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Louisiana Governor’s Mass celebrated at cathedral

Posted January 20, 2020 at 12:00 am

By Richard Meek

The Catholic Commentator 

Citing the leadership skills of King Louis IX of France, Archbishop Greg M. Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans delivered a homily of hope for the future and asked Gov. John Bel Edwards to follow God during the next four years during the Louisiana Governor’s Mass on Jan. 13 at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge.  

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, left, celebrates the Eucharistic Prayer as Bishop Michael G. Duca, also prays during the Louisiana Governor’s Mass on Jan. 13 at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge.  Photos by Richard Meek | The Catholic Commentator

 

Edwards, who defeated challenger Eddie

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    Homeless murders heartbreaking to SVDP staff

    By Richard Meek

    The Catholic Commentator

    As executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Michael Acaldo directs the agency providing shelter to highest percentage of the homeless population in the Baton Rouge area.

    So concern was his first reaction when he learned of the random murder of a homeless couple in Baton Rouge, not far from the St. Vincent campus.

    His concern was heightened when a third homeless person was murdered two weeks later and police were able to determine the murders were connected.

    “We’ve never seen anything like that,” Acaldo

    … Read Full Story…
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    Century of educational excellence

    By Bonny Van

    The Catholic Commentator  

    On a quiet street in Baton Rouge, not far from a busy, elevated section of I-10, St. Francis Xavier School in Baton Rouge stands as a testament to time: past, present and future.  

    Students at St. Francis Xavier School in Baton Rouge work on the summer math program in 1987. Photos provided by the Archives Department of the Diocese of Baton Rouge

     

    This is the little school “that could” and has for 100 years.

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    SWEETEST DREAM OF ALL

    Ott shelter helps family start over

    By Richard Meek

    The Catholic Commentator  

    Perhaps Chrystella Mangrum finally hit bottom on a frigid January night in 2019, when the mercury was diving as the ebony of another long, dark night began to color Baton Rouge.  

    Chrystella Mangrum’s tumultuous year that started out with her

    … Read Full Story…
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    Clear vision for the New Year

     

    Happy New Year and new decade! The number ‘2020’ at times denotes clear vision rather than a calendar year. The American Optometric Association states, “20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. It only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance.” In terms of our faith in God, how sharp is my vision? Is my vision guided by the perfect lens of God? What is clear to me? What needs refinement? Do I have tunnel-vision? Is the peripheral view seeing that which

    … Read Full Story…
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    Redemptorist receives literacy grant

    Capital Area United Way celebrated the holidays with third- and fourth-graders at Redemptorist St. Gerard School in Baton Rouge who have been participating in Vello, a one-on-one online tutoring program that helps local children improve their reading skills. United Way awarded the school with a mini-grant of $1,000 to help buy new literacy materials for the classrooms, which will help the children to learn to read at their grade level. 

    “Vello is the best way to have a direct impact

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    Mom who lost son to suicide leads seminars to educate others, spread hope

    ERIE, Pa. (CNS) – Three years ago, Betty Koscinski, 75, lost her son to suicide. She now spends most of her time and energy spreading hope and educating others about mental illness.  

    “Not many people at my age start out on a new path,” said Koscinski, a member of Notre Dame Parish in Hermitage, Pennsylvania.  

    Before her son Joe’s death in 2016 at age 41, she already had been working for 10 years as a behavioral specialist consultant,

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    Pope lifts secrecy obligation for those who report having been abused

    VATICAN CITY (CNS)— Pope Francis has abolished the obligation of secrecy for those who report having been sexually abused by a priest and for those who testify in a church trial or process having to do with clerical sexual abuse.

    “The person who files the report, the person who alleges to have been harmed and the witnesses shall not be bound by any obligation of silence with regard to matters involving the case,” the pope ordered in a new “Instruction On the Confidentiality of Legal Proceedings,” published Dec. 17.

    In an accompanying note, Bishop Juan

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    At year’s end, humanitarian aid for migrants moves across border

    WASHINGTON (CNS) – Over the last year, Catholic dioceses on the U.S. side of the border with Mexico, in places such as El Paso and Brownsville, Texas, scrambled to accommodate the growing number of children, men and women crossing the border, seeking asylum and entering the U.S.  

    Donations, volunteers and financial help flowed into shelters, such as the Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley’s respite center in McAllen, Texas, to help clothe, feed and provide other temporary help to the migrants.  

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    FOCUS founder to visit Baton Rouge

    By Debbie Shelley

    The Catholic Commentator 

    Dr. Edward Sri, theologian, co-founder of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) and developer of Bible studies utilized by many church parishes in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, will visit the diocese Jan. 29-30. His visit is sponsored by the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.

    Dr. Edward Sri

     

    Several years ago Janice Newton, director

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    A new observance – Word of God Sunday

    By Barry Schoedel

    Special to The Catholic Commentator

    This year, on the liturgical memorial of St. Jerome, Pope Francis announced that the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jan. 26, “is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God.” Similar to Catechetical Sunday, this will be a yearly observance.

    In the Apostolic Letter “Aperuit Illis: Instituting the Sunday of the Word of God,” the Holy Father writes:

    “The relationship between the risen Lord, the community of believers and sacred Scripture is essential to our identity as Christians. Without the

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    Life_Giving Faith.pdf

    Clear vision for the New Year

     

    Happy New Year and new decade! The number ‘2020’ at times denotes clear vision rather than a calendar year. The American Optometric Association states, “20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. It only indicates the sharpness or clarity of vision at a distance.” In terms of our faith in God, how sharp is my vision? Is my vision guided by the perfect lens of God? What is clear to me? What needs refinement? Do I have tunnel-vision? Is the peripheral view seeing that which

    … Read Full Story…
    Redemptorist St. Gerard mini-grant.jpg

    Redemptorist receives literacy grant

    Capital Area United Way celebrated the holidays with third- and fourth-graders at Redemptorist St. Gerard School in Baton Rouge who have been participating in Vello, a one-on-one online tutoring program that helps local children improve their reading skills. United Way awarded the school with a mini-grant of $1,000 to help buy new literacy materials for the classrooms, which will help the children to learn to read at their grade level. 

    “Vello is the best way to have a direct impact

    … Read Full Story…

Local News

    Homeless murders heartbreaking to SVDP staff

    Posted January 17, 2020 at 12:00 am

    By Richard Meek

    The Catholic Commentator

    As executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, Michael Acaldo directs the agency providing shelter to highest percentage of the homeless population in the Baton Rouge area.

    So concern was his first reaction when he learned of

    … Read Full Story…
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    Century of educational excellence

    Posted January 17, 2020 at 12:00 am

    By Bonny Van

    The Catholic Commentator  

    On a quiet street in Baton Rouge, not far from a busy, elevated section of I-10, St. Francis Xavier School in Baton Rouge stands as

    … Read Full Story…
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    RELIC BLESSING

    Posted January 17, 2020 at 12:00 am

     

     

     

     

     Bishop Michael G. Duca, left, assisted by Father Michael Moroney, pastor of St. Alphonsus Church in Greenwell Springs, blesses a relic of St. Alphonsus Liguori that was recently placed in the church’s altar on Jan.

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    SHARING JOY

    Posted January 10, 2020 at 12:00 am

    Bishop Michael G. Duca distributed hundreds of toys to children at the annual St. Vincent de Paul Society gift giveaway on Dec. 21. This was one of several

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    A new observance – Word of God Sunday

    Posted January 9, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    By Barry Schoedel

    Special to The Catholic Commentator

    This year, on the liturgical memorial of St. Jerome, Pope Francis announced that the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jan. 26, “is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the Word of God.” Similar to

    … Read Full Story…
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    FOCUS founder to visit Baton Rouge

    Posted January 9, 2020 at 12:00 am

    By Debbie Shelley

    The Catholic Commentator 

    Dr. Edward Sri, theologian, co-founder of FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) and developer of Bible studies utilized by many

    … Read Full Story…
    Life_Giving Faith.pdf

    Clear vision for the New Year

    Posted January 8, 2020 at 12:00 am

     

    Happy New Year and new decade! The number ‘2020’ at times denotes clear vision rather than a calendar year. The American Optometric Association states, “20/20 vision does not necessarily mean you have perfect vision. It only indicates

    … Read Full Story…
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    WINDOWS OF FAITH

    Posted January 1, 2020 at 12:00 am

    Creation and redemption depicted in stained glass 

    By Debbie Shelley

    The Catholic Commentator

    Step through the chapel doors of the new Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital and through

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    Strengthening Bonds

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 9:13 am

    A message from Bishop Duca

    Dear Brothers and Sisters,

    On Tuesday, Dec. 3, I had an opportunity with the Bishops of Region V (which includes the dioceses of Louisiana) and Region IV to have a visit with the Holy Father, Pope Francis. The

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    Church Renovation: Immaculate Conception

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:48 am

    By Bonny Van

    The Catholic Commentator

    Parishioners, visitors and guests at Immaculate Conception Church in Baton Rouge were greeted by smiling ushers as they walked through the massive glass foyer flooded with sunshine on Dec. 15  for a special Mass for the

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    St. Nick brings Christmas joy to all who see him

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:29 am

    By Bonny Van

    The Catholic Commentator

    Wearing a bright red shirt and pants, topped off with a green fleece jacket, Greg Oivanki walks into a Baton Rouge grocery with his wife Sarah who is pushing a grocery cart and checking out the produce.

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    Teens consecrate lives to Jesus through Mary

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:24 am

    By Debbie Shelley

    The Catholic Commentator

    A group of youth at St. Joseph Church in Ponchatoula are navigating their teenage years with the help of Mary who drew them into a deeper knowledge of her son Jesus in a Marian consecration focusing on

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    Keeping faith through Christmas

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:19 am

    Every year as Christmas draws near I call to mind good memories of family celebrations, Christmas feasts, the gathering of relatives, the lighting of the final candle of our family Advent wreath and midnight Mass.  

    I am sure that many

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    Nueva misión para profesor

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:16 am

    Por Richard Meek

    El Comentarista Católico

    Rita Rangel acarició ansiosamente la taza de café, dándole un abrazo al tipo Barrosco como si fuera su propio Trofeo de Heisman personal.
    Quizás lo fue.

    Para Rangel, la taza, presentada por su clase de inglés como segunda lengua,

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    Volunteers celebrate birthdays with SJV students

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:13 am

    By Bonny Van

    The Catholic Commentator

    Bundled up in coats and sweatshirts over school uniforms, almost 475 students from kindergarten through eighth-graders gathered on sidewalks and second-floor balconies surrounding the courtyard at St. Jean Vianney School in Baton Rouge. 

    With one collective happy

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    Big Buddy program 40 years strong

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:07 am

    By Debbie Shelley

    The Catholic Commentator

    Basking in the afterglow of the “Baton Rouge Big Buddy 40th Birthday Bash” block party in October, program organizers brought out a large green storage tub full of nostalgic photos and laughed as they shared “remember when

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    Re-entry remains a difficult process for ex-inmates

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:04 am

    By Bonny Van

    The Catholic Commentator

    The encouraging news is Louisiana no longer leads the country and the world with the highest prison population per capita (that title now goes to Oklahoma) thanks to sweeping criminal justices reforms measures passed in 2017 but

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    ADOPTION AWARD

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 1:03 am

    Paula Davis, clinical director for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, is presented the 2019 Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute Angels in Adoption Award by Sen. John Kennedy on Nov. 14. The Angels in Adoption program honors individuals, couples,

    … Read Full Story…

    Finding God in the holiday blues

    Posted December 20, 2019 at 12:00 am

    Debbie Shelley

    The Catholic Commentator 

    When holiday blues turn black through substance abuse or any other addiction, people need treatment, support and ultimately God’s healing hand, say medical experts and clergy of the Diocese of Baton Rouge. 

    … Read Full Story…
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    CARVING OUT A WIN

    Posted December 6, 2019 at 12:00 am

    East Baton Rouge Parish coroner William “Beau” Clark, above, accepts the plaque he won after winning first place in the 10th annual turkey carving contest at St. Vincent de Paul Society. Clark beat out such

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    New Americans Thanksgiving Dinner 

    Posted December 6, 2019 at 12:00 am

     

     

     

    Andrea Rosas dances during a Hispanic dance at the New Americans Thanksgiving, which was sponsored by Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Baton Rouge and held Nov. 23 at St. George Church

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    FranU Annual Fundraiser

    Posted December 6, 2019 at 12:00 am

    Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University board members, from left, Quentin Messer Jr., Dolores “Dee” LeJeune, Edgar Silvey, Donna Saurage, Leo Hamilton and FranU president Dr. Tina Holland enjoy the celebration of Fête des Fidèles (Feast of the Faithful)

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