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FROM FATHER LEDOUX

Father LeDoux at Mass - St. Augustine's on March 19, 2006

Father Jerome LeDoux serves Mass at St. Augustine on March 19, 2006.

March 12, 2006

REFLECTIONS ON LIFE:
"BEWARE OF THE IDES OF MARCH"

Back in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar must have had some misgivings when told to beware of the Ides of March (March 15), although his status as the military genius of his time must have emboldened him and steeled him against the chilling prospect of physical harm.

The Ides of March are revisiting us some 2050 years after Caesar's deadly encounter with destiny. "Beware of the Ides of March" suddenly, on February 9, 2006, became a dire warning to St. Augustine Catholic Church in Faubourg Treme of New Orleans when Archbishop Hughes handed out a stapled, 14-page Pastoral Plan for the Archdiocese.

These words impacted us: "St. Augustine Parish will remain open as a place of worship, but the parish will be closed. Its territory will be included in the area of St. Peter Claver. All its other buildings will be in the care of the Archdiocese of New Orleans."

"We are formally committed to a review in 18 months. This pastoral plan will become effective on March 15, 2006." However, a review in 18 months was excluded for the 7 churches to be closed, including St. Augustine Church. March 15 was final.

Instinctively, however, my parishioners and I sensed that, in the interests of fairness to individual churches staging a great comeback, there must be some manner of appeal to take place before the Ides of March. This appeal process was mentioned by Archbishop Hughes during a casual encounter with parishioner Michael Valentino.

On Monday, March 6, a date for this appeal process was communicated to us by Father Michael Jacques, S.S.E.; namely, Thursday, March 9. Two Pastoral Council members and I were slated to appear before an appeal panel of the Archdiocese of New Orleans. In a sense, our fate lay in their hands, although Archbishop Hughes had the final say.

Naturally, ungodly pressure built up while we prepared ourselves to meet the appeal panel. With bated breath, the two Pastoral Council members and I awaited the 9:30 a.m. time of March 9. A strange portent on that morning was a March wind gusting up to 50 miles an hour, blowing post-Katrina trash all over that area of the city.

The previous evening, Allen Harris and his wife Linda had made a dash into Bay St. Louis to retrieve a hard original of a letter from Father Joseph Simon, S.V.D. which committed the Society of the Divine Word to staff St. Augustine Church beyond the tenure of Father LeDoux and into the foreseeable future.

Since the Archbishop had expressed concern that he had not received the hard copy, we presented that copy during the appeal interview; for the limited commitment of the Society of the Divine Word to the time of my tenure had become a sticking point. The Archdiocese simply does not have the personnel to staff another church.

That letter in hand, we entered our own version of the Bermuda Triangle to face the music in unchartered territory. Facing a panel of four priests and two lay officers of the Archdiocese, I began by explaining why I was delivering Father Simon's letter.

"My parishioners have made many errors," I continued, tightly summarizing some handout information, "but I am responsible much more than they as their pastor. The important thing is that we are doing everything much better since Katrina: enrollment, tithes, parish and social ministries. We have improved greatly by every measure.

"As a gesture of our financially independent status, I am giving you one envelope containing a $12,000 check for our assessment and another one of $10,000 in payment against our loans. I emphasize, this money is exclusively offertory money. We do not need outside help. However, Michael Valentino's family will raise $1 million for us."

After a thorough grilling, the St. Augustine trio emerged from the appeal hearing with traces of both doubt and hope. "You should hear something by Monday," they were told as they made for the door, their heads supercharged with conflicting thoughts.

A camera crew of three Swiss men, who have been around St. Augustine Church for two weeks filming post-Katrina New Orleans and St. Augustine in particular, flitted about outside with the big boom microphone, the videocamera and lighting gear. It was every bit like the paparazzi chasing every funeral, every Mass, our every move.

All our church members had the same overwhelming feeling: the sword of Damocles hung menacingly over our heads. The first stunning blow came when Father William Maestri, the mouthpiece of Archbishop Hughes, declared through the Times Picayune that there was no appeal process, and that the March 15 shutdown date still stood.

The death sentence had been pronounced on us parishioners of St. Augustine Church. Now the only question was whether we would have a reprieve before March 15, the day of execution. It was solely up to Archbishop Hughes as the death watch continued unabated. That watch was jarringly interrupted by an 11:29 a.m. phone call on March 13.

Not unlike criminals sentenced to death, those present stood at attention as I picked up the phone to speak to the Archbishop. Would there be a reprieve, a stay of execution?

"Jerome," the Archbishop said tersely, "the hearing panel reported to me that the Pastoral Plan should proceed as planned, because religious programs and other activities can be done better at St. Peter Claver Parish. I concur with their recommendation."

When I broke the glum news to volunteer parishioners who were doing various tasks in the rectory office, their faces fell and their spirits sank to an all-time low.

"Not right after the hurricanes!" they protested. "Why kick us when we're down? Furthermore, we have improved greatly in membership, tithes and parish activities! We've been had! That so-called hearing was nothing but a CYA coverup!"

Yes, ironically, for the first time, St. Augustine Church is wide awake, increasing in enrollment and offertory, and motivated to be vibrant in ministries of the Word and the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. In total irony, our uniquely historical church is being closed as a parish at the very moment of its greatest overall promise.

History will take note that the Archdiocese of New Orleans has shot itself in the foot once more, and will eternally carry not one but two black eyes on its resume.