The book has been there for years, squeezed into the bookcase in her tiny principal’s office, the one with the cinderblock walls just to the left of the front entrance to St. Michael Special School. Jane Silva pulls the “The Blue Rose” by Gerda Weissmann Klein from the shelf and begins reading.

Every year, you have asked Catholics in the Archdiocese of New Orleans to focus on one theme. This year the focus has been on the Mass and the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Exercise might not be able to stop the aging process but it can certainly prevent or slow down some of its effects. Exercise can improve the ability to do everyday tasks and manage diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and osteoporosis, and provide increased balance, strength and mood, according to the National Institute on Aging’s Go4Life outreach campaign, which promotes physical activity among older Americans.

Social Security is as American as baseball and apple pie. Not everyone likes apples or baseball games, but almost every American who reaches retirement age will receive Social Security retirement benefits.

Bowling shoes once worn by Tom Cruise cling to a wall high above the entrance corridor inside Mid-City Lanes, just left of the alley’s blue-lit statue of the Blessed Mother. But what really makes local bowlers stop in their tracks is the pair of red-and-navy size 9s adjacent to Cruise’s – shoes laced up by New Orleans’ eleventh archbishop one afternoon in 1995.

For the 14th year, members of the Archdiocesan Sidewalk Counseling and Prayer Ministry and approximately 275 others met May 12 outside a Metairie clinic known for performing abortions and prayed 20 decades of the rosary in the annual Mother’s Day Crusade for Life.

Usted celebró la misa del funeral de Monseñor Clinton Doskey la semana pasada en la Iglesia de San Pío X. Él fue un sacerdote y pastor muy querido. ¿Qué recuerdos tiene de él? Primero lo conocí cuando era seminarista en San Ben.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, religious communities that have served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans for centuries discerned how in light of their individual missions they might best facilitate the rebuilding of devastated neighborhoods.

The bright blue skies May 5 were rivaled only by the bright smiles on the faces of parishioners of Divine Mercy Parish in Kenner who broke ground at the corner of Joe Yenni Boulevard and Sal Lentini Parkway, where a new parish church will be built.

Howards End, a novel by E.M. Forster published in 1910, can be summed up with its famous epitaph: “Only connect.” In the novel, the protagonist, Margaret Schlegel and her sister Helen connect primarily with each other, but there is also a metaphysical connection that Margaret feels with a secondary character, Mrs. Wilcox.

Deadline: Submissions due Thursday (10 days before each issue) calendar@clarionherald.org (504) area code unless noted May 11-20 SCHOOLS OUR LADY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, Parents’ Club end-of-school Jambalaya Dinner, May 11, 6-8 p.m. Plates: $8 adults, $6 for children for jambalaya, salad, brownie, drink.

Josephite Father Vincent P. Keenan, who served for 27 years as a teacher, administrator and rector of St. Augustine High School, died April 24 at St. Joseph Manor in Baltimore. He was 86 and had served  nearly 60 years in religious life.

Father Benny Piovan, pastor of the Saltillo Mission and retired pastor of Ascension of Our Lord Catholic Church in LaPlace, has expanded his mission work to bring the sacraments to more remote ranchos in Mexico.

The bowling team at Archbishop Rummel High School won the Louisiana State Bowling Championship April 14 at All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge. The Raider bowlers defeated a team from St. Michael’s High School of Baton Rouge 21-6.

It’s been nearly 80 years since the beginning of the horrific  annihilation upon the Jewish faith known as the Holocaust, and still to this day, its lavish historical content is ubiquitous to all generations.

It was an emotionally charged meeting of the New Orleans City Council. At that meeting, Tulane President Scott Cowen blasted the council for attempting to delay the university’s plans for a 30,000-seat, on-campus football stadium.

Dathennile Parker of Holy Rosary School led his team to a second place finish in the boys’ Class C state meet. Parker scored 28 individual points by winning two events, placing second in another and running a leg on the winning 1,600-meter relay team.

Morgan Cormier of Brother Martin  set a record 37.99 seconds in winning the 300-meter hurdles. The senior also placed second in the 110-meter high hurdles. Carolina Knecht of Ursuline Academy finished strong in the final laps of the Class 4A girls 1,600-meter run to win the gold medal.

With just a few steps remaining in the finals of the Class 5A 100-meter dash, Archbishop Rummel’s Cyril Grayson suddenly grabbed his left hamstring and  winced in pain. The  sprint event, run early in the Louisiana High School Athletic Association state track and field meet, was at a distance Grayson did not have to attempt because it is not one of his specialties.

On April 30, the students, faculty and staff of St. Catherine of Siena celebrated their school’s 85th anniversary and honored the two Incarnate Word Sisters still on staff – Sisters Imelda Moriarty and Marceline O’Connell.