St. Aug’s band has made parade-going locals dance for decades, and they’re going to Pasadena, California to share the Marching 100 magic with the whole country. The 2014 Tournament of Roses announced today they're inviting St. Augustine and 17 other high school marching bands to perform. 

Photos by Katherine Hogan and Brandon Robert

Last night's Krewes put an end to the parade pause, and streets were teeming with revelers. Druids' "Phobias," theme was a success, and the ladies of Nyx dazzled crowds with their generous throws. If you had to miss the parades for any reason, you can still get a glimpse of all the floats, marching krewes, bands, and people on the route. Click for photos. 

The Josephite leader who removed St. Augustine High School principal, Fr. John Raphael, will have to ride the pine for the rest of the saga. Yesterday, the Catholic Order elected a new leader who might have more sympathy for the school's paddling policy. Fr. William Norvel taught at the New Orleans high school in the 1960s and 1970s, and witnessed the redmarks of corporal punishment. The Josephite leadership appeared to have the upperhand after they rewrote their own rules to justify a removal Raphael refused to accept, but Norvel's election cast doubt that their decision will stand. Meanwhile, over at St. Aug, they'll be paddling on.

Last week, forged folk art was outed in court, the principal of St. Augustine High School was removed twice, and, as ever, politicians were preoccupied with hunting feral rodents. As Bobby Jindal turned 40, we were beginning to wonder if the news was finally going over the hill. Luckily, the numbers were lurking behind the news to put things into perspective. Get some numerary therapy by clicking through.

After Fr. John Raphael threatened to go ecclesiastical over his forced removal as principal of St. Augustine High School, the Josephites that threw him out struck back late this week with an unexpected body blow. St. Aug's Board of Directors, along with Raphael himself, kept insisting they had the sole authority to hire and fire principals, thereby negating the Josephites' decision to remove the figure at the center of the school's controversial paddling policy.

Perhaps Fr. John Raphael has been watching a few too many episodes of The Wire. Over the weekend, the St. Aug principal was transferred to Baltimore by the Josephite Order. The news mysteriously coincided with stiff opposition from Raphael and school alumni to Archbishop Gregory Aymond's recent halt to the school's storied tradition of paddling. At a rally last night, Raphael unexpectedly took the stage, and said he wasn't going to Baltimore. In a separate letter, Raphael said the charges could amount to abuse of power by the Order. "My canon lawyer is fully prepared to vigorously pursue this case to the highest ecclesiastical tribunal," he wrote. Translation: It's on. Coverage: WDSU, WWL radio, Da Paper

Over the years, many a Catholic school student has been taught to live in fear, above all, of the paddle. But a group of current and former students of St. Augustine High School came out marching yesterday on Carrollton Ave. to keep the beat going. The students were protesting Archbishop Gregory Aymond's decision to outlaw corporal punishment at the school. One alum, who went onto become a doctor, said he wouldn't have attained his status without a childhood dotted by red marks from the wood on his backside. "It made me the man I am today," he told Fox8. 

This is the question that Archbishop Greg Aymond asked himself when deciding to place a ban on corporal punishment at St. Augustine High School. After struggling with the knowledge that this tradition is (still) something quite common within the Catholic Church and its educational institutions, Aymond came to the conclusion that Jesus just wouldn't hit children as a way of teaching them a lesson; the times have changed, and paddling and 2011 should not go in the same sentence, or school handbook.