Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

Archdiocese of New Orleans Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae
The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis serves as mother church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Parishes of Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, Washington
Ecclesiastical province	Archdiocese of New Orleans
Metropolitan	New Orleans, Louisiana
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	April 25, 1793
Cathedral	Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis
Patron saint	St. Louis Our Lady of Prompt Succor
Current leadership
Pope	Benedict XVI
Archbishop	Gregory Michael Aymond Archbishop of New Orleans
Auxiliary Bishops	Shelton Joseph Fabre
Bishops emeritus	Philip Matthew Hannan Francis Bible Schulte Alfred Clifton Hughes
Map
Website
arch-no.org

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, officially in Latin Archidioecesis Novae Aureliae, is an ecclesiastical division of the Roman Catholic Church administered from New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the second-oldest diocese in the present-day United States, having been elevated to the rank of diocese on 25 April 1793 by Pope Pius VI during Spanish colonial rule. Our Lady of Prompt Succor is the patron saint of the diocese and the Cathedral of Saint Louis is its mother church.

Led by an archbishop, the Archdiocese of New Orleans is the center of a larger ecclesiastical province. The Metropolitan Province of New Orleans include the suffragan Dioceses of Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Houma-Thibodaux, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport.

Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond is the current metropolitan archbishop of the New Orleans Archdiocese. On Friday, June 12, 2009, it was announced that Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Aymond, of the Diocese of Austin, to be the next Archbishop. Archbishop Aymond was installed on August 20, 2009 at Saint Louis Cathedral.

Summary

The archdiocese encompasses eight civil parishes in the New Orleans metropolitan area: Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. Tammany, and Washington. There are 137 church parishes in the archdiocese, ministered by 387 priests (including those belonging to religious orders), 187 permanent deacons, 84 brothers, and 432 sisters. There are 372,037 Catholics on the census of the Archdiocese, 36% of the total population of the area. The current head of the archdiocese is Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond. He is assisted by one auxiliary bishop, Shelton Joseph Fabre. There are three Archbishops Emeriti: Archbishop Alfred Clifton Hughes, Archbishop Francis Bible Schulte, and Archbishop Philip Matthew Hannan. There is also one Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus: Bishop Dominic Carmon, S.V.D.

Current Politics

In July 2009 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans contributed $2,000 of its money to overturn a law in the New England state of Maine allowing same-sex civil marriage. In early 2009, Maine, through its legislature and with the approval of its catholic governor extended the civil rights of same sex couples to marry in Maine. According to Maine's "Commission on Governmental Ethics & Election Practices", the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland Maine spent over $553,000 to rescind those rights. The Archdiocese of New Orleans' $2,000 was part of that $553,000.

History

The Catholic Church has had a presence in New Orleans since the founding of the city by the French in 1718. New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana west of the Mississippi were surrendered to the Spanish in 1763. From 1763 until 1783 the two Floridas were under British control, but as part of the Peace of Paris (1783) the two Florida colonies were regained from Great Britain. Thus, the pioneer parishes of New Orleans and Louisiana were incorporated into the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas when it was erected on 25 April 1793. The diocese originally encompassed the entire Louisiana Territory, from the Gulf of Mexico to Canadian border, as well as the Florida peninsula and the Gulf Coast.

The date of its establishment makes it the second-oldest diocese in the present-day United States: the Archdiocese of Baltimore was established on 6 November 1789. At the time of its establishment, the territory of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas was part of the Archdiocese of San Cristobal de la Habana (Havana) in what is now Cuba.

The diocese was divided into smaller dioceses several times, and many modern dioceses in the central United States were originally part of the Diocese of Louisiana. As capital of the Louisiana, the city was sold to the United States in 1803. The diocese was renamed the Diocese of New Orleans in 1830, and encompassed what is now Louisiana and Mississippi. New Orleans was elevated to an archdiocese in 1850. As the population of Louisiana grew, the Archdiocese of New Orleans was further subdivided into several additional dioceses.

In its long history, the Archdiocese and the city of New Orleans have survived several major disasters, including several city-wide fires, a British invasion, the American Civil War, multiple yellow fever epidemics, anti-immigration and anti-Catholicism, the New Orleans Hurricane of 1915, Segregation, Hurricane Betsy, and an occasional financial crisis, not to mention Hurricane Katrina. Each time, the Archdiocese rebuilt damaged churches and rendered assistance to the victims of every disaster. More recently, the church has faced an increased demand for churches in the suburbs and a decline in attendance to inner-city parishes. The church has also weathered changes within the Roman Catholic Church, such as the Second Vatican Council, and changing spiritual values throughout the rest of the United States.

The archdiocese sustained severe damage from Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita. Numerous churches and schools were flooded and battered by hurricane force winds. In the more heavily flooded neighborhoods, such as St. Bernard Parish, many parish structures were wiped out entirely.

Over two years later, the long process of rebuilding the archdiocese continues.

Heritage

From the cathedra, located in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, the Archbishop of New Orleans presides over the Metropolitan Province.

The Archdiocese of New Orleans is a culturally diverse community within the diverse city of New Orleans. As a major port, the city has attracted immigrants from around the world. Since French and Spanish Catholics ruled the city, they encouraged enslaved Africans to adopt Christianity. The city has a large population of African American Catholics with deep heritage in the area. Later European immigrants, such as the Irish, Italians, and German Bavarians have also been a part of the Archdiocese throughout its history. In the last quarter of the 20th century, many Vietnamese Catholics from South Vietnam settled in the city. New waves of immigrants from Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Cuba have added to the Catholic congregations.

Landmarks

The best known church in the New Orleans Archdiocese is the historic St. Louis Cathedral fronting the Spanish Plaza de Armas, now Jackson Square, in the French Quarter. This church was originally built in 1718, shortly after the founding of the city. The modest building was destroyed by fire several times before the current structure was built between 1789 and 1794 during the Spanish domination. During renovations to the cathedral between 1849 and 1851, St. Patrick's Church, the second-oldest parish in the city, served as the pro-cathedral of the archdiocese.

Bishops and apostolic administrators

The Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas was erected on April 25, 1793.

• † Luis Ignatius Peñalver y Cárdenas (1793–1801)
• † Francisco Porró y Reinado (1801–1803)

In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France.

• † John Carroll (1805–1812) – as apostolic administrator (and bishop — later archbishop — of Baltimore)
• † Louis-Guillaume Dubourg (1812–1826) – From 1812 to 1815 as apostolic administrator.
• † Joseph Rosati (1826–1829) – as apostolic administrator (and bishop of St. Louis)

In 1830, the diocese was re-named the Diocese of New Orleans.

• † Leo-Raymond de Neckere (June 24, 1830—September 4, 1833) – first bishop of New Orleans.
• † Antoine Blanc (1835–1850)

† = deceased

Archbishops

Archbishop Hughes greets parishioners in front of St. Louis Cathedral after the first services in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina more than a month earlier.

1. † Antoine Blanc (1850–1860)
2. † Jean-Marie Odin (1861–1870)
3. † Napoléon-Joseph Perché (1870–1883)
4. † Francis Xavier Leray (1883–1887)
5. † Francis Janssens (1888–1897)
6. † Placide-Louis Chapelle (1897–1905)
7. † James Hubert Blenk (1906–1917)
8. † John William Shaw (1918–1934)
9. † Joseph Francis Rummel (1935–1964)
10. † John Patrick Cody (1964–1965)
11. Philip Matthew Hannan (1965–1989)
12. Francis Bible Schulte (1989–2001)
13. Alfred Clifton Hughes (2002–2009)
14. Gregory Michael Aymond (2009–present)

† = deceased

Auxiliary bishops

• † Louis Abel Caillouet (1947-1976)
• † Harold Robert Perry, S.V.D. (1966-1991)
• Dominic Carmon, S.V.D. (1993–2006) – retired
• Roger Paul Morin (2003-2009)
• Shelton Joseph Fabre (2007–present)

† = deceased

Parishes

Main article: List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

The 108 parishes of the archdiocese are divided into 10 deaneries.

Schools

Main article: List of schools in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

There are 5 Roman Catholic colleges and over 20 high schools within the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Many of the churches throughout the archdiocese have primary schools as well.

Seminaries

• Notre Dame Seminary
• Saint Joseph Seminary College

Ecclesiastical province of New Orleans

See: List of the Catholic bishops of the United States#Province of New Orleans

See also

• List of the Roman Catholic dioceses of the United States#Ecclesiastical province of New Orleans
• Category:Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans

External links

• The Archdiocese of New Orleans Official Website
• Nolan, Charles E. A History of the Archdiocese of New Orleans May 2001
• Cheney, David M. Catholic Hierarchy Website.
• Archdiocesan Statistics.
• Catholic Charities of New Orleans.
• The Clarion Herald, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
• John and Kathleen DeMajo. Gallery of New Orleans Churches, including numerous Catholic Churches.
• The Catholic Encyclopedia's article for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
• Organizational website devoted to the opposition of merging Archbishop Blenk and Immaculata high schools