After running in the shadow of his St. Paul’s teammate, Scott Brewster, for most of the 2012 track and field season, Zachary Albright has emerged as one of the state’s premier distance runners. After finishing third in the 1,600-meter run at the 2012 state meet, Albright put in the time and training to make him the runner to beat in the 800- and 1,600-meter events.

Brother Martin, Archbishop Shaw and Holy Cross have all won baseball championships in their respective districts. Next year these three deserving champs will vie for one common title when they once again unite in the Catholic League.

Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans will lead a coalition that will help up to 1,225 people still struggling to rebuild their homes and lives after the damage caused by Hurricane Isaac. Catholic Charities (CCANO) was selected by the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services to administer an $8 million dollar grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond will celebrate the annual Jubilarian Mass April 28 at St. Rita Church, New Orleans, at 3 p.m. for 52 archdiocesan priests and religious priests and sisters celebrating anniversaries of ordination or religious commitment.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) –Pope Francis reaffirmed the Vatican’s call for reform of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Archbishop Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the U.S.-based nuns’ group that he had “recently discussed the doctrinal assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the assessment and the program of reform for this conference of major superiors.” The doctrinal congregation met April 15 with the LCWR leadership and Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who had been assigned by the Vatican to oversee the reform of the pontifically recognized leadership group.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Amid rising concerns about corruption and mismanagement in the central administration of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis named an international panel of cardinals to advise him on the latest reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.

When one reflects on the many ways Christ invited his disciples to be his hands and feet, the call to visit the imprisoned might provoke some discomfort. But through the archdiocese’s growing prison ministry, responding to Christ’s invitation is easier than ever, said John Messenheimer, the archdiocese’s prison ministry coordinator since October.

Mary Desforges Engler was at an “emotional low point” in her life in 2008 when her sister, who is married to an Englishman, called to invite her to travel to England to attend the birthday of her husband’s 100-year-old mother.

What are your thoughts on a federal judge’s decision in New York to allow the over-the-counter sale of the Plan B “morning after” pill to children of any age? In many ways, I was shocked and surprised, but I guess when I think about it, I should not have been shocked and surprised given what some of the courts are doing now and some of the values that are being promoted in the United States.

463 students at Academy of Our Lady high school completed volunteer service projects at 10 different sites during its fifth annual service week to promote solidarity between the students and the community in which they live.

“The community along this river doesn’t need a special reason to celebrate,” said Our Lady of Holy Cross College Board of Regents chairman Deacon Larry Oney.

On a crystal clear day, Archbishop Gregory Aymond took the stage April 12 at Jackson Square and prayed for the success of the French Quarter Festival. He also blessed jazz clarinetist Tim Laughlin, far right.

What child doesn’t like swashbuckling adventure stories with a hero that conquers evil? Nick Noonan, 13, a Holy Cross eighth grader, was so drawn to these types of storylines that it inspired him to pen a trilogy of his own, “The Adventures of Charles Schenck.” “He’s always enjoyed writing,” his mother Raechel Schenck said.

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

On Good Shepherd Sunday – celebrated the weekend of April 20-21 – Catholics in the Archdiocese of New Orleans will have a chance to display their gratitude for the many years of devoted ministry of their diocesan priests by making financial contributions to the Retirement Collection for Diocesan Priests.

James B. Sheeran, an Irish immigrant, was a teacher at a Redemptorist school in Michigan in 1849 when his wife died, making him a single father to two young children. In those days, there weren’t many options for a single dad other than remarriage or placing his children in an orphanage to be reared.

“Is it any wonder that so many of us feel lost, depressed and discouraged by life?” Janice Carbon, a licensed Catholic psychotherapist counselor, asks in her new book, “Fully Alive.” “Our culture has descended into such narcissism being promoted in celebrity culture,” Carbon said.

Dead Man Walking WHAT: Play based on  St. Joseph Sister Helen Prejean’s book “Dead Man Walking.” WHEN: April 26, 27, May 4, 7:30 p.m.; May 5, 2:30 p.m. TICKETS: $8 adults; $5 students. INFO: dionysians@brothermartin.com The cast of Brother Martin High School’s “Dead Man Walking” glimpsed the reality of the death penalty April 1 while touring Angola State Penitentiary prior to their production April 26-27 and May 4-5.

They heard the Latin words “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” (“For the Greater Glory of God”) or saw the abbreviation AMDG throughout their high school years at Jesuit High School in New Orleans. For some, the motto of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), who founded and run the New Orleans high school, stuck.

Plenty of teenagers and young adults attended the Southern Regional Conference of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal April 5-7 at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner. Reaching out to young Catholics has been a focal point of recent conferences.