Let’s try to shed some positive light on the separate playoff system that is just weeks away from becoming a grim reality when the high school basketball season comes to an end. For the boys’ teams that make it as far as the select Division I semifinal round of competition, they won’t have to worry about facing 2016 Class 5A champion Natchitoches Central with a current 16-3 record; nor will they think about taking on runner-up Ouachita and its 14-5 success rate.

Tulane athletics has started the new year with a missed opportunity. And, it was a big miss. On the first Friday of the new year, former baseball coach Rick Jones was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Anaheim, California.

As the end of an old year fades and the beginning of a new one dawns, we often hear people complain about the terrible year they had and turn their hope to the next one. This year, the complaints for 2016 have been overwhelming.

For many years, Jesuit Father Edwin Gros, the pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Church, has had a strong personal devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe, always depicted with a sash tied around her waist – a sign that she is pregnant.

Lee Bretzel, a retired barber and hairdresser, is 70 and has an affinity for St. Michael the Archangel, the angel among angels, whose job it is to battle Satan wherever he exists. That’s a tall order for a man who knows his exact place in the ecclesial pecking order – someone standing in the need of prayer.

El Día de Martin Luther King, es este próximo lunes, 16 de enero, cuando cientos de estudiantes de las escuelas secundarias Católicas y grupos juveniles parroquiales, se reúnen para un día de trabajo voluntario.

Overcoming obstacles is nothing new to Dr. Ansel Augustine. He was homeless after Hurricane Katrina, and he has a brother serving time at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. But the nurturing he received from a nun and a priest led Augustine to know the Catholic faith and how God uses broken people to accomplish great things.

Martin Luther King Day is coming up on Monday, Jan. 16, which is when hundreds of students from Catholic high schools and parish youth groups father for a day of volunteer work. What makes that effort special to you?

The idea behind the new Phyllis M. Taylor Maker Lab at Mount Carmel Academy is to plant a seed so young, high school women can become the thinkers, collaborators and leaders of tomorrow. The all-girls’ high school developed the lab following the concept of  STREAM (Science Technology Religion Engineering Arts and Mathematics).

Merry Christmas from our students! The Council of Catholic School Cooperative Clubs sponsors the annual Keep Christ in Christmas poster, essay and poetry contest. The Office of Catholic Schools selected winners in three divisions: grades 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12.

This is the final Clarion Herald issue of 2016. Publication will resume on Jan. 14, 2017. Email info to calendar@clarionherald.org by Jan. 5. Dec. 24-Jan. 15, 2017 EVENTS ST. JOSEPH ABBEY CHURCH, 75376 River Road, Covington, Christmas Eve Mass, Dec. 24, 11 p.m. (doors open at 10:30 p.m.) Christmas Day Masses: 7:30 and 11 a.m. Visit www.saintjosephabbey.com/prayer-schedule .

¿Puede darnos sus ideas de este año, sobre la campaña de donaciones en línea de: iGiveCatholic, que fue aún más exitosa que la del año pasado? Me pareció que iba muy bien, lo que demuestra, es cómo la gente está llena de fe y es generosa.

No, we won’t have a white Christmas, but that doesn’t mean we can’t dream about one. Loyola University held its annual Sneaux evening to give New Orleans children a taste of the cold, white stuff.

They are New Orleans Christmas traditions: Mr. Bingle and rumors involving the coaching future of Sean Payton. Where is Payton supposedly headed next? The Rams? Really? I have a hard time believing Payton would rather work for Stan Kroenke than for Tom and Gayle Benson.

As the pre-district schedule nears an end, high school basketball teams are building power points for the select school playoffs. Above, St. Paul’s Chandler Owenby shoots over Brother Martin’s Vejon Wallis (13) while T.J. Small (35) attacks from the side.

If you want “interesting” reading for your library, the Louisiana High School Athletic Association has published 34 pages of items that will be up for a vote at its annual meeting on Jan. 27. The proposals are not as bizarre and anti-private school in nature as they have been over the past three conventions.

Samantha Schott was inspired by the way her former boss would seamlessly and wholeheartedly integrate his Catholic faith into the workplace, even in the pressure-cooker environment of a courthouse. “Every day he was living his life the way God wants us to live – just determined to help people and share God’s love.

The Gulf Coast Faith Formation Conference Jan. 12-14 at the Pontchartrain Center in Kenner will have a distinctly local and regional flavor for the more than 1,000 parish and school catechists, religion teachers, religious and clergy who attend, said Dr. Alice Hughes, executive director of the Office of Religious Education (ORE) for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Christmas is a time to open your heart to the little and wondrous things found in baby Jesus – born poor and defenseless so he could be near and bring hope to everyone, Pope Francis said. “The most beautiful joy of Christmas is that inner joy of peace: the Lord wiped away my sins, the Lord has forgiven me, the Lord had mercy on me, he came to save me.

For the last 12 years under the leadership of federal judge Jay Zainey and his wife Joy, the Archdiocese of New Orleans has celebrated a monthly Mass for children and adults with special needs. The group, called God’s Special Children, has gathered regularly on the first Sunday afternoon of the month at St. Francis Xavier Church in Metairie.