Lindy Boggs: a faithful Catholic, dedicated citizen

Corinne “Lindy” Boggs, who blazed a trail from birth in 1916 on a sugar plantation in New Roads, La., to being an eight-times-elected member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Louisiana and U.S. Vatican Ambassador, was “a strong and loud and constant voice for life,” Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond said at her funeral Mass Aug. 1 at St. Louis Cathedral.
    Boggs, who died July 27 at age 97, left a legacy to be admired as a dedicated and genteel wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, faithful Catholic and public servant by whose example everyone could use to learn to live their faith, Archbishop Aymond said at the funeral Mass.
 
 
Calling her a humble leader and a faithful friend, the archbishop said Boggs “believed in the darkest moments in life, God loved her and led her. She placed her life in the hands of a loving God.”
    “Lindy lived her faith and was guided by this faith in her family, life in Congress and all her political life,” Archbishop Aymond said. “She was a strong and loud and constant voice for life, calling on the equality of women in the workplace and in the community.”
Cokie: Faith defined her
    “Her faith was who she was,” said her daughter Cokie Roberts. “There is no separating her faith from her breathing. She was a woman not just of immense faith but dedication to the institution of the church, and was always working to make it better.”
    Through her words and deeds, the archbishop said, Boggs gave witness that “we are created equal by God. … We must rid our society of racism and prejudice and hatred and become the family of God that he calls us to be.”
    “That was one of the things most admirable about my mother – she really did treat everybody equally,” Roberts added.  “She would call Archbishop Hannan darlin’ just like the homeless man on Bourbon Street. She firmly acted on what she learned – every human being is made in the likeness of God.”

Earned her way
    Being a politician in Washington, D.C., might not have been an original goal in life for Boggs. But she learned her way, beginning at age 24 when husband Hale Boggs from Louisiana was first elected to Washington. She took cues from her heroine Eleanor Roosevelt, who was integral to her husband President Franklin Roosevelt’s career.
    Boggs was her husband’s right-hand man, running his Congressional campaigns, his Washington office and serving as a consultant throughout his years as a Democratic Louisiana Congressman until he was lost in a plane crash in Alaska in 1972 while campaigning for U.S. Rep. Nick Begich.
    She also learned how to maneuver the minefield of Washington politics and cajole the media and politicians alike through her involvement in the Democratic Congressional Wives Forum and as president of the Women’s National Democratic Club.
    She chaired the National Democratic Convention in 1976 and was aptly described her as having “a steel grip in a velvet glove.” The first woman elected to Congress in Louisiana history, she combined her Southern charm and keen mind to gain money for her district and pass legislation important to her.
    “She knew how to get things done,” Roberts said.
  
 Given her knowledge and experience, it was only natural that she succeeded her husband in Congress, but it wasn’t an easy decision to run. She wrote in her memoir, “Washington Through a Purple Veil: Memoirs of a Southern Woman,” that she considered herself more the “consensus builder” and “peacemaker” among those who didn’t agree with her husband’s votes.
     When she found herself in the race for her husband’s seat, she consulted former New Orleans Archbishop Philip Hannan, whom she had known for years in Washington, D.C., when he had served as an auxiliary bishop. Archbishop Hannan told her, “What you’re doing is all too natural. It’s a natural progression of your life.”
    “There was never a question in anybody’s mind that mom would run,” Roberts said. “She had run the district office for decades. … She was deeply committed to the people of New Orleans and the state and served them as long and lovingly as she humanly could, but always with faith. Her faith was a huge reason for her service. She thought she owed it to the people to give of herself.”
 
Strong Catholic upbringing
    Boggs’ strong Catholic faith, upbringing and sense of dedication and “caring and loving regard for God’s human beings and all creatures” – as well as the notion that she could do anything in life – was honed at St. Joseph Academy boarding school (now called Catholic High of Point Coupee) in New Roads.
    She said she always believed that “civil rights and human rights are intertwined,” something that compelled her to fight for issues that were important to her and her husband. Those issues included voting rights for all Americans and help for women and those in need.
    At the top of her list was the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 that barred discrimination in lending due to age, race, creed, gender and marital status. As Vatican ambassador, she brought human trafficking to the forefront, long before anyone was talking about it, Roberts said.
    Boggs achieved many firsts: she was the first woman to chair a national party convention (the Democratic National Convention in 1976); a founding member of the Congresswomen’s Caucus; and the first woman to have a meeting room in Congress named after her (the Lindy Claiborne Boggs Reading Room).
    But being first wasn’t what was most important to Boggs; getting a job done was.  She adhered to a saying learned early in life: “You can accomplish anything as long as you don’t take the credit.”
    Often mentioned about Boggs was how she tried to help anyone who called her – her New Orleans home phone number was listed in the phone book – no matter what time of day or night.
     Even after she retired from Congress in 1990 to care for her daughter Barbara Boggs Sigmund – the former Princeton, N.J., mayor who was dying of cancer – she was a gracious host to many nonprofit fund-raisers at her townhouse on Bourbon Street. One cause was Lindy’s Place, which provided temporary housing and supportive services to help homeless, unaccompanied women gain self-reliance.
    Marianite Sister Clarita Bourque named it after Boggs and called her a strong supporter.
    “I could have named it for anybody, but I chose Lindy because of her great concern for women and children and her wonderful legislation that was passed in Congress,” Sister Clarita said. “Also the fact that she was such a gentle, loving person with such deep faith.”
    Photographer George Long, whose political family dates back decades with the Boggs and who photographed her for the cover of her memoir, called her enchanting.
    “She had an air of enchantment about her, and she was so charismatic,” Long said. “It was impossible to walk away and not carry her with you.”
    He called her faith equally legendary as her politics. While she had lived in the French Quarter since 1973 after an aunt passed down her home on Bourbon Street, she became a daily communicant at St. Louis Cathedral.
     “I believe that her spirituality was expansive and deep,” Long said. “That set her sense of compassion and her depth of caring for people. I think she was intuitive and profoundly loving. And, she wasn’t afraid to show it.”
Funeral Mass
    Roberts said it was important to her mother to have a large representation of the African-American community that she represented in Congress to participate in the Aug. 1 Mass, so members of the St. Peter Claver sang and provided altar servers.
     New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu was recruited to sing “Ave Maria.” Landrieu heralded her as an oak tree with roots as deep as the nation itself who provided branches to rest on, shade to protect and bountiful fruit. He also said she followed the Blessed Mother’s example when she accepted being the mother of Jesus in the words, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.”
    “Her entire life fits into the notion … of serving others in the image of God,” Mitch Landrieu said. “The one clear message that came out of all the remembrances of Lindy was not just what she did but how she did it. This was a righteous woman. She was tough. She was smart. She was shrewd. She was persistent, but she was also gracious … loving and kind, and she was patient.
    “She served and did it in a way that dignified every human being that she ever had in her life. There is a lesson there for me and for all of us in how we can remember Lindy and conduct ourselves … in our private and public affairs.
     Before she left New Orleans for her final resting place at St. Mary of False River Cemetery in her hometown of New Roads, where her parents and son William Robertson Boggs (who only lived 39 hours after birth in 1946) are buried, the roll of the drums was heard as the Battle Hymn of the Republic, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory,” was sung as her casket was carried down the aisle of the cathedral. Outside, in Jackson Square, the Treme Brass Band led her hearse in front of the cathedral down Chartres Street.
    Christine Bordelon can be reached at [email protected].