St. Catherine of Siena celebrates 100 years of growth

A tiny, wooden Catholic chapel on Labarre Road supported by 200 members has evolved over 100 years into the current, 2,400-family-strong St. Catherine of Siena Parish prominently standing on Bonnabel Boulevard in Metairie.

On the April 29 feast day of parish namesake St. Catherine of Siena, Archbishop Gregory Aymond joined pastor Father Tim Hedrick, parochial vicar Father Andrew Gutierrez and other former pastors, parochial vicars and deacons to officially celebrate the parish’s centennial Mass.

“It’s a great privilege to be here with you as we celebrate this 100th anniversary of St. Catherine of Siena and to see so many parishioners gathered in prayer for her intercession of giving praise to God,” said Archbishop Aymond, who used a time machine to describe the area surrounding the first Catholic parish in Metairie as having farms, barns, fields and cows.

“The eye of God was looking at something very different,” he said. “He had a plan that was in the depths of his own heart for the Catholic faith community and the parish of St. Catherine of Siena. … God planted the seed of faith … God has watered the seed and nourished the seed. It has grown because of God’s nourishment and also because of the faith and generosity of the people.”

Grew as suburb grew
St. Catherine was first a mission of Mater Dolorosa Parish in the Carrollton-Riverbend area of New Orleans, according to the history parishioner Jerry Madere discovered. As Old Metairie grew at the turn of the 20th century, Father Francis Prim, pastor of Mater Dolorosa, built a chapel for Catholics in the western New Orleans suburbs, dedicated Nov. 7, 1909, by Bishop J.M. Laval.

Archbishop John Shaw designated the mission a parish in January 1921, with Father James J. Furlong as the first pastor. The chapel moved two blocks from its current site.

By 1923, the parish had blossomed to 1,000 parishioners. The Codifer family donated land for the church’s final site.

Continued to grow
In 1925, under third pastor, Father Leo Jarysch, the church was enlarged and a rectory was built. The parish school opened the next year with a school-auditorium staffed by five Sisters of the Incarnate Word from San Antonio, Texas, and 133 students.

Beloved Father Paul Melancon, after whom the parish center is still named, became pastor in 1939. Within eight years, he expanded the school and the church. By 1957, a new church was built by Lionel F. Favret Co., Inc., dedicated by Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel. By the time then-Msgr. Melancon retired in 1970 after 31 years as pastor, a new school building, a convent and remodeling of the old school and gym had taken place. He died in 1993.

Father Gerald Barrett followed him for 23 years and built the Melancon Center, a new rectory and the two-story Barrett Complex, which included pre-kindergarten classrooms and a 500-seat auditorium.

Marilyn Doerr Mutter, a parishioner who has lived on Codifer Boulevard in Old Metairie since her birth in 1931, fondly remembers the church and school expansion since all five of her children graduated from St. Catherine, and she was active in the Mother’s Club in the 1960s and ’70s and once chaired the fair.

“I was over there all my life helping out,” Mutter said. “I did every job there was except president and treasurer.”

After being raised as a Lutheran, she converted to Catholicism when her daughter Melanie made her first Communion at St. Catherine.

“It’s always been a wonderful church,” Mutter said. “I thought it was an excellent school. The nuns who were principals were always very nice, as were the priests.”

Pastors made a difference
Pastors who succeeded Msgr. Barrett were Father James J. Lohan, Msgr. Roger A. Swenson (under whose leadership the church was renovated), Father Eugene Jacques, Father Ronnie Calkins and Father Hedrick.

Under Father Calkins’ leadership – with Father Tim Hedrick as parochial vicar – coffees with parishioners were conducted to determine a seven-year pastoral plan for St. Catherine in 2013. Father Hedrick became pastor in 2018 after Father Calkins resigned due to illness.

“Well over 300 ideas that parishioners would like to see done came from those talks,” said Norman Romagosa, 100th anniversary committee co-chair with his wife, Debbie.

One suggestion was adding green space for students and parish activities. In 2019, the parish bought an adjacent apartment complex and started a $2 million capital campaign to kick off the “Field of Dreams.” Ministries also expanded to help parishioners grow in faith and have more opportunities for service.

More to come
Planning for the parish’s centennial celebration is ongoing. Upcoming activities include a possible parish concert, a fall parish picnic, resuming the parish fair in early October, a 100th anniversary parish guide book, a parishioner pictorial directory, a new grotto to be dedicated sometime this fall and a time capsule to open at the 150th anniversary, Romagosa said.
 

The Romagosas said the welcoming experience of St. Catherine of Siena and the bustling nature of its ministries led them to become parishioners in 2010. They’ve been active ever since – Norman is pastoral council president, coordinator of eucharistic ministers, grand knight of Knights of Columbus Council 12686; Debbie is parish assistant, a member of the Rosary Altar Society and more.

“We were trying to establish a sense of community and family so people would want to come to church, not to fulfill an obligation but because they were going to be with their fellow parishioners and friends and they feel like they belonged to a parish family,” he said. “That’s what attracted us and kept us there. It’s like you are with family. It’s our true parish family.”

Using the parish motto, “Centered on Christ and Ablaze with Love,” Archbishop Aymond told those at the anniversary Mass, “You are ablaze with love, and you show that to so many people. Be who God created you to be, and you will set the world on fire.”

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