GOD’S SPECIAL CHILDREN, Families and Friends Mass Aug. 4, 2 p.m., St. Francis Xavier Church, 444 Metairie Road, Metairie. MUSICIANS’ CLINIC’S 2019 BLOOD DRIVE, Aug. 6, 13, 20, 27, noon-6 p.m., NOMC Administrative Office, 1525 Louisiana Ave., New Orleans; Aug. 18, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Deutsches Haus, 1700 Moss St., New Orleans. Goal: collect 500 pints of blood.

In the early 1980s, Stanton McNeely, the future president of the University of Holy Cross (UHC), was a young student at St. Cletus School in Gretna when his father, like so many others who worked in oil-related industries in south Louisiana, was downsized out of a job.

“Move from the basement to the balcony, pull your talents up … Build to the future.  … Name your strengths, claim your strengths and aim to use your strengths to enhance your life and the lives of others,” were messages heard by 70 Catholic educators at the 12th annual Summer Institute for Catholic Educational Leadership held at Loyola University New Orleans.