News - February 2017 RSS Feed

In his radio heyday, New Orleans broadcasting legend Buddy Diliberto used to chide Saints fans for their unbridled optimism. The Saints would piece together a win or two or three, and then fans would call Buddy’s show with their predictions of future greatness.

On June 3, 2011, I had a dream that I will never forget: I was in the Vatican with my husband in a large crowd of people. A priest dressed as a cardinal came up to me, took me by the hand and said, “Come with me.

Eric Coston, left, of St. Paul’s and Jesuit’s Jandon Briscoe won gold medals at the LHSAA Indoor State Track and Field Meet, held at LSU’s Maddox Fieldhouse on Feb. 18. Coston won the 1,600-meter run for the fourth consecutive year in the time of 4:21.63, and defending outdoor champion Briscoe ran a winning time of 49.67 in the 400-meter dash.

I don’t blame Eddie Bonine for showing interest in joining another state’s high school athletic association as its executive director. He once described his current employer, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, as a “dumpster fire,” which it is.

Deadline: Submissions due Thursday (10 days before each issue) calendar@clarionherald.org (504) area code unless noted March 2-19 EVENTS BISHOP PERRY CENTER, kicks off its annual free musical series, “A Musical Prelude to the Celebration of Easter,” March 2, 6 p.m., with Hispanic-inspired music ranging from Baroque classical to contemporary Latin jazz by renowned Cuban guitarist and recording artist Javier Olondo and his Ashe Son ensemble, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1100 Chartres St.

Ihssan Sharbar, 38, a native of Iraq, usually gets a surprise and a quiz every day when his two sons, Saif, a 9-year-old third grader, and Zaid, a 7-year-old first grader, come home from school. The man who risked his life serving as an Arabic-English interpreter for the U.S. Marines during the Iraq War for four years speaks incredibly fluent English, but Saif and Zaid are discovering adjectives, adverbs and nouns he has never heard of.

Concéntrese en una actitud para cambiar, durante la Cuaresma Nos estamos preparando para entrar en la temporada de Cuaresma. ¿Podría hablar de la naturaleza de la temporada? Durante la Cuaresma, somos invitados al desierto con Jesús, mientras ayunaba, y oraba durante 40 días, en preparación para su ministerio público.

We are getting ready to enter into the season of Lent. Can you talk about the nature of the season? During Lent, we are invited into the desert with Jesus as he fasted and prayed for 40 days in preparation for his public ministry.

“Throw me something, Sister!” was the operative plea from the crowds Feb. 19 at the Krewe of Femme Fatale parade in New Orleans. Twenty Sisters of the Holy Family boarded a float – the first time in Mardi Gras history that a women’s religious congregation participated as a group on a Carnival float.

There are countless ways one can cultivate the virtue of “love of neighbor.” Six-year-old Emma Myer likes to extend love by hugging her Paw-Paw “really tight.” Clare Thomas, 5, is striving to becoming more attentive at Mass, “even during the homily.” Elizabeth Pittman, 6, proudly reported: “I brought dinner to my lonely neighbor.” Small and large ways kids can live out neighborly love were shared Feb. 6 by members of the “Little Flowers Girls’ Club” at St. Rita Parish in Harahan, an afterschool group that has girls and their mothers meeting inside St. Rita School’s art room on first Mondays for lessons and fun activities related to a monthly virtue and female saint.

Last fall, administrators at Christian Brothers realized their school’s newly opened St. Anthony Campus had a very special claim to fame: the campus’ student body of 362 children included a mind-boggling 10 sets of twins.

Deadline: Submissions due Thursday (10 days before each issue) calendar@clarionherald.org (504) area code unless noted Feb. 21-April 9 SCHOOLS ST. PIUS X, Mothers’ Club-hosted annual school Mardi Gras Parade, Feb. 23, 1:45 p.m. Students in second through fourth grade parade while others watch and enjoy.

Three students who attend Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans were selected as the local non-public school nominees for the annual Students of the Year in the state of Louisiana. They are fifth-grader Michael Hymel of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in Kenner; eighth-grader Kathleen Rush of Archbishop Hannan High School, Covington; and 12th-grader Yehia Elkersh of St. Paul School, Covington.

Archbishop Chapelle High School students collected 196 pairs of jeans for Jeans for Teens to help homeless teens statewide; 602 books for elementary and primary schools affected by the 2016 flooding; and over $515 for Cleft for a Cause Foundation, which helps cover costs associated with surgeries for children born with a cleft palate.

Neighboring Academy of Our Lady and Archbishop Shaw high schools – located within shouting distance in Marrero – have a great tradition of celebrating the feast of St. John Bosco together every year at the end of January.

For the first time in 29 years, Holy Cross captured the Division I state wrestling championship on Feb. 11. The Tigers scored 305 points to outdistance fellow Catholic school rivals Jesuit, Brother Martin and St. Paul’s for the trophy.

So, tell me again why high school teams, parents and students have to drive 352 miles to Bossier City for the state wrestling tournament when the great majority of team and individual champions are from New Orleans?

Marking the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita, a former slave, Pope Francis urged Christians to help victims of human trafficking and migrants, especially the Rohingya people being chased from Myanmar. For the Catholic Church, St. Bakhita’s feast day, Feb. 8, is a day of prayer for victims of trafficking.

Each night he walks on the court, basketball reality smacks him in the face. Pelicans center/forward Anthony Davis, who turns 24 next month, scores more than 27 points a game, grabs 12 rebounds, blocks more than two shots per game, shoots 80 percent from the free throw line and 50 percent from the field, yet his team won 21 of its first 55 games.

St. Augustine High School has named Barret L. Rey, Class of 1992, its athletic and activities director. Rey assumes the leadership of an athletic program that dates back to the school’s opening in 1951.