Holy Spirit's founding pastor, 50 years later

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Fiftieth anniversary celebrations for church parishes are relatively common, but at the golden anniversary Mass at Holy Spirit Church on the West Bank of New Orleans on Oct. 23, parishioners got the rarest of treats: Their founding pastor, retired Msgr. Allen Roy, 93, returned to the church he helped build to tell stories of a parish founded on the principles of effective lay leadership, diversity and family unity.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond was the principal celebrant of the 50th anniversary Mass, and he was joined by Father Patrick Collum, the current pastor, who delivered the homily.

Founding father returns
But all eyes inside the church were on Msgr. Roy, now living in retirement at Our Lady of Wisdom Health Care Center just a few blocks away from the church he established. He is in his 68th year as a priest, having been ordained in the Marian Year of 1954.

“Nice to see you, Father Roy,” one parishioner told him excitedly before Mass.

“It’s great to be seen!” he joked.

Although Father Roy did not concelebrate, he draped a red stole around his neck and sat in a wheelchair in front of the altar. Father Collum praised Msgr. Roy for his spiritual dedication as pastor and also for the love he shared with his parishioners.

“He really built Holy Spirit from the ground up,” Father Collum said. “Father Roy, we’re really grateful to you. Thank you for your great generosity. Holy Spirit thanks you for what you’ve achieved for this community and preparing us for our future, the future that we’re still working on. There’s no reason why we can’t go another 50.”

Brian North, president and CEO of Fifth District Savings Bank, grew up as an altar server under Father Roy and recalled his pastor being legendary for his selfless service.

There was the time the friend of a coworker needed to see a priest, and Father Roy told North to send the person to him.

“He heard a confession on the hood of a car in the parking lot,” North recalled.

Embodies the Holy Spirit
Another time, a family friend of North’s experienced a stillbirth, and Father Roy instructed North’s wife Sueann on the procedure for offering a blessing for the baby. Not long after that, Father Roy showed up at East Jefferson Hospital to spend time with the family, apologizing that he had forgotten to put on his socks in his rush to get there.

“This church is called Holy Spirit,” North said, “and he is the embodiment of the Holy Spirit.”

Msgr. Roy had always encouraged lay leadership, and that became even more important as parishioners stepped up to run areas of the parish, such as religious education, that did not require a priest. He also encouraged the flourishing of the People Program, which provided hands-on learning experiences for men and women over the age of 50.

Never passed the basket
Msgr. Roy also had a special way of handling the weekly collection: Instead of parishioners placing their envelopes in the collection basket during the offertory, they were asked to drop their tithes into a basket as they entered church. That practice remains to this day.

Msgr. Roy also had an endearing personal touch. He knew nearly every parishioner by name, and he would greet them when they came forward for Communion.

“If I didn’t know them, I’d ask them when they came to Communion to give me their name,” Msgr. Roy said. “So, I’d say, ‘John, the body of Christ.’ That was a wonderful thing to do because you don’t have too many other ways of getting names.”

In the 1980s – with the parish rolls expanding to 500 families – Msgr. Roy was diagnosed with cancer, and he underwent chemotherapy for three years, returning to the parish only for the weekends to celebrate Mass and other sacraments. Parishioners took up the slack wherever they could. His cancer went into remission. Msgr. Roy was named a monsignor in 1988.

Carved from St. Andrew
Because of the growing Catholic population on the West Bank in the early 1970s, Archbishop Philip Hannan established Holy Spirit in 1972, carving its territory out of St. Andrew the Apostle Parish. The boundaries of the new parish included several new subdivisions: Tall Timbers, Forest Isles, Maple Leaf, Woodlawn Estates and Park Timbers.

The new parish celebrated its first Mass at the chapel of nearby Our Lady of Holy Cross College, and the Marianite Sisters of Holy Cross offered the worship space for three years.

The parish opened with 149 families of diverse ethnicities, including African Americans, Latinos and Cajuns. In 1975, Archbishop Hannan welcomed Vietnamese refugees to the archdiocese, and many found a spiritual home at Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit’s growth necessitated further moves. In 1975, the parish moved Sunday Mass to the Mary Joseph residence, which was operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor. When that building had foundation problems, St. Stephen Lutheran Church and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church offered their worship spaces for Mass.

Msgr. Roy said the ecumenical outpouring of love was so impressive that the St. Philip’s choir sang at Holy Spirit’s first Mass at the Episcopal church. Rev. Stephen Craft, the rector of St. Philip’s, attended the golden anniversary Mass.

In 1980, the parish took out a loan from the archdiocese to purchase a 2 1/2-acre plot from the Jesuits to build its current church, a multi-use facility that included a rectory and office space. A parish hall was added in 1997.

“We come together as God's people to thank God for his many, many blessings over the past 50 years and to thank you, the founding mothers and fathers, for all that you've done to continue this community of Holy Spirit Parish,” Archbishop Aymond said.

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