Our Auxiliary Bishops

Bishop Fernand J. Cheri, O.F.M.
11th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(23 March 2015 to d. 23 March 2023)

       The eleventh auxiliary bishop of New Orleans was born on 28 January 1952 to Fernand, Jr. and Gladys Cheri, who had him baptized with the name Fernand Joseph "Ferd" Cheri, III.Early discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Cheri attended St. John Vianney Preparatory Seminary in New Orleans, then St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, Louisiana, leading to Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, culminating in his priestly ordination on 20 May 1978 by Archbishop Hannan. 
       Father Cheri pursued advanced education, earning a Master of Theology degree from Xavier University of Louisiana's Institute for Black Catholic Studies in New Orleans. Simultaneously, Cheri served as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in New Orleans, and St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Marrero, Louisiana. 
       Cheri served as pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in New Orleans from 1985 to 1990, then administrator of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish in New Orleans from 1990 to 1991.
Discerning a call to religious life, Cheri excardinated from New Orleans to enter the Sacred Heart Province of the Franciscan Order (O.F.M.) in 1992, professing his solemn vows on 26 August 1996.
       Pope Francis appointed Cheri auxiliary bishop of New Orleans on 12 January 2015. He received ordination as Titular Bishop of Membressa on 23 March 2015, in St. Louis Cathedral. 
Bishop Cheri died on 21 March 2023, after a lengthy battle against kidney and heart disease, at the age of 71.
       See: Peter Finney, Jr., “Bishop Fernand J. Cheri III, OFM: 1952-2023,” The Clarion Herald, (1 April 2023), at: https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cher20230401-01.1.1 

Bishop Shelton Joseph Fabre
10th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(28 Feb 2007 to transfer 23 Sept 2013)

       The tenth auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, and later Archbishop of Louisville, Kentucky, was the fifth of six children born on 25 October 1963, to Luke Fabre, Jr. and Theresa Ann Vallet Fabre; they had him baptized with the name Shelton Joseph.
       Fabre attended primary and secondary schools in New Roads, Louisiana, in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, graduating as the 1981 valedictorian of Catholic High School of Pointe Coupée. Discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Fabre entered Saint Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana, graduating with a Bachelor of History degree in 1985.
       Having proven himself an outstanding student, Fabre was among the few Louisiana seminarians sent to the American College of Louvain, in Leuven, Belgium. There, he received priestly formation while studying at the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven. In 1987, Fabre earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies, and, two years later, a Master’s Degree in Religious Studies.
       Returning home, Fabre received priestly ordination for the Diocese of Baton Rouge on 5 August 1989. For the next seventeen years, Fabre served in seven parishes, at times simultaneous with chancery jobs, and as a chaplain to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.
       Pope Benedict XVI appointed Fabre Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans on 13 December 2006. Fabre received episcopal ordination on 28 February 2007 from Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes.
       Pope Francis appointed Fabre as the Bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux on 23 September 2013. He was installed at the Cathedral of St. Francis de Sales on 30 October 2013. 
Nine years later, on 8 February 2022, Pope Francis promoted Fabre to become the fifth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville. He was installed on 30 March 2022.
       From 2018 to 2023, Archbishop Fabre served as chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism. He led the writing of the U.S. Bishops’ pastoral letter on racism, Open Wide Our Hearts – The Enduring Call to Love, which was approved and published in 2018. He also served as chair of the USCCB Subcommittee for African American Catholics.
       See: Peter Finney, Jr., “Baton Rouge Priest New Auxiliary,” The Clarion Herald, (Volume 45: Number 49, 23 December 2006), at: https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cher20061223-01.2.2

Bishop Roger Morin
9th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(22 April 2003 to transfer 2 March 2009)

       The  ninth auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, Roger Paul Morin, was born on 7 March 1941, in Lowell, Massachusetts, one of six children in the family of Germain and Lillian Morin. Discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Morin attended a local minor seminary, St. John’s in Boston, where he graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. Morin remained for two more years in major seminary, but spent summers working with at-rick youth in the Witness Program in New Orleans.
       In 1968, Morin transferred to Notre Dame Seminary, where he graduated with a Master's in Divinity in 1970, then receiving priestly ordination on 15 April 1971.
       Assigned to St. Henry’s Parish in New Orleans, Morin simultaneously worked on advanced education, earning a Master of Science degree in urban affairs from Tulane University in New Orleans in 1974, after which he was appointed director of the archdiocesan Social Apostolate in 1975.
       In 1981, Morin was named archdiocesan vicar for community affairs. The Holy See granted Morin the rank of monsignor in 1985. Six years later, in 1987, Morin organized Pope St. John Paul II's papal visit to New Orleans. Archbishop Francis B. Schulte appointed Morin as his vicar general and moderator of the curia in 2001.
       On 11 February 2003, Morin was appointed auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, receiving episcopal ordination on 22 April 2003, from Archbishop Alfred Hughes.
Morin was named the third bishop of Biloxi by Pope Benedict XVI on March 2, 2009. He was formally installed at the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 27 April 2009. 
       Morin retired as bishop of Biloxi on 16 December 2016. He died on 31 October 2019, on a commercial airliner traveling between Boston, Massachusetts, and Atlanta, Georgia.
       See: Peter Finney, Jr., “Pope Appoints Msgr. Roger Morin Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans,” The Clarion Herald, (Volume 42: Number 4, 12 February 2003), at:  https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cher20030212-01.2.9

Bishop Gregory Michael Aymond
8th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(10 Jan 1997 to transfer 3 Aug 2000)

       The future fourteenth Archbishop of New Orleans was the first born in the city. Gregory Michael Aymond was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 12 November 1949. He attended St. James Major Elementary School and Cor Jesu High School before discerning his priestly vocation.
       Accepted by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Aymond was assigned to undergraduate studies at St. Joseph Seminary College (locally “St. Ben’s”) on the ground of St. Joseph Abbey, in St. Benedict, Louisiana.
       Aymond received priestly ordination on 10 May 1975.
       In 1986, Aymond became the Third President and Thirteenth Rector of Notre Dame Seminary (NDS) in New Orleans.
       On Tuesday, 19 November 1996, Archbishop Schulte announced that Aymond had been named Auxiliary-Bishop of New Orleans, and that Aymond would remain rector of NDS, while discharging his additional duties as vicar-general and auxiliary-bishop. Aymond’s ordination as bishop took place at 2:30 p.m., on 10 January 1997, in St. Louis Cathedral. Aymond was the first rector of NDS to simultaneously serve as auxiliary-bishop.
       Three years later, during the turning of the millennium, Aymond was appointed Coadjutor-Bishop of the Diocese of Austin, Texas. He was installed on 3 August 2000, and succeeded as Bishop of Austin on 2 January 2001.
       Eight years later, Aymond returned home as Fourteenth Archbishop of New Orleans: He was appointed on 12 June 2009, and installed on August 20th of the same year.
       See: Peter Finney, Jr., “Native Son Returns to Lead Archdiocese,” Clarion Herald (20 June 2009), Welcoming Archbishop Aymond: https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cher20090620-01.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------%2F

Bishop Dominic Carmon, S.V.D.
7th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(11 Feb 1993 to ret. 13 Dec 2006)

       The eldest of seven sons, Dominic Carmon was born in Opelousas, Louisiana, on 13 December 1930. 
       Discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Carmon faced the same “Jim Crow” restrictions that prompted Bishop Perry to seek membership in a religious order, the Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.).
       Upon acceptance, Carmon studied at the seminary of the Society of the Divine Word in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, then at Divine Word College in Epworth, Iowa. 
       The twenty-nine-year-old Carmon received priestly ordination on 2 February 1960, from a bishop-member of the same order, Leo Clement Andrew Arkfeld, S.V.D., Titular Bishop of Bucellus, in the chapel of St. Augustine's, Seminary, Bay St. Louis.
       Father Carmon served in the foreign mission in Papua New Guinea from 1961 to 1968. Then back to the United States for parish service as in Chicago as pastor of St. Elizabeth's Church (1968–1985), and of Our Lady of the Gardens Church (1985–1988).
       Carmon was then assigned back home, as pastor of Holy Ghost Church in his native Opelousas, the largest Black Catholic church in the country.
       On 16 December 1992, Carmon was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans and Titular Bishop of Rusicade by Pope John Paul II. He received his episcopal consecration on 11 February 1993, from Archbishop Francis Schulte.
       After reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75, Carmon resigned as Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans on 13 December 2006. He died in the Château de Notre Dame in New Orleans on 11 November 2018, at the age of 87.
       See: Peter Finney, Jr., “Bishop Carmon: A Humble Servant and Leader,” (The Clarion Herald, 17 November 2018):  https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cher20181117-01.1.1&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------%2F 

Bishop Robert William Muench
6th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(8 May 1990 to transfer 5 Jan 1996)

      The sixth auxiliary bishop of New Orleans was the second to be transferred to later become Bishop of Baton Rouge.
       Robert William Muench was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on 28 December 1942, one of four children born to William Anthony and Mary Kathryn (née Allgeier) Muench.
       The family relocated to New Orleans in 1945, where the future bishop attended elementary school first at Jefferson Davis, and then at St. Leo the Great.
       Discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Muench was accepted by the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1956, and sent to Saint Joseph Seminary in Saint Benedict, Louisiana, then Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, then the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., earning a Master of Education degree and completing his seminary studies. 
       On 18 May 1968, Muench was ordained to the priesthood at Saint Louis Cathedral in New Orleans by Archbishop Philip Hannan for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
       In 1977, Muench became vicar for Christian formation, then, in 1981, Vocations Director. 
       On 8 May 1990, Pope John Paul II appointed Muench as an auxiliary bishop of New Orleans and titular bishop of Mactaris. He was consecrated on June 29, 1990, at Saint Louis Cathedral.
       On 5 January 1996, John Paul II appointed Muench as the ninth bishop of Covington. He was installed on 19 March 1995, at the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, Kentucky.
       On 15 December 2001, John Paul II appointed Muench as the fifth bishop of Baton Rouge. He was installed at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge on 14 March 2002, with Archbishop Alfred Hughes presiding.
       On 26 June 2018, Pope Francis accepted Muench's letter of resignation as bishop of Baton Rouge after Muench reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.
       See: “Baton Rouge Bishop Retires; Shreveport Bishop Named Successor,” (Catholic News Service, 26 June 2018): https://www.ncronline.org/news/baton-rouge-bishop-retires-shreveport-bishop-named-successor 

Bishop Stanley Joseph Ott
5th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(29 June 1976 to transfer 12 Jan 1983)

      The fifth auxiliary bishop of New Orleans was the first born in the current borders of the Archdiocese, and the first to be transferred to become bishop of another diocese.
      Stanley Joseph Ott was born in Gretna, Louisiana, on 29 June 1927, the youngest of three children of Manuel Peter and Lucille (nee Berthelot) Ott.
      Ott received his elementary education at the parochial school of St. Joseph's Parish in Gretna, where he also served as an altar boy, then St. Aloysius High School in New Orleans, Louisiana.
      Discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Ott was accepted St. Joseph Seminary College in Saint Benedict, Louisiana, before entering Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans. Sent for theological studies in Rome, Ott received priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College, while taking classes the Pontifical Gregorian University.
      According to the custom of the day, Ott received priestly ordination for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, on 8 December 1951, in the chapel of the North American College. He remained in Rome to complete a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian in 1954.
      Pope Saint John XXIII detached twelve civil parishes in south central Louisiana from the Archdiocese of New Orleans to create the Diocese of Baton Rouge on 22 July 1961. Father Ott was assigned to Louisiana State University chapel, so was automatically incardinated in the new diocese.
      The founding Bishop of Baton Rouge, Robert Emmet Tracy, appointed Ott as judicial vicar of the tribunal, and, simultaneously, curate at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge. Ott was appointed chancellor of the diocese in 1966, and rector of the cathedral in 1968.
      On 24 May 1976, the forty-eight-year-old Ott was appointed fifth auxiliary bishop of New Orleans. He was ordained Titular Bishop of Nicives, in St. Louis Cathedral (New Orleans), on 29 June 1976.
       Pope Saint John Paul II elevated Ott to become the third Bishop of Baton Rouge on 12 January 1983, where he remained for the last nine years of his life.
      In March of 1991, Bishop Ott was diagnosed with liver cancer, at a stage that was inoperable with the medical technology of the day. The cancer spread to the spine. He accepted radiation treatment, but lost the use of his legs. He died in Baton Rouge on 28 November 1992 at the age of sixty-five.
      See: Laura B. Duhe, “Remembering the life and works of Bishop Stanley Ott,” The Catholic Commentator (Volume 30: Number 21, 9 December 1992), viewable at: https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=CAC19921209-01.2.4&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------- 

Bishop Harold Robert Perry, S.V.D.
4th Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(6 Jan 1966 to d. 17 July 1991)

       The fourth auxiliary bishop of New Orleans was the first openly acknowledged African-American ordained a bishop in the twentieth century, the second in U.S. history, though the first, James Augustine Healy in 1875, passed as white.       Harold Robert Perry was born on 9 October 1916 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the eldest of six children of Frank and Josephine Price, his father worked in a rice mill and his mother was a domestic cook. 
       Brought up in a devoutly Catholic French-speaking family, Harold Perry early discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, but encountered obstructions from the prevailing “Jim Crow” laws and customs of the South. One option was a missionary religious order, the Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.) which operated St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Perry entered at age thirteen.
       The twenty-seven-year-old Perry was ordained a priest of the order on 6 Jun 1944, one year after his solemn vows to the order, by Richard Oliver Gerow, Bishop of Natchez, Mississippi at age twenty-seven. He was the twenty-sixth openly acknowledged African-American to receive ordination as a Catholic priest.
       Father Perry’s first assignment was as assistant pastor to Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, in Lafayette. After four years, Perry was transferred in 1948, to Notre Dame Church in St. Martinville.
       As the S.V.D.’s were a missionary society, they were not bound by state lines. Father Perry was transferred to St. Peter's Church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in 1949, then to St. Gabriel's Church in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, in 1951, then returning to found the new parish of St. Joseph's Church in Broussard, Louisiana, in 1952. Over the next six years, he built a church, a rectory, and a school.
       In 1958, Perry was appointed rector of his alma mater, St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. He became active in the civil rights movement, volunteering in 1960 as a founding member of the National Catholic Council for Interracial Justice upon its founding in 1960.
       Pope Paul VI appointed Perry fourth auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans on 29 September 1965, enabling him to attend the final session of Vatican II as a bishop. 
       As Auxiliary Bishop, Perry was automatically a vicar general of the Archdiocese.  He served as National Chaplain of the Knights of Peter Claver. He also simultaneously served as pastor of a series of parishes: Our Lady of Lourdes Church, and St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church, both in New Orleans.
       He later served as rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, while living on the grounds of Ursuline Academy, in New Orleans. 
       Bishop Perry died on 17 July 1991, at the Wynhoven Health Care Center, of complications due to Alzheimer's disease. His funeral Mass took place on July 22 in St. Louis Cathedral. His remains were interred in St. Louis # 3 Cemetery. 
       See: Florence Hermann, “Bishop Perry Eulogized as Priest and Prophet,” The Clarion Herald (Volume 29: Number 14, 1 August 1991) viewable at: https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cher19910801-01.2.26&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------%2F 

Bishop Louis Abel Caillouet
3rd Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(28 Oct 1947 to ret. 7 July 1976)

       The third auxiliary bishop of New Orleans was the first born in the state of Louisiana. Louis Abel Caillouet was born on 2 August 1900, in Thibodeaux, the son of Judge Louis Philip and Marie Adèle (nee Lagarde) Caillouet. 
       Discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Caillouet was sent to St. Joseph Seminary in St. Benedict, Louisiana, for minor seminary in 1914, then to St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore for theological studies in 1919. After earning his Master of Arts in Theology in 1921, Caillouet was sent to Rome for advanced study, leading to a Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1924. Caillouet received priestly ordination in Rome, on 7 March 1925.
       Caillouet spent two decades in parish work, culminating in being pastor of St. Joseph in Baton Rouge. Caillouet was appointed third auxiliary bishop of New Orleans by Pope Pius XII on 2 August 1947. 
       The forty-seven-year-old Caillouet received episcopal ordination as Titular Bishop of Setea in St. Louis Cathedral on 28 October 1947. 
       Bishop Caillouet remained pastor of St. Joseph in Baton Rouge another four years, until being transferred to serve as pastor of Our Lady of Rosary Parish in New Orleans, where he remained while fulfilling his episcopal duties until his retirement in 1975. 
       Bishop Caillouet also served as the first episcopal moderator to national Apostleship of the Sea, from 1951 to 1960. He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, which met annually from 1962 to 1965, keeping detailed journal of the proceedings and people. 
After Vatican II ended in 1865, Pope Paul VI adjusted the terms of service for bishops. By decree of the Apostolic Letter Ecclesiae Sanctae (no.11) issued by Pope Paul VI moto proprio on 6 August 1966, all bishops must submit a retirement letter to the Holy See upon completing their seventy-fifth year. This requirement was later written into the 1983 revision of the Code of Canon Law, canon 401.
       Bishop Caillouet abided by this new rule, submitting his retirement letter, which was accepted on 7 July 1976. As Bishop Emeritus, Bishop Caillouet served as Rector of National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, and as chaplain to Ursuline Academy and Convent in New Orleans, from 1975 until his death.
       Bishop Caillouet died at Mercy Hospital in New Orleans on 16 September 1984, at the age of eighty-four. His remains were interred in St. Joseph Cemetery, Thibodaux.
       See: “Bishop L. Abel Caillouet, 1900 to 1984,” The Clarion Herald (Volume 22: Number 32, 20 September 1984), viewable at: https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=cher19840920-01.1.2&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------%2F

Bishop Jean-Marius Laval
2nd Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(29 November 1911 to d. 4 June 1937)

       The second auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans was another French immigrant, born in Saint-Étienne, Loire, France, (Archdiocese of Lyon) on 21 September 1854, to François and Catherine (nee Crozet) Laval, who had him baptized Jean-Marius Laval.
       Upon discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, Laval received acceptance into the Collégiale Notre-Dame d'Espérance in Montbrison, then to Saint-Michel’s Seminary in Saint-Etienne. Seeking to serve French speaking Catholics in the United States, Laval was accepted by the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 1872 while still a seminarian. 
       He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Napoleon Perche on 10 November 1877 in the St. Mary’s Church (the Old Ursuline Chapel) in the Vieux Carré (French Quarter), New Orleans.
       Laval served in a series of parishes until the 257th Pope, St. Pius X (r. 1903 to 1914) appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans on 7 September 1911. Laval was ordained Titular Bishop of Hierocaesarea on 29 November 1911 in St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans. 
While fulfilling his duties as auxiliary Bishop Laval simultaneously served as vicar general of the archdiocese, and pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in New Orleans, from 1911 until his death in 1937.
       Seeking relief from the oppressive heat in New Orleans, Bishop Laval traveled to California for vacation in the summer of 1937. He fell suddenly ill while in San Francisco, where he died on 4 June 1937, at the age of eighty-two. His remains were later returned to New Orleans where they were interred in St. Louis Cathedral.
       See: “Aged New Orleans Auxiliary Dead,” The Catholic Transcript (Volume XL, Number 2, 10 June 1937) viewable at: https://www.thecatholicnewsarchive.org/?a=d&d=CTR19370610-01.2.97&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN--------

Bishop Gustave Augustin Rouxel 
1st Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans
(9 April 1899 to d. 16 March 1908)

       The first auxiliary bishop in New Orleans history was a French immigrant priest from the Diocese of Rennes, born on 2 February 1840 in Rendon, France, to Jacques and Scholastique (nee Brecha) Rouxel, who had him baptized Gustave Augustin Rouxel.
       Rouxel received his education at the College Saint-Sauveur in Redon, before discerning an ecclesiastical vocation, in pursuit of which he attended the Séminaire Saint-Yves, in Rennes.
       Rouxel’s life changed at the age of twenty-three, when the second Archbishop of New Orleans, Jean-Marie Odin, visited the seminary to recruit for his diocese. Moved to volunteer by stories of the suffering of the population owing to the Civil War, and the sacramental neglect of French speaking Catholics, Rouxel volunteered. 
       Archbishop Odin ordained Rouxel a priest on 4 November 1863 in St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, three months before his twenty-fourth birthday. Father Rouxel’s assignment was to serve the French speaking Catholics in Acadiana, in a region part of the Archdiocese of New Orleans until 1918, when it fell within the newly created Diocese of Lafayette. 
       After decades of service in multiple parishes, Pope St. Pius X appointed the fifty-nine-year-old Rouxel as Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans on 10 February 1899. He received ordination as titular bishop of Curium in St. Louis Cathedral on 9 April 1899. 
       Rouxel remained auxiliary bishop of New Orleans for the last nine years of his life, dying in New Orleans on 17 March 1908 at the age of sixty-eight. His remains were interred in St. Louis Cathedral.
       See: Dictionary of Louisiana Biography, originally published 1988, supplement in 1998. Currently accessible online at: https://www.lahistory.org/resources/dictionary-louisiana-biography/