A New Orleans native, Raymond Arroyo knows what Mardi Gras is about.
The EWTN news director and Fox News contributor has been tapped to serve as grand marshal of this year’s Krewe of Endymion parade, and he wrote about his excitement and gratitude in a piece published by The Advocate.
“Whether you are rich or poor, Black or White, left, right, religious or pagan — all are welcome at Mardi Gras,” Arroyo wrote. “
“One of the reasons my family and I returned to New Orleans was just that communal spirit. There is nowhere else in the country where such diverse people mingle in close proximity at parties, grand lunches, on the neutral ground or in the stands as we do during the Carnival. It is our season of frolic, giving and togetherness — the largest annual, locally sustained family celebration in the world. And if any of us were not a part of it, this grand tradition would quickly die.”
Arroyo expressed his fondness for how communities come together for Carnival.
“Part of the pain the country is enduring right now is attributable to the lack of personal contact,” he wrote. “The absence of shared events and common spaces diminishes our ability to live together and further separates us by race, financial status or ideology.
“If America wants to end the politics of division and disunity that threatens to tear our country apart, I have a suggestion: Come to New Orleans this Mardi Gras. Come witness firsthand what we’ve perfected after more than 200 Carnival seasons. Come experience what sustained communal love, joy and tradition look like — and then take that spirit home with you. It may be more valuable and long-lasting than anything you catch from a float.”
The Krewe of Endymion rolls through Mid City Saturday starting at 4:15pm.
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