SPAGHETTI DINNER, St. Ann’s Msgr. Charles Duke Knights of Columbus Council, Aug. 18, 5-8 p.m. to benefit St. Michael’s Special School. $10 donation includes homemade meal of spaghetti with meatballs, vegetable, tossed salad, bread. Dine in or take out. Cafeteria, 4940 Meadowdale St., Metairie. www.kc3463.org/

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ: It is important that we as a church – the people of God – pray for those in leadership that they will be people of integrity and faithful to the promises they have made to Christ and to the church.

Dear Clergy, Religious, and Laity of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, During our general assembly in June, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops revised the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.  I ask that each of us, in our service to the children and youth of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, continue our deep commitment to provide safe environments for all of the minors under our pastoral care.

The U.S. bishops as “are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops” that have led to sexual abuse and caused great harm to many, said an Aug. 14 statement from the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chairman of its child protection committee.

Every Monday morning for the past 30 years, members of the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker community in Washington, D.C. have been making their way across the Potomac River to pray and nonviolently witness for peace in front of the most symbolic war planning, war-making headquarters on earth: the Pentagon.

WASHINGTON (CNS) –Denise Ssettimba just began her brief presentation to an aide to Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, on the need to maintain U.S. funding for global anti-hunger efforts when two congressional dining staffers with food carts in tow asked to squeeze by in a busy hallway in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Yvette Fouchi remembers sitting in the chapel at Notre Dame Seminary and feeling “terrified” she had bitten off more than she could chew. At the encouragement of her daughter and a priest friend, she had enrolled in the seminary’s graduate-level program designed to help the laity explore and deepen their faith while developing their practical skills as leaders in ministry.

May 8 marked a significant moment in the history of Pope John Paul II High School in Slidell. At the school’s 39th annual graduation ceremony, nine of its 62 graduates – a record number – were children of PJP alumni.

As schools begin to open their doors for the 2018-19 session, sports officials from all corners of the state have spent the last week preparing for their roles as facilitators of the games and stewards of the rules.

The purpose of Catholic education is to provide each student with a unique encounter with Christ by means of his or her formal schooling. Catholic education has the obligation to balance faith and reason by developing the whole child: mind, body and soul. Through this formation, Catholic education not only seeks to yield productive citizens of society but also, more importantly, to form faithful and merciful servants of the church.

It was the last hurrah before the start of the football season. My wife Robin and I headed to Europe, a sojourn we had planned for a few years. Rob likes to cruise, meet new friends, check out some history, and she says she even likes spending time with me. Go figure.

“From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans, white with foam.” I’ve known the lyrics from a young age, having sung them in music classes. I’ve seen the pictures accompanying American history textbooks of golden lands, rolling hills, and majestic mountains. 

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Pope John Paul II made a three-day visit to New Orleans, Sept. 11-13, 1987, marking the only time New Orleans has received a papal visit. The pope left St. Louis Cathedral to travel down Decatur Street with Archbishop Philip Hannan for a youth rally at the Superdome.

Benedictine Brother Leo Franca, left, greets Benedictine Abbot Justin Brown after taking solemn vows July 11 at St. Joseph Abbey. Brother Leo grew up in Brazil and received his bachelor’s degree in physical therapy at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil. During a trip with friends, he visited St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, Alabama, where the tranquility of the monks hit home and the idea of becoming a monk himself started to grow in him.

While the ministry of the deacon has changed in the Catholic Church’s history, Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin said deacons today are a sign of what Christians are called to be in their service of God and neighbor. 

“Everyone has someone they know with special learning needs,” said Kirsch J. Wilberg, principal of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Belle Chasse.

On Nov. 22, 1963, a few months into Sister Dominic Savio Estorge’s inaugural year of teaching freshman English at St. Mary’s Dominican High, a heart-stopping report came over the P.A. from school principal Sister Mary Damian Cazale: President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.

The Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School, founded in 2001 by the late Jesuit Father Harry Tompson to provide a Catholic education to New Orleans’ most underserved children, will welcome nearly 300 students to its new and expanded Gentilly campus Aug. 21.

They stood out because they stood together, employing the wisdom of young parents, in the back of a hotel ballroom packed with 2,800 permanent deacons, their wives and children.