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WE HAVE CHOSEN AS OUR THEME:
"A CENTURY OF LOVE"This theme reflects upon several qualities of our faith and history. We reflect upon the great teaching of Christ: "Love One Another as I have Loved You." Reflect on this truth that through all the good or tough times of our existence as a diocese, we have first always been loved by God. God’s love has brought us into existence and has always seen us as special to His heart. We are not a random group of people placed together but as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once explained, we are each exact thoughts in the mind of God. And so it is God’s love that places each of us into the right generation and time and place for the great salvific purpose of the world. The Diocese of Lafayette has been formed as an expression of God’s Love.
This Love has also been given with a mission.
Love is something that must be given and not just received. As God has chosen and loved us into being this good and devout diocese, it is for the purpose of loving the world and each other, guided by truths and strengths of our faith. We are called to help each other grow in holiness and each of us has been given the strength needed to fulfill our call from God. Each of us has received a call from God and it is our duty and our salvation to live it out in love.
This century of our diocesan history has begun because of God’s love and has been directed by God’s Love and we are strengthened into love of God and Neighbor by God’s love. "It is by our love that they shall know we are Christian." Millions have walked the land of this Diocese and lived their faith and each of us is a significant part of the activity of what happens to and with the True Faith.
As you look at the logo, in the background is the Cathedral Oak which is over 500 years old and has stood the test of time.
So has our faith stood many tests of the times over these 100 years and so must it continue to do so. As the strength of this oak is so obvious, so can we not only rely on the faith of others but must see the need to develop and grow in faith and truth with God so that we too are a necessary strength that can be used by God for the great good of His plan.
We also see in the logo, our two Patron Saints.
Our Blessed Lady of the Immaculate Conception who reminds us that we are blessed with grace from on High and must preserve the richness of grace that God gives to each of us so that we, like Mary, might help to bring the Life of Christ into all the circumstances of our life with great hope. Saint John Vianney who is also the patron saint of priests, reminds us as our second patron of the Diocese of Lafayette that we must humbly grow in our life and faith (through the Sacrament of Confession) into the oneness with God that is offered to us in the Great Sacrament of the Eucharist which is the source and summit of our faith (which St. Vianney lovingly offered to so many in his priesthood).
Lastly, we know that the love of our faith as Catholics cannot be partially received nor partially given on our part.
We cannot be partially people of faith and then people of the world because the gift we are given and offered by God is too beautifully perfect. The image of Christ on the Cross in the most visual way that Christ loved us to the end – He loves us in completion – for before He lowered His head and died, He proclaimed to His Father, “It is finished”. He loved us to the end!
May this logo and theme inspire us to know who we have been, who we are and who we must continue to be with Christ as a Chosen People of God.