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Present Ordinary
The Most Reverend Michael Jarrell, D.D.,
ordained June 3, 1967, and ordained to
the episcopacy and installed as second bishop of Houma-
Thibodaux on March 4, 1993. He was installed as the sixth
Bishop of Lafayette on Dec. 18th, 2002.
Former Ordinaries
The Most Reverend Edward J. O’Donnell, D.D., ordained April 6,
1957; appointed Titular Bishop of Britonia and Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis December 6,
1983; consecrated February 10, 1984; appointed fifth Bishop of Lafayette November 8, 1994;
installed December 16, 1994.
The Most Reverend Harry J. Flynn, D.D., ordained May 29, 1960; appointed
Coadjutor Bishop of Lafayette April 19, 1986; consecrated June 24, 1986; presented Papal
Credentials, St. John Cathedral, Lafayette June 29, 1986; Fourth Bishop of Lafayette May
13, 1989; appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis February 22, 1994;
installed April 27, 1994.
The Most Reverend Gerard L. Frey, D.D., ordained April 2, 1938;
appointed Bishop of Savannah May 31, 1967; consecrated August 8, 1967; installed August
10, 1967; appointed third Bishop of Lafayette November 7, 1972; installed January 7, 1973;
resigned May 13, 1989.
The Most Reverend Maurice Schexnayder, D.D.. ordained April 11, 1925;
appointed Titular Bishop of Tuscamia and Auxiliary to the Bishop of Lafayette December 2,
1950; consecrated February 22, 1951; appointed second Bishop of Lafayette March 13, 1956:
installed May 24, 1956; resigned November 7, 1972; died January 23, 1981.
The Most Reverend Jules B. Jeanmard, D.D., ordained June 10, 1903;
appointed first Bishop of Lafayette consecrated December 8, 1918; installed December 12,
1918; appointed assistant at the Pontifical Throne December 8, 1943; resigned and named
Titular Bishop of Bareta March 13, 1956; died February 23, 1957. |
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"Amongst those various offices which have been exercised in the Church from the
earliest times the chief place, according to the witness of tradition, is held by the
function of those who, through their appointment to the dignity and responsibility of
bishop, and in virtue consequently of the unbroken succession going back to the beginning,
are regarded as transmitters of the apostolic line."
To fulfill their exalted mission, "the apostles were endowed by
Christ with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, and by the
imposition of hands they passed on to their auxiliaries the gift of the Spirit, which is
transmitted down to our day through episcopal consecration."
The Second Vatican Council "teaches . . . that the fullness of the
sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by episcopal consecration, that fullness namely
which, both in the liturgical tradition of the Church and the language of the Fathers of
the Church, is called the high priesthood, the acme (summa) of the sacred
ministry."
"Episcopal consecration confers, together with the office of
sanctifying, also the offices of teaching and ruling.... In fact ... by the imposition of
hands and through the words of the consecration, the grace of the Holy Spirit is given,
and a sacred character is impressed in such wise that bishops, in an eminent and visible
manner, take the place of Christ himself, teacher, shepherd, and priest, and act as his
representative (in Eius persona agant)." "By virtue, therefore, of the Holy
Spirit who has been given to them, bishops have been constituted true and authentic
teachers of the faith and have been made pontiffs and pastors." (From The Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 1555-1558)
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