The finality of the word “goodbye” has always saddened me. I’ve said it too many times in my life. I did it again last week, with a tear in my eye, when I looked down on the body of the great Otis Washington as it lay in state in St. Augustine High School’s chapel. I knew I would never see the coach again.

The Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (@gohsep on Facebook) has a helpful website – gohsep.la.gov – that gives needed information on how to prepare for a hurricane, rainstorm or disaster.

When the Holy Spirit speaks to men and women through the word of those who evangelize, it ignites a power strong enough to break down the barriers that divide the human family, Pope Francis said.

“Wasn’t this already a thing?” That’s the reaction Colin MacIver says he often gets when explaining the Catholic Educators Scholarship created by the six Catholic schools in western St. Tammany last year.

One of the important lessons Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans learned from recent natural, engineering and environmental disasters – Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Hurricane Gustav in 2008, BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and Hurricane Isaac in 2012 – was the importance of quickly marshaling its multiple recovery resources.

On the 2020 presidential ballot, Louisiana citizens will have the opportunity to vote on the “Love Life” constitutional amendment, following the overwhelming bipartisan passage of a bill sponsored by two female legislators, Rep. Katrina Jackson (D-Monroe) and Rep. Beth Mizell (R-Franklinton).

The following tips come from Cheryl Harper, regional manager for Catholic Mutual Group, the leading provider of property, liability and employee benefit coverage and related services for the Catholic Church in the North America.

On June 6, 1944, U.S. Army Capt. Frank Humphrey Walk was 23 – three years out of LSU with a mechanical engineering degree – when battlefield chaos propelled him suddenly into a command position with the Engineer Special Brigade Group on Omaha Beach off the Normandy coast.

Everything is pointing to a near-average season. The big prediction everyone talks about comes from Colorado State, and they’re calling for 13 named storms, five hurricanes and two major hurricanes, which means Category 3, 4 or 5. Of course, as we know, it only takes one storm to pick things up.

Seven children from St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Metairie got a close-up view of the Litany of the Saints as eight ordinands for the priesthood in the Archdiocese of New Orleans lay prostrate June 1 at St. Louis Cathedral. Getting the angel’s eyeview of the Ordination Mass were Ramsey Macicek, Ella Brulet, Reagan Macicek, Olivia Brulet, Sophie Wilken, Connor Wilken and Henry Wilken. They were friends of ordinand Father Andrew Gutierrez. (see above photo)

Esta semana, la Legislatura de Luisiana, aprobó “Love Life Amendment” que, brinda una oportunidad para que los votantes de Luisiana, ratifiquen una protección simple y única para los no nacidos, al garantizar que no exista el derecho al aborto, o la financiación del aborto por parte de los contribuyentes en nuestra Constitución estatal.

Queridos hermanos: Llegamos al último domingo de Pascua, en el que celebramos la Solemnidad de Pentecostés. Esta palabra quiere decir: cincuenta días. Era una de las tres principales fiestas de los judíos. A los cincuenta días de la Pascua celebraban en cuanto a lo material el hecho de que la cosecha estaba ya crecida, por lo que daban gracias a Dios, y en cuanto a la historia celebraban el recuerdo de la llegada de los israelitas al monte Sinaí y la entrega de las tablas de la Ley a Moisés entre truenos y relámpagos. Con ese motivo tocaban fuertemente las trompetas del templo.

I am most inspired by a passage found in Psalm 46:5 (NIV): “God is within her, she will not fail. God will help her at the break of day.” In applying this to my life, I am encouraged to be a better person.

This was not the first press conference that reporters attended where they knew the answers before the questions were asked. And, so it was on a Tuesday at the SEC meetings in Sandestin, Florida, LSU men’s basketball coach Will Wade was to make his first public comments since he was suspended and reinstated by the university after a report of an FBI wiretap. You know, the one detailing Wade making “a strong offer” to a recruit, believed to be freshman guard Javonte Smart.

LOYOLA JAZZ CAMP, June 10-13, open to non-beginnners who have completed seventh through 12th grades that play brass, woodwind or string instruments, piano, bass, guitar or drums. Four days of combos, improvisation, theory, ear training, appreciation, lessons, master classes, faculty performances. Scholarships available. http://cmm.loyno.edu/music/loyola-jazz-camp.