Office for Black Catholic Ministries recognizes nearly 50 servant-leaders at Nov. 4 prayer service

Pictured above: The award recipients gather for a group photo inside St. Paul the Apostle Church in New Orleans on Nov. 4. (Photo by Raquel Derganz Baker)

The recipients of the 2023 “Mrs. Sophie Marie Watts Aramburo Awards” were recognized at the Nov. 4 Black Saints Celebration’s “Journey to Sainthood” prayer service at St. Paul the Apostle Church in New Orleans.

The awards are bestowed on Black Catholics who exhibit the servant leadership embodied by the late Sophie Aramburo, associate director of the Office for Black Catholic Ministries (OBCM) from 1990-98. Aramburo’s many roles included being an active parishioner of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in New Orleans, a mother of five and a teacher at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels. Aramburo retired from her career in education in 1985, from Southern University in New Orleans.

Recipients are recognized at the parish level and by the OBCM for their contributions to the Black Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Recognized this year by their respective parishes are:

All Saints: Michael Celestine; Blessed Sacrament/St. Joan of Arc, N.O.: Ramona Aguillard; Corpus Christi: Linda Lagarde; Our Lady of Guadalupe: Larnette Smith; Our Lady Star of the Sea: Carol Ali Jenkins; Sacred Heart, Lacombe: Nicole Labat; St. Augustine: Jacinta Lamerson; St. David: Larry Word; St. Gabriel the Archangel: Roy White; St. Genevieve: Marie Cousin; St. John the Baptist, Edgard: Veronica Alexander; St. Joseph the Worker, Marrero: Lydia Bolden; St. Katharine Drexel: Debra LeBeau; St. Maria Goretti: Lucille Grayes; St. Mary of the Angels: Janice Jackson; St. Paul the Apostle: Audrey Woods; St. Peter Claver: Edith B. Reed; St. Raymond/St. Leo: Angela Shiloh Cryer; St. Thomas/Assumption: Deborah Bartholomew; Transfiguration of the Lord: Aloma Lykes.

Additional award recipients were selected by the OBCM. They are: