Jerome LeDoux

Father Jerome LeDoux, S.V.D., was a Roman Catholic priest who spent most of his career as a parish priest in New Orleans, Louisiana, especially at the St. Augustine Church. He was noted for his Afrocentric Catholic Masses, his ebullient style and for his writing. LeDoux was featured in a documentary film about St. Augustine Church in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Although well-known, he was active primarily in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi.
Early life and education.
LeDoux was born on February 26, 1930, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Pursuing a religious education and following the path of his older brother Louis Verlin, he attended high school at St. Augustine's Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, graduating in 1947. There, his education consisted of music and the classics such as Greek, Latin, and French, in addition to religious instruction. He then completed a two-year novitiate in the seminary for the Society of the Divine Word in Techny, Illinois. LeDoux attended college for two years at Divine Word Seminary in Epworth, Iowa, before completing his college education at St. Augustine's Seminary in 1953. He remained at St. Augustine's Seminary for four more years to complete his theology studies. In the time period of the 1940s and 1950s, Jim Crow laws limited religious educations for African-Americans in the southern United States, and St. Augustine's Seminary served to train African-American men in the religious life and priesthood. Following an additional four years studying theology at St. Augustine's Seminary, LeDoux was ordained as a member of the Society of the Divine Word.
Subsequent to his ordination, LeDoux pursued graduate studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy. There, he earned a masters degree in theology and a doctorate in canon law, completing these in 1961.
Religious career.
On completion of his graduate studies, LeDoux assumed a teaching position at St. Augustine's Seminary where he taught theology and canon law from 1961 to 1967. He then became a faculty member at Xavier University of Louisiana, teaching theology, from 1969 to 1980.
Beginning in 1981, LeDoux held a series of ministries as pastor, beginning with St. Martin de Porres Church in Prairie View, Texas, where he served from 1981-1984. He then moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where he was pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from 1984 to 1988. LeDoux was pastor of St. Augustine Church in New Orleans, for his longest tenure, from 1990 to 2006. He then was pastor of Our Mother of Mercy Church in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2006 to 2015.
LeDoux's ebullient style became manifest during his ministry in New Orleans. He donned colorful vestments during the Mass, danced in the aisles and rode a donkey to the church on Palm Sunday. He sometimes included jazz, African drumming and dancing, Mardi Gras Indian chants, and second line parades in Masses that he ministered. Out of respect for African-American history, LeDoux sometimes wore the regalia of the Buffalo soldiers. In 2005, the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper wrote, "But besides the rich history of St. Augustine, the church's real draw is the weekly sermon and golden voice of LeDoux." LeDoux was known colloquially as "the people's priest" in the New Orleans region.
On August 29, 2005, as Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, LeDoux opted to remain at St. Augustine Church rather than evacuate the city. Stranded at the church for eight days and being a vegan, he survived on a diet of pasta and marinara sauce, while taking in people who had lost their homes in the hurricane. Within six months following the hurricane, the archbishop of New Orleans decided to close St. Augustine Church. The congregation under LeDoux's leadership vehemently and publicly challenged this decision, for which the archbishop dismissed LeDoux as pastor.
In 2011, LeDoux authored a book, "War of the Pews: A Personal Account of St. Augustine Church in New Orleans", documenting the difficulties faced by St. Augustine Church in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, with the general trend in declining church attendance. The book's title relates to the early years of St. Augustine Church when pew fees were a common practice. Beginning in 1969, LeDoux wrote a weekly column "Reflections on Life" which was syndicated in the Louisiana Weekly, the Seacoast Echo, the Long Beach Times, the Opelousas Daily World and the New St. Pete Bulletin, in addition to publication in various Catholic weeklies over the years he wrote this column.
In a 2018 magazine interview, LeDoux pointed to the unifying influence that music can have especially in New Orleans with its ethnic diversity. He contrasted the impact of music with racial identity which he said can be inaccurate in contemporary society, in which racial terms can separate people rather than unify them.
LeDoux died of heart disease at Lafayette General Hospital in Lafayette, Louisiana, on January 7, 2019. At the time of his death, he was in pastoral residence at Holy Ghost Church in Opelousas, Louisiana. He is buried at the cemetery at St. Augustine's Seminary.
Tomb of the Unknown Slave.
With several parishioners at St. Augustine Church, LeDoux conceived of the idea of a Tomb of the Unknown Slave. With the efforts of the church handyman and other interested people, the shrine was constructed and installed in a garden plot at St. Augustine Church, completed by 2005. The shrine consists of heavy chains and iron shackles in the shape of a cross, weighing approximately 1500 pounds. It includes a plaque mounted on the wall of the church. The church property was the site of an archeological dig to the Claude Tremé Plantation House, and the shrine marks graves of unknown slaves from the area.
Recognition.
In 2007, St. Augustine Church honored LeDoux with a Golden Jubilee. Events in the jubilee celebration included a "jazz mass", with jazz musicians such as the Tremé Brass Band, Trombone Shorty, and the St. Augustine Soulful Voices Choir. Then New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared a "Fr. Jerome LeDoux Day" for the city in 2007. Around the same time, the New Orleans City Council acknowledged the contributions of St. Augustine Church to the musical heritage of the city, which LeDoux nurtured as part of his St. Augustine ministry. As part of the 2007 recognition, New Orleans artist Richard Thomas painted a poster honoring LeDoux, with proceeds of its sale as prints benefiting LeDoux's church.
Also in 2007, filmmaker Peter Entell produced a documentary film "Shake the Devil Off" about St. Augustine church and its efforts to remain open as a parish church in the time following Hurricane Katrina, made in a cinéma vérité style and featuring LeDoux as he conducts daily church business. As part of the incident, Entell highlighted the dismissal of LeDoux and his replacement by a caucasian priest in this predominately African-American parish. In the film, Entell claimed that racism played a role in the decision of the local archdiocese. The name of the film is also the name of a gospel song which is sung by LeDoux and parishioners in the film.