LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / August 26, 2000

LULING – Growth in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes has beenevident in the last 10 years, with new home construction booming and no end in sight.

But the Catholic Church in these two parishes, in most cases, has yet to feel the impact. The exceptions, and the sites of the greatest growth innumber of registered families in the last 10 years, are Holy Family Church in Luling and St. Joan of Arc Church in LaPlace.According to statistics compiled by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, which oversees all Catholic church parishes in these two parishes, Catholic population has not kept pace to reflect overall growth here.

In 1990, St. Charles Parish had a population of 42,437, with 21,743 on theeast bank and 20,694 on the west bank. The latest available estimates forSt. Charles Parish are 47,606 people, with 15,559 households, 7,698 ofthese on the west bank and 7,861 on the east bank.

Catholic population stood at 23,716 in 1990 for St. Charles Parish,including 250 households for St. Mark’s in Ama, 575 for St. Gertrude’s inDes Allemands (including 100 for the Lafourche portion of town), 2,400 for St. Charles Borromeo in Destrehan, 610 for Our Lady of the Most HolyRosary in Hahnville, 800 for Holy Family in Luling, 800 for St. Anthony ofPadua in Luling, 1,302 in Sacred Heart of Jesus in Norco and 425 for St.

John the Baptist in Paradis.

The Rev. John Finn, who has served as pastor at Holy Family since 1987,ascribed much of the growth to the establishment of the mission church from St. Anthony’s and the boom in new homes in the Willowridge andLakewood West area in the past several years.

Since Holy Family’s establishment, though, growth has far outpaced that of St. Anthony’s, so much so that a new church building is now underconstruction.

The $2.29 million building will replace the one first blessed in 1980 witha 450-person seating capacity. The new church will seat 700 parishioners,including a 50-person choir area.

In September, the first steel upright girders will be placed, after which the bricklaying will begin. It is due to be completed by June 2001.The number of registered households in 1999 (Catholic population figures have not been kept since 1995) changed as follows: St. Mark’s had 225households, St. Gertrude’s had 400, St. Charles Borromeo had 2,060, HolyRosary had 631, Holy Family had 1,040, St. Anthony’s had 650, SacredHeart had 1,031 and St. John the Baptist had 450 households.So, while population has continued to increase, the number of Catholic households has not changed significantly. Wherever household numberswent down, Rev. Finn noted, the difference in record-keeping techniquesused by the Archdiocese likewise changed. “Registered” households aredefined as those actual households registered as members at that particular church. 1990 figures did not delineate registered households.In 1996 archdiocese records began listing “contributing” households, meaning those which regularly financially support each church.

Reviewing those numbers show St. Mark’s with 129 contributinghouseholds in 1996 and 134 in 1999, St. Gertrude with 200 in both years,St. Charles Borromeo dropping from 1,200 in 1996 to 999 in 1999, HolyRosary increasing from 400 to 431, Holy Family increasing significantly from 400 to 650 (paralleling the fund-raising effort toward the new church building), St. Anthony’s holding steady at 300, Sacred Heartincreasing from 500 to 537 and St. John the Baptist going from 300 to 325households.

Similarly, in 1990, St. John Parish recorded 39,996 total population. Thelatest available population estimate for St. John Parish is 41,664 persons.In the Catholic population a total of 23,728 was recorded in 1990, with 6,135 Catholic households.

This was sorted out by the Archdiocese as follows: St. John the Baptist atEdgard with 635 households, St. Hubert’s at Garyville with 350, Ascensionof Our Lord in LaPlace with 1,200, St. Joan of Arc at LaPlace with 2,400,Our Lady of Grace in Reserve with 350 and St. Peter in Reserve with 1,200households in 1990.

Registered household figures for 1999 were: St. John the Baptist with 585households, St. Hubert’s with 250, Ascension of Our Lord with 950, St.Joan of Arc with 3,086, Our Lady of Grace with 300 and St. Peter with1,175 households in 1999.

Contributing households mirrored the changes as well.

At St. John the Baptist, contributing households went from 542 in 1996 to530 in 1999, St. Hubert’s went from 195 to 200, Ascension of Our Lordincreased from 500 to 600, reflecting that new church construction as well, St. Joan of Arc rose from 1,636 to 1,800, Our Lady of Grace wentfrom 185 to 190 and St. Peter dropped from 1,100 to 650 contributinghouseholds.

At Ascension of Our Lord in LaPlace, a new church is well under construction, according to the Rev. Benny Piovan, to replace the one firstconsecrated in 1979. This church, which developed because of the growingpopulation at St. Joan of Arc, also in LaPlace, is bursting at the seams, somuch so that ground was broken for a new church in 1999.

This replacement church, with a $2.5 million price tag, will be able toseat more than 1,000 parishioners, as compared to the present church’s 500-person capacity. It is due to be completed by spring 2001.”We began meeting in the music room at St. Charles Catholic High Schoolin 1979,” said Rev. Piovan. The present church building was occupied inMarch 1979.

In the archdiocese, recent church closures in Orleans Parish due partially to the ongoing shortage of priests and partially to population shifts has resulted in some church parishes serving more than one church.

While this has not yet manifested itself in the River Parishes, according to the Rev. John Perino of St. Mark’s in Ama, this may result in St. Mark’scoming under the administration of a neighboring church, as one instance.

Racial lines have not changed to any significant degree either, according to the Archdiocese records for the last 10 years.

In 1990, as in 1999, Our Lady of Grace in Reserve, established in 1937, was listed as having 100 percent black population, drawing from all over the east bank of the parish, and St. John the Baptist in Edgard was listedat 90 percent black, reflecting the west bank population.

While no church is 100 percent white, the closest are Sacred Heart in Norco, Holy Family in Luling, St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace and St. John theBaptist in Paradis, all between 97 and 99 percent.

A paragon of racial balance is found at Holy Rosary Church in Hahnville, according to archdiocese records, listed as 50 percent white and 50 percent black.

The most racially-diverse church family, reflecting its community, is St.

Charles Borromeo in Destrehan, with 85 percent white, 12 percent black, 2 percent Hispanic, .5 percent Asian and .5 percent Indian, with aVietnamese pastor, the Rev. John Phuc.

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