Louisiana
Latin Mass is back in the news. But some Louisiana Catholics wonder what’s all the fuss?
When Wesley Franatovich settles into a church pew for the Latin Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in New Orleans, he feels a sense of calm wash over him.
There’s ritual and mystery and choreography, and in that, Franatovich said, “there’s comfort.”
“And I think people are looking for a sense of comfort these days,” Franatovich, a 29-year-old New Orleans real estate agent and longtime Roman Catholic, said Mass at the church. “A lot of people are searching for things that ground them in a way — a lot of people see that in the Latin Mass.” There’s a reverence about it.”
Franatovich said a favorite moment comes when the congregation, together with the priest, sings the Nicene Creed in Latin: Credo in unum Deum …
“It’s powerful,” he said.
The Latin Mass has been in the news lately, following Pope Leo XIV’s escalated warnings to the Society of St. Pius X that its planned consecration of bishops without papal consent is a schismatic act. The group was formed in 1970 in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and largely broke with Rome in 1988.
One of the group’s hallmarks is its adherence to the Latin Mass.
But in south Louisiana, where the Latin Mass has enjoyed a growing following in recent years, and where the various dioceses have allowed it with some restrictions, the controversy surrounding the practice is muted.
“For those who are devotees, the traditional Mass is not a controversial thing,” said the Rev. Brent Maher, pastor of St. Agnes Catholic Church in Baton Rouge.
“Vatican II brought change,” he said. Many people appreciated it, he added, but some did not.
Maher said St. Agnes, which offers Latin Mass on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings and is the lone church in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge authorized to do so, often draws 250 people or more.
“We have a good mix of people, but a large number of them are young families,” Maher said.
Also called the Tridentine Mass, Latin Mass became increasingly rare following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Among the most notable differences between Latin Masses and contemporary Masses is that the priest spends much of his time with his back to the worshippers and, of course, most of the Mass is said in Latin.
Pope Francis reimposed restrictions in 2021, concerned that the growing use of Latin Mass might divide the Church.
Those restrictions spelled out when priests must use the vernacular, or the common language of the place where the Mass is being said, and allowed bishops to decide whether and where to have Latin Masses in their dioceses.
But many Catholics, particularly traditionalists, find comfort in the rituals, motions and language used in the Latin Mass.
“It’s important to recognize the complexity,” said Tom Ryan, chaplain of Loyola University in New Orleans, who is also a professor of theology and ministry. “The beauty is the Latin. There’s tradition in Latin. Latin can also be a unifying source.”
Ryan also said that residents of New Orleans and south Louisiana often hold tighter to traditions, religious traditions among them.
“I do think Catholicism here is a bit more traditional than other places,” he said.
On the other side, Ryan said, some might use the Latin Mass as a way to separate themselves from others in the church or to suggest that it somehow holds a deeper meaning. Also, he added, “the appeal can be limited. There’s only so many people who will do what it takes for the effort to understand it.”
Maher, meanwhile, said the theological issues between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X go much deeper than the Latin Mass. Ryan agreed and added that it’s likely a broader issue of power.
There are a few Society of St. Pius X-affiliated churches in the region, but efforts to contact them for comment were not successful.
An Archdiocese of New Orleans spokesperson, Sarah McDonald, said new Archbishop James Checchio has not issued any formal statements on the Latin Mass, which a small number of archdiocesan churches offer. The Latin Masses the archdiocese recognizes are not those affiliated with the Society of St. Pius X, McDonald noted.
Checchio was scheduled to attend a Latin Mass on Sunday at Our Lady of Mount Carmel near Covington.
‘Each little gesture’
Our Lady of Mount Carmel’s Latin Mass services have grown in popularity in recent years. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Damien Zablocki, was not available for comment for this story.
Inside St. Patrick’s, a Gothic-style church built on Camp Street in New Orleans in 1840 as a place for Irish immigrants to worship in splendor and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975, snippets of the Rev. Garrett O’Brien’s Latin words floated over the pews early Wednesday morning.
Around 25 people attended. Most appeared to be middle-aged or older; many of the women wore chapel veils covering their hair. The weekday Masses are usually faster, with less singing, than the High Latin Mass offered on Sundays.
O’Brien declined to talk to a reporter following the Mass, saying that he thought any comments regarding the Latin Mass should come from the archdiocese.
Maher, 41, recalls the first time he attended a Latin Mass. The Denham Springs native was 20 at the time and in the seminary. He said he tagged along with a friend who asked him to help serve at the Mass.
“I walked out and said, ‘What in the world was that?’” he recalled. “It was very, very different.”
But he embraced it and now loves saying Latin Mass.
“Each little gesture has a value and a purpose and a meaning. There’s a lot of chanting — it’s part of the obligation,” he said. “And your Latin has to be up to snuff.”
Franatovich said it’s often easy to spot first-timers sitting in the pews of a Latin Mass.
“It’s so interesting to watch them,” he said, adding that the reactions are often a mix, with some seeming to enjoy it and others not so much.
It’s not for everyone, he says.
“You’re less focused on the words, and more on the actions and motions, I think,” Franatovich said.
This story includes reporting from The Associated Press.
Volunteers from five Louisiana regions completed beautification projects as part of the Church’s annual Youth Conference in Lafayette
Lafayette man makes Louisiana mountaineering history
Dr. Linus Wilson became the first known Louisianan to reach all 50 state high points, summiting Mount McKinley solo.
More than 260 youth and adult volunteers from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spent Thursday morning giving back to one of Lafayette’s most popular public spaces.
On July 9, the volunteers completed the project at Moncus Park. The volunteers, who were in Lafayette for the Church’s annual Youth Conference at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, traveled from stakes in Monroe, Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Denham Springs and Slidell to participate in the two-hour service project, according to a news release.
Working across the park, the group helped improve the 100-acre community destination, which serves as a gathering place for recreation, events and outdoor activities throughout the year.
The project also highlighted the role volunteers play in helping maintain public spaces that thousands of Lafayette residents enjoy.
The service project was part of the Church’s annual Youth Conference, which combines faith-centered learning with opportunities for community service.
“As followers of Christ, we believe one of the most meaningful ways to show our love for God is by serving our neighbors,” Karl Winegar, Stake President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over the Lafayette and Baton Rouge areas, said. “Strong communities are built when people care for one another, and service gives these young people an opportunity to put their faith into action.”
Winegar added that, as they work alongside the community, a bigger purpose is being taught for the volunteers.
“They are learning that even simple acts of kindness can strengthen relationships, meet needs, and make a lasting difference in the lives of others,” Winegar said.
Aaron Gonsoulin is the General Assignment/Trending Reporter for The Daily Advertiser. Contact him at AGonsoulin@theadvertiser.com.
BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana Illuminator) – Hundreds of meticulously labeled vials filled with mosquitos line colorful plastic trays inside a freezer at the Louisiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Baton Rouge.
Each vial sitting atop the frosty shelves, aligned in rows like egg cartons on a grocery store shelf, contains up to a hundred mosquitoes sent to the lab from across the state. Scientists can extract information hidden within the mosquitos’ DNA to help stop the spread of diseases to humans and keep infections at bay.
“Look at your electric bill,” said Alma Roy, director of the lab housed at Louisiana State University. When it costs more to keep your home comfortably cool, that’s when the airborne pests — and the viruses they carry — flourish and circulate.
“When it’s wet and hot, the mosquito is out there reproducing and biting,” Roy said.
The spindly black bugs aren’t picky about what they bite, picking up diseases like West Nile virus from animals like birds and passing them on to humans.
The Louisiana Arbovirus Surveillance Program helps health professionals, entomologists and local mosquito control districts stay apprised on where a disease crops up.
Mosquito control organizations at the parish level across the state capture mosquitoes and pack them into vials. The vials are stuffed into small white boxes and shipped weekly to the lab in Baton Rouge. Around 30 of Louisiana’s 64 parishes participate in the voluntary surveillance program every year, according to the Louisiana Department of Health.
Each year the lab tests 25,000 vials of mosquitos, which are called pools in the lab. In total, the tests involve up to 2.5 million individual insects, but it can’t be done one mosquito at a time.
“We take the whole pool and puree them,” Roy said.
Lab technician Tarra Hardy adds a mixing solution and a copper ball to mash up the pool before a machine blends the sample.
The result resembles a small mosquito smoothie, which is placed into a machine that analyzes the contents and shows its findings on a computer screen. Colorful spikes on a graph show when a sample tests positive for West Nile, eastern equine encephalitis or St. Louis encephalitis — the most common diseases the lab detects.
Hardy said it only takes around 48 hours for the lab to test a sample, so mosquito control personnel can get information on where a disease is spreading fast enough to contain it.
Sarah Michaels, a clinical associate professor with Tulane University’s Department of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, works as a medical entomologist who focuses on insects that carry diseases passed by arthropods, known by scientists as arboviruses. This includes mosquitos, ticks and flies that can be vectors for disease.
The ability of the testing lab in Baton Rouge to turn around its test results quickly allows local mosquito abatement efforts to get out in front of mosquito-borne diseases before they spread, Michaels said. With the geographic location of a positive test result pinpointed, abatement crews can go on the offensive, and the public can take preventative measures.
“That’s kind of why it’s important for us to know if the virus is circulating locally, so we can give people information so they can take precautions to protect themselves against mosquito bites,” she said.
Spraying insecticide by truck, plane or helicopter kills the adult mosquitoes, and Michaels said larvicide is applied in areas with standing water, to halt their development. This typically uses naturally occurring bacteria only harmful to developing mosquito eggs.
The majority of West Nile cases reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control are between June and October, with steep drop offs when cooler temperatures curb mosquito breeding.
But Michaels described how, with summertime temperatures starting sooner and lasting later in the year and frequent storms bringing in standing water perfect for mosquitoes to live and reproduce in, keeping a watchful eye is more important than ever.
“Mosquito season, which is getting longer and longer here, is kind of near the peak of it right now, June through September,” she said. “Surveillance really zeroes in on where and when it’s happening, and then hopefully can suppress those mosquito populations before that becomes widespread and puts more people at risk.”
West Nile was first detected in the United States in Queens, York, in the late 1990s and spread around the country. The virus was first detected in Louisiana in August 2001 when an infected crow in Kenner tested positive. That fall, it showed up in horses from three coastal parishes, along with Louisiana’s first human West Nile case.
Case numbers climbed to their highest point nationally in 2003 with about 9,800, and the count has remained relatively stable below 3,000 cases over the past 10 years.
“It can be mild and transient, but it can be really severe as well,” Michaels said
West Nile virus is relatively uncommon, affecting less than 5,000 people in the United States in a typical year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. By comparison, the most prominent flu strain in 2024-25 infected more than 51 million people, the CDC reported.
While most cases of West Nile don’t produce any symptoms, those that do usually cause mild, flu-like reactions like fever and muscle aches. Symptoms can last anywhere from days to weeks.
If the virus enters the central nervous system, it can result in complications such as brain swelling and paralysis. Less than 1% of people infected develop symptoms this severe, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, but some cases can require hospitalization or even result in death.
Louisiana recorded four West Nile-related deaths last year and three in 2024. No human infections have been reported this year as of early July.
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on Facebook and X.
Copyright 2026 Louisiana Illuminator. All rights reserved.
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Louisiana health officials are tracking a rise in cases of cyclosporiasis, a stomach illness caused by a parasite that can be found on contaminated food or in contaminated water.
The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed 23 cases of Cyclospora infection in the state, according to information obtained by Louisiana Illuminator. One person has been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported in Louisiana.
The number is slightly above Louisiana’s recent average. LDH said the state has averaged 20 reported cases over the same time period during the past five years.
“Because many of these cases are still under investigation, this number is preliminary and subject to change,” an LDH representative said.
Cyclospora is a microscopic parasite that causes an intestinal illness called cyclosporiasis. The CDC says people can get sick after eating food or drinking water contaminated with the parasite.
The illness is often associated with fresh produce. Past outbreaks in the United States have been linked to items such as leafy greens, herbs and berries.
Symptoms usually begin about a week after a person eats or drinks something contaminated, though the CDC says symptoms can appear anywhere from two days to two weeks or more after infection.
The most common symptom is watery diarrhea, sometimes with frequent and explosive bowel movements. Other symptoms can include stomach cramps, bloating, nausea, fatigue, loss of appetite and low-grade fever.
If left untreated, the illness can last from a few days to more than a month. Symptoms can also go away and then return.
Health officials say cyclosporiasis is not likely to spread directly from one person to another. The CDC says Cyclospora must spend at least one to two weeks in the environment after passing in a bowel movement before it becomes infectious.
Cases typically rise during warmer months. The CDC considers May 1 through Aug. 31 the yearly cyclosporiasis season.
Louisiana is not the only state tracking cases. The CDC said in its June 16 update that it had received reports of 145 domestically acquired cases in 17 states, with 20 hospitalizations and no deaths. Federal officials said there was no evidence at that time of one single multistate outbreak linking all cases, but several clusters remained under investigation.
Since that update, some states have reported larger increases. Michigan has reported one of the largest outbreaks in the country, with over 700 cases.
Federal and state health officials have not identified a clear source for the current illnesses.
The CDC says people with symptoms should contact a health care provider. Testing for Cyclospora may require a specific lab test that is not always part of routine stool testing.
Health officials recommend washing hands before handling food, rinsing fresh produce under running water and cooking vegetables when possible. Washing produce can reduce the risk, though it may not remove all Cyclospora from contaminated food.
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