Pope Francis names N.O. native an Auxiliary Bishop

By Michael Patrick Welch
Contributing Writer

From his post in Rome, Pope Francis himself recently appointed New Orleans native Fernand Cheri III to serve as the auxiliary bishop to local Archbishop Gregory Aymond.

“It was a complete surprise. A shock, really,” says Bishop-elect Cheri, his smile clearly audible over the phone. “I’d stepped into my office on a Saturday morning to a call saying Pope Francis wanted me for archbishop of New Orleans. I made him spell my name again and everything. They gave me the weekend to think about it, and they wouldn’t let me tell anybody, so it was quite awkward.”

CHERI

Cheri’s new vaunted role consists of assisting the bishop. “It’s largely an administrative role,” Cheri says, “interacting with priest personnel, or just being at high school graduations, and programs for different churches—being present for the activities the Archbishop is not able to do.”

Away from New Orleans for 22 years—minus his many trips to help out and to collect his own soggy belongings after Katrina—Cheri is especially glad to be back among his people. “One of things I feel blessed about… I love the way in which New Orleans’ Black community is a family in many, many ways, and many of the churches reflect that. Everyone feels like a cousin or an in-law. People just aren’t as hospitable and welcoming elsewhere with that spirit.”

Cheri is particularly suited for a return to his hometown given his passion for archiving music, particularly Black Catholic religious recordings, sheet music and books. Unfortunately much of his valuable audio was stored in New Orleans before and after the flood. “My collection is very extensive,” he says. “I lost 2,300 recordings in Katrina. It breaks my heart to think what I lost: mostly vinyl and tapes. I had original recordings of all of Clarence Rivers, one of the first Black Catholic priests in the country who wrote music for Catholic worship. I had all of his recordings and the waters of Katrina destroyed them.”

So along with looking to beef up his collection, Cheri hopes his musical knowledge will be of worth in his new post. “I believe I can help further develop worship in the Black Catholic community with my experience with religious Black music. I can help pick the appropriate music for the liturgy—certain music we use for different times. I can direct them where to purchase the music they need if they don’t have it.”

He’s similarly excited to revisit his city’s diversity, “Just the richness of culture. Many different aesthetic cultures, strong Mexican, strong Cuban, Vietnamese, strong Black Catholic culture, and the different European types—German, Italian, whatever whatever… When you start working on celebrating the liturgy you’re gonna experience something very different and unique.”

Appointed by a pope often perceived as liberal, Cheri says of New Orleans’ sizable LGBT Catholic culture: “We are all created in the image of God, and as such we are called to serve one another, and minister to one another, and it means we have to meet some challenges that call us to live reflective lives. [Pope Francis] is more progressive. He’s awakening some significant aspects that people need to address. He’s calling us to be more reflective of the Christ we worship.”

Cheri, who will leave Illinois and his job of three years as Quincy University’s director of campus ministry, last worked in New Orleans in 2010 and 2011 as associate director of campus ministry at Xavier University—the same school from which he graduated with a master’s degree in theology from Institute for Black Catholic Studies in 1978. He first worked in New Orleans at St. John Vianney Preparatory Seminary ecclesiastical studies at St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict (1970 to 1974), then Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans (1974 to 1978).

Cheri was ordained as a priest in New Orleans’ archdiocese in May 1978, and went on to work as parochial vicar at Our Lady of Lourdes in New Orleans, St. Joseph the Worker in Marrero, where he was promoted to pastor. He also served as pastor at St. Francis de Sales in New Orleans and administrator of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus.

The Unites States Conference of Catholic Bishops describes the selection process for Cheri’s new post: “picking candidates for the episcopacy normally begins at the diocesan level and works its way through a series of consultations until it reaches Rome. It is a process bound by strict confidentiality and involves a number of important players – the most influential being the apostolic nuncio, the Congregation for Bishops, and the pope.”

“A lot of prayer was involved,” says Bishop-elect Cheri.

This article originally published in the January 26, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.