Students at St. Angela Merici have no excuse to start the school day yawning – especially on “Hump Day.” For the last couple of years, Wednesdays on the school’s Metairie campus have been designated as “Karaoke Wednesday.”

At a Sept. 10 awards ceremony at Kenner’s Pontchartrain Center, 13 Catholic elementary schools and eight Catholic high schools received grants from the Joe W. and Dorothy Dorsett Brown Foundation that will help their students conduct service-learning projects this school year.

The CSAL Girls’ Indoor Ball finals were decided on May 15 – too late for inclusion in the May 2019 issue of Kids’ Clarion. In senior division play, Christian Brothers defeated St. Edward the Confessor.

Dear Young Church, My Sisters and Brothers: Welcome back to school! Now you are fully into the routine of a new school year and I hope that the transition has been a good one.

After learning about Garland Robinette’s series of “Juju Doll” paintings during a campus visit from the artist himself, first- and second-grade Art Club students at St. Pius X created their own Juju Dolls by personalizing them with emblems that bring them joy. The afterschool club is led by St. Pius X art teacher Cathy Vidos and is assisted by third-grade teacher Michelle Sule.

The long-awaited vacation time is almost here! I know that your body is in the classroom, and your mind is on summer! I hope that your summertime will be a change of pace and give you an opportunity to enjoy some recreation.

Photo above: A life-size mural of St. Francis of Assisi, created by St. Margaret Mary kindergartners and first graders, backs the Schneidau family and trumpets the evening’s theme of caring for creation

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.

On March 1, the choirs from Christian Brothers’ Canal Street campus and St. Rita Elementary School in New Orleans convened inside St. Anthony of Padua Church to sing at Christian Brothers’ school Mass. The combined choir practiced and performed under the direction of Devin Boucree, St. Rita School’s music director.

It is hard to believe that we are already celebrating the third Sunday of Lent. I hope that your Lenten journey has been one of prayer and sacrifice.  Lent is an opportunity for us to look honestly at ourselves, thus recognizing both our gifts and our weakness. In these weaknesses, we find sin and we bring it to God to ask for his mercy in order that we may experience a change of heart. 

Third graders at St. Christopher School in Metairie recently studied the science related to weather and climate – a unit that culminated with a Feb. 13 campus visit from Fox 8 meteorologist Shelby Latino. Before Latino’s visit, the students conducted two science investigations – “Cloud in a Bottle” and “Tornado in a Bottle” – and drew illustrations of different weather phenomena (above).

The CSAL Boys’ Basketball championships were played at St. Margaret Mary’s gym Feb. 5. In Senior Varsity action, St. Dominic beat Immaculate Conception, Marrero.

The CSAL Girls’ Basketball championships were decided Feb. 27 at the St. Joan of Arc, LaPlace, gym. St. Ann outscored St. Philip Neri in the senior division final.

A wonderful religion classroom can be found inside and outside every Catholic church if you just look in the right places. On Jan. 26, more than 50 Girl Scout Daisies pursuing their “God Is Love” award discovered that “classroom” at Our Lady of Divine Providence (OLDP) Church in Metairie. During a Saturday retreat, they celebrated God’s love for them simply by documenting the beauty in their midst with their cameras.

The 2018 CSAL Girls’ Flag Football Championship, beset by numerous rain cancellations since November, was finally decided Feb. 9 after a single-division tournament played at St. Mary Magdalen. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton beat St. Philip Neri to claim the crown. (Photo courtesy of the CSAL)

The 2019 CSAL Boys’ Volleyball Tournament played out Feb. 9 at St. Christopher’s gym. In the end of the single-division competition, St. Philip Neri prevailed over runner-up St. Angela Merici. (Photo courtesy of the CSAL)