I started volunteering as a “buddy” for the Miracle League of Greater New Orleans about three years ago when my sister Emily, who is autistic, had signed up to play baseball. All of the players are physically or mentally challenged, and the “buddies” are there to help them with batting, running the bases or any other way in which they need assistance.

A shameful legacy Abita Springs Peter Finney’s March 1 column, “(Edwin) Edward’s sad legacy of narcissism and greed,” was timely. Timely not only because he announced he was thinking about running for office, any office, again; I was also shocked.

In early February, while at a youth ministry meeting in Seattle, I received word that Dorothy Gereke had passed away at the age of 89. Dorothy was instrumental in co-founding “Teens Encounter Christ” with Father Matthew Fedewa in 1965 in the Diocese of Lansing, Mich.

Charles Dudley Warner, a friend of Mark Twain, once famously wrote: “Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” The abortion-rights corollary to that refrain comes from those who are convinced the pro-life community is focused on only one thing.

Wayne Wellmeier is a Catholic in more than religious affiliation. He answered God’s call in 2009 to do something more in his faith and founded, with Glen Vega and John Ryan, the Men of Christ. Already a member of the Men of MIR which promotes the Blessed Mother, Wellmeier said he and Vega had an inkling, while on a 2009 pilgrimage with Vega and the Sojourners to Medjugorje, that they deepen their faith even more.

Primer Domingo Cuaresma Marzo 9, 2014 Mat: 4: 1-11 Después de bautizado, Jesús va a hacer su primera w salvífica: derrotar a Satanás. El es el primer enemigo que debe ser vencido por Jesus, porque el fue el primero en destruir el plan de Dios en nosotros.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – From the moment Pope Francis, dressed simply in a white cassock, stepped out on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica for the first time and bowed, he signaled his pontificate would bring some style differences to the papacy.

Balancing the need to uphold Christ’s teaching about the permanence of marriage and the call for the church to show God’s mercy for those who have failed their marriage vows will be a major theme of discussion by the world’s bishops.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) –Pope Francis said bishops should act not like ambitious corporate executives, but humble evangelists and men of prayer, willing to sacrifice everything for their flocks. “We don’t need a manager, the CEO of a business, nor someone who shares our pettiness or low aspirations,” the pope said Feb. 27.

Never hesitate to call a priest to bless and anoint sick or elderly family members, Pope Francis said. Some people worry receiving the sacrament of the anointing of the sick “brings bad luck” and “the hearse will come next,” the pope said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Courageously follow Jesus in seeking out the poor and sinners, and in making difficult sacrifices in order to help and heal others, Pope Francis said. Christians are called to confront the material, spiritual and moral destitution of “our brothers and sisters, to touch it, to make it our own and to take practical steps to alleviate it,” the pope said in his first message for Lent, which began March 5 for Latin-rite Catholics.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran walked onto the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica – telling the crowds in Latin: “I announce to you a great joy. We have a pope!” – not many people recognized the name of then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis’ most frequent advice and exhortation to Catholics – from laypeople in parishes to bishops and cardinals – is “Go forth.” In Italian, the phrase is even snappier: “Avanti.” As the world’s cardinals gathered at the Vatican in early March 2013 to discuss the needs of the church before they entered the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, “avanti” was at the heart of a speech by then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ: On Wednesday, we began our 40-day Lenten journey leading to our celebration of the death and resurrection of Christ. During this season of Lent, the Church calls us to look honestly at our actions and attitudes to see the ways in which we are not faithful in living our Christian vocation.

Talk to Judy Landrieu Klein for five minutes, and a “God” story will have been mentioned in the conversation. “I don’t have a story that doesn’t involve a God story,” she said. “I think I have had an inordinate amount of miracles in my life along with an inordinate amount of suffering.”