About Our Lady of Perpetual Help · Jackson, Louisiana
Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a Catholic mission chapel in the small town of Jackson, Louisiana, sharing a single pastoral team with the nearby parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in St. Francisville. Listed officially as a 'mission' of Our Lady of Mount Carmel under the Diocese of Baton Rouge, it stands at 3147 Church Street and is served by the pastor of Mount Carmel together with a permanent deacon. The mission gives the Catholic families of the West Feliciana / East Feliciana countryside a place for Sunday Mass, First Friday devotions, Eucharistic Adoration, and the sacraments without having to make the short trip into St. Francisville. Its full schedule, weekly homilies, CCD religious-education program, and sacramental information are posted on the joint parish website, felicianacatholic.org.
- Established
- 1858
- Patron
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help
- Rector
- Very Rev. Bradley A. Doyle, V.F.
- Diocese
- Diocese of Baton Rouge
Why belong here
Our Lady of Perpetual Help offers a small-town Catholic home in the heart of historic Jackson, Louisiana, with a Sunday Mass (8:00 AM), a full hour of Eucharistic Adoration on First Fridays, and a regular confession window before Mass — all in a single mission chapel. The mission is pastored together with Our Lady of Mount Carmel in St. Francisville, so parishioners draw on the larger parish's CCD religious-education program for grades K–12, family faith formation, the sacrament preparation track (including Marriage preparation), and a steady lineup of liturgical devotions like Vespers and Benediction. For Catholics living in the rural Felicianas, it is a genuinely local expression of the Diocese of Baton Rouge: close enough to walk to, big enough to raise a family in the faith.
Mass times at Our Lady of Perpetual Help
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday: 7:15 AM to 7:50 AM (Our Lady of Perpetual Help)
Adoration times
- 1st Friday: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Our Lady of Perpetual Help)
- Thursday (Lent): 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM, Vespers Following Benediction (Our Lady of Mount Carmel)
Our Lady of Perpetual Help at a Glance
Our Lady of Perpetual Help is the Catholic mission chapel in the town of Jackson, Louisiana, in the historic West Feliciana Parish. It belongs to the Diocese of Baton Rouge and is canonically a mission of the neighboring parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in St. Francisville. The two communities share a single pastor, a single permanent deacon, a single website (felicianacatholic.org), and a single program of faith formation for children.
- Type: Mission (mission of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, St. Francisville)
- Diocese: Baton Rouge
- Established as a parish: 1858
- Address: 3147 Church Street, Jackson, LA 70748
- Patron: Our Lady of Perpetual Help (feast day June 27)
History of the Felicianas Catholic Community
Catholicism first reached the Felicianas in the late 1700s through French and Spanish missionaries traveling the Mississippi River. The name 'St. Francisville' is traditionally traced to the Franciscan friars who evangelized the Tunica people and built a monastery on the high bluffs above Bayou Sara. For decades before the Civil War, the Catholics of the area were served by traveling priests from Jackson, Baton Rouge, Pointe Coupée and Clinton, who celebrated Mass in the courthouse or in private homes. In 1871, on a pastoral visit, Archbishop Perche urged the Catholics of St. Francisville to build their own church; that same year the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was dedicated to St. Mary of Mount Carmel, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Jackson — which had stood as an independent parish since 1858 — became a mission under Mount Carmel. The original Mount Carmel church, completed in 1893 and designed by General P. G. T. Beauregard, remains the spiritual heart of the combined parish.
- 1858 — Our Lady of Perpetual Help established as a parish in Jackson
- 1871 — Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish canonically erected in St. Francisville
- 1871 — Perpetual Help becomes a mission of Mount Carmel
- 1893 — Mother church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel completed, designed by P. G. T. Beauregard
Clergy and Pastoral Team
Our Lady of Perpetual Help and Our Lady of Mount Carmel are pastored as one community. The current pastor is Very Rev. Bradley A. Doyle, V.F., who simultaneously serves as Dean of the Northwest Deanery of the Diocese of Baton Rouge. He is assisted by Permanent Deacon Angelo S. 'Zeke' Nola. Both men's contact emails are listed on the diocesan parish page.
- Very Rev. Bradley A. Doyle, V.F. — Pastor; Dean of the Northwest Deanery
- Deacon Angelo S. "Zeke" Nola — Permanent Deacon
Faith Formation — CCD for K–12
The two churches run a combined Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD) program for children from kindergarten through 12th grade, meeting on the Mount Carmel / Perpetual Help campus. Catechists and parents can find the grade-level assignments, Confirmation prep track, the Theology of the Body unit taught by Fr. Brad for 10th grade, and the 11th-grade module on the parish website's announcements and social feed.
- CCD classes — K through 12
- Confirmation preparation included in CCD track
- 10th grade Theology of the Body taught directly by Fr. Brad Doyle
- 11th grade follow-on module on the parish site
- Class times and announcements posted weekly on felicianacatholic.org
Sacraments — Marriage and Sacramental Preparation
Couples preparing for marriage at Our Lady of Mount Carmel (and therefore at Our Lady of Perpetual Help) are asked to download the parish Wedding Policies and Wedding Contract from the website, and to read the Diocese of Baton Rouge's diocesan marriage guidelines linked from the same page. The parish frames marriage as a sacred, covenantal bond ordered toward the raising of children, and the Family Life section provides pastoral support before and after the wedding.
- Downloadable Wedding Policies and Wedding Contract
- Link to Diocese of Baton Rouge Marriage preparation guidelines
- Family Life pastoral support for engaged and married couples
- Sacramental preparation for children handled through CCD
Parish Communications
All parish communication — Mass and confession schedule, CCD announcements, ministry schedules, Fr. Brad's homilies and the morning offering reflection, weddings, devotions, and special events like the Lenten Tenebrae service — is published through the single domain felicianacatholic.org. Fr. Brad Doyle's homilies are available online for parishioners who want to revisit Sunday's message or share it with family.
- Website: felicianacatholic.org
- Morning Offering reflections with Fr. Brad Doyle
- Homilies of Fr. Brad Doyle archived online
- Ministry Schedules (lectors, EMHCs, servers)
- Special-event tickets and announcements (Lenten Tenebrae, etc.)