Mississippi
Moving Eucharistic Moments Along the Mississippi in New Orleans
Local bystanders fell to their knees …
My dear friend Father Michael Champagne spent two years planning his annual boat parade. Privately he told me, “Nobody’s gonna give me a tugboat for two days, that’s ridiculous! And they did.”
And so his annual Eucharistic procession took to the Mighty Mississippi.
I followed the Eucharistic procession down the Mississippi. It was easy to do by car because there were stops along the way. I stood in the heat with faithful Catholics, kneeling in silence when we heard the bells ringing as the boats approached us.
The crowding inside the cathedral in New Orleans made the breezy French Quarters more appealing to me and many others. The PA system allowed us to hear clearly, and many watched the Mass on their phones livestream. Local bystanders fell to their knees!
Early Sunday morning, Father Michael and I were sharing stories with each other when he mentioned his admiration for Father Chester Arceneaux, rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in the Lafayette, Louisiana, who had heard the confession of a homeless man at the event.
Although he is suffering from cancer treatments, he attended; but he needed to sit down when all seating was already taken. He asked a man sleeping on a bench to make room for him. After assuring the man that once you are baptized, you are a Catholic for life, the man poured out his painful story and received the sacrament of reconciliation right there on the spot.
This was a shining example of his personal belief that his job as a priest is to be “hope in the midst of despair.”
WATCH
Monica Hidalgo Breaux, Ph.D., MSW, earned her Ph.D. from Arizona State University while teaching human behavior and research methods as a faculty associate in the social work graduate program.
Mississippi
Mississippi lawmakers face pressure to counter looming federal cuts to health care after punting this session
Wicker: Mississippi powered Artemis II
Published 4:00 pm Monday, April 20, 2026
For nine days this month, space travel captivated the world. Families gathered around their screens as four astronauts strapped into the Integrity spacecraft docked at the Kennedy Space Center. As the launch countdown ended, four Mississippi-tested RS-45 engines ignited, and the ground shook. Seven seconds later, the Integrity had liftoff. For six intense minutes, the RS-45 engines rocketed the crew into high Earth orbit, sending them on their historic lunar flyby mission.
Mississippi should take a bow. The four RS-45 engines were tested at our very own Stennis Space Center, where Mississippians have been ensuring the quality of rocket engines since the Apollo program. For eight years, engineers, safety managers, and logistics specialists from the state have tested the engines that powered the Integrity and will power future Artemis launches. Their work paid off, and the launch was a marvel of engineering. NASA leadership made special mention of the rocket engine burn, calling it “flawless.”
One Mississippian in particular helped make the mission a success. Hernando native Matthew Ramsey handled a great deal of responsibility as the mission manager for Artemis II. The Mississippi State University graduate helped set the focus for the mission and equip the astronauts and staff for the job. Matthew also served as the deputy of the Mission Management Team, the group of NASA staff that comes together just days before a launch. The team assumes the risks of the mission ahead, and they make tough calls during flight if challenges arise.
As the Artemis II journey progressed, the world could not stop watching. Our social media feeds were full of photos and videos beamed down from the heavens. They captured humorous situations, such as the astronauts adjusting to life without gravity or testing their plumbing skills.
We also witnessed moments of majesty. On the fifth day, the Integrity began using the Moon’s gravity to slingshot our astronauts back home. That trajectory led the crew around the Moon, farther from Earth than any humans have ever gone. As the explorers looked upon outer space, they captured stunning images. Among the most remarkable is Earthset, in which Commander Reid Wiseman photographed Earth as it appeared to fall below the horizon of the moon.
When their spacecraft returned to Earth’s atmosphere, the crew was traveling nearly 35 times faster than the speed of sound. Ten minutes later, a series of parachutes began opening. Eventually, the spacecraft’s speed fell to 20 miles per hour, and the crew splashed down into the Pacific Ocean.
Mississippi was once again there to assist. The astronauts were greeted by the USS John P. Murtha, a U.S. military vessel built in the Huntington Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula. The ship’s amphibious design was suited to welcome the space travelers home—equipped with a helicopter pad, medical facilities, and the communications system needed to locate and recover the astronauts safely. Crucially, the USS Murtha was built with a well deck, a sea-based garage that stored the Integrity on the journey to shore.
Artemis II was a resounding success, paving the way for planned future flights. When the Artemis program returns humans to the moon, Mississippi will be there every step of the way.
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