A few weeks ago, I sat in the pew listening to a pre-Lenten homily. My mind immediately asked the familiar question: What am I giving up this year? As I was mentally running through the list of my usual Lenten promises, the priest seemed to divine my thoughts. Why do we give up the same things each Lent? Usually, I refrain from eating in between meals: no snacks, just three meals per day. At first, it’s difficult. Like any dietary change, the first few weeks are constant reminders of what my body is going without.

The following parishes, schools and entities of the Archdiocese of New Orleans will host St. Joseph Altars: ACADEMY OF THE SACRED HEART, 4301 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans (Nims Fine Arts Center): Open to the public 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., with blessing and recitation of the rosary at 11 a.m. Meals served 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. ANNUNCIATION, Bogalusa: B and C Hall, 139 Cumberland St., sponsored by the Bogalusa Italian-American Cultural Society. Open to the public March 16-17. March 16, altar opens at 6:30 p.m. with blessing of altar at 7 p.m. March 17, altar opens at 10 a.m. with recitation of the rosary followed by feeding of the saints. Pasta Milanese meal from noon to 2 p.m., when altar closes.

The Hispanic Apostolate in Metairie, founded in 1972, held an open house Feb. 28. Dominican Father Sergio Serrano, director, detailed the pastoral and community services that it currently offers: an annual gala (June 22) that raises scholarship money for Hispanic children to attend Catholic school; an annual pilgrimage; lay spiritual formation classes through the Southeast Pastoral Institute (SEPI); retreats for all ages; a radio show hosted by Father Serrano on 105.7 FM; a music ministry called Ministerio Musico; four priests on staff; quarterly meetings for priests who serve in Spanish-speaking parishes;  Charismatic Renewal in Spanish; daily Mass and confession; Marian feast day Masses; monthly praise and worship led by lay people; Bible and marriage preparation classes; a food pantry; backpack giveaways filled with school supplies; Zumba classes; and a gym. Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans also offers immigration and refugee services, English as Second Language classes and more.

When Keith Haywood said having played for a girls’ basketball championship last week was the shot of adrenalin his St. Mary’s Academy program badly needed, he was also speaking for his counterpart at St. Katharine Drexel Prep, Terry Wilson. St. Mary’s last state championship came in 1998 during an era in which Haywood’s Cougars were queens of the local high school basketball court. That ended in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Parents, the heat is on! Summer camp planning is here! A Clarion Herald 16-page pullout section.

A 6-by-4-foot wooden cross will be placed on the steps of the altar at St. Alphonsus Church on Good Friday (March 30) for veneration from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Friends of St. Alphonsus commissioned the cross last year for Good Friday, said board member Michael M. Davis. In previous years,  a smaller crucifix was laid on a table for veneration by those taking the nine-church walk on Good Friday.

When long-time friends and passionate Catholics Joycelyn Clementine and Earline Theophile spearheaded a St. Joseph Altar more than a quarter-century ago, they didn’t imagine that it would be around in 2018. “We used to go to different St. Joseph Altars in houses,” Theophile said.

On the outside, it  seemed benign: a custodial crew of Ukrainian immigrants earning a good living cleaning office buildings and big-box stores in Philadelphia. In actuality, these workers had been illegally smuggled into the United States by five Ukrainian brothers with promises of steady pay and dignified housing. Once lured to America, none of these rewards materialized; instead, workers were threatened with deportation or physical harm if they complained to authorities or tried to escape.

After Hurricane Katrina, many Catholics whose churches were flooded and never reopened had to wrestle with questions both emotional and spiritual: Yes, they realized that their devastated “church building” was not “the church,” because “the church,” as the documents of Vatican II insisted, was defined as “the people of God.” And yet, church buildings – those sacred spaces where many foundational life events took place – were far more than bricks and mortar, steel and stained glass.

Cemeteries in New Orleans going back to just after the city’s founding 300 years ago have carried clues about the society and the city’s living and health conditions, and they have played an important role in its history. When the French founded the city in 1718, burials occurred along the river bank, according to archdiocesan archivist Dr. Emilie Leumas. Four years later, when the new town was laid out by Adrien de Pauger in 1722, a cemetery was designated just beyond the edge of the settlement along St. Peter Street, between the streets now known as Burgundy and North Rampart. The city itself in those early years  extended only five blocks from the Mississippi River to Dauphine Street.

While some schools and students nationwide will participate in a walk-out against gun violence March 14, the Office of Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans has taken a different, more faith-filled response. All schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans have been asked to simultaneously hold 17 minutes of prayer – one minute for each victim of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida – March 14 at 10 a.m. The prayer dedication will begin with a rosary, followed by the archdiocesan prayer against violence, murder and racism –  a prayer that is recited aloud by Catholics at every Mass.

Grant Aasen’s playbook as a 145-pound sophomore running back at Starr’s Mill High School in Fayetteville, Georgia, did not include an “X” and “O” line drawing like this. Anyone who’s ever watched NFL Films can recall Vince Lombardi standing with a piece of white chalk at a green chalkboard, drawing two skinny, parallel lines on the perimeter of the offensive line to describe to his players the blocking intricacies that made the vaunted Green Bay Packers’ sweep virtually unstoppable.

For those of you looking for a football fix, you get it starting this week. LSU and Tulane both kick off spring practice. And, both face challenging 2018 schedules. The website www.southern pigskin.com says LSU has the ninth-toughest schedule of the 66 schools in Power 5 conferences. Only Texas A&M, at No. 6, has a tougher schedule in the Southeastern Conference. By the way, Alabama’s schedule checks in at No. 57.

En tres miércoles consecutivos de Cuaresma (los dos últimos son 14 y 21 de marzo), cada Iglesia en la Arquidiócesis de Nueva Orleáns ofrecerá confesión de 5 a 6:30 p.m. ¿Este esfuerzo pastoral ha sido bien recibido? Si, lo a sido. La gran mayoría de las parroquias informa que, muchas personas celebran el sacramento de la reconciliación en esos miércoles, y también, es una invitación para que aquellos que han estado lejos de la Iglesia, o no se han confesado, regresen, sabiendo que pueden ir a cualquier Iglesia en el archidiócesis para la confesión. No

God asks so little of people and yet, he gives so much in return, Pope Francis said. “He asks for our goodwill in daily life, he asks us for an open heart, he asks us to be willing to be better,” the pope said at his weekly general audience at the Vatican Feb. 28. Because of ice and unusual freezing temperatures in Rome, Pope Francis held the audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall. But the Vatican also opened St. Peter’s Basilica to accommodate the overflow. Giant screens were set up in the basilica so the people could follow the audience, and later the pope went to the basilica to greet and bless those inside.

EVENTS MASS FOR THE ELDERLY AND INFIRM, and those who serve them, March 11, 11 a.m., with Archbishop Gregory Aymond. St. Louis Cathedral.

In oak-friendly Covington, where leaves are good and chainsaws are bad, the horticultural metaphor Archbishop Gregory Aymond used March 4 in describing the 175th anniversary of St. Peter Parish aptly described the growth and the solid roots of the Catholic faith fostered by the first Catholic parish on the northshore. Established in 1843 by Bishop Antoine Blanc – who seven years later became the first archbishop of New Orleans – St. Peter now is home to 3,000 registered parishioners, 70 active ministries, a 774-student school, a perpetual, eucharistic adoration chapel open to adorers throughout the area and, with an eye to the future, lots of Catholic babies in strollers or in their parents’ arms.

On three consecutive Wednesdays of Lent (March 7, 14 and 21), every church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans will offer confession from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Has this pastoral effort been well received? It has. The vast majority of parishes report that many people celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation on those Wednesdays, and it’s also an invitation for those who have been away from the church or away from confession to come back, knowing that they can go to any church in the archdiocese for confession.

On Jan. 27, Ascension of Our Lord, Knights of Columbus Council 9623, held its Valentine's Dance in the Don Bosco Hall and gave away a vacation trip to one lucky attendee who enjoyed D.J. music, pastalaya and soft drinks. Jennifer Duhe was the main winner of the trip. The fundraiser allows the Knights of Columbus Council to continue its many ministries. Pictured, from left to right, is: deputy grand knight Larry Martinez, Duhe and grand knight Mike Abbate.

Please don’t think teenagers aren’t attuned to what’s happening in our nation. When asked about the mass shooting Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, 16 journalism students from Holy Rosary High School in New Orleans were informed and had much to say about how safe they consider their campus and what they might do if a similar incident happened at their school.