The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the be-all and the end-all of the Christian faith. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, all bishops, priests and Christian ministers should go home and get honest jobs, and all the Christian faithful should leave their churches immediately.

At The Catholic Foundation, we are blessed to have volunteer board and committee members who are experts in their fields. One of our committee members recently shared a meaningful quote by Ethel Percy Andrus, the foundress of AARP: “What I spent is gone; what I kept, I lost; but what I gave away will be mine forever.” This quote reminds us that every act of Christian charity is a spiritual enrichment for the helper as well as the receiver of material aid.

What follows is a fascinating conversation (actually, more of a monologue) with Esther Ruth Bell, who for the last 50 years has been a member of Holy Ghost (St. Katharine Drexel Parish) Church on Louisiana Avenue, caring for the priests’ vestments and altar server’ albs and tending to the flowers at the foot of the Blessed Mother statue outside the church.

For someone who passed the baton to Hank Lauricella when they co-captained the Holy Cross High School track team in 1948 and who as a 70-year-old federal marshal ran two laps around Audubon Park as a protective shield for the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Roland P. Fournier admits he’s slowing down just a little bit these days.

The Clarion Herald asked Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana what seniors should be aware of as they evaluate their health care options. John Maginnis, vice president of corporate communications, provided the following information: What are the different parts of Medicare?

The Clarion Herald asked Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana what seniors should be aware of as they evaluate their health care options. John Maginnis, vice president of corporate communications, provided the following information: What are the different parts of Medicare?

Jean and Janice Charbonnet of Mandeville have been married for 16 years and have five children, ranging in age from 2 to 15. They made the following presentation to the International Catholic Engaged Encounter Conference in New Orleans in August.

For more information on the dates and times of specific marriage preparation programs, call the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Family Life Apostolate, (504) 861-6243. MENTOR COUPLE PROGRAM For Whom the Program is Directed: Any couple coming to the church for marriage (first time, remarried after an annulment or seeking validation of civil marriage); cost varies.

The following information is the latest available information for church weddings at various parishes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans as of September 29, 2016. Contact the parishes to schedule wedding dates and for policies.

Dominican Father Sergio Serrano, a native of Colombia and the director of the archdiocesan Hispanic Apostolate, has witnessed more than 80 weddings since his ordination in 2007. There are many unique cultural traditions incorporated into the marriage liturgy for a Hispanic couple, and young couples getting married are eager to keep those cultural ties strong.

What are the keys to a successful marriage? Dr. Paul “Buddy” Ceasar and Darryl Ducote gave a presentation on the topic Aug. 26 at the International Catholic Engaged Encounter Convention in New Orleans.

When Stephanie Calis was getting married five years ago, she found few resources to help her plan a Catholic wedding. She knew other Catholic couples were having the same dilemma. Fast-forward five years, and Calis is now author of “Invited: The Ultimate Catholic Wedding Planner,” published by Pauline Books and Media and made available on April 1.

A culinary icon with an exuberant personality who freely shared his love of Louisiana Cajun and Creole cooking internationally; an intrepid explorer of new cuisine and cooking techniques. That was chef Paul Prudhomme.

Members of Stacy Savoie’s extended family literally come running for her creamy and delicious field peas. Seasoned with pickle meat, cooked down in a dark roux with the chopped “Holy Trinity” of vegetables and served over rice, Savoie contends that the modest legume holds its own against its more famous cousins: the red bean and the white bean.

Although Martha Alexander isn’t from Louisiana – she was born one of 13 children in Alabama – she was accustomed to southern cooking in her youth. Over the years, she’s learned to make a mean gumbo as well as red beans and rice with baked sausage on the side.

Lisa Bowman has never met a bell pepper she didn’t like. So when Bowman, a cafeteria cook at St. Andrew the Apostle School in Algiers, noticed the vegetable wasn’t included in the standard recipe for lasagna used by School Food and Nutrition Services of New Orleans, she asked permission to add it.

As a young mother, Cheryl Gaillot would always give her toddler son Chip an empty aluminum pot and a big wooden spoon so he could “pretend-cook” alongside her. The game proved to be time well spent. “My son, to this day, can cook, and sometimes he’s a better cook than I am!” said Gaillot, 52, a cafeteria food technician St. Anthony School in Gretna and a 20-year veteran of School Food and Nutrition Services, which prepares meals for 82 Catholic and non-Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Given that he now stands at a towering six feet, three inches, it’s hard to imagine Father Kenneth Allen being too short to reach the stove. Yet the pastor of St. Jane de Chantal in Abita Springs clearly remembers that height was one of the reasons he was a kitchen spectator through about age 9 – the year he learned how to make his grandmother’s French toast.

Raising money for Our Lady of Divine Providence Parish and School is what publishing six cookbooks in five decades has accomplished. The Parents Club was responsible for the first four, and the parish organized the last two anniversary editions, said cookbook organizer Bonnie McGuinness.

CATHOLIC ELEMENTARY/ MIDDLE SCHOOL DAY CAMPS (operated by individual schools or church parishes) (504) area code unless noted IN NEW ORLEANS ➤ CHRISTIAN BROTHERS Boys and girls entering grades 3-7. Session I: June 6-17; Session II: June 20-July 1: Session III: July 5-15.