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From Sept. 17-19, nearly 350 priests and bishops from the New Orleans Province, which encompasses the state of Louisiana, will meet in New Orleans for the Louisiana Priests’ Convention. Do other states hold similar gatherings?
It’s very unusual. I am not aware of any other province that does this, though I have heard some other provinces taking about the possibility. The Louisiana Priests’ Convention began in 1993, and it’s held every four years. This year I think we will have our highest attendance ever.
What does it do for the Province of New Orleans?
One of the gifts we have in the state of Louisiana is that the vast majority of our priests have been in the seminary together at St. Ben’s and at Notre Dame Seminary. It gives us an opportunity to come back with friends and classmates and to share in fraternity. It also gives us an opportunity to pray together and to spend some time focusing on the meaning of the priesthood of Jesus Christ and how we have the privilege to share in his priestly ministry. This year we are looking at a three-part theme: we treasure the past, we celebrate who we are in the present and we envision what the future of priestly ministry will be and what challenges and invitations the future will bring to us.
Why do you think the attendance is so strong this year?
A lot of it has to do with the planning committee and their good work as well as the publicity they have done to get the word out to the priests. Father Rodney Bourg and Msgr. Frank Giroir are the co-chairs of the planning committee, but they’ve gotten a lot of help. I want to make sure I give them special thanks: in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Father Ronald Calkins, Msgr. Ken Hedrick, Father Philip Landry, Father Billy O’Riordan, Msgr. Andrew Taormina, Father Pat Williams and Father Otis Young. In the Diocese of Alexandria, Father John Pardue and Father Dan O’Connor. In the Diocese of Baton Rouge, Father David Allen and Father Michael Miceli. In the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Father Charles Perkins and Father Danny Poche. In the Diocese of Lafayette, Father Kevin Bordelon and Father Harold Trahan. In the Diocese of Lake Charles, Father Anthony Fontenot. And in the Diocese of Shreveport, Father Mark Franklin, Father Peter Mangum and Father Rothell Price.
Another member of the committee who just recently passed away was Father Michael Jacques, who was the pastor of St. Peter Claver Church in New Orleans. We will certainly be praying for him and his former parish during the convention.
There will be three major addresses at the conference.
Yes. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who is the archbishop of Boston, will use his homily at the Mass at St. Louis Cathedral on Sept. 18 to talk about treasuring the priesthood and its past. Archbishop Wilton Gregory from Atlanta will use his talk to celebrate the priesthood of today. I will speak on the final day of the conference about envisioning the future of the priesthood.
Do you know how you will discuss your topic?
The approach I’m taking is that in order to look to the challenges we will face as priests in the future, we have to look at the present. What I hope to do is name some of the major characteristics of our society today and how these affect the church of today. If we as priests and religious leaders deal with these issues in a positive and constructive way, we will be more effective in the future. If we don’t deal with these issues, it will make it more challenging for us to preach the Gospel and to live our faith in the future. The present paves the way for the future of the church.
We also have some wonderful speakers who will be giving individual breakout sessions. Father Tad Pacholczyk of the National Catholic Bioethics Center is an acknowledged expert on bioethics and end-of-life issues. Dominican Father Peter Cameron of Magnificat magazine is a superb writer and preacher. Rocco Palmo founded “Whispers in the Loggia,” and he has given talks around the country on using technology and social media to transmit the Gospel message. Msgr. Michael Jamail, the vicar general of the Diocese of Beaumont, will talk about intergenerational issues among priests. And I know Father Bill Dickinson well because he is vice president of the Catholic Leadership Institute, which offers the Good Leaders, Good Shepherds program for priests and the bishops’ continuing education program. He’ll talk about administering a parish from a spiritual and pastoral perspective. The Catholic Leadership Institute takes the very best in leadership training and baptizes it Catholic.
What are you asking from Catholics in the archdiocese?
We ask for the prayers of the people of our archdiocese not only for our priests but for all of those who will be attending from throughout the state. We pray that this will be a time of renewal for us in our priestly ministry and that after this gathering, we will not only come back with greater enthusiasm but hopefully with some new insights about how to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ in the world today.
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