If every Catholic understood the Mass as well as Dr. Scott Hahn, the liturgy might no longer feel, to some, like an obligation but like an invitation to share Jesus and his love for all.

Feb. 9-May 7 EVENTS: END HUMAN TRAFFICKING NOVENA, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is asking everyone to participate in this novena Feb. 9-17. For daily email reminders to pray along, please visit https://nolacatholic.org/novena-to-end-human-trafficking. As a corporal work of mercy, one can also help the Free Indeed Home (safe house for girls ages 12-17 who have been victims of sex trafficking) with the items on their current wish list, which include a vacuum cleaner, hair dryers, copy paper, bike helmets, Walmart, Rouses and Winn Dixie gift cards, light bulbs (especially ceiling insert bulbs), garbage bags, brooms, mops.

 I get it when people tell us to just get over it. That’s normally a therapeutic suggestion. Holding onto anger – like tightly clenching shards of glass in a balled fist – can become much more than a flesh wound to the soul.

“… This is not a childhood story. This is the story of God. This is the story of how we’ve come to know God in his written word,” Father James Wehner, rector-president of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, said Jan. 29 at the onset of a 100-hour, outdoor Bible-reading on the seminary’s front lawn. 

Deacon Daniel Flynn, a permanent deacon at St. Rita Church in Harahan, paid a special visit to first graders class at Stuart Hall School for Boys. Deacon Danny, the grandfather of Stuart Hall first grader Paxton Flynn, spoke to the children about what it means to be part of the clergy, the preparation involved in becoming a deacon and told them about his 1991 ordination to the diaconate.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond, Clarion Herald Commentary You have spoken often about human trafficking being a pro-life issue. Could you explain why that is? Human trafficking is an affront to human dignity. It is a modern form of slavery. It is an economically motivated crime in which a victim – through force, fraud or coercion – is compelled to engage in commercial sex acts or labor.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond didn’t have to reach to catch the attention of the hundreds of students who gathered in St. Catherine of Siena Church in Metairie Feb. 1 for the annual Catholic Schools Week Mass.

Usted, ha hablado a menudo sobre la trata de personas como un problema pro-vida. ¿Podría explicar por qué es eso? La trata de personas es una afrenta a la dignidad humana. Es una forma moderna de esclavitud. Es un delito con motivación económica en el que una víctima, a través de la fuerza, el fraude o la coacción, se ve obligada a participar en actos sexuales o laborales comerciales. Los informes gubernamentales indican que hay entre 14,500 y 17,500 personas en los Estados Unidos, que son objeto de tráfico cada año.

Social media are anti-social, anti-human and anti-Christian when they are used to increase differences, fuel suspicion, spread lies and vent prejudice, Pope Francis said in his message for World Communications Day.

Before we go any further, some full disclosure. I will watch Super Bowl LIII. It is my job, and even if it wasn’t, I would still watch. Let’s quickly, while we are at it, address a few items regarding the infamous no-call of pass interference in the NFC Championship Game.

Carmelite Father Eduardo Scarel, a Catholic priest and atmospheric scientist, will speak on “Environmental Justice as Seen through the Lens of Laudato Si,” Feb. 12, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Notre Dame Seminary’s Schulte Auditorium, 2901 South Carrollton Ave.

Feb. 3-17 EVENTS: GOD’S SPECIAL CHILDREN, Families and Friends, next Mass Feb. 3, 2 p.m., St. Francis Xavier Church, 444 Metairie Road.

And so the chasm that has separated public from non-public high school athletics grew even deeper on Jan. 25 when a majority of nearly 400 principals voted to allow select schools to take charge of their championship playoff games in four sports.

The 2019 March for Life trip was a life-changing experience that opened my eyes to God’s love for all. It was eye-opening to see so many marching and chanting to raise awareness of the importance of all human life. 

At 24 weeks, a baby is the size of a cantaloupe and weighs just over one pound. The baby’s face is almost fully formed, and your baby can hear your voice. That’s right. At 24 weeks, your baby can distinguish between different voices and sounds. 

You may know this story as it occurred in Baltimore when Pope St. John Paul II visited in October 1995. I was surprised to learn of it 20 years later. Because I was so touched by it and have often recalled it, I was compelled to share it, wondering who might have heard it before. It is included in “100 Eucharistic Miracles,” book by Vincentian Father Anthony Netikat, a former priest at St. Joseph Church on Tulane Avenue, and has the imprimatur of the Ethiopian Catholic Church, Apostolic Vicariate of Nekemte.

On Jan. 22, 1973, the Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, changed America forever with its landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which  legalized abortion.  Every year since then, hundreds of thousands have gathered in Washington, D.C., to protest the decision by “Marching for Life.” This march is an important way to keep alive the cause for life  in the U.S. because it  fights for all women who are reluctant to keep their unborn child.