• Click for pdf Note: The Sunday morning Mass at St. Patrick, New Orleans, has changed as of February 19, 2019. The new time is 9:15 a.m. (formerly 9:30 a.m.)

Letting high school seniors  know that they are never alone in the world and that God is their companion along life’s journey no matter where that leads was the essence of Senior Day Nov. 6 at Our Lady of the Lake in Mandeville.

A contingent from Xavier University of Louisiana’s Concert Choir traveled from New Orleans to Philadelphia to honor, in song, St. Katharine Drexel, the Blessed Sacrament order founder who made their education possible by opening Xavier University in 1925.

He had the flashy sports car and the luxury apartment in midtown Atlanta, befitting a professor of neonatology at the Emory School of Medicine. If his life were an open book, observers would say Dr. Anthony Lazzara, a graduate of Jesuit High School in Tampa, Spring Hill College in Mobile and the Tulane University School of Medicine was doing his Catholic thing very well – teaching medical students in the 1970s and early 1980s how to care for the most vulnerable patients imaginable.

Imagine standing in the middle of the Serengeti in southwestern Kenya without ever leaving Metairie. That is the experience now possible for high school students at Archbishop Chapelle High School in Metairie since the new Lenovo virtual reality lab – complete with 30 wireless goggles, hand controllers and teacher tools – debuted in October.

Queridas Hermanas y Hermanos en Cristo, Pronto nuestras parroquias llevarán a cabo la colecta anual del Fondo para la Jubilación de Religiosos. Esta campaña anual beneficia a más de 31,000 hermanas, hermanos y sacerdotes católicos de órdenes religiosas – mujeres y hombres que han dedicado su vida en servicio a los demás.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) –Pope Francis named U.S. Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago to be part of the organizing committee preparing for a meeting of the world’s bishops’ conferences and representatives of religious orders to address the abuse and protection of minors.

The Catholic Men of Christ held a healing service Aug. 24 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Churchb in Kenner. Fr. Robert Joel-Cruz, event facilitator and pastor at St. Andrew Church in Amelia in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, travels to parishes with his healing ministry. He concelebrated Mass with his brother, Father Alexander (Alex) Cruz, who was in town from Divine Mercy Parish in Rahway, New Jersey.

Forty-seven students submitted entries in the Patrick F. Taylor Foundation “18 in ’18,” a project that highlighted the talents of high school students as New Orleans celebrated its tricentennial. Winners were announced recently at the opening of the Taylor Education Center, 612 Andrew Higgins Boulevard.

We are entering the season of Advent. Did you have any Advent traditions in your own family growing up? Yes, we always had an Advent wreath in our home. I would encourage families to consider incorporating the Advent wreath into a time of prayer before supper or before bed. It only takes about five minutes, but it’s a time when a family can gather and share their faith, talk and pray.

Estamos en la temporada de Adviento. ¿Tuvo alguna tradición de Adviento con su familia mientras crecía? Sí, siempre tuvimos una Corona de Adviento en nuestro hogar. Animaría a las familias a considerar la incorporación de la Corona de Adviento en un momento de oración, antes de la cena, o antes de acostarse. Solo toma unos cinco minutos, pero es un momento en que una familia puede reunirse y compartir su fe, hablar y orar.

Like everyone else accustomed to potential computer scams, Marianite Sister Marjorie Hebert, the president and CEO of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, is aware of the danger of responding to an email congratulating the recipient for winning a multimillion-dollar lottery and requesting only a banking account and a Social Security number to complete the transaction.

Sister of the Holy Faith Mairead (Mary of the Rosary) Langley, who lived and ministered in California and in Arabi for more than 55 years,  died Oct. 21 in Ireland.

If your purple-and-gold eye balls still feel like they are about to pop out over LSU’s seven-overtime loss at Texas A&M, that’s understandable. Still replaying it, over and over, one week later? I get it.

ADVENT MISSION, Marianite Sister Judy Gomila, “Reclaiming Christmas,” Dec. 3-5, 7 p.m. Confessions heard on Dec. 5. St. Anselm, 306 St. Mary St., Madisonville. (985) 845-7342.

Many years ago as a young man born and raised in Baltimore, I spent a very different week getting a taste of life in Appalachia. The opportunity to travel from the hustle of big city life to the quiet beautiful mountainous area of eastern Kentucky – to deepen my Catholic faith, experience Christian community with other young adults from around the U.S., and help the rural poor – was an offer this adventurous soul jumped at!

The Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of New Orleans invites everyone to kick off the charitable season by taking part in the fourth-annual #iGiveCatholic Giving Day on Tuesday, Nov. 27. The 24-hour online giving event is held in conjunction with #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media. 

The week before Thanksgiving, I learned of a friend’s passing. Usually, I immediately disregard the campus-wide e-mails, but for some reason, I clicked on this one.  As it opened, it told the story not of death, but of life: of a life marked by strength and determination, but – above all – optimism.

Third graders at Stuart Hall School for Boys sprang into action when they learned that many hospital chaplains, priests, extraordinary ministers of holy Communion and others who minister to the sick and dying had a dwindling supply of rosaries to offer their patients.

Our new baby is due in January, right after the new year, and one question everybody seems to ask is, “Do you know if you’re having a boy or a girl?” The answer is, “Not yet.” Most often, we get the response of, “Why? Don’t you want to know?”