By Christine Bordelon With the opening of new restaurants a constant in New Orleans, the Academy of Our Lady (AOL) is staying ahead of the curve to prepare students for careers in the culinary arts through its ProStart certification.

By Peter Finney Jr. S chool Sister of Notre Dame Elizabeth Newman was just a few years older than Glenn Gennaro when they met for the first time in 1971 as teachers at Redemptorist High School in the Irish Channel.

By Christine Bordelon “What name do you give your child?” asked Father Luis Rodriguez June 17 to new parents Jenna Bullard Bird and Geoffrey Bird. “Kathleen Olivia,” they said. “What sacrament do you want for your child?” Father Rodriguez asked.

By Jean Gonzalez Catholic News Service ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) – United by the words of the prophet of social justice, Catholic Church leaders urged black Catholics to become active, just disciples of Christ.

By Christine Bordelon The celebration of Mass June 17 at St. Joseph the Worker Church in Marrero was also the setting for the commissioning of parishioner Dr. RaeNell Houston as the new superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

If someone’s house was on fire would you pour gasoline on it? Well the answer is obvious: Of course you wouldn’t. Yet that is very similar to what the United States and many other more economically developed nations are doing.

In spite of their stage-closing role as part of the St. Mary’s Dominican Sisters’ 157-year history in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, there were more smiles and memories than tears in front of stately Founders Hall at 580 Broadway St. June 28.

For the past few summers, I’ve been most grateful for the opportunities I’ve had to travel and complete research in the archives. When I first started my archival research, I imagined old, dusty corners of the library filled with fragile paper, enhanced by the smell of old books.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond blessed and dedicated the beautiful chapel at St. Anthony’s Gardens in Covington on June 29, the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul. Concelebrating with him were Father Rodney Bourg, pastor of Most Holy Trinity in Covington; Deacon Charles Swift, chaplain of the new chapel; and seminarian Will MacMaster.

The daily lives of women religious from seven congregations have been highlighted in a seven-part series called “Sisterhood” that debuted June 4 and continues on Sundays through July 16. The project, a collaboration between Loyola Institute for Ministry (LIM) and Salt+Light Television, creates an awareness of the wonderful works of women religious in the United States, Asia and Africa.

The 20-year-old Sisters of Mercy ministry devoted to keeping Lower Garden District and Irish Channel seniors active, healthy and in contact with their peers has a modern new hub located a block from the Tchoupitoulas Street corridor.

Gary Hymel, a newspaperman at heart, has a keen sense of the importance of using the right word instead of its second cousin. Hymel attended Loyola University New Orleans in the early 1950s, and the Wolfpack’s fight song, played by the band at basketball games in the old Fieldhouse on Freret Street, began with the exhortation: “Fight, fight, fight, you men of the South!” Anyone who knows Hymel, 84, and his wife Winky, who reared eight children in what recently has been characterized as “the swamp” of Washington, D.C., would find those words ironic.

Sometimes, the uniquely human ability to create art announces itself in the most unexpected places. At the Rebuild Center, a Catholic collaborative nestled next to St. Joseph Church in New Orleans, courtyard walls are decked with drawings and paintings made by the homeless and hungry who come seeking the center’s vital daytime services.

Summer deadline (We’re biweekly): 10 days before each issue. calendar@clarionherald.org (504) area code unless noted July 8-30 EVENTS RESPECT LIFE, monthly gathering, July 11, 6 p.m., Our Lady of the Lake, 312 Lafitte St., Mandeville.

Deacon Paul Mumme, who was ordained as a permanent deacon in 1991, died June 25 at the age of 80. Deacon Mumme, who is survived by his wife of almost 60 years, Elizabeth Howley Mumme, served for many years at St. Genevieve Parish in Slidell.

St. Charles Catholic High School in LaPlace recently celebrated religious brothers’ day by extending a special thank you to Franciscan Brother Gerald Hopeck, who is on the faculty. Brother Gerald teaches both ninth- and 10th-grade religion and conducts the liturgical choir for the school Masses.

Jesuit High School teachers Tim Powers and Dan DiRosa received the school’s 2017 Profile of a Jesuit Teacher Award. DiRosa is a 1981 Jesuit graduate and has been social studies department head, Student Council moderator and Quiz Bowl assistant coach.

Please, whatever you do, don’t tell my wife. Don’t tell my wife that I spent two wonderful weeks in Omaha. Don’t tell Robin that even though I missed her terribly, I was having a blast hanging out in the southeast corner of Nebraska.

Tropical Storm Cindy may have postponed the annual Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame celebrity golf tournament, but the three-day deluge did little to spoil the 58th inductions of eight former athletes and coaches.

From 1951, its first year as a Catholic high school in New Orleans, through the mid-1960s, St. Augustine excelled in three major varsity sports: football, basketball and track and field. But the school, opened under the administration of New Orleans Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel, was relegated to competing in the Louisiana Interscholastic Athletic and Literary Organization during the closing era of segregation.