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Father Donald J. Duffy, the retired former pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Edgard, died March 29 at Our Lady of Wisdom Healthcare Center in New Orleans. He was 90.
Father Duffy’s funeral Mass was celebrated April 3 at St. Anthony Church in Lafitte, where he had been residing for many years.
A native of Cleveland, Father Duffy was ordained a priest for the Glenmary Missioners on May 23, 1959. He served with his order in Georgia, Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky before coming to the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1982.
He served as parochial vicar of St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Arabi and St. Matthew the Apostle in River Ridge before being named pastor of St. John the Baptist in Edgard in 1990.
In a 1999 story in the Clarion Herald reflecting on his 40 years as a priest, Father Duffy recalled serving in Statesboro, Ga., during the early 1960s when race riots were breaking out in Savannah, about 80 miles away.
“We organized an interracial council to deal with issues that may have sparked racial conflicts locally,” he wrote. “We were successful. There never were any racial riots in Statesboro. Later, I helped organize tent revival meetings to bring a knowledge of the Catholic Church to our non-Catholic neighbors.”
Father Duffy also worked for nine years as a counselor at a mental health center run by the federal government. He considered his pastorate at St. John the Baptist in Edgard a blessed moment in his priesthood.
“Reverence for God’s house, awe for the Holy Eucharist and loyalty to the Catholic faith have grown immensely thanks to the inherent goodness of St. John’s Catholic community,” he said. “It is clear a vocation to the priesthood uses a person’s talents and abilities to the utmost. But even more rewarding, being a Catholic priest results in joie de vivre that goes beyond all expectations.”
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