Archive for August 16, 2021

Report from Louisiana: Fete Dieu du Teche

Posted: August 16, 2021 by Pat Austin in catholic, Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

By:  Pat Austin

ARNAUDVILLE LA – Being retired has its perks, one of which is that you can attend events that you could not when you had to work.

I finally was able to attend the Fete Dieu du Teche this year which takes place on August 15: the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. My husband and I are both practicing Episcopalians, or as he calls it, “Catholic Lite.” There are enough similarities in our services that I can easily follow along although as non-Catholics we are not allowed to participate in Communion.

The Fete Dieu du Teche is a solemn, beautiful event:

The day begins at 8 AM with Sunday Mass in French by Bishop Douglas Deshotel at St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Leonville.

Following the Mass there will be a procession with the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of Mary and St. Joseph to the nearby boat landing. Families are encouraged to join the procession as a family and follow to the boat landing for Benediction. At 9:30 AM boats will depart in procession down the Teche toward St. Martinville, retracing the voyage made by the Acadians over 250 years ago.

August 15 is a significant date as it is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patroness of the Acadian people and of Acadiana. It is also a day that marks the 256thanniversary of the arrival of French-Canadian immigrants who brought the Catholic faith to Acadiana after enduring great trials and suffering.

Bishop Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette states, “Fete Dieu du Teche has become an annual celebration in commemoration of the arrival of the first Acadians from what is now Nova Scotia.  They were the first examples of ethnic cleansing in the New World when they were forced to leave their homes and go into exile because of their Catholic Faith at the end of the French and Indian War. A large number of them found their homes in South Louisiana which was Catholic and French. Many settlements were established along the Teche river where they built Churches, homes and a new life.

We stay in Arnaudville, Louisiana five weeks of the year, spread throughout the year; our place in Arnaudville is on Bayou Teche and half a block from the church. We watched the French mass via live stream then walked down to the landing site at the church to participate in the ceremony.

It was simply beautiful to see the boats coming around the bend, down the bayou, slowly making their way to the landing site. The boats tied up along the bank, the procession made its way to the top of the hill, and the Rosary began. From The Daily Iberian:

Father Michael Champagne, organizer of the event said, “Having a Eucharistic Procession by boat on the waters of the Teche rather than by foot in the streets makes a lot of sense. Fête-Dieu du Teche on the Feast of the Assumption recalls our rich Acadian history and, in a way, re-enacts the journey made by the Acadians over 250 years ago.”

Champagne said that having a boat procession with the Blessed Sacrament and a statue of the Assumption involving priests, religious and laity is basically what happened in 1765: “In order to serve the Acadian settlers in the Attakapas district, Father Jean-Louis de Civrey accompanied the Acadians on their journey down the Bayou Teche. Father de Civrey became the first resident priest. In his records, he refers to his new home as ‘la nouvelle Acadie’ and his new parish ‘l’Eglise des Attakapas’ and later, l’Eglise St. Martin de Tours. It is believed that St. Martinville is named after the church.”

During Fête-Dieu du Teche, the Blessed Sacrament will be carried on an altar under a canopy on the lead boat. Another boat will carry the statue of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This year will feature a St. Joseph boat as well as a boat carrying relics of the saints. The procession will stop and disembark at makeshift altars along the Teche for recitation of the Rosary and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. 

I felt truly blessed to be able to participate in this and I will definitely return next year. If you want to watch any of the live streams, including the French mass or the procession down the Bayou Teche, be sure to check out the Facebook page here. There are also nice, short videos about incense, relics, the monstrance, and other pieces.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and at Medium; she is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

The Unexpectedly Chronicles Unimpeachable Cuomo, Unprincipled Obama, Un-Victorious Biden, Uncowed Twitter Heroes and the Unleashed Vaccine Lawyers Under the Fedora

Posted: August 16, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

I’m old enough to remember when Democrats thought that impeachment & a trial was fine even if a person was out of office. but now that it’s Cuomo and not Trump the Democrats and media don’t believe it so much anymore.

Unexpectedly of course

I found this paragraph in Matt Taibbi’s piece on Obama absolutely hilarious.

Obama was set up to be the greatest of American heroes, but proved to be a common swindler and one of the great political liars of all time — he fooled us all.

I beg to differ, he fooled YOU all. There were plenty of us who saw Obama for the unqualified Chicago machine pol that he was and said it loudly, we were dismissed as racists or ignorant or both. That it took you this long to figure it out speaks volumes but in fairness there are plenty who never will so I guess that’s progress.

Unexpectedly of course

Two things come to mind seeing the rapid fall of Afghanistan contrary to all the public predictions by the best and brightest in the Biden administration and the shock of the Bill Kristols of the world at their dishonorable behavior.

  1. When you have your intelligence and military services targeting your domestic political foes that are not likely to be worried about losing an actual shooting war.
  2. When your administration is own and put in power by the enemies of the country it’s likely that they consider a humiliatingly dishonorable defeat for America as a feature rather than a goal.

Why it’s almost as if you have an administration not legitimately elected that doesn’t care what happens to the US.

Unexpectedly of course

One of the most interesting things we’ve seen in the last 48 hours is a brave crew of leftists rushing to twitter to bravely equate Trump supporters and GOP members to the Taliban.

The very fact that they are doing so is proof of the lie, because if the Tea Party the GOP and Trump supporters were like the Taliban folks like these twitter heroes would be dead or in hiding and would not dare to express such opinions. The fact they can and do proves either they are lying through their teeth and/or simply stupid

Unexpectedly of course

Finally I’ve written about the vaccine it’s use and current side effects in the past and have a prediction concerning said side effects and the push by the CDC/Biden Administration to get business to require them for employment.

In five or ten years when people start filing lawsuits over said side effects against companies that forced the shots on them and your local TV & Radio stations are full of informercials from lawyers seeking people to join said suits, the media/left will suddenly starting calling them the “Trump Vaccines” again.

Completely unexpectedly of course.