By Ron Brocato, Sports I was just 11 when I saw my first high school football game. In it, St. Aloysius defeated Jesuit to win its first New Orleans Prep League championship. As I remember, it was a chilly but sunny October Sunday afternoon.

God waits for everyone, even the worst sinner who repents only with his dying breath, Pope Francis said. “Before God, we present ourselves with empty hands,” he said, meaning that all the good works people have or haven’t done throughout their lives aren’t measured to determine entry into heaven.

Sounds like a legitimate question. Imagine, for moment, says Jim Kelly, executive director of Covenant House New Orleans, that the NOPD has reliable information that a James Beard Award-winning restaurant in New Orleans has a private upstairs room where, after the rack of lamb and the Dom Perignon and the bread pudding soufflé, diners excuse themselves to a private upper room for a nightcap with paid escorts offering sex and drugs.

La Iglesia celebrará la Semana Nacional de Concientización sobre las Vocaciones, del 5 al 11 de noviembre, para que las parroquias de los EE. UU. fomenten y oren activamente por una cultura de vocaciones al sacerdocio, el diaconado y la vida religiosa.

By Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond Th e church will celebrate National Vocations Awareness Week Nov. 5-11 for parishes throughout the U.S. to actively foster and pray for a culture of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and religious life.

By Peter Finney Jr. As Angie Thomas gave Archbishop Gregory Aymond a personal tour of the glistening Woman’s New Life Center on South Claiborne Avenue in New Orleans on Oct. 26 – located directly across the fence from the regional Planned Parenthood clinic – she pulled out several black-and-white sonogram pictures of her unborn child, 21 weeks in the womb.

By Clarion Herald Staff Archbishop Gregory Aymond will be the principal celebrant of the All Saints’ Day Mass Nov. 1 at 10 a.m. at St. Louis Cemetery No. 3, New Orleans, with a performance of St. Michael Special School’s Bell Choir after Mass, followed by blessing of the graves and light refreshments.

By Clarion Herald Staff Many parishes in the Archdiocese of New Orleans offer bereavement groups or grief support ministries after the death of a loved one: All Saints Catholic Church, New Orleans Bereavement team assists the family in preparing for the Funeral Mass by helping them choose the readings.

By Clarion Herald Staff The 2017 Southern Dominican Province Gala on Nov. 9 will honor lay Dominican Yvonne Alciatore Blount and Dominican Brother Roger Shondel for their lifetime of recognizing the spiritual needs of the New Orleans community.

Photos by Frank J. Methe | CLARION HERALD New Orleans philanthropist and art collector Chapman Henry Hyams, who made millions in the stock market, financed the construction of a Greek temple mausoleum in Metairie Cemetery at the end of the 19th century that included a rare monument – “The Angel of Grief” – sculpted by William Story (full image below).

Photo by Amy Diaz, Archdiocese of New Orleans Catholic Foundation’s Annual Dinner – 2017 dinner honoring Sharon Rodi receiving the Pope John Paul II award Pro-life advocate Sharon Rodi was honored by The Catholic Foundation  with the St. John Paul II Award Oct. 19 at its annual dinner.

By Beth Donze The sound of breaking glass is no cause for alarm inside St. Michael Special School’s bustling creative arts studio. Since September, St. Michael students have been carefully cutting plates of decorative glass into smaller shards to create the building blocks for two stunning mosaics: one depicting a white dove; the other a simple white cross.

By Peter Finney Jr. When Father Paul Hart was appointed this year as chaplain to the advisory board of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Cemeteries Office, he felt honored to work even more closely with an archdiocesan ministry that helps families in their time of intense grief.

By Clarion Herald Staff St. Peter Claver Church celebrated its second annual Blue Mass on Oct. 22, honoring police officers, firefighters and first responders from the City of New Orleans who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

Each day I take the same route into work. It often seems like I’m on autopilot. My eyes remain focused on the road, while my brain is often wandering between classes, research and home life. But as I drove home before the first short break this semester, my eyes caught a glint of bright yellow.

Academy of Our Lady’s faculty member Sheila Walsh, a Chicago native, has been named the 2017 Outstanding New Math Teacher of the Year by the Louisiana Association of Teachers of Mathematics. She is in her fourth year teaching at Academy of Our Lady (AOL), an all girls’ school located in Marrero.

By Father John Catoir, Spirituality for Today To some, the devil is nothing more than a silly Halloween costume. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Las Vegas massacre cannot be explained as a mental health issue.

Christians can find hope even at the hour of death, which faith teaches is not a closed door but a wide-open passage to a new life with Christ, Pope Francis said. While all men and women are “small and helpless in front of the mystery of death,” Jesus’ victory over death assures Christians of the joy of the resurrection, the pope said Oct. 18 during his weekly general audience.

By James Ramos, Catholic News Service TEXAS CITY, Texas (CNS) – Meandering slowly, retired New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes greeted each student and teacher inside Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Texas City.

By Clarion Herald Staff Equipping every church in New Orleans with a surveillance camera is one of the goals of the NOLA Partnership for Public Safety and Peace, a new collaboration that will bring together members of the city’s faith, business, education and governmental communities in the fight against crime.