About St. Mary · Port Barre, Louisiana
St. Mary Catholic Church is a small Roman Catholic parish located at 4827 Highway 103 in Port Barre, Louisiana, in St. Landry Civil Parish. It is part of the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana and is twinned pastorally with Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in the same town (407 Saizan Street), with both entrusted to the same pastor, Rev. Clint Trahan. The parish was established in 1950 and serves the rural Cajun and Acadian Catholic community of Port Barre, sharing weekend and weekday Mass obligations with its sister church downtown. Parishioners gather for Mass at the Highway 103 location (commonly referred to on the diocesan Mass-time listings as St. Mary), where they sustain a long-standing tradition of Catholic life in the Bayou Courtableau / Bayou Teche area of southwest Louisiana.
- Established
- 1950
- Patron
- Blessed Virgin Mary (St. Mary)
- Rector
- Rev. Clint Trahan
- Diocese
- Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana
Why belong here
St. Mary is a tight-knit rural Catholic community in the heart of French Louisiana, where faith and family have been passed down for generations. As the Highway 103 companion parish to Sacred Heart of Jesus downtown, it offers daily and Sunday Mass with the same devoted pastor, easy access to confession and Eucharistic Adoration, and a parish family small enough to know you by name. The parish is a peaceful place to celebrate traditional Catholic life in St. Landry Parish while belonging to the wider Diocese of Lafayette.
Mass times at St. Mary
Weekly Mass schedule
Confession times
- Sunday 8:30 AM – 9:00 AM
- 30 minutes before every Mass (per parish-wide schedule)
Adoration times
- Friday 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM (parish-wide, with Sacred Heart of Jesus)
Identity & Location
St. Mary Catholic Church is the Highway 103 Catholic parish in Port Barre, Louisiana, in St. Landry Civil Parish. The parish sits within the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana and forms a single pastoral community with Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, the older downtown Port Barre parish on Saizan Street. The two churches share a pastor, a parish secretary and the joint website sacredheartstmary.org.
- St. Mary Church — 4827 Highway 103, Port Barre, LA 70577
- Companion parish: Sacred Heart of Jesus — 407 Saizan Street, Port Barre, LA 70577
- Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana, North Deanery
- Mailing address: P.O. Box 338, Port Barre, LA 70577-0338
History & Heritage
Catholic life in Port Barre stretches back more than 150 years. Sacramental records at Sacred Heart of Jesus begin in 1873, and Sacred Heart itself was canonically erected as a parish in 1894. From 1873 to 1910, the pastor serving Port Barre resided at Leonville (St. Leo the Great), and the early Port Barre records are kept alongside St. Leo's in duplicate. As the community expanded west of town along Highway 103, the Diocese of Lafayette created St. Mary Church in 1950 as a separate parish to serve the outlying Catholic families.
- Sacred Heart records begin: 1873
- Sacred Heart parish established: 1894
- St. Mary parish established: 1950
- Historical record storage at Leonville (St. Leo the Great): 1873–1910
Clergy & Staff
St. Mary is served by the same pastor who serves Sacred Heart of Jesus, keeping both Port Barre parishes tightly linked. The diocese's published priests directory also notes that a Rev. C. Nicholas Trahan has served assignments linked to the Sacred Heart / Port Barre community in recent decades.
- Pastor: Rev. Clint Trahan (also Pastor, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Port Barre)
- Parish Secretary: Kathy Collins (shared with Sacred Heart of Jesus)
- Pastoral contact: [email protected]
Parish Life & Directory
The two Port Barre parishes operate as a single community of faith under a shared pastor, secretary and website. This rural Cajun Catholic community is intentionally small, with worshippers drawing from the farms and bayou settlements around Port Barre, Leonville and the Highway 103 corridor.
- Parish website: http://sacredheartstmary.org/
- Office e-mail: [email protected]
- Joint Facebook page: Sacred Heart of Jesus / St. Mary Church
- Diocese of Lafayette North Deanery listing includes St. Mary Port Barre among roughly 34 parishes and 10 mission chapels