Legacy of care celebrated at St. Theresa of Avila

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

St. Theresa of Avila Church on Coliseum Square in the Lower Garden District has survived the yellow fever epidemic, the Civil War, hurricanes, the Great Depression, fire, debt, a changing neighborhood and COVID-19.

To commemorate the parish’s 175th anniversary, a bilingual Mass was celebrated Oct. 14, the day before the saint’s feast, by Archbishop Gregory Aymond, concelebrated by Father Lance Campo, pastor. Dominican Father Manuel Solorzano, director of the Hispanic Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, delivered the homily.



A procession followed Mass to lay a wreath at the Margaret Haughery statue.  A reception was held at St. Michael School nearby.





“Today, we gather to give thanks and praise to God for the life and history of this faith community,” Father Solorzano said. “One hundred and seventy-five years is a long time. … These years surpass the age of buildings, but encompass the individuals, the families and the cultures that have discovered that St. Theresa is a wonderful place to worship and know God.

The Lord was present in word, sacrament and service back then, and he continues to be with us here today, he who is with us on the journey of life.”

History
St. Theresa of Avila was established at a time when there were many children without parents, and Margaret Haughery, whose memorial statue sits down the street from the church, worked with the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph from Maryland to establish an orphanage in 1840 and then a chapel in 1843. The estate of Theresa Saulet donated the land for the orphanage and chapel to Archbishop Antoine Blanc, and the Sisters of Charity ran the orphanage.  

As the neighborhood grew, a parish was established and a larger, Gothic-Revival-style church was built on the chapel’s site in 1848 and named St. Theresa of Avila, to honor the namesake saint that Mrs. Theresa Saulet Perie (she remarried after her husband’s death) had a special devotion to. Among its many features are its Jardine and Son organ, built in 1870, the year the school opened; and its stained glass windows, added in 1890. Air conditioning was installed in 1971. By 1976, the parish was debt-free; and a metal roof was installed in 1994.

When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the large stained glass window of St. Theresa behind the altar and others on the sides were destroyed. It took $200,000 to repair.

Alternating in English and Spanish, Father Solorzano delivered the homily with the help of Daughter of Charity Sister Isabel Fierro. Father Solorzano said God had been with St. Theresa of Avila parishioners from the beginning and continues today in the celebration of the Mass, in the many sacraments such as baptisms and funerals that were held here, and through the service of the many priests and Spanish Franciscan Capuchins.

By its 75th jubilee in 1924, there had been 11,300 baptisms, 3,665 marriages; 4,000 funerals and 4,000 living parishioners.

The parish’s 23rd pastor, Capuchin Franciscan Father Teodoro Agudo, served from 1969-2018 and built a strong Hispanic population. He reportedly celebrated the archdiocese’s first Mass in Spanish in modern times at St. Theresa.

Fr. Agudo was instrumental
The mixture of former parishioners, students and regular parishioners in attendance fondly remembered Father Agudo.

“Father Agudo was great,” said Marylen Costa, a parishioner with husband Louis since 1971. Their daughter Lenora Stout, also in attendance, was married here. 

The Costas worked with Father Agudo in the Coliseum Square Association to have their neighborhood put on the historic register, worked to tear down the Uptown highway up-ramp to the West Bank that ran through their neighborhood in the mid-1990s, and restored the Haughery statue.

“There were things that happened in the neighborhood that needed attention, and he would work with” the city, neighbors, whomever he had to to get it done. “He was instrumental in keeping the neighbors and the neighborhood surrounding the church together.”

Maureen McDonald, whose husband Warren graduated from St. Theresa of Avila School in 1954, was at the celebration with her daughter and son-in-law Julie and Andy Quick.

“Father Agudo made this a special parish when he came,” said Maureen McDonald, who grew up in nearby Catholic parish in the Irish Channel. The McDonalds returned to St. Theresa to bring Warren’s parents, Vera Jemison McDonald and Warren McDonald, who were married at St. Theresa of Avila in 1939, to Mass in the 1990s when they got sick. Vera had also attended grammar school at St. Theresa. 

“They passed away, and we kept going to St. Theresa,” she said.

“We liked the pastor, Father Agudo,” Warren said. “It was amazing how much he did for the church, physically. Some kind of way, he kept money going to do repairs and updates.”

The McDonalds’ association with the parish dates as far back as Warren’s great grandmother Ann Fay Burke marrying John Sullivan at St. Theresa of Avila. In 1894, Warren’s grandparents on his father’s side, Owen and Julia McDonald, were married at St. Theresa of Avila. 

In 1916, his grandmother, Florine Gresse Jemison, moved into the neighborhood. In 1956, his family moved into nearby St. Michael’s Parish, which closed in 1965 after Hurricane Betsy. 

“My mother knew everybody at St. Theresa and St. Michael,” he said.

Father Solorzano assured attendees that they, like the disciples, are the branches connected to Jesus, the true vine.

“He tells us, too, ‘I am the one who is with you throughout your history … in the joyful times as well as the sorrowful,’” Father Solorzano said. “The goal for the Christian walk and the key to producing good fruit, through our actions, is to live united in him. I am quite sure that Jesus Christ – present in his word and in the Blessed Sacrament – has been and will always be, the source of the activity of this parish.”

To discover more about St. Theresa of Avila, visit www.sttheresanola.org.

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