Diverse council serves local religious orders

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

A new nine-member, advisory Council of Religious has been formed to serve as a sounding board for the 431 women and men religious of the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Sacred Heart Brother Ron Travers, the new executive director of the Office of Religious that serves the needs of 277 sisters, 56 brothers and 98 religious priests in the archdiocese, gathered the panel for its inaugural meeting last month.

The purpose of the council, Brother Ron said, is to plan annual activities and raise and discuss topics of interest or concern to the 53 religious communities that serve in the archdiocese so that his office can share that information with Archbishop Gregory Aymond and other archdiocesan offices.

When Brother Ron served in the Diocese of Brooklyn, he was a member of a similar council of religious and said it was very helpful in keeping the various religious communities informed and connected with each other and with the diocese.

“I was on it for three years, and it was a really good thing to have,” Brother Ron told the council members at their first quarterly meeting on Nov. 16. “When I first got on it, I had no idea what was happening, but we had such a good cross-section of people, it helped plan things for our lives during the course of the year.

“Also, if there ever were concerns that we had, we had a voice to bring it before the bishop. Or, if the bishop had things he wanted us to know, then we could be a sounding board for that. We really are a sounding board for all religious in the archdiocese, and I think that’s good because we come from such a wide spectrum of communities. We can bring whatever we need – good or bad – to the table.”

Sought diversity

Brother Ron said he was conscious of creating a diverse membership. The initial council members are Dominican Father Ian Bordenave; Marianite Sister Renee Daigle; Salesian Sister Michelle Geiger; Benedictine Father Jude Israel; Sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus Emily Iyelumi; Jesuit Father Mark Mossa; Marianite Sister Immaculata Paisant; Benedictine Brother Austin Simon and Salesian Brother Kevin White.

Brother Ron and Archbishop Aymond serve as ex-officio members of the council.

Nearly 100 religious attended a “meet and greet” gathering with college students following a Mass at Holy Name of Jesus Church recently, and Brother Ron said that event was done in part as a sign that religious “are here and not hidden away. It was to say that we’re alive and well and we’re doing good work. We’re all over the place in various and sundry ways.”

The group will help plan speakers for the annual gathering of religious for the World Day for Consecrated Life in February and also plan the annual Jubilarian Mass in April.

Some of the ideas floated at the first meeting included ways to minister to aging religious, some of whom feel disconnected; how to foster more inter-community dialogue at group events, even if it means assigning religious to sit with someone they don’t know; and how to use video interviews to encourage older religious to tell their vocational stories.

Brother Ron said he hoped his regular e-mail newsletter to religious would also be a source of good information and spiritual inspiration.

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