Color photos surface of Bishop Perry’s ordination

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Howard Rodgers III had a surprise gift earlier this month for Father Tony Ricard, the pastor of St. Gabriel the Archangel Parish in Gentilly Woods.

Rodgers, 70, often heard Father Ricard talk about how he revered the late New Orleans Auxiliary Bishop Harold Perry – the first Black bishop appointed in the U.S. in modern times when he was ordained to the episcopacy on Jan. 6, 1966.

After Mass  on April 7 at St. Gabriel the Archangel Church, Rodgers handed Father Ricard a page from one of the many photos albums his late father, Howard Rodgers Jr., had compiled throughout his lifetime.

When Father Ricard saw the color snapshots of Bishop Perry’s ordination procession into St. Louis Cathedral, he could not contain his glee.

“Where did you get these pictures, because I’ve only seen them in black and white?” Father Ricard said.
 

A family history moment

As it turns out, Rodgers was only 12 years old when he went with his parents and grandparents to Jackson Square so that they could see history in the making.

Rodgers’ grandparents lived in Mobile, Alabama, and were members of Most Pure Heart of Mary Church, where the Knights of Peter Claver were founded in 1909. They understood the importance of Bishop Perry’s appointment and drove to New Orleans.

Rodgers’ father stood in front of the cathedral as the procession made its way into the church and snapped pictures with a Kodak camera. The photos were developed at K&B Drugstore. 

“They decided they wanted to be part of history, so we all went down to the cathedral,” Rodgers recalled.

In one of the color pictures, a Black man in a suit and black overcoat can be seen doffing his hat out of respect as Bishop Perry walked past him on Père Antoine Alley.

Racist signs abounded

Even at 12, Rodgers was aware of the placards waved  by the white protestors that read: “God does not recognize Negro priest, bishops” and “Jesus did not choose non white apostles.”

“Yes, we saw what was written on the posters,” said Rodgers, a social worker whose first college degree was in history. “So those pictures brought back memories, as we say, because I’m a child of the civil rights movement. It brought back memories of things gone by and, unfortunately, up until today, some of the things that are happening.”

Was there any interaction with the protestors?

“No, we just stood in the background and saw the things going on,” Rodgers said.

His father’s photos survived Katrina only because after his parents died, Rodgers took the photo albums and placed them on the second floor of  a detached building he had in the back yard of his Gentilly Woods home. 

“All of the pictures of me when I was in grammar school and high school, college, married life – they all were destroyed in Katrina – but these pictures  survived,” Rodgers said.

Rodgers said he was leafing through the surviving family  photos when he came across the shots of Bishop Perry.

“Father Tony always talked about how Bishop Perry was his hero,” Rodgers said. “I told him, ‘Well, let me show you these!’ His eyes just started sparkling. As long as he’s happy, I’m happy.”

“Bishop Perry is my hero,” Father Ricard said. “He was my childhood pastor. He’s my model of priesthood. To see color pictures of that day, for me, was incredible.”

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