasture of
our Holy Church and the unending Feast of the Blessed Sacrament.
Assuring you of my prayers and best wishes and with kind personal regards, I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Cooper
Reverend Father Robert T. Cooper
Parochial Vicar
RTC/rla