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By Peter Finney Jr., Clarion Herald
Photo by Frank J. Methe and Frank H. Methe III | CLARION HERALD
Bishop Roger Paul Morin, the third bishop of Biloxi, Mississippi, and a former auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, died Oct. 31 on a flight from Boston to Atlanta.
Bishop Morin, 78, was returning to Biloxi after vacationing with his family in Massachusetts. He served from 2003 to 2009 as auxiliary bishop of New Orleans and from 2009 to 2016 as bishop of Biloxi, before retiring.
“This is a sad day for our diocese,” said Biloxi Bishop Louis F. Kihneman III. “I was shocked to hear the news. Bishop Morin was a kind and gentle man who truly embodied his episcopal motto as one who walked humbly and acted justly.”
After a wake and rosary on Nov. 6, Bishop Morin’s Funeral Mass was scheduled for Nov. 7 at 10:30 a.m., with burial following at the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral, 870 Howard Ave., in Biloxi.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond said he was saddened by the news of his friend’s death.
“He had a special place in his heart for the poor and vulnerable and was instrumental in assisting Archbishop (Philip) Hannan with building the Catholic social service ministries in our archdiocese as we know them today,” Archbishop Aymond said. “He was also Archbishop Hannan’s lead representative in planning for the 1987 visit of Pope John Paul II to New Orleans.
“We receive this news with a heavy heart but entrust him to the Lord. Please keep Bishop Morin, his family, and all those who mourn him in your prayers.”
A Boston-area transplant
Most of Bishop Morin’s priestly service in the Archdiocese of New Orleans involved his work establishing and expanding the Social Apostolate, whose roots date back to the 1966 Summer Witness program started by former Archbishop Hannan.
Bishop Morin first came to New Orleans in 1967 as a seminarian of the Archdiocese of Boston to serve as a mentor to inner-city youth.
He eventually returned to New Orleans and was ordained to the priesthood for New Orleans in 1971, serving as director of The Center, the first community center run by the archdiocese out of the motherhouse of the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic on Magazine and Aline streets.
Then-Father Morin later became executive director of the Social Apostolate, which expanded to established year-round community centers, and also director of Second Harvest Food Bank.
The concept of a centralized food bank was cutting edge because most dioceses around the country simply provided food to the needy through parish food pantries.
Bishop Morin used his master’s degree in urban planning from Tulane University to incorporate a more systematic approach to fighting hunger.
Ben Johnson: ‘He loved seniors’
Ben Johnson, the president of the New Orleans Chamber of Commerce who worked with Bishop Morin for more than a decade at the Social Apostolate, said his long-time friend was “passionate about enabling people to reach their full potential.” Bishop Morin presided at the wedding of Johnson and his wife Barbara and remained close personal friends with the family.
“He would do whatever it took to help people through education programs, youth programs, and he had a lot of affection for seniors,” Johnson said. “He had a lot to do with small business startups and expanded the commodities and supplemental food programs to include senior citizens. It was a special experience to be able to work with him.”
Katrina loss and recovery
Hurricane Katrina was one of the somber moments of his tenure as auxiliary bishop in New Orleans. His raised, two-story residence on South Carrollton Avenue just across the street from Notre Dame Seminary survived the flooding but was gutted by a fire police believe was set by looters in the neighborhood.
Everything in his house, including treasured mementoes of the historic 1987 visit of Pope John Paul II, was destroyed. A few weeks after Katrina, digging through the rubble of his residence, he found the twisted, melted remains of the chalice and paten his family had given him upon his priestly ordination.
He was grateful that the sacred vessels were meticulously restored.
“In some ways, I think I learned more authentically and truthfully to say at that given moment in time that I had lost everything, but I still had a lot to be grateful for and thank God for,” Bishop Morin said in 2009. “I still feel the same way about it.”
“He was OK with starting over,” said Father Jimmy Jeanfreau, a priest of the Archdiocese of New Orleans and a close friend. “That was a real highlight to get his chalice remade and hold on to that. His family had given it to him for his ordination.”
Daughter of Charity Sister Anthony Barczykowksi, the longtime executive director of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, said Bishop Morin “always had a heart for the poor.”
“Anytime a need presented itself, he was willing to go out there and encourage other people to do it,” Sister Anthony said. “You hear a lot today about not just giving handouts, but you do what you can to root out the causes of poverty. He lobbied for change in social structures. That’s such a big need, even today.”
Bishop Morin was installed as the third Bishop of Biloxi on April 27, 2009, at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary by the late Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States, and Mobile Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi.
Bishop Morin’s episcopal motto was “Walk Humbly and Act Justly.” He officially retired on Dec. 16, 2016.
(The Diocese of Biloxi supplied information for this story.)