For 300 years, the Catholic Church of New Orleans has lived out the Gospel imperative of Matthew 25:35-36 by providing SERVICE in times of need to its fellow citizens in the local community. Here is a snapshot of the ways in which the Archdiocese of New Orleans reaches out in service to people of all faiths.

BALTIMORE (CNS) – At the urging of the Vatican, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will not vote on two proposals they were to discuss at their Baltimore meeting regarding their response to the clergy sex abuse crisis.

The Clarion Herald and Father Walter Austin, the pastor of Ascension of Our Lord Parish in LaPlace and chaplain with the Louisiana National Guard, invite you to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day with a pilgrimage to the beaches of Normandy and the shrines of France, June 11-23, 2019.

On Nov. 7, the faculty, staff and seminarians at Notre Dame Seminary joined the community in thanksgiving for the newly blessed and dedicated Gayle and Tom Benson House of Priestly Formation on the seminary grounds on South Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans.

The annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the U.S. bishops’ anti-poverty arm, will be taken up in all churches of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Nov. 17-18.

The possibility for mercy is boundless, just as the needs are boundless. Tom Costanza, division director of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, spoke those words Nov. 2 at the 11th annual Symposium for Systemic Change held at Most Blessed Trinity Parish in Covington.

If digital geotargeting had been available when Tania Tetlow attended Holy Name of Jesus Elementary School, it would have shown just how close her pin drop was to Loyola University New Orleans, the big school next door.

As a volunteer since 2013 at The National World War II Museum in downtown New Orleans, I have been giving hands-on presentations with artifacts in the education department. My work also has included helping with summer camps. 

What’s in a name? The Catholic Foundation, founded in the mid-1970s by the late Archbishop Philip M. Hannan to serve as a planned-giving vehicle to fund Catholic entities and causes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, believes there’s added value in one extra word.

From being born to parents who were slaves to now being celebrated as a Servant of God in the Catholic Church, Father Augustus Tolton exemplifies how a person of strong faith can change lives and the world. 

Baton Rouge Bishop Michael G. Duca, holding a reliquary that contains a drop of blood from St. John Paul II, and Archbishop Gregory Aymond blessed the new St. John Paul II House on the LSU campus in Baton Rouge on Oct. 24.

WASHINGTON (CNS) – The U.S. Catholic bishops stand with “our brothers and sisters of the Jewish community,” the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said Oct. 27 after a horrific shooting earlier that day in Pittsburgh at the Tree of Life Synagogue, described as a hub of Jewish life in that city. The shooting occurred during a morning baby-naming ceremony, for which an estimated crowd of 45 to 100 people had gathered, according to news reports. There were 11 fatalities, all adults. Six others were injured, including four members of law enforcement. “We condemn all acts of violence and hate and yet again, call on our nation and public officials to confront the plague of gun violence,” said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston. “Violence as a response to political, racial or religious differences must be confronted with all possible effort. God asks nothing less of us,” he said. “He begs us back to our common humanity as his sons and daughters.” At the Vatican Oct. 28, Pope Francis prayed for those affected by the deadly attack, calling it an “inhumane act of violence.” “May the Lord help us extinguish the fires of hatred that develop in our society,” the pope prayed after reciting the Angelus prayer.

In a Tricentennial lecture, archdiocesan archivist Dr. Emilie Leumas spoke about how the local church ministered to all cultures over the last three centuries. “For the past 300 years, as immigrants stepped onto Louisiana’s shores, the New Orleans church has baptized the young and buried the faithful,” Leumas said. “It has ministered to the faithful in their language, the language of their heart.” She said  St. Louis Cathedral did not change its sacramental records from French to English until 1920.

CARROLL, Iowa (CNS) – Keynote speakers at the annual “Rekindle” event for teens in the Diocese of Sioux City emphasized God’s love to those in attendance, something that seems to be lost on today’s young people. “That’s because they spend their day in search of constant validation,” said recording artist Noelle Garcia. “So much has to do with being validated on social media,” she said. “Their culture is such an influence on them,” added Sean Forrest, another speaker with a music background. “I tell them, ‘Don’t let your emotions deceive you into making choices. You need your heart, but you also need your intellect.’” The main speakers shared their faith journeys with more than 500 students in grades seven through 12 at Kuemper High School in Carroll, Iowa. Four breakout sessions and a service project rounded out the day in early October. This year’s Rekindle theme was “The Gift of God That is Within You.” Music was an important part of the event and featured two nationally known musicians.

In 1979, when Kaven Donald walked into Orleans Parish Prison to begin a 198-year sentence on drug charges, a sign on the wall told incoming inmates to leave their belt, jewelry, loose change – “and all hope” – at the door. But Donald, who served most of his time at Angola, never lost hope, finally winning parole in 2012 after numerous failed attempts. In his early days of freedom, pounding the pavement to find employment, Donald recalls feeling bewildered when he would overhear strangers frivolously complaining about the weather. He was still trying to figure out how to operate in world he hadn’t known from ages 28 to 60. “When you come out (of prison) and see the opportunities, it presses you to do better,” said Donald, one of three formerly incarcerated men currently employed by Catholic Charities’ Corner-stone Builders program, which works to ease the re-entry and nurture the independence of returning citizens from the time they exit prison gates. “I believe, after living around those guys (in prison) all those years, that everybody – everybody – wants to be better,” Donald said. “There are so many obstacles against us, but we keep pressing and we keep pressing because there are people out there helping us.”

As a Catholic pediatrician who specializes in treating children who have been sexually abused, Dr. Angelo Giardino is shaken every time he hears kids explain in their own words how they were violated by a trusted adult. “That is something you never want to hear again,” said Giardino, the Philadelphia-born chair of the department of pediatrics of University of Utah Health in Salt Lake City. Reflecting on the principles of the military and the nuclear power, airline and medical industries – where one inadvertent mistake can lead to a catastrophic failure – representatives of seven Catholic dioceses across the country met in New Orleans last week to continue their discussions on how the church can incorporate “high reliability organization” (HRO) practices into its commitment to eliminate sexual abuse.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Unless they recognize themselves as sinners rescued by Jesus, adults cannot be effective in helping young people find the path to faith and doing God’s will, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago told the Synod of Bishops. “We must always keep fresh in our minds our own story of how Christ, the good Samaritan, did not pass by, but poured his oil of tenderness in our wounds, lifted us up, redeemed what was unredeemable on our own and opened for us a new future,” the cardinal told the synod Oct. 10. As synod members began their second week of meetings, their speeches in the general sessions focused on the section of the synod working document dealing with “vocational discernment” and “the art of accompanying.” Cardinal Cupich quoted the working document’s assertion that “for young people, it is particularly important that mentors recognize their own humanity and fallibility.”

The Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Office of Catholic Schools hosted the 52nd annual Administrators’ Conference last week on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi.  The conference is hosted each year for our own administrators, as well as for other Catholic school administrators in Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and other states, providing time to connect with colleagues who face similar challenges and to share in each other’s joys. The theme this year was “Proactive Leadership: Initiating Climate Change,” which allowed us to explore a variety of timely topics. Our two keynote speakers spoke on different subjects but both connected to the imperative that “climate” change should occur in today’s Catholic school communities. Dr. Tyrone C. Howard, a professor in the Graduate School of Education and Information Students at the University of California, spoke about being honest when we talk to students about race. Using story-telling, he taught administrators how necessary it is to be courageous and to be willing to discuss race with students honestly, no matter their age.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond was among the speakers Oct. 13 at the Louisiana Right to Life “Peace for the East” prayer rally in New Orleans East held near Deanz Health Care for Women, whose owner has filed with the state to be licensed to perform abortions. “What brings us together today is that we value human life,” Archbishop Aymond said. People ask him what’s the big deal about abortion? “In the womb, God not only gave us human life, but he breathed his life into us. You and I, even in the womb, were made in the image and the likeness of God. Therefore, we are different from animals. ... Even in the womb, God began to dwell in you and me. ... Every day of our lives, God dwells in us, loves us and speaks to us. We believe that only God can give life and only God can take away life – and no one else.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Carrying Pope Paul VI’s pastoral staff and wearing the blood-stained belt of Archbishop Oscar Romero of San Salvador, Pope Francis formally recognized them, and five others, as saints of the Catholic Church. Thousands of pilgrims from the new saints’ home countries – Italy, El Salvador, Spain and Germany – were joined by tens of thousands of others Oct. 14 in St. Peter’s Square to celebrate the universal recognition of the holiness of men and women they already knew were saints. Carolina Escamilla, who traveled from San Salvador for the canonization, said she was “super happy” to be in Rome. “I don’t think there are words to describe all that we feel after such a long-awaited and long-desired moment like the ‘official’ canonization, because Archbishop Romero was already a saint when he was alive.”