News and Press

By Pamela Seal
Diocese of Lake Charles 

LAKE CHARLES –– The dying wish of a beloved priest was finally fulfilled when the Monsignor DeBlanc / DMMM Joy Care Center opened its doors on Friday, September 6, 2024, at 425 Seventh Street. 

By Pamela Seal 
Diocese of Lake Charles

LAKE CHARLES — The start of a new school year at St. Louis Catholic High School was about more than reconnecting with friends and teachers. It was also about looking to the future while honoring its past and present traditions of excellence. 

On August 25, 2024 — the Feast Day of St. Louis, King of France — Bishop Glen John Provost blessed the site on Corbina Road where the future campus of St. Louis Catholic High School will be built.

September 8, 2024
Nativity of Our Lady

Dear Clergy and Laity of the Diocese of Lake Charles,

The Jesuit retreat and spiritual centers in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, have come together to create a new, high-capacity retreat facility named Grand Coteau Retreats: A Jesuit Mission Since 1837. The new retreat center will make use of the buildings housing both Our Lady of the Oaks and St. Charles College. Their goal, as it has been since 1837, is to bring people closer to Jesus Christ, using the spiritual gifts of St. Ignatius of Loyola.

St. Charles College had previously been home to both the Novitiate of St. Stanislaus Kostka and the St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Pavilion, an infirmary for senior members of the province. The novitiate relocated to Denver earlier this month, and senior men are now living at St. Ignatius Hall, a new community in St. Louis with approximately 70 Jesuits. These two changes created space in the building to accommodate additional retreatants.

Since their arrival in Grand Coteau, Jesuits have served primarily in pastoral and spiritual companionship roles. They have offered the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in its various forms to thousands of Jesuits, diocesan priests, vowed religious and lay people over this time. This new chapter is a response to God’s invitation to accompany people in ever new and deeper ways. 

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius will be offered through preached and directed retreats. The additional space allows the retreat house to welcome new and larger groups from dioceses, parishes, schools and others from the local Catholic community and beyond.

Father J. Patrick Hough, SJ, was assigned the task of evaluating the retreat centers and setting a new course for their service to the Catholic community. He will serve as the director of the new retreat center.

The decision to bring the two retreat centers together as one was made with the unanimous support of the two governing boards and with the blessing of Fr. Thomas P. Greene, SJ, provincial of the Jesuits USA Central and Southern Province. The two campuses will retain their longstanding names while operating as one entity under the spiritual patronage of St. Charles Borromeo and Our Lady of the Oaks. 

The announcement of the new retreat center came on August 15 - the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, the patroness saint of the Acadians.

We invite you to visit the new website for more information www.gcretreats.org.  

Mission Statement: Grand Coteau Retreats, as a Catholic Jesuit Mission, labors to lead each person to a greater knowledge, love and service of Jesus Christ in His Church. 

From Catholic education to family life, to supporting vocations, charitable works for those in need, and crisis response, your gift to the Bishop’s Services Appeal makes a difference in the ministries it supports and the thousands of people it impacts. 

The 44th annual Bishop’s Services Appeal (BSA), a fundraising campaign to aid in the operation of various ministries and programs, kicked off the weekend of September 14-15 in church parishes throughout the Diocese.

Diocese celebrates his many years  
of holy service to the Church 

By Pamela Seal 
Diocese of Lake Charles 

LAKE CHARLES — The gratitude area Catholics have for His Excellency, The Most Reverend Glen John Provost, was evident as a Mass of Thanksgiving was celebrated in his honor on Saturday, August 10, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. 

On the Feast of St. Lawrence of Rome, Deacon and Martyr, the special liturgy was held to recognize his turning 75, as well as his many years of holy service to the Church — 49 years a priest and 17 years as the third bishop in the Diocese of Lake Charles.