Following a particularly wet season in Jeanerette, local pastor gave back to the community through a blessing of the crops.

Rev. Alexander Albert, the pastor at St. John The Evangelist in Jeanerette, Louisiana, blessed sugar cane crops, a meal, and the water used to spray over the crops.

The event saw over 60 attendees gather from the community, including local farmers, St. John The Evangelist church members, Jeanerette City Council members, and other Jeanerette community members.

Byron Luke, a member of the Jeanerette community, called Albert in 2021 about potentially blessing the crops, but it was too late in the season for them to plan and act on the event. Nearly a year later, in July 2022, Albert contacted Luke to plan the event for this season.

Luke later contacted Ronald Hebert, a local farmer. He agreed to use his farm, located at 10310 E. Admiral Doyle Drive, for the blessing and gathering. Hebert is a sugar cane farmer with farming family ties which goes back multiple generations.

The event began soon after noon with blessings for the crops. After blessing the crops from the ground, Father Albert began blessing the meal for the attendees prepared by Luke. At that time, Luke contacted two pilots who fly crop-dusting helicopters for local farmers and asked them to participate.

Within a few minutes, they landed in a clearing near Hebert’s shop. Minutes later, Albert accompanied them as they flew over the cane field dropping blessed water.

According to Luke, not only was Albert excited for the unique opportunity, “The people around him were even more excited than he was.”

The blessing was an important community building event according to Albert.

“It may have been a symbolic act, but it is one which brings us closer together,” he said, “Every chance we have to express our gratitude brings us closer to God, and every step we take brings us closer to our brothers and sisters.”

Albert said the act of dropping the water gives weight to the blessing.

“We are tangible beings, so watching the water drop from on high makes the blessing all the more tangible,” Albert said.

He added as a rural community which relies on agriculture, the blessing “was a very important moment.”

Luke explained blessing the crops was a common practice in the past, but had fallen away in recent years. He sought to change that.

Albert blessed smaller items in the past, including cars, pets, candles, many rosaries and medallions depicting saints. This was his first opportunity to bless something on a wider scale.

Albert was ordained in 2016 and has served the Jeanerette community since 2019.

Luke claims he “really didn’t do much” and that Albert played a major role in organizing the event and took the initiative on the event.

This season has seen more rain than past years, said Hebert. Traditionally, planting operations would begin on August 1, but due to moisture, Hebert’s operation didn’t begin until Sept. 12.

“We could certainly use all the blessings we can get,” Hebert said.

Albert indicated that, given the opportunity, he wants to establish this as an annual event for the community and hopes to see it expand in coming years.

“Certainly, if we can find a bigger venue, we would love to expand it,” he said.

Hebert indicated that this blessing is unaffiliated with the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival, which is being held between Thursday, Sept. 22 through Monday, Sept. 26 in New Iberia.