For years, long-time friends and St. Philip Neri parishioners Helen Hausknecht and Sally LaSalle of Metairie yearned for a deeper Catholic prayer life.

One day while in the sacristy after Mass, LaSalle asked Hausknecht if she had heard of the Holy Family Institute. When they realized they had independently been reciting the Holy Family prayers suggested by mutual friend Charlotte Ducote, they knew it was time to act.

Over the past nine years, the two have studied toward consecration as a layperson in the institute, a branch of the Pauline family of vocations, which includes five religious congregations and four lay institutes.

On Aug. 20 – founder’s day for the Society of St. Paul and the Pauline family – Hausknecht and LaSalle took perpetual vows to the Holy Family Institute at the Pauline Bookstore chapel on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie. 

The Vatican-approved Holy Family Institute is open to Catholic married and widowed persons as well as engaged couples. Its mission is to evangelize and be witnesses to the Gospel through imitation of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in their secular lives of family, work and various ministries in the church.

As a parish nurse at Mary Queen of Peace in Mandeville, Valerie Englehardt, RN, strives to improve the health of parishioners. Three years ago, a health survey she conducted revealed being overweight as the major issue parishioners wanted to tackle.

She was confident to give nutrition advice but hesitant to address fitness. Knowing she wanted to fuse both with spirituality into a health program, she prayed for help.

A few weeks later, parishioner Becki Leedy came knocking on her door offering her talents as a physical therapist. 

“We believe the Holy Spirit was involved with us getting together,” Leedy said.

An unexpected friendship blossomed as the two spent eight months developing “Three-Way Fitness,” a Christ-centered wellness program.

“It’s spiritual health and emotional health in addition to fitness,” said Englehardt, who has 23 years’ clinical experience as a nurse. 

“This is not a diet – I want you to erase that word from your head,” Englehardt told approximately 15 participants Aug. 22 at the most recent 12-week session. “This is a lifestyle change.” 

Since the first fall class debuted in the spring of 2010, 52 individuals have completed the program and learned how to improve their overall health.

As an archdiocesan vocation director, Father Steve Bruno knows the difference between good and bad problems, and this is definitely a good problem.

With seminary enrollment for the Archdiocese of New Orleans at its highest point in 20 years – 28 seminarians are studying for the archdiocese at Notre Dame Seminary and seven young men are enrolled at St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict – Father Bruno might have ended up being stretched too thin trying to maintain personal contact with each seminarian.

That’s the main reason Archbishop Gregory Aymond decided to ask two pastors to serve the Vocation Office as part-time directors of seminarians at Notre Dame and St. Ben’s while continuing to serve as pastors.

    It has been less than two months since a single gunshot during a home invasion instantly changed Walter Bonam’s life, but he is back home now, speaking with a perspective rich in faith and ageless wisdom and talking about friends, strangers and miracles.

A group of 22 adults and teens from New Orleans and Houston traveled to Batesville, Texas, earlier this summer to work with indigent people of the Uvalde area as part of the Christ the Builder program in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

    Holy Cross Father Anthony J. DeConciliis, who was installed as president of Our Lady of Holy Cross College three days before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, stepped down from his position Aug. 15 in a restructuring of the college that also included the reconstitution of the school’s board of regents by the Marianites of Holy Cross.