News - December 2016 RSS Feed

For the last 12 years under the leadership of federal judge Jay Zainey and his wife Joy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans has celebrated a monthly Mass for children and adults with special needs. The group, called God’s Special Children, has gathered regularly on the first Sunday afternoon of the month at St. Francis Xavier Church in Metairie.

The story of Christmas is large and fresh and incomprehensible. How could God become flesh as a defenseless baby born in an animal stall in Bethlehem? How could such hopeless circumstances – God pitching his meager tent among us 2,000 years ago – still create such hope?

You joined seminarians, priests, deacons and laypeople in Nicaragua last week for a missionary program called Acompaño. What was that like? It was a sacred experience. For me, it’s almost become imperative to go there before the celebration of Christ’s birth because Christ was born in utter poverty.

Imagine being a young girl in a country that prohibits girls from attending school and having basic societal rights. This is the world that De La Salle students were immersed in while reading “I Am Malala,” written by Pakistani-born Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb, the selection chosen for the school’s “One Book for Social Justice Project” this year.

Staying vibrant and making new friends are two reasons that men and women ages 50 to 90 take classes at the People Program, a nonprofit ministry of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph women religious.

In sixth grader Samantha DeFrancesch’s painted depiction of “The Finding of Jesus in the Temple,” the Blessed Mother sprints toward her son like an Olympic athlete, her sandaled feet flying over the cobblestone plaza, her veil and gown trailing behind her.

Rion Rumney made an analogy that was light years ahead of his four earthly years of life. During a recent religion class discussion of the phases of the moon, the youngster announced to his Mary Queen of Peace pre-K4 teachers and classmates that the crescent moon reminded him of “God’s thumbnail.” Rion’s astute observation – made during a lesson on the many types of light – was prompted by an Advent-related ABC book used throughout the season by his Mary Queen of Peace teachers Michelle Monaghan and Judy Boraks: “My Very Own Christmas Prayer Book.” On Dec. 6, the class studied the book’s “C is for Candle” page as a way of launching into the letter of the day: “L is for Light.” They chanted in unison: “Candle, candle burning bright.

On Dec. 9, St. Pius X’s seventh graders visited the St. Mary of the Angels Head Start Center to make snowflake ornaments (above) with their new 3- and 4-year-old buddies and give them gifts. Armed with the youngsters’ wish lists and clothing sizes, the St. Pius seventh graders shopped as a class the previous week, using their math and shopping skills to stay within a budget of $25 for the purchase of a dress outfit and toy for each child.

As the middle-school disciplinarian at Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Chalmette, teacher Stacie Seube was on a perpetual lookout for ways to reduce the number of student complaints about their peers. “They would come to me and say their friends weren’t being kind to them.

Holy Cross School has named Sean P. Martin (class of 1992) as its new headmaster. The appointment is effective Saturday, July 1, 2017, following the retirement of current headmaster Charles J. DiGange on Friday, June 30, 2017, after 13 years of service as headmaster (July 2004-June 2016).

Diversity best describes the programming on the 11-year-old, online Crescent City Radio station broadcast from Loyola University New Orleans seven days a week, 24 hours a day. From Gospel music produced by a Gospel singer to shows about Latin music and culture, relationships to Japanese music and everything in between, Crescent City Radio has it.

The following calendar of major New Orleans events and festivals has two purposes. Whether you want to tie your wedding date to a major New Orleans event – or avoid the event entirely! – you’ve come to the right place.

The Clarion Herald’s final issue of 2016 will be Dec. 24. We resume publication on Jan. 14, 2017. Deadline for the Dec. 24 issue is Dec. 17. Email calendar@clarionherald.org. Dec. 18-Jan. 17 PARISHES ST. EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, Ladies Council, S.T.E.A.M.

En el almuerzo anual de Navidad del Consejo de Clubes de Cooperativas de las Escuelas Católicas, la semana pasada, usted tocó un punto, para repetir lo que usted ha dicho ya sobre el carácter mezquino de las recientes elecciones nacionales, estatales y locales.

Christian hope is not the same as being optimistic about the future, but is knowing that whatever dark or frightening things are going on in one’s life, God is there offering protection and light, Pope Francis said.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond presented the St. John Paul II Award to Marilyn Quirk Dec. 1 at the annual dinner of The Catholic Foundation of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Quirk founded Magnificat, a Ministry to Catholic Women, in 1981.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Although she was just a humble young woman from a small town, Mary’s total “yes” to God was “the most important ‘yes’ of history” and overturned Adam and Eve’s prideful “no,” which unleashed sin into the world, Pope Francis said.

It’s easy to get excited when somebody talks about love as “self-gift.” We all want to give ourselves, holding nothing back for the one we love. The desire to heroically lay down our lives for another is written into our very being.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has announced schedules of Masses at business district churches for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. ➤ ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL: Dec. 24, Christmas Vigil Mass at 5 p.m., preceded by carols at 4:30 p.m.

If Chip and Joanna Gaines, the stars of the TV show “Fixer Upper,” are looking for challenging work, they can certainly find it out on Airline Drive. However, the job of fixing the Saints and the Pelicans will require more than new cabinets, counter tops and a backsplash.