46th Annual March for Life Friday, January 18, 2019 Where National Mall – 12th St. Washington, D.C Speakers and Performers:

We’ve been there, which makes the journey of recovery now facing St. Dominic Church in Panama City, Florida, both a history lesson and a teachable moment, filled with grace. When Hurricane Michael, a near-Category 5 storm packing winds of 155 mph, slammed into the Florida panhandle in October, it created a 40-mile wide swath of destruction for hundreds of miles in its path. “It was basically like a 40-mile-wide tornado,” said Father Michael Nixon, the 36-year-old pastor who was ordained in 2010 but never learned anything about hurricane theology in the seminary. “The devastation was just incredible. No, there was no training for this.”

As the new year rings in, we turn our thoughts to what it will bring. Will 2019 be different from 2018 or will it bring more of the same?  The problem with that kind of questioning is the lack of agency involved. We, as individuals, make change, not the year itself. We start off with resolutions for change, and it’s up to us to make them happen. Is it any wonder, then, that for Catholics, our new year begins each year with the Epiphany? Epiphany means revelation. As the Christmas season comes to a close, we celebrate the three revelations of Jesus as the son of God to the world: the visit of the three magi to the baby Jesus, his baptism and the wedding at Cana. We begin each new year with a reminder of Jesus as a source of renewal, or, as Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote in The Spirit of the Liturgy, “the dawning of the new light, the true sun of history.”

The repurposing of the former St. Rose de Lima Catholic Church property on Bayou Road has resulted in a new home for Southern Repertory Theatre as well as rental space for nonprofits and the Waldorf School. Southern Rep, which has used the former St. Rose de Lima Church space in some way for the past two years, will have an inaugural ball Jan. 19 beginning at 4 p.m. with the ringing of the bells in the former church bell tower. Cocktails will follow from the new Sanctuary bar (constructed of materials from the confessional, Communion rail and other church elements), rotating entertainment and tours of the facility until 10 p.m. “I wanted to have something that was definitely about dancing, music and dressing up,” said Aimée Hayes, Southern Rep Theatre’s producing artistic director. “It’s a chance for  us to show off Southern Rep to everyone and have a good time.”

La familia es el corazón de la Iglesia doméstica y, como miembros de la familia, todos tenemos historias especiales que, nos encanta transmitir de generación en generación. De la misma manera, nuestras comunidades cívicas y religiosas, tienen historias que transmitir. Una historia asombrosa que ha sido contada durante más de 200 años por nuestras familias cívicas y religiosas, tiene sus raíces en lo que sucedió en la Batalla de Nueva Orleáns, el 8 de enero de 1815, en Chalmette, justo río abajo de Nueva Orleáns. Es una historia de perseverancia en la oración, durante una vigilia nocturna en la víspera de la batalla. Las Hermanas Ursulinas y, las esposas e hijos de muchos de los soldados estadounidenses, invocaron la intercesión de Nuestra Señora del Pronto Socorro, para ayudar a salvar a la ciudad de la invasión del ejército británico, una fuerza muy superior en número a la desorganizada fuerza estadounidense, e improvisada por el general Andrew Jackson.

The family is the heart of the domestic church, and, as family members, we all have special stories that we love to pass on from generation to generation. In the same way, our civic and religious communities have stories to pass on. One amazing story that has been retold for more than 200 years by both our civic and faith families has roots in what happened in the Battle of New Orleans on Jan. 8, 1815, in Chalmette, just downriver from New Orleans. It is a story of perseverance in prayer during an overnight vigil on the eve of the battle. 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) –The clerical abuse crisis and the “crisis of credibility” it created for the U.S. bishops have led to serious divisions within the U.S. church and to a temptation to look for administrative solutions to problems that go much deeper, Pope Francis told the U.S. bishops as they met Jan. 2-8 in retreat near Chicago. Without a clear and decisive focus on spiritual conversion and Gospel-inspired ways of responding to victims and exercising ministry, “everything we do risks being tainted by self-referentiality, self-preservation and defensiveness, and thus doomed from the start,” the pope wrote.

The most anticipated event that culminates a sports season is the selection of the coveted All-State team. And the most talked-about by prep hacks is the All-State football team, chosen by a group representing the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The last of five teams – Class 5A – was published on Jan. 6. It contained 14 players on the offense side and 14 defensive selectees.  And by some ill-conceived, all-inclusive philosophy that declares everyone a winner, the committee went out of its way to pick 93 (count ’em) players for honorable mention.

Enero 13, 2019 Fiesta del Bautismo del Señor Gospel: Lucas 3: 15-16.21-22 Navidad, Epifanía y el Bautismo, forman un tríptico que nos recuerda los primeros pasos de la ma-nifestación de Dios a los hombres. Con el Bautismo terminan las fiestas de navidad. Está claro que el Bautismo de Jesús, que aparece en los cuatro evangelistas, supone un corte radical; en él se nos muestra el principio de su vida pública.  Juan bautizaba con agua, predicaba que es necesario convertirse, cambiar; Jesús se pone en la cola de los que van a ser bautizados como un pecador más, pero ocurre algo inesperado: “Apenas salió del agua, vio rasgarse el cielo y al Espíritu bajar hacía él como una paloma. Se oyó una voz del cielo: Tú eres mi Hijo amado, mi preferido”. Dicen algunos que en este momento Jesús tomó conciencia de su realidad mesiánica, lo que sí quedó claro, es que su proyecto de vida contaba con el beneplácito del Padre y la presencia del Espíritu.

Jan. 14-26 SCHOOLS COUNCIL OF CATHOLIC SCHOOL COOPERATIVE CLUBS (CCSCC), general meeting and legislative workshop, Jan. 14, 9 a.m. registration, 9:30 a.m. meeting, Holy Rosary School Gym, 2437 Jena St., New Orleans. Alexandra Seghers, youth programs director for Louisiana Right to Life, talks on “Louisiana Right to Life efforts in support of the pro-life agenda in the legislative and education arenas.” Details: Cindy Wooderson at 301-4321.

For decades I have observed the erosion of our religious traditions, our Judeo-Christian heritage and our history and culture. One small aspect of this is our celebration of the Feast of the Magi – the Twelfth Day of Christmas, the Epiphany, the arrival of the three kings from the East. As a child, I looked forward to the day when the beautiful Kings’ cake was placed on the table, richly decorated in purple (royalty), gold (riches) and green (faith), heralding the arrival of the newborn King. I knew I would not see another delicious Kings’ cake until the next year. The  French tradition of serving “la Galette des Rois” dates back to the 14th century. The day also marks the beginning of the Mardi Gras season, and the colors were later adopted as the colors of Mardi Gras.

Visto de cerca y contextualizando, es bueno anotar fuentes de consulta o de lectura y por tanto, de formación, como un medio necesario para tener recursos al respecto. 

Quick reminder for those of us who attend Mass regularly. Many people are going to join us on Dec. 24 and 25 who don’t normally come to church. They will take our parking spots, our usual pews, our hymnals and our coat hooks.

“Am I not alone,” asks the Creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, “miserably alone?”  The lines echo throughout the novel, with varying characters lamenting their solitary existence and the need for community, or, at the very least, a friend.

The emails come well before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m. Today, a man’s career can be all-consuming and a threat to parenting.  Sons need fathers glued to them, not to their iPhone. Our sons need time, love and discipline.  

Queridos hermanos: el Evangelio de este último domingo de Adviento tiene como protagonista a la Santísima Virgen María e inicia con estas palabras: “María se puso en camino y fue a prisa a la montaña”. El Adviento y la Navidad ya próxima, es fundamentalmente “salida”. El Hijo que sale de estar con la Santísima Trinidad para estar con nosotros, para introducirse en la historia.

Mark the dates Jan. 15 and Feb. 8, 2019 down on your games-to-see calendars. On opposite ends of the scorer’s table will stalk two of the city’s premier head basketball coaches whose teams have been in the upper echelon of the Catholic League since their rivalry began in 2012.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has announced schedules of Masses at business district churches for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

As the saying goes, “Politics and religion don’t mix.” Although this cliché is espoused by many, you will not hear it from Pope Francis. On the contrary, the leader of the Catholic Church firmly teaches that our Gospel-based faith has a wealth of wisdom to offer the often corrupt world of politics. And that it is our duty to strive to infuse that wisdom into the body politic.

An inaugural scholarship program targeting student-leaders at St. Augustine High hopes to foster ties between the local African-American and Jewish communities.