Despite groundbreaking steps the U.S. Catholic Church has taken to prevent the sexual abuse of minors in the last 16 years, the chairman of the National Review Board told diocesan safe environment and victims’ assistance coordinators June 6 that potential “complacency” in following safety protocols could pose a challenge to those hard-won advances.

On Saturday, June 23, at St. Louis Cathedral, you are ordaining 22 men as permanent deacons for the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Can you talk about the gift the permanent diaconate has been to the church? I feel very positive about the permanent diaconate. It is a great blessing of the Second Vatican Council, and it was officially promulgated for the universal church in 1968.

Capuchin Franciscan Father Teodoro Agudo is 89, well past the normal retirement age for members of his congregation in Spain and for priests serving in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. But as Father Agudo talks passionately about his little jewel of a church adjacent to the Warehouse District – 170-year-old St. Theresa of Avila – his eyes brighten in light of what he has seen in his 49 years of service at the church, the last 45 as pastor.

The Clarion Herald won a record 10 national awards at the 2018 Catholic Media Conference of the Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada on June 15 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The recognition included  third place for “Newspaper of the Year” in the Catholic Press Association’s highest circulation category. The awards submission required the Clarion Herald to submit three consecutive issues – Sept. 30, Oct. 7 and Oct. 14, 2017 – for review.

In the last six weeks, nearly 2,000 children have been separated from their parents at the Texas border. Separating children from their parents often leads to long-term emotional scarring. Particularly for these families who are already in a state of anxiety and fear, the impact on both the children and the parents, will no doubt be long-lasting. As a people of faith, we must speak out for these children.

Challenging world oil executives to recognize the urgent environmental need to quickly transition from fossil fuel extraction and burning, to clean energy production, Pope Francis called them to take to heart that “Civilization requires energy, but energy must not destroy civilization.” Gathering the heads of some of the world’s largest oil and gas corporations – including ExxonMobil, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell – to the recent “Energy Transition and Care for our Common Home” Vatican conference

Clarion Herald editor Peter Finney Jr. is participating in the 2018 Catholic media conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  He's picking up tips on how the Clarion Herald can better evangelize through its columns news stories and photographs, reaching beyond the four walls of the church. Follow Peter on Facebook and Twitter.

Natasa Govekar, director of the theological-pastoral department of the Vatican's Secretariat for Communication, told nearly 300 Catholic journalists today in Green Bay that he uses everyday "pills of wisdom" and "capsules of love." The pope's love for Jesus Christ has impelled him to share that love with others, Govekar told participants of the 2018 Catholic Media Conference #CMCTitletown.

The Clarion Herald asked veteran teachers who have decided to retire after at least 25 years in Catholic education to reflect on their ministry as teachers. What was their funniest or most memorable moment? What’s special about teaching in a Catholic school? What advice would they give to a rookie teacher? It’s all here:

The path on which Dr. Joseph Murry’s journey took him to realize his full potential in athletics and academia began when he was a high school student at St. Aloysius. The seed was planted by the words of his senior English teacher, Sacred Heart Brother Clement, who told the class in 1964 that he was the only Brother of the Sacred Heart who had achieved a doctorate, and he was proud of that accomplishment.

Last year we planted strawberries. They were off on their own, in a corner section of the garden reserved for edibles. We researched companion gardening: which plants thrive when grown together with others, and how to increase the yield of the plants. So, alongside the strawberries we planted borage. The strawberries would be sweeter. They would grow in harmonic abundance with their companion plant. Except they didn’t.

As incense wafted through the air, Father Steve Bruno, pastor of St. Rita of Cascia Church in Harahan, led a Eucharistic procession with parishioners around the church parish on June 3 after the 11:30 a.m. Mass, on the Feast of Corpus Christi (the Body of Christ). The Eucharist is considered the source and summit of our Catholic faith. Pope St. John Paul II wrote “The Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth.”

Archbishop Gregory Aymond will be the main celebrant June 24 at the 9:30 a.m. Mass at St. Katharine Drexel Parish in New Orleans when the St. Theresa Little Flower Court 52 of the Knights of Peter Claver celebrates its 90th anniversary. A banquet will follow at the parish’s Holy Ghost Center on Louisiana Avenue. When it was formed on June 10, 1919, this Ladies Auxiliary of the Knights of Peter Claver at Holy Ghost Parish was the sixth court established in the city of New Orleans.

St. Mary’s Dominican High School honored student athletes during the school’s spring, end-of-the-year sports banquet. The 2017-18 Lou Reilly Memorial Awards were presented to athletes who continually try to improve their skills and who have listened to their coaches and teammates.  Each recipient was recognized for encouraging those playing while she is not in the game and, when playing, gives her full effort at each moment.

The 2017-18 Sister Therese of Lisieux award at Mount Carmel Academy was given to eighth grader Ariana Alvarez. She was  chosen by her peers for demonstrating the virtues of St. Therese: faith (including her Christian behavior to those around her), simplicity (putting others first, showing a positive attitude, helping in ways that often go unnoticed), and service (helping her classmates in small, thoughtful ways and being involved in service to her community.)

St. Paul's 2018 senior and honor graduate Landon Chambliss (above) is presented the American Legion Citizenship Award for demonstrating courage, honor, leadership, patriotism, scholarship and service during his high school career. Gary Songy, Post 16 Adjutant Finance Officer makes the presentation at the end of year awards ceremony.​This is the highest honor awarded to any civilian by the American Legion.

  At the recent 113rd Annual Knights Of Columbus, Louisiana State Convention, the Ascension of Our Lord, Council 9623, Laplace, was recognized as the top council in the state for the second consecutive year and for five of the past six years. The council had a perfect score of 1,000 points, representing accomplishments in administration and activities.

St. Mary’s Dominican High School saluted students for achievements in academics and service at the end-of-the-school-year Academic Honor Day for district and state rally, Louisiana Music Educators Association, National French Contest, National Latin Awards and National Spanish Examinations. A "Salute to Seniors" presentation recognized seniors in the National Honor Society, National Art Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, Tri-M, Language Honor Societies and also Advanced Placements, National Merit Recognition, Honor Graduates and colleges and universities acceptances.

New Orleans’ Catholic cemeteries have a way of coaxing in the living, whether it’s through their dazzling, above-ground tombs, serene prayer spots, genealogical and historical riches or walkable grid of lanes that have earned them the nickname “cities of the dead.” Because our historic cemeteries encourage the faithful to “use” their acreage for more than just burial, it is only fitting that space inside one of them was famously reserved for a special Catholic devotion: The Way of the Cross.