Service at heart of high schools’ Catholic identity

February 10, 2020

By Clarion Herald Staff
Photos by Beth Donze

Students, faculty, staff, alumnae, women religious and other friends of the Academy of the Sacred Heart fanned out over eight non-profit sites Jan. 25 for a Saturday morning of hands-on service.

One of those sites was Hotel Hope, left, which provides temporary lodging and intensive case management to homeless women and their children.

This “Sacred Heart Global Day of Service” was scheduled between the Dr. Martin Luther King observance and the beginning of Catholic Schools Week. Sacred Heart’s service crews also assisted at Covenant House, the Rebuild Center, the St. Bernard Project, Lambeth House, St. Margaret’s at Mercy, Second Harvest Food Bank and Magnolia Community Center.

On the Jan. 30 feast day of St. John Bosco, Academy of Our Lady and Archbishop Shaw – the archdiocese’s two Salesian-founded high schools – traditionally come together for Mass and a field day-style competition called “The Battle of the Birds” (a nod to the schools’ respective “Penguin” and “Eagle” mascots).

This year, Academy of Our Lady also marked “John Bosco Week” by performing class service projects at ARC of Greater New Orleans, Wynhoven Health Care Center, Crossroads Louisiana, Second Harvest Food Bank, Our Lady of Wisdom Healthcare Center and Jean Lafitte Barataria Preserve.

At left, AOL’s freshmen traveled to “City Bark” – City Park’s dog park – on Jan. 29 to fill in low-lying pockets of greenspace with sand. Sophomores spruced up the park’s Botanical Gardens.