As they learned, prayed, played and served together, rising high school juniors and seniors looked more deeply at their vocational calling during The Franciscan Experience Summer Institute (TFE). The event was held July 12-16 at the Bishop Robert E. Tracy Center in Baton Rouge.

Once considered a best kept secret in Baton Rouge, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University is on the verge of taking its rightful place as an educational giant. 

On Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, a national campaign will kick off to encourage and inspire participation in the Vatican’s global action platform based on Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’” (“On Care for Our Common Home”). 

Mask wearing for Catholic school students in the Diocese of Baton Rouge will be optional for the 2021-22 school year.  Additionally, students will not be required to provide vaccination status, according to protocols announced by Bishop Michael G. Duca in a letter released to July 15. 

Weather has taken a toll on what was once majestic beauty, a beacon of faith that soothed generations of faithful for more than a century. Beneath the sun-induced wrinkles and-rain-pelted blotches, her elegance remains, crying for a dab of makeup and perhaps even a hint of gloss. St. Mary’s Chapel stands proudly on River Road in Union, shuttered but with the voices and images of 150 years of memories etched in her charming interior. The chapel, originally built in 1875, continues to hold a special place for those who grew up attending Mass in the church that calls the Sunshine Bridge in Donaldsonville its neighbor.

Employees of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, including educators and support staff from diocesan schools and staff workers from church parishes, gathered today at the Catholic Life Center to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the diocese. Bishop Michael G. Duca, top, led a prayer service, assisted by St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church parishioner Vera Dunbar, lower right, and Deacon Dan Borne. The day featured four food trucks, a cornhole contest and a live band. Photo by Richard Meek | The Catholic Commentator

(CNA) - A growing number of bishops in the United States, including Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington, have issued guidance regarding groups celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass in their dioceses, after a new document from Pope Francis on Friday imposed restrictions on the use of the traditional liturgy.  The pope's document, a motu proprio entitled “Traditionis custodes,” made sweeping changes to his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic letter “Summorum Pontificum,” which acknowledged the right of all priests to say Mass using the Roman Missal of 1962, which is in Latin.

VATICAN CITY (CNA) - New Vatican restrictions on extraordinary form Masses elicited passionate responses from Catholics nearly as soon as the motu proprio was published shortly after noon Rome time on Friday. Many Catholics reacted strongly to the promulgation of “Traditionis custodes,” a motu proprio signed by Pope Francis on July 16, offering pithy comments on Twitter as well as more detailed takes.