Two celebrations of new life

By Peter Finney Jr., Clarion Herald

WORLD DAY FOR CONSECRATED LIFE
ACADEMY OF THE SACRED HEART CHAPEL, NEW ORLEANS

One hundred eighty women and men religious attended a “Celebration of Consecrated Life” Feb. 17 at the Academy of the Sacred Heart Chapel.

The prayer service was highlighted by a 10-minute reflection by Religious of the Sacred Heart Sister Juliet Mousseau, 39, below, a professor of church history at the Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis.

She finds hope “in the strength of my own call to religious life and the knowledge that God did not bring me here to do it alone.”

     

Religious of the Sacred Heart Sister Juliet Mousseau, the keynote speaker, talked about her hopes and dreams as a “young” religious woman. She  said she is inspired by “the lives and the stories of those who have gone before me.” She mentioned the inspiration she received from the dedication and love of a 101-year-old sister from Lafayette who taught herself Spanish.

Marianite of Holy Cross Sister Renée Daigle, left center, catches up with friends.

RITE OF ELECTION, ST. JOSEPH CHURCH, NEW ORLEANS

  

The Archdiocese of New Orleans celebrated the Rite of Election on Feb. 18 at St. Joseph Church in New Orleans, a prayer service in which Archbishop Gregory Aymond met hundreds of individuals who will enter into full communion with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.

     

Archbishop Aymond said 346 people who have gone through the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) program will become Catholics in their individual parishes.

     

The catechumens (those not yet baptized) and candidates (those who have been baptized already in a Christian church) will also be confirmed and receive the Eucharist for the first time.