News and Press

Information and Announcements About The Diocese

“If one member suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor 12:26). These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons. Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike. Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated. The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Bishop Glen John Provost received this statement from Cardinal Daniel DiNardo at 12:20 p.m. today, August 1, and in fully endorsing it, felt that the information should be disseminated to the people of the Diocese of Lake Charles on its website.)

WASHINGTON — Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has issued the following statement noting the steps the U.S. Bishops Conference will take in addressing the failures of the Church in protecting the people of God. 

WASHINGTON — Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), has issued the following statement after a series of meetings with members of the USCCB’s Executive Committee and other bishops. The following statement includes three goals and three principles, along with initial steps of a plan that will involve laity, experts, and the Vatican. A more developed plan will be presented to the full body of bishops at their general assembly meeting in Baltimore in November.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Tuesday, July 24, that the sacred remains of Saint Katharine Drexel will be transferred from the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament Motherhouse and Shrine in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, to the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. The new location for Saint Katharine Drexel’s tomb is expected to be open to the public in September following the completion of the newly constructed Cathedral tomb.

The homily of Bishop Provost for the Solemnity of the Assumption, preached at St. Mary Magdalen Church for the beginning of the Fête-Dieu Procession in partial observance of the 100th Anniversary of the Founding of the Diocese of Lafayette.

Humanae Vitae (HV) is an encyclical written by Blessed Pope Paul VI on July 25, 1968 to reaffirm the orthodox teaching of the Catholic Church on married love, responsible parenthood and the continued rejection of unnatural forms of birth control and abortion. It affirmed traditional Church moral teaching on the sanctity of life and the procreative and unitive nature of conjugal relations.