This year’s nationally televised Easter mass will be taped at the Cathedral of St. Louis in New Orleans and presided by Archbishop Alfred Hughes. It will be available to ABC-TV stations nationwide to broadcast at their discretion April 16.

The New Orleans cathedral, which survived Hurricane Katrina with minimal damage, was chosen as the location for this celebration to demonstrate the hope and resilience of the people of faith in the archdiocese.

The Cathedral of St. Louis, located in the French quarter, was established in 1718. It had recently completed an extensive renovation when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans last August.

The hour-long liturgical special is being produced by WLAE-TV in New Orleans in cooperation with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Communication Campaign (CCC).

A list of stations and scheduled broadcasts will be available on the USCCB website (www.usccb.org) beginning April 7.