Missionary zeal impels Immaculate Conception

by Peter Finney Jr.

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

The missionary zeal of Immaculate Conception Parish in Marrero, which celebrated its 100th anniversary on July 13, has fueled the West Bank parish since its origins, Father Stephen Leake told the 500 parishioners attending the Centennial Mass.

Father Leake, the current pastor who grew up as an altar server at the church in the 1980s, recalled the missionary spirit that was a trademark of Msgr. Peter Wynhoven, the priest who was the first director of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

Although Msgr. Wynhoven was not an Immaculate Conception pastor, Father Leake said his spiritual energy led to the creation of six Catholic churches throughout the West Bank.

Msgr. Wynhoven’s roots

Msgr. Wynhoven, who for many years was pastor of St. Joseph Church in Gretna, is buried in front of St. John Bosco Chapel on the grounds of Hope Haven, which he built to care for and educate orphans and children from poor families.

“He was, you might say, the co-founder of the West Bank because almost every church on the West Bank was touched by his formation,” Father Leake said. “One of the things that characterized Msgr. Wynhoven was apostolic, missionary zeal.”

Father Leake mentioned how Msgr. Paul Gaudin, who became pastor in 1949, established Immaculata High School in 1956 as the first Catholic high school in Jefferson Parish and how the parish had overcome numerous flood events and the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

A river by a different name

Water has been a huge part of the parish’s history. The Mississippi River flows just three blocks from the parish. The Mississippi was originally christened the “River of the Immaculate Conception” by the Jesuit explorer Marquette in 1673.

Next month, on that same river, a floating eucharistic procession will take place from Baton Rouge to New Orleans.

“We will once again bless the river and bless the city as a reminder that God’s providence reigns over our state and over our people,” Father Leake said.

A poignant reminder of Katrina at Immaculate Conception is the shard of glass impaled in the left side of the corpus of Christ, high above the altar.

Father Warren Cooper, the pastor during Katrina, said a tornado shattered the glass above the altar and severed the left arm of Christ, throwing it to the floor, and also sent the glass piercing into Christ’s side.

The glass remained

When he began speaking to artists about restoring the crucifix, Father Cooper’s only directive was that the shard of glass remain in Christ’s side as a sign of his redemptive suffering.

“Because I thought that was a sign for us,” Father Cooper recalled. “We were suffering – and I get emotional about it – and so was he. We could identify with his suffering a little bit more. I was just overwhelmed. I thought it was just a sign of the Lord telling us, ‘You’ve got a tough road ahead of you, but look at how I suffered, too. It was a communion, if you will.”

Roots to 1918

While Immaculate Conception was established in 1924 by Archbishop John Shaw, a church was erected in Marrero in 1918 as part of St. Joseph Parish in Gretna. That church was dedicated in 1919 under the invocation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Father Joseph Wester was the founding pastor in 1924, when a two-story school building was erected and dedicated. The Sisters of the Most Blessed Sacrament staffed the school originally, to be succeeded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1939.

Educational priorities

In 1951, Msgr. Gaudin erected Immaculate Conception School – those buildings are still in use today – and established Immaculata High School in 1956 as a parish-owned high school. The last co-ed class finished in 1966.

The current Immaculate Conception Church was formally dedicated in 1957. Msgr. Charles Pagliughi became pastor in 1969 and a few years later launched the idea of pre-paid school tuition. In 1979, the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco accepted responsibility for both Immaculate Conception School and Immaculata High School.

Msgr. Ray Hebert served as pastor from 1986-2002, when he was succeeded by Father Cooper.

In 2007, Immaculata High School merged with Archbishop Blenk High School to form the Academy of Our Lady High School, which operated on the former Immaculata campus until 2014.

Father Damien Hinojosa served as pastor from 2011-14, when he was succeeded by Father Jimmy Jeanfreau. Kim DiMarco became the school’s first lay principal in 2017.

Father Jeanfreau, who also served as head of the Pontifical Mission Societies for the archdiocese, died tragically in 2022 in a woodshop accident. Father Leake was named pastor in 2023.

“One of the things that marked Father Jimmy was missionary zeal,” Father Leake said. “For the last 100 years, we have been a missionary parish. Is it still a missionary parish? Yes, because, we are not missionaries of the past but missionaries of the present and the future. We all have a part to play.”

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