A special project long envisioned by Ursuline Academy Elementary principal Kim Harper – a large nativity scene in front of the school on State Street – has come to life through the efforts of  Dads’ Club president Jeremy Hughes and club members.

In Dallas or Atlanta or any other sterile American burgh where culture is measured by how many Taco Bells are razed to make way for a toll road leading into a gated office park with a 10-story parking garage fronted by a man-made waterfall splashing over fake Styrofoam rocks, Frank Davis would have been a speckled trout out of water – a Ninth Warder with a bridge to nowhere.

St. Peter Catholic School Cheerleaders attended the LHSAA State Cheerleading Championship in Lake Charles and placed first in the state in the Large Junior High Division. Pictured are (back row) Robyn St. Cyr, Caitlin Gonzalez, Amber Condon, Ella Moll, Catherine Chuter, Landry Rase, Tayler Cangelosi, Landen Bourgeois, Kaitlyn Raykiewicz, Bailey Ho, (middle row) Isabella Pflug, Mary Ella White, Catherine Montour, Lauren Riecke, Caroline Beach, Natalia Magaletta, Elizabeth Ham, Sarah Foy, Emma Knobloch, Katie Nolan, (front row) Co-Captain Dani Urrata, Captain Malorie Graffeo, Captain Hannah Cole, and Co-Captain Anna Ruth Mayronne.

Photo | COURTESY BARBERITO PHOTOGRAPHERS St. Mary’s Dominican High School held its Neat-N-Sweet Dance Dec. 7 at the Lakefront Airport Terminal Building at the Lakefront. Named to the court were, left to right: Shea Moreau, Ranielle Emnace, Lauren Rando, Queen Emily Ross, Senea Diaz, Alexis Dees and Stephanie Clavin.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Pope Francis joined church and government leaders from around the world in crediting Nelson Mandela for a steadfast commitment to promoting human rights and upholding the dignity of all people in response to the death Dec. 5 of the former president of South Africa.

Deadline: Submissions due Thursday (10 days before each issue) calendar@clarionherald.org (504) area code unless noted Dec. 14-21 EVENTS CAJUN COFFEE PAWTY, Dec. 14, 1-4 p.m., free food, drink, Cajun music, door prizes, cooking demonstration.

Al clero, religiosos y laicos de la Arquidiócesis de Nueva Orleáns Queridos hermanos y hermanas en Cristo, Al comenzar la temporada de Adviento, pido que la bendición de Dios, no sólo sirva para prepararnos para celebrar el nacimiento de Jesús en Navidad, pero también, para tomar conciencia de la “Venida del Señor” en nuestra vida diaria.

➤ Age: 26 ➤ Seminary/Formation Year: Legionaries of Christ/7th year of formation ➤ Home Parish: St. Margaret Mary, Slidell ➤ Elementary School: Bayou Woods ➤ High School: Slidell High School ➤ College: Louisiana State University for one year ➤ Confirmation saint: St. Casimir ➤ Why did you choose this saint?

There’s no place like home for the holidays.” Each year, we hear the familiar Christmas songs and receive cards with phrases revolving around the idea of home during this season. Hopefully, memories of family activities spring to our minds in anticipation of the season.

An all-girls’ team competing in robotics? Oh yeah! St. Mary’s Dominican High School started its first robotics team this year with only five eighth-grade students. When we first started we had no idea it would be such a huge success.

The NFL is a one-week league, and, for that, Saints fans can be happy. Six days after routing the Saints in Seattle, the Seahawks looked pedestrian on offense in a loss at San Francisco. Russell Wilson wasn’t the same quarterback he was against New Orleans.

Having separate football playoffs for schools deemed Select and Non-select by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association had one positive effect. It opened the door for new schools to compete for championships.

CYO Director John Smestad looked at the Allstate Sugar Bowl-sponsored Classic program, then turned to me and said, “You can’t say we’re not diverse.” This year’s 60th prep basketball classic, the longest continuously running tournament of its kind in the Louisiana, did indeed have a diverse array of competing schools.

The 32nd Annual Johannes Hofinger Conference for parish and school religious educators, based on the theme “Generations of Saints – Open the Door of Faith,” will be held Jan. 9-11, 2014, at the Pontchartrain Center, 4545 Williams Blvd., in Kenner.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of 13 candidates, including the “father of Puerto Rican public education” and the Canadian founder of a religious order dedicated to helping unwed mothers.

With his resurrection, Jesus opened the doors for all those who believe in him to be risen and united with him in heaven, Pope Francis said. The anticipation of eternal life “is the source and reason of our hope, a hope that, if cultivated and safeguarded, becomes the light to illuminate our own lives” and those around us, he said during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square Dec. 4.

School Sister of Notre Dame Ann Roddy died Nov. 2 at St. Mary of the Pines in Chatawa, Miss. She was 76 and had served for 57 years in religious life. A native of St. Louis, Sister Ann was received into the congregation and professed her vows as Sister Mary Kevin in 1956.

A Memorial Mass for Daughter of Charity Sister Estelle Laiche will be celebrated Jan. 11 at 11 a.m. at Our Lady of Wisdom, 5600 General De Gaulle Drive, New Orleans. A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Estelle was celebrated Nov. 19 at the Seton Residence Chapel in Evansville, Ind.

In order to provide pastoral care for the people of God in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Archbishop Aymond has made the following appointments: PASTOR

Father Roel Lungay has been shaken to his foundations before, but the pastor of St. Genevieve Parish in Slidell – who was back home in the Philippines to visit relatives and search for a kidney donation that could save his life – could not believe what he was seeing and feeling.