Stand for life, save babies, and help moms at the daily vigil in front of New Orleans’ only abortion facility! Contact New Orleans Director Sarah Zagorski with questions: sarah@prolifelouisiana.org The 2021 40 Days for Life New Orleans campaign begins Sept. 22nd. 40 Days for Life is an international inter-denominational campaign focused on saving lives through prayer, vigil, and outreach. In New Orleans, our 40 Days for Life peaceful and prayerful vigil runs all 40 days from 7 AM – 7 PM at “Women’s Health Care Center,” New Orleans’ only abortion facility located at 2701 General Pershing St. near Ochsner Baptist. We will have announcements regarding protocol in light of the Coronavirus Pandemic but believe we must continue to reach women during the fall campaign!

Nothing brings the Gospels to life like a Catholic Holy Land Pilgrimage Tour to the Holy Land and Jerusalem. During the course of the pilgrimage tour, you will walk in the Footsteps of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and the Apostles, visiting and celebrating daily Mass in the most important Shrines and Basilicas of Christianity. You will visit the Basilica of the Annunciation, where the Angel of the Lord appeared to the Virgin Mary, and she professed her Magnificat. You will visit Bethlehem and celebrate the birth of Christ at the Church of the Nativity. During this Holy Land Pilgrimage tour, you will have the opportunity to renew your baptismal vows at the Jordon River and your wedding vows in Cana, where Jesus performed His first Miracle. You will spend two days around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus began His ministry, preaching to thousands as He gave His sermon of the Mount of Beatitudes, and miraculously fed the multitudes with fish and loaves of bread. The highlight of the Holy Land Pilgrimage Tour will be in Jerusalem where you will pray in the Garden of Gethsemane and experience the Lord’s Passion along the Via Dolorosa, (the Way of the Cross) on the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which marks the place where Jesus was put to death on Calvary, and was buried and rose again! Visits to Mount Tabor, Sepphoris, Bethany, and Jericho are just some of the other places that you will visit on this pilgrimage. Get the details and book online| www.catholicjourneys.com/copping | or call 800-715-6670

The Bridge City Gumbo Festival at Holy Guardian Angels has opened up its application for Miss Creole Gumbo to all young women who are parishioners of a Westbank Catholic Church, 17-23 years of age. If you know of someone who might be interested, please inform her.

On Wednesday, June 30, 2021, the City of Gretna will inaugurate our elected officials. Congratulations to Honorable Belinda Cambre Constant (Mayor), Honorable Arthur S. Lawson (Chief of Police), Honorable Wayne A. Rau (Councilman-At-Large), Honorable Rudy S. Smith (Councilman - District 1), Honorable Michael A. Hinyub (Councilman - District 2), Honorable Mark K. Miller (Councilman - District 3), and Honorable Jackie J. Berthelot (Councilman - District 4). Inauguration is at 6pm on Wednesday June 30, 2021 at the Mel Ott Multi-Purpose Center. All are welcome to attend.

THAT MAN IS YOU! is an interactive men’s program focused on the development of male leadership in the modern world. It combines the best research from science with the teachings of the Catholic faith and the wisdom of the saints to develop the vision of authentic men capable of transforming themselves, their families and greater society. The Revelation of the Father enables men to take the final step in their leadership. It prepares them to lay a foundation for the future so that they leave a legacy that survives them. It transforms them into true builders of an authentically Christian culture. EXPERIENCE THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION AS YOU DISCOVER: • The true dignity of the heart of a father. • The trust God has in men to form creatures destined to live forever. • The four types of formation necessary for fathers to form their children. • The amazing dignity of the home at Nazareth and the means by which your home can participate in this dignity. • The parenting method given by a saint and proven effective with the most difficult children and its relationship to the 7 Steps of TMIY. • The challenges confronting men in their fatherhood and the means to overcome them. • The vision of St. Joseph as the true Man after God’s own Heart. • The renewal God has in store for men, their marriages and their families. FALL SEMESTER THE FORMATION OF A CHILD Week 1: The Revelation of the Father Week 2: The Heart of Father Week 3: The Mystery of Creation Renewed Week 4: Human Formation Week 5: Intellectual Formation Week 6: Moral Formation Week 7: Pastoral Formation Week 8: The Attack on the Heart of the Father Week 9: Weeds in Human Formation Week 10: Weeds in Intellectual Formation Week 11: Weeds in Moral Formation Week 12: Weeds in Pastoral Formation Week 13: To Touch the Heart of Man OBJECTIVES: Present the dignity of a man’s heart and the battle being waged over it. Present the vision of a person in the fullness of their dignity. Identify the four types of formation necessary to fully form a human person. Identify the specific challenges confronting men as they seek to form their children.

CONSECRATION OF PARISHES TO THE PIERCED HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY OH SACRED HEART OF JESUS, you have loved humanity to the extreme of allowing yourself to be pierced, becoming a living fountain where abundant graces of salvation and of conversion flow. From your open Heart flows, with power and strength, the Blood and the Water which purify, transform, vivify and liberate us.  It is from your Pierced Heart, visible sign of your love, that life flows as an ever-flowing torrent of grace which brings fecundity to the world. It is from your Heart opened by the lance, and moved by your love and mercy, that the Church, –your Spouse, your Mystical body and our Mother–, is born filled with your grace, holiness and fecundity as a perennial sacrament of your presence and seed of your unending Reign. Today, as pastor of these parishes and in communion with the faithful entrusted to me, I consecrate to your Most Sacred Heart, the parishes of St Joseph Church and St Anthony Church . We acknowledge, by this act of consecration, our desire to live in communion of love with your Eucharistic Heart, center and pillar of the life of the Church. We dispose ourselves to the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, who seeks to transform us and to give to us a heart like Your own. May we enter into the school of your Heart so as to acquire the virtues of humility and meekness; of obedience and self-denial; of generosity and sincere charity. Protect us from all sin, selfishness, error and indifference. Living within your Heart and allowing ourselves to be transformed by your love, may these parishes be a channel of grace, light, truth, justice, peace, mercy and charity for the world so in need. Consecrated to your Heart, we dispose ourselves to fulfill your merciful designs and to construct with authentic holiness and with fruitful, apostolic work, the civilization of love and life: the Reign of your Heart. OH IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY, spiritually pierced at the foot of the Cross as a result of your perfect and indissoluble communion with the Heart of Jesus. Your Heart was also opened in order to receive, in virtue of your spiritual maternity, the Mystical Body of Christ, born from the Pierced Heart of your Son. Your Immaculate and Sorrowful Heart, receives the Church in the person of St. John the Apostles so that you may take care, nourish, protect and accompany Her, with the same dedication which you had with your Son.  To you, Virgin Mother, the Pierced Heart of Christ commissioned to protect with your attentive, maternal Heart, the Church, destined to advance the Kingdom of God in history, in the face of great battles and dangers. Today, the parishes of St Joseph Church and St Anthony placing themselves in the person of St. John, receive with profound gratitude, your maternal mission in the life of the parish and in the life of each faithful. We consecrate ourselves to your Immaculate Heart and we ask you, who are the living school of total consecration and dedication to the Heart of Jesus, to teach us to love the Heart of your Son without divisions; to listen to Him with complete openness and docility; to obey Him with diligence and exactness; to actively cooperate with responsibility in the designs of His Heart in the historic moment in which we live. Guard us and defend us in your Immaculate Heart, sure refuge of sinners. Protect us from all that can separate us from the love of the Heart of Christ and from His Will.  Defend us, with your maternal care, from all the dangers against our eternal and present life.  OH HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY, Hope of Humanity! Today, these parishes consecrate themselves completely to the love of your Hearts.  Today we dispose ourselves to lift on high, as if on a luminous banner, the names of Jesus and Mary.  From our littleness, we desire to participate in the merciful designs which the Pierced Hearts are manifesting in the Church and in humanity. Having been consecrated to the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we renew with greater love, fidelity and zeal, our commitment towards the call for a New Evangelization received from our Holy Father, Pope St. John Paul II. We renew our commitment towards holiness and coherence of life and to the faithful and enthusiastic proclamation of the truth, taught to us by the Magisterium of the Church. May this consecration result in fruits of conversion, charity, justice, peace, generosity and mercy in each one of us. May the Two Hearts establish their reign of love in each heart, in the priests, religious, laity committed in service and in each one of us, for the greater good of the entire Church. Amen.

Due to the Gretna Prayer Dinner being at 7pm Tuesday June 15, the OLPH Novena and Mass will start with confessions at 5:30pm and Mass at 6:00pm so that those who have signed up for the Prayer Dinner may arrive before it begins.

Look in the bulletin for a special project to own a Saint Joseph Statue during this Year of Saint Joseph. This is a great gift for Confirmations, graduation, weddings, house warning, for Dads, for priests, for one's self. Your statue will be blessed in the Holy Land before coming to America. This project will create jobs for Christians living in Bethlehem, that's where Saint Joseph first held baby Jesus in his hands. We must never abandon our Christian Holy Land. Read the flyer and buy if you can.

Congratulations to all our 7th graders, who on May 25th, were promoted to the 8th Grade. Best Wishes to each and every one of them and may God bless you at your new schools.

Congratulations to Fr Rick on his Silver Anniversary of Priestly Ministry.

We have updated our fish pond -- Come see our 15 goldfish.

Prayers were said at Mass at St Joseph on May 4th for our David Crockett Steam Fire Co. No. 1, which is the oldest continuously active Volunteer Fire Department in the USA and proudly serves Gretna, and also for all members of the Fire Service. Thank you for your selfless commitment to our safety.

Sawyer James Rayes was baptized into the Paschal Mystery of Christ on Saturday May 1, 2021. Sawyer is a blessing to us at St Joseph; and to his parents, Steven and Rachael; along with his Godparents, Brad and Katie; as well as his entire family,especially his big brother.

Parishioner Josephine Reed received her First Holy Communion from her grandfather, Deacon Augustin, on Divine Mercy Sunday April 11 at the 11:30 am Mass. Congratulations to her on this momentous occasion.

The Easter Bunny showed up at the Shop The Huey Event Holy Saturday to promote the St Joseph Mother Church CookBook and greeted one of our very young parishioners. Even though there are no Rabbit Recipes in book, the Easter Bunny was quoted as saying, "The best way to stuff a bunny is by feeding him plenty of carrots".

Check out NOLA.COM for pics on our Palm Sunday Procession from the Jefferson Arch in front of Gretna City Hall to St Joseph Church & Shrine.

Congratulations to EM/Acolyte David Kalil for being accepted into the Archdiocese of New Orleans Diaconate Program (Deacon Formation). Pray for him during his studies seeking a closer relationship with God & the Catholic Church. Welcome Lector & EM Susan Kalil to the ministry. Susan & David were instrumental assisting both St Joseph & St Anthony develop the Isaiah 43 Program which has been idol during Covid. Susan went initially to training to assist Ms Diane Ribando with monthly communion for the St. Joseph Apartments homebound. After expressing to her our shortage of ministers she’s agreed to serve as both lector & EM at 7:30 Sun mass with only 2 current active lectors.

This year's Holy Family for our 2021 St Joseph's Altar was: Jesus (Mason Monterosso), Mary (Sophie Nolen), and Joseph (Alexander Alford).

Congratulations to Zachary Cook from St Anthony Church and Eli Cannon from St Joseph Church & Shrine for being selected to be our 2021 Altar Servers Of The Year. Thank you for your dedication during this year of the Covid Pandemic.

Congratulations to Alice and Eric Houin of St Joseph Church & Shrine and Iris & Lynn Coyne of St Anthony Church on being chosen as recipients of the Order of St Louis Medallion in recognition of their great dedication and years of service to the Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Order of St Louis is one of the highest and most cherished honors bestowed by the local Church on a member of the laity. It was established more than 50 years ago to recognize individuals who have given unselfishly of their time and talent to the work of the Church for many years. The Medallion will be presented during a prayer service at St Catherine of Siena Church, 105 Bonnabel Blvd., Metairie, on Sunday March 21 at 2:30 pm.