Pope Benedict XVI blessed and rang the official International Eucharistic Congress bell, which has been on tour across Ireland for nearly a year, in preparation for the world meeting in June. An Irish delegation, led by the 2012 congress president Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, presented the pope with the small brass bell before the start of his weekly general audience March 14.

Archbishop Aymond is a member of the Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The committee issued the following statement on religious freedom on March 14. The Administrative Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered for its March 2012 meeting, is strongly unified and intensely focused in its opposition to the various threats to religious freedom in our day.

The finalists in the presidential search at Our Lady of Holy Cross College (OLHCC) have been announced, according to Interim President Dr. Myles Seghers. Three finalists remain from a list of seven semi-final candidates.

Archbishop Shaw will become the third former Catholic League member to declare it will invoke the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s “play-up” option when its member schools submit updated enrollment figures for the 2013-14 school year.

¿Cuál es su evaluación de las últimas novedades sobre el mandato Federal que entidades relacionadas con la Iglesia,  proporcionen cobertura de seguro para la esterilización, contracepción y medicamentos para inducir el aborto?

Deadline: Submissions due Thursday (10 days before each issue) calendar@clarionherald.org (504) area code unless noted March 17-25

The Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops (LCCB), the public policy arm of the seven bishops of Louisiana, is supporting Gov. Bobby Jindal’s plan to expand the Orleans Parish Scholarship Program statewide.

How does the Liturgy of the Eucharist begin? After the preparation of the offering, the Liturgy of the Eucharist begins with a dialogue between the priest and the congregation. The opening part of this dialogue, where the priest says, “The Lord be with you,” and the congregation responds, “And with your spirit,” has already been discussed previously.

Marianite of Holy Cross Sisters Vivian Marie Coulon and Mary Kay Kinberger will celebrate jubilees of their religious profession with a Mass March 24 at 10:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Nursing Home Chapel in Opelousas, La.

Archbishop Shaw High School recently held its annual science fair judged by representatives from Olin Chemicals in Geismar and Motiva in Norco. Top winners and their projects in the senior division were Kory Victoriano, “Parachute Design,” energy and transportation, and Jace Brendstetter, “Paintball Ballistics.” The junior division top winner was Jason LeBlanc for his “Airplane Design vs. Distance” project.

The following essay by De La Salle sophomore Katie Hansche merited a Top 10 finish in a national essay competition for high school writers sponsored by Creative Communication. “We Teens and Our Media” essay: “True terror is to wake up one morning and discover that your high school class is running the country.” – Kurt Vonnegut I believe teens today are too involved in media and rely too heavily upon it for advice.

St. Augustine’s Chad Aubert, left, and Chris Kennie of Holy Cross, below, were honored for their academic achievements by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association at halftime of a Class 4A semifinal round game in Hammond last week.

On March 17, we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, a global day in memory of the Catholic saint. Like St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the entire secular world shares in our love of St. Patrick. While many have turned this day into a celebration of Irish heritage, with many festivities blending revelry and cultural pride, the Catholic Church has always held that it is first and foremost a religious holiday.

If the 20th annual Archbishop Rummel Track and Field Classic was any indication, this spring’s outdoor season will be highlighted by record-breaking performances. For starters, Rummel’s Cyril Grayson, enroute to scoring in four events, set a school record of 47.16 in winning the 400-meter dash.

I believe St. Augustine has had about enough of Class 4A competition and can’t wait to move back up to 5A in 2013. “When we dropped to Class 4A, people were telling me, you’ll dominate those teams,” St. Aug principal Donald Boucree was asying as we filled our cars with gas for the long ride back from Ruston.

Over the past three years, I watched athletics at the University of New Orleans go into a near death spiral. I never understood how almost three years ago, a rigged student vote on an athletic fee increase, set up to fail, was the excuse the school administration used to sell the LSU Board of Supervisors on an ill-conceived move to Division III non-scholarship athletics.

Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians in the Middle East not to lose hope despite the serious difficulties they face. “I extend my prayerful thoughts to the regions in the Middle East, encouraging all the priests and faithful to persevere with hope through the serious suffering that afflicts these beloved people,” he said.

He wore a wrinkled T-shirt, unwashed jeans and a black baseball cap, and he had a black guitar case slung over his right shoulder. The St. Jude Community Center across North Rampart Street from Our Lady of Guadalupe Church wasn’t yet open for the daily free hot breakfast, but the church – which serves the homeless and the hopeless – was vibrant, practically hopping for the 7 a.m. Mass, with a cappella music led by Oblate Father Tony Rigoli.

On March 5 at St. Louis Cathedral, you hosted an interfaith prayer service for an end to the death penalty in Louisiana. Even among Catholics, the death penalty is a controversial topic. Can you explain what the church teaches?

Horrific news footage of New Orleans broadcast worldwide after Hurricane Katrina spurred many individuals and organizations to help rebuild the city. Faculty and students at the University of Pennsylvania took their volunteerism to a different level after one of its alums, Marc Morial, a 1980 University of Pennsylvania graduate and former mayor of New Orleans, spoke at Penn the week after Katrina.