To look at Maureen Pratt is not to see the face of disability. For more than 20 years, Pratt, a Catholic writer, has suffered from lupus, an autoimmune disease that attacks the body’s organs and can make any day – nearly  every day – feel like the end of the world. But no one peering in from the outside would ever notice her pain.

Jamie Centner, who entered the Catholic Church last year at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Metairie, was a freshman at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999, when two teenagers, Columbine High School in Littletond, perpetrated a horrific mass shooting that killed 13 people and wounded more than 20.

I grew up as a Southern Baptist in Baton Rouge, and I attended Vacation Bible School in the summers. I spent every Sunday in church, and I considered myself a good Christian. Both of my parents are Protestants – my dad is from north Louisiana and my mom is from central Louisiana.

You’ve launched a major initiative to have Catholic high school students participate in a widespread effort to repeal the death penalty in Louisiana. Can you explain why? I am working with St. Joseph Sister Helen Prejean, who has devoted much of her religious life to advocating for the repeal of the death penalty.

Maybe it is only a coincidence. Within days, the following happened in SEC basketball: •LSU head coach Will Wade was reinstated. • Kentucky offered a lifetime contract to John Calipari.

CNS photo/Benoit Tessier, Reuters Flames and smoke billow from the Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire broke out in Paris April 15, 2019. Officials said the cause was not clear, but that the fire could be linked to renovation work. (CNS photo/Benoit Tessier, Reuters) See PARIS-NOTRE-DAME-FIRE April 15, 2019.

Twice state champion Archbishop Hannan and 2008 titlist St. Charles Catholic were scheduled to meet at Hannan April 20 in a match that will send the winner to Sulphur  for the Division II state semifinals on April 26.

Everyone is “in debt” to God, who offers his infinite love and graces for free, Pope Francis said. “We have received so much: our existence, a father and a mother, friendships, the wonders of creation,”  the pope said April 10 during his weekly general audience in a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square.

In New Orleans, we have a unique tradition of procession and pilgrimage on Good Friday in the Nine Churches walk. At least fourteen Catholic churches from uptown down to the central business district and the French Quarter open their doors to pilgrims who spend the day prayerfully fasting and physically joining our Lord on the via crucis—the Way of the Cross, the walk to Calvary.

When the Louisiana High School Athletic Association holds its annual convention in January, nearly one-third of the member principals will be “newbies.”

Three Marianites of Holy Cross will celebrate jubilees of 70 years of religious profession April 27 with a 10:30 a.m. Mass at St. Rita Church in New Orleans. The jubilarians are Sister Myra Banquer, Sister Clarita Bourque and Sister Mary Kelly.

He has risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! As we celebrate the great feast of Easter, we recall Jesus’ suffering and death, his bruised body laid in the tomb and how he was raised from the dead to share with the Father and the Holy Spirit the kingdom of heaven. This is a great feast for us. In fact, it is the most important feast in our Christian faith. Jesus’ resurrection teaches us that he has come to forgive our sins and to raise us to new life with God the Father. It also reminds us that he is the light of the world. This is very evident by the way in which we celebrate the Easter Vigil.

On March 19 — St. Joseph’s Day — students at St. Joan of Arc School in LaPlace re-enacted the Holy Family’s search for lodging in Bethlehem before sitting down for a meal at the foot of the parish’s St. Joseph Altar. Only after knocking on three doors — known as the “Tupa-Tupa” in Sicilian dialect — did the family find a willing innkeeper.

On April 12, students, faculty and staff  at St. Anthony School in Gretna conducted their second annual Peace Walk in their school neighborhood, intermittently stopping to pray and sing.

Since 2010, the archdiocese’s Missionary Childhood Association (MCA) Office has held a contest inviting local children in grades pre-kindergarten through 7 to submit original mission-related prayers and a corresponding artwork. The winning entries are turned into prayer cards used by the MCA throughout the year.

A specially commissioned artwork was recently displayed at four local schools (Archbishop Rummel, De La Salle, Christian Brothers and St. Paul in Covington) to mark the  300th anniversary of the death of St. John Baptist de La Salle, founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle Christian Brothers) and the patron saint of teachers.

April 19-May 16 DIVINE MERCY NOVENA, April 19, 2:30 p.m.; April 20, 7:30 p.m.; April 21, 10:30 a.m.; April 22-26, 6 p.m., April 27, 3:30 p.m. Feast of Divine Mercy, April 28, 3 p.m. St. Anthony Church, 2653 Jean Lafitte Blvd., Lafitte. 689-4106.

Years ago, I was invited to serve as a (very part-time) teacher in our parish “Children’s Liturgy” ministry. This was the given name for the mini exodus of kids ranging from age 4 to about 7 1/2 that takes place at the beginning of Mass.

Christian Brothers School (CBS) has been recognized as the only middle school in Louisiana and one of 148 middle schools nationwide to be named a “Distinguished School” for its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program.

So much for the rejuvenation of the fabled football rivalry between Jesuit and Warren Easton high schools. And you can place a period at the end of the brief series of games between Brother Martin and Easton as well.