In an unprecedented announcement early Friday morning, the Archdiocese of New Orleans revealed that Pope Benedict XVI appointed a New Orleans Native as the new Archbishop of New Orleans.
Reacting early to the news, Alden Hagardorn, President of the Parish Council of the suppressed St. Henry’s Parish near Magazine St. expressed hope that a native of the Crescent City might be more sensitive to the complaints of the dozens of people who have met every Sunday in front of the closed church for five months for rosaries and peaceful protests of the closure of two historic Uptown Catholic parishes.
Archbishop-designate Gregory M. Aymond will become 14th Archbishop of New Orleans; Pope Benedict XVI made the announcement Friday, June 12, 2009 at noon at his public audience in Vatican City. Upon making the appointment, the Holy Father has accepted the retirement of Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes, who turned 75 on December 2, 2007, and served 18 months after the age established by canon law for bishops to submit their letters of retirement. In becoming the 14th Archbishop of New Orleans, Archbishop-designate Aymond will become the first native-born New Orleans priest to hold that position. His installation Mass is scheduled for Thursday, August 20, 2009, at 2 p.m. at St. Louis Cathedral. Rev. Aymond currently is Bishop of the Diocese of Austin, Texas. A New Orleans native, he a was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1975 after completing studies at Notre Dame Seminary. Following his priestly ordination he served as a parish priest and high school teacher, and was appointed to the faculty of Notre Dame Seminary in 1981. He was later appointed the seminary rector in 1986 and served in that capacity for 14 years. Aymond was ordained auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans on January 10, 1997. On June 2, 2000, he was appointed coadjutor bishop of Austin and was installed there on August 3, 2000.
CLOSED PARISHES
Archbishop Aymond inherits a contentious laity, though, with many remaining faithful still discontented at the forced closure of two Uptown parishes, St. Henry’s and Our Lady of Good Counsel.
On January 5, 2009, a nearly four month vigil in both churches, protesting their closure by the Archdiocese, ended when Archbishop Alfred Hughes used NOPD and private security to forcibly remove parishioners--who had occupied the churches 24 hours a day since the order for suppressing the churches had been issued the previous October.
Hughes and his architect of the mergers Fr. Michael Jacques sought to decrease the number of urban parishes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.Most of the closures went uncontested, the churches in question having experienced catastrophic flooding during the Hurricanes of 2005.
The plan also included a provision to merge St. Henry’s and Our Lady of Good Counsel with nearby St. Stephen’s Parish to create Good Shepherd Parish.Considering that each church was mere blocks from the others, the Archbishop argued that a merger maximized resources.
What Hughes did not count on was active parishioner opposition to his plan.St. Henry’s and Good Counsel each enjoyed active faith communities, dating back over a century.And, despite popular reporting, each parish was essentially financially self supporting.
Good Counsel enjoyed an active business of hosting weddings and other events in its soaring Gothic revival arches, and St. Henry’s enjoyed over $10,000 a month in rental income for its adjoining properties just off Magazine St.
Add adequate financing with an active parishioner base, and the membership of each church questioned why a merger was necessary.Hughes answered that there were not enough priests to go around.
Due to the dwindling numbers of active vocations, a merger was necessary, the Archbishop declared.
Representatives of the protesting parishioners, Cheron Brylski of Good Counsel and Alden Hagardorn of St. Henry, replied that their membership sought only “mission church” status.The special category would allow the churches to have at least monthly services and remain open for weddings, funerals, and other events.Otherwise they would merge.
As a Hagardorn put it to Bayoubuzz.com and The Louisiana Weekly, “Does it take an extra priest to do a once a month service?”
Instead, the parishioners wondered if money was more of a motive in the closures than priestly numbers.Archbishop Hughes promised that any monies made by the suppressed parishes would follow the parishioners to their new church.However, Hagardorn notes that so far that promise has fallen short.
“Since the church was closed, the property owned by St. Henry has produced over $80,000 in rental income.Where is that money?Father [Christopher] Nulty [the pastor of the merged Good Shepherd Parish] hasn’t seen it.He’s had to send out letters asking for donations to fix the cross on top of the church that was damaged in Hurricane Katrina.”
“Where is the money?” Hagardorn wondered.
Representatives of the Archdiocese have said the money was in escrow for the new parish, but many of the parishioners of St. Henry’s question if Good Counsel or they will ever see a dime.
The recent decision to transfer millions of dollars in FEMA re-imbursements for two urban Catholic Churches devastated by the storms to construct new suburban facilities in St. Tammany Parish has harmed the Archdiocese’s credibility with the vigilists even more.
Over all, the parishioners’ level of trust is as a low point.Several of the vigilists who show up every Sunday morning at 10:30 AM at St. Henry’s and 11:00 AM at Good Counsel to say the rosary, fellowship, and refresh their protest of their respective parishes’ closings--on the steps of each--remember the police that forcibly ejected them out of the church doors at which the stare every week.
They pass out doughnuts, pray, talk, preach, and hope that a new Archbishop will be more sympathetic to their cases.For months, rumbles have emerged from the crowd that a local New Orleanian would never have had the disrespect for an historic parish the way that Hughes, a transplant from Boston via Baton Rouge, reportedly displayed.
By Friday morning, as the Archdiocese released the news of the new appointment at dawn, some expressed hope that the new Archbishop Aymond might give their case a second hearing.
Still, Peter Borre’, the leader of the vigils that have gone on for over six years in a series of suppressed parishes in Boston warns that a change in Bishop might not be as hopeful as some wish.
In an interview on the author’s radio program (at www.kkay1590.com from 4-5 weekdays), Borre’ explained, “There are three remaining absolute dictators in the modern world: a Captain of a ship at sea, little Kim in North Korea, and a Bishop in his diocese.”
“The Authority of an Archbishop cannot be challenged,” he continued, “at least not in the view of the Church, and there is a tradition of not leaving a mess behind when you leave office.”
Hughes attempted to leave this “mess” cleaned up, but at some level, has not succeeded.The vigils continue each week on the suppressed parishes steps, and St. Henry’s plans a huge reunion in the first week of July, marking the six month anniversary of the closures—just about the time that Archbishop Aymond would commence his term.
The question remains, what advice will the Vatican give to the new shepherd of the faithful of New Orleans regarding the two churches?“Make no mistake.Rome is fully aware of what is occurring at Good Counsel and St. Henry’s,” said Borre’ and former resident of the EternalCity for eight years and an acknowledged Vatican-expert.
Hughes’ former boss, the past Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Law, Borre’ described, is in a state of shunned retirement in Rome after the sex abuse scandals.Hughes, who already carries a taint from that scandal, perhaps feared that his reputation in the Roman Curia and Synod of Bishops would be ruined if had not acted so swiftly.
Aymond knows the eyes of the worldwide church and the Bishop of Rome are upon him now.The parishioners hope, with such attention, that he might reverse course.It is a hope not without precedent.
They cite the example of St. Augustine Church in the New Orleans’ Faubourg Treme’ that was also slated to be closed, yet outrage at shuttering the nation’s first Black Catholic church ended the danger.Public opinion could have the same impact for Good Counsel and St. Henry’s.
The parishioners note that Aymond has a keen ear for public relations, having served on numerous committees and boards of U.S. bishops on the national level..He was chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Educational Association from 2000-04 and chair of the U.S. Bishops’ Committees on the Protection of Children and Young People and the World Missions Committee. He also has been a member of the USCCB Committees on Diaconate, Catholic Education, Vocations, Priestly Formation and Campus Ministry. He currently serves as a member of the USCCB Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth, and the Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations.
In other words, Hagardorn hopes that he might be more attune to what the image of the closed churches is doing to the reputation of the local Catholic Church.“Image the image that this is sending to the rest of world, locking people out of their churches.It sure makes people want to be Catholics, doesn’t it?”
“I love my church, and for its sake, I want this to end.”
In the meantime, parish leaders vow that the rosaries will continue on the Sabbath on the steps of the shuttered churches. St. Henry’s Catholic Church at 812 General Pershing St. holds its at 10:30 AM every Sunday, and Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church at 1235 Louisiana Ave. follows at 11 AM.
Christopher Tidmore hosts The Political Roundtable on KKAY1590 AM Donaldsonville/Baton Rouge from 4-5 PM weekdays, heard on the web at www.kkay1590.com at that time.
Let's hope that he brings some caring for the city. Hughes was a pedophile protector and seemed determined to demolish so much of the catholic support here. I'm not a catholic, but I still feel for those poor people on Louisiana Av every Sunday. They worked to hard to fulfil the Hughes requirements when they came back post-K, and he not only shafted them but had them arrested with his Gestapo like tactics. Hughes stinks and New Orleans will be well rid of him Written by Noladude
on 6/12/2009
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