A priest and a layman from the Archdiocese of New Orleans are among the select group of Catholics honored this year by the national conference of Teens Encounter Christ (TEC). TEC, an international Catholic movement dedicated to helping older adolescents and young adults deepen their experience of the Paschal Mystery, recently presented Father John Arnone, pastor of St. Bernard  Church in St. Bernard and Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Violet, and Chris LaRosa, a youth ministry volunteer for 20 years from St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, with 2011 “Spirit of TEC” awards.

Residents of the New Orleans area have a wealth of Catholic sacred spots at their fingertips, and now there is a guide to help them design their own spiritual pilgrimages to those places. “Catholic Shrines of New Orleans,” a user-friendly brochure compiled and designed by the staff of the Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos Center, pulls together visitor information on the following points of interest: • The Mere Henriette Delille Prayer Room, St. Louis Cathedral, 615 Pere Antoine Alley • The Catholic Cultural Heritage Center, The Old Ursuline Convent/St.

The diversity of Catholics in New Orleans was evident Oct. 25 at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Gentilly as members of the African-American, Vietnamese, Latino and others came together to recite the Glorious Mysteries of the rosary and to celebrate Mass.

Love is patient. Love is kind. Familiar words to anyone who has attended a Catholic wedding Mass. Susan Conroy witnessed these words in action while working alongside Mother Teresa in the slums of Calcutta, India.

The corner of Barataria Boulevard and Westbank Expressway in Marrero looks different these days. That’s because preliminary work has begun on a new campus for the Academy of Our Lady all-girls’ high school.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), which works to eliminate the causes of poverty in the U.S., has had a significant impact on the Archdiocese of New Orleans through its outreach aimed at reducing violence and helping fishing communities recover from the BP oil spill, local CCHD director Tom Costanza said.

¿Lo que ha ocurrido en los últimos meses ha  hecho que los obispos de los Estados Unidos establezcan un Comité Ad Hoc para la libertad religiosa? El Obispo William Lori de Bridgeport es el Presidente del Comité, y dijo que el grupo se estableció “cerca a la velocidad de la luz en el tiempo de la Iglesia” debido a la urgencia de los asuntos involucrado.

Pope Benedict XVI prayed that a summit of the leaders of countries with the world’s largest economies would find ways to overcome the current economic crisis and promote real development. At the end of his weekly general audience Nov. 2, the pope issued a special appeal to the leaders of the G-20 nations scheduled to meet Nov. 3-4 in Cannes, France.

Photo by Ron Brocato | CLARION HERALD The St. Augustine “Marching 100” band, shown at the school’s recent football game against East Jefferson, was one of the featured attractions at the traditional St. Martin’s-Country Day game the evening of Nov. 4.

Mount Carmel hopes to repeat as the reigning Division I state volleyball champion. Dominican, which lost to the Cubs in four games for that title last year, wants revenge in a big way. Cabrini, which last won the Division II championship in 2008 and came close to repeating in the last two tournaments, is one of the top entries in that division.

St. Paul’s and Jesuit are the top two seeds in the Class 5A football playoffs. St. Charles Catholic is the No. 2 seed in the 3A state eliminations. And Archbishop Rummel, Brother Martin, St. Augustine, De La Salle, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Shaw and Archbishop Hannan are somewhere in between in their various class brackets.

Before we kick off here, let’s get a piece of business out of the way. I do not have BCS Championship Game tickets. Please don’t call, please don’t e-mail. Of course, LSU will be there on the floor of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome Jan. 9.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond announces the following appointments: PAROCHIAL VICAR Father Salvador Galvez, parochial vicar, Our Lady of Prompt Succor, Chalmette, effective Nov. 1, 2011. PASTORAL MINISTER Father Luis Henao, pastoral minister with the Hispanic Center, working in adult faith formation, effective Oct. 1, 2011.

CNS Photo | CAUSE OF SISTER MARIA CATALINA IRIGOYEN ECHEGARAY The Sisters Servants of Mary serve as overnight caregivers to those who are seriously sick, allowing family members to get much-needed sleep.

It was just past midnight on Halloween when the fusillade of bullets in the French Quarter turned New Orleans into Afghanistan. The blood spilled in the streets can’t be washed away easily by reassurances from city leaders and tourism spin doctors that these acts of violence were “isolated” – that is, sporadic or every now and then or just a case of someone being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

You met recently with James Carter, the criminal justice commissioner of the city of New Orleans, to discuss the many elements that have fed into the culture of violence in the region. Can you share some of the things you talked about?

La implementación de la fecha del nuevo Misal Romano, que incluye las oraciones, que usted dijo en la misa, es el 27 de noviembre, el primer domingo de Adviento. Está a la vuelta de la esquina. Es un hecho.

Transfiguration rises Seattle, Wash. I’m glad to see the parish where I worshipped and went to school in the mid- to late 1960s (St. Raphael the Archangel) has been transformed, that is, transfigured.

Anthony Rivando, a fifth grader at Visitation of Our Lady, dances in Mexican garb during Children’s Mission Day activities at St. Cletus Church Oct. 22. The day included Mass celebrated by Father James Jeanfreau.

When Leon J. Reymond Jr. was a young attorney in 1970, he met Archbishop Philip Hannan and came away deeply impressed with “his Irish smile and his simplicity.” But what really inspired him was Archbishop Hannan’s passion to serve the poor, as manifested by his establishment four years earlier of the Social Apostolate, which was an outreach to the broader community by the Archdiocese of New Orleans through the Summer WITNESS program for children and a network of community centers in the neediest areas of the city.