May 17, 2026

The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

(7th Sunday of Easter)

Look, Up in the Sky!

Around holidays, people tend to look fondly back on past celebrations and romanticize old relationships. For some, remembering the past is the best part of their holiday. That is the image we get from the first reading as the apostles look up to heaven after the Ascension.

We too sometimes look at the great feasts of Christmas and Easter in that way. We may dwell on the beauty of the decorations, on the innocence of the baby Jesus, on the horror of his passion and death, or on the wonder of his resurrection. Then when the holy day is over, we go back to our normal routine. Perhaps we need an angel to chide us for “looking at the sky.”

The angels were trying to tell the apostles two things. One was that Jesus would return as he left—in glory. This was not a time to say goodbye, but a time of hope; the Lord who had changed their lives so radically would change the world next.

The second thing the angels were telling them was to begin following Jesus’ command to spread the Good News to all nations. Because of what the apostles accomplished, we are now Jesus’ witnesses to the world. We too have the hope of seeing Jesus come in glory, even as we see him now with the eyes of faith. By Tom Schmidt

READINGS FOR THE WEEK of May 17, 2026

Monday: Acts 19:1-8; Ps 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab; Jn 16:29-33

Tuesday: Acts 20:17-27; Ps 68:10-11, 20-21; Jn 17:1-11a

Wednesday: Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68:29-30, 33-35a, 35bc-36ab; Jn 17:11b-19

Thursday: Acts 22:30; 23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2a and 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11; Jn 17:20-26

Friday: Acts 25:13b-21; Ps 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab; Jn 21:15-19

Saturday: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; Ps 11:4, 5 and 7; Jn 21:20-25

District 2 U S Congressman Troy A. Carter Sr. visits St. Benedict the Moor

(Left to right: LA State Representative Ken Brass, Congressman Troy Carter, Fr. Andrew Toyinbo, State Senator Ed Price, Leonard Alcorn and Police Juror Ron Alcorn.)

District 2 U S Congressman Troy A. Carter Sr. presented a challenging message at St. Benedict the Moor and St. Augustine Men’s Community Prayer Breakfast on Saturday, July 12, 2025. Congressman Carter spoke to 125 men from across Assumption Parish about Charity, Love for Mankind, Men being Role Models in the community and Men taking Care of their Health. The message from Congressman Carter and the Ministers of the community was encouraging, powerful and impactful.

Ministers from various churches in the parish prayed for the intentions for our children, schools, Law enforcement officers, government leaders, the military, world peace, an end to gun violence and our faith communities. Ministers participating were Rev. Vincent Mills-Nelson Chapel; Rev. Cleveland Washington-Bright Morning Star; Rev. McCullen Williams-Morning Star; Rev. Curtis Ross-Beulah; Rev. Daniel Washington- Beautiful Zion Rev. David Gilton-St. Paul; Rev. Tedrick Mills-The Prevailing Church; and Rev. Allen Raymond-Pilgrim.

The inspiring morning of prayers and praise included uplifting music by” Men United in Praise,” an all-male choir under the direction of Jerry Carter. After feeding their souls, the participants were served a delicious breakfast by the Ladies of the Parish courtesy of GIS Engineering, LLC, and C.J. Savoie Consulting Engineering, LLC. The Congressman presented a Congressional Proclamation to Rev. Andrew Toyinbo, MSP, pastor of St. Benedict the Moor and St. Augustine Churches. Many thanks to all who participated and supported this blessed event.

Fr. Andrew's Installation

October 8, 2022

St. Benedict the Moor & St. Augustine

South Deanery Corpus Christi Procession

June 11, 2023

St. Benedict the Moor Office Phone:

985-513-3470

Mass Schedule

Saturday Vigil Mass

- - St. Benedict 5 pm

Sunday Masses

- - St. Augustine 8 am
  - St. Benedict 10 am

Weekday Masses

- - Tuesday at St. Benedict 5 pm
  - Wednesday at St. Augustine 5 pm
  - Thursday at St. Benedict 7 am
  - Friday at St. Benedict 7 am

Eucharistic Adoration

Every Friday at St. Benedict after the 7 am Mass until 8:30 am.

Confession

- Saturday at St. Benedict 4:30 pm
- Sunday at St. Augustine 7:30 am
- Available at other times by appointment

Fr. Andrew's Office Hours

Tuesday-Friday 9 am-4 pm

(Church offerings can be mailed to P.O. Box 220, Napoleonville, LA 70390)

“Communication, wherever and however it takes place, has opened up broader horizons for many people. This is a gift of God which involves a great responsibility. I like to refer to this power of communication as ‘closeness’.” -Pope Francis

PRAYER FOR THE AFRICAN AMERICAN FAMILY

God of Mercy and Love we place our African American Families before You today. May we be proud of our history and never forget those who paid a great price for our liberation. Bless us one by one and keep our hearts and minds fixed on higher ground. Help us to live for you and not for ourselves, and may we cherish and proclaim the gift of life. Bless our parents, guardians and grandparents, relatives and friends.

Give us the amazing grace to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Help us, as Your children, to live in such a way that the beauty and greatness of authentic love is reflected in all that we say and do. Give a healing anointing to those less fortunate, especially the motherless, the fatherless, the broken, the sick and the lonely. Bless our departed family members and friends.

May they be led into the light of Your dwelling place where we will never grow old, where we will share the fullness of redemption and shout the victory for all eternity. This we ask in the Precious Name of Jesus, our Savior and Blessed Assurance. Amen.

Holy Mary, Mother of Our Families, pray for us.

Prayer composed by FR. JIM GOODE, OFM, who in 1989 founded this National Day of Prayer for the African American Family.

ON THE PATH TO SAINTHOOD

Venerable Pierre Toussaint (1776-1853)

Venerable Pierre Toussaint was born a slave in Haiti. Philanthropist & Founder of many Catholic charitable works. As a slave, Venerable Pierre Toussaint was brought from Haiti to New York and apprenticed under a popular hairstylist in the city. He eventually became the most sought after hairdresser of high society women. Upon the death of his master, he gained his freedom and was very successful as one of the country’s first black entrepreneurs. He became quite wealthy, but instead of spending lavishly on himself, he supported the Church and the poor. He and his wife sheltered orphans, refuges and other street people in their home. He founded one of New York’s first orphanages and raised money for the city’s first cathedral. Even during yellow fever epidemics, Toussaint would risk his life to help others by nursing the sick and praying with the dying.

“I have never felt I am a slave to any man or woman but I am a servant of Almighty God who made us all. When one of his children is in need, I am glad to be His slave.”

Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange (1784-1882)

Mother Mary Lange was the foundress and first Superior General of the Oblate Sisters of Providence (1829-1832), the first congregation of African American women religious in the history of the Catholic Church. On July 2, 1829, Elizabeth and three other women professed their vows and became the Oblate Sisters of Providence. This congregation would educate and evangelize African Americans. They educated youth and provided a home for orphans. Slaves who had been freed were educated and at times admitted into the congregation. They nursed the terminally ill during the cholera epidemic of 1832, sheltered the elderly, and even served as domestics at St. Mary’s Seminary. She was born Elizabeth Lange, a native of the Caribbean, believed to be Cuban born of Haitian descent. By 1813 Providence directed her to Baltimore, Maryland where a large community of French speaking Catholics from Haiti was established. Mother Mary Lange practiced faith to an extraordinary degree. In fact, it was her deep faith which enabled her to persevere against all odds, in close union with Jesus, she lived through disappointment and opposition until God called her home in 1882 at the St. Frances Convent in Baltimore, Maryland.

Venerable Henriette Delille (1813-1862)

Venerable Henriette Delille was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she lived all of her life. She was determined to help those in need for the love of Jesus and for the sake of the Gospel. Henriette was also a person who suffered as she made her way through life, bearing crosses. She taught us that sanctity can be attained in following the path of Jesus. It was in this manner that she dealt with her troubles and major obstacles to achieve her goals. Some of the troubles Henriette met were the resistance of the ruling population to the idea of a black religious congregation; the lack of finances to do the work; the taunts and disbelief of people in her mission; the lack of support from both the Church and civil authority; and poor health.

However, Henriette practiced heroic virtue. She had faith, lived in hope and love. She was compassionate, forgiving, and merciful. She believed in justice and was not afraid to do what was right in the eyes of God. God blessed her efforts. And in 1842, she founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family. Henriette died November 17, 1862. Her funeral was held at St. Augustine Church. Her obituary states, “. . . Miss Henriette Delille had for long years consecrated herself totally to God without reservation to the instruction of the ignorant and principally to the slave."

Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897)

Fr. Augustus Tolton was the first Roman Catholic priest in the United States publicly known to be black when he was ordained in 1886. A former slave who was baptized and reared Catholic, Tolton studied formally in Rome. He was ordained in Rome on Easter Sunday at the Cathedral Archbasilica of St. John Lateran. Fr. Tolton led the development and construction of St. Monica’s Catholic Church as a black ‘National Parish Church”, completed in 1893. Tolton’s success at ministering to black Catholics quickly earned him national attention within the Catholic hierarchy. “Good Father Gus,” as he was called by many, was known for his eloquent sermons, his beautiful singing voice and his talent for playing the accordion. He is the subject of the 1973 biography from Slave to Priest by Sister Caroline Hemesath.

For more information on Fr. Tolton's cause, check out this resource list or the website for his cause.

Julia Greeley (circa (1835-55) - 1918)

Julia Greeley was born into slavery, at Hannibal, Missouri, sometime between 1835 and 1855. Freed by Missouri's Emancipation Act in 1865, Julia subsequently earned her keep by serving white families in Missouri, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico—though mostly in the Denver area. Julia entered the Catholic Church at Sacred Heart Parish in Denver in 1880, and was an outstanding supporter of all that the parish had to offer. The Jesuits who ran the parish considered her the most enthusiastic promoter of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus they had ever seen. Every month she visited on foot every fire station in Denver and delivered literature of the Sacred Heart League to the firemen, Catholics and non-Catholics alike. A daily communicant, Julia had a rich devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and the Blessed Virgin and continued her prayers while working and moving about. She joined the Secular Franciscan Order in 1901 and was active in it till her death in 1918. As part of the Cause for Canonization, Julia's mortal remain were transferred to Denver's Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on June 7, 2017.

Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA (1937-1990)

Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA was a self-proclaimed, “old folks’ child,” Bowman, was the only child born to middle-aged parents, Dr. Theon Bowman, a physician and Mary Esther Bowman, a teacher. At birth she was given the name Bertha Elizabeth Bowman. She was born in 1937 and reared in Canton, Mississippi. As a child she converted to Catholicism through the inspiration of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity who were her teachers and pastors at Holy Child Jesus Church and School in Canton. During her short lifetime (52 years), many people considered her a religious Sister undeniably close to God and who lovingly invited others to encounter the presence of God in their lives. She is acclaimed a “holy woman” in the hearts of those who knew and loved her and continue to seek her intercession for guidance and healing.

For more information on Sr. Thea Bowman's cause, check out the website for her cause.

St. Benedict the Moor

5479 Highway 1

Napoleonville, LA 70390

Click here to visit this address on Google Maps

St. Augustine

174 Hwy. 1003

Klotzville, LA 70341

Parish Staff

Rev. Fr. Andrew Toyinbo, MSP, Pastor

Mrs. Jerilyn Williams, Director of Religious Education at St. Benedict

Mrs. April Bell, Director of Religious Education at St. Augustine