Father Jerome Gaston Ledoux SVD

Obituary Fr. Jerome Gaston LeDoux was born on February 26, 1930 in Lake Charles, Louisiana to the late Peter Louis LeDoux and Mary Gastonia Petrie LeDoux. He was third of five children born to this union. Funeral mass will be held at 6:00 PM Monday, January 14, 2019 at Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas, LA. Visiting hours will be observed from 3:00 PM to 5:45 PM. A Rosary will be recited at 4:00 PM. Mass of Christian burial will be in St. Augustine’s Seminary Cemetery in Bay St. Louis, MS. Funeral mass will be held at 10:00 AM Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at St. Augustine’s Seminary. Fr. LeDoux was educated at Sacred Heart School in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In 1943, at the tender age of thirteen, he entered the seminary following in the footsteps of his older brother, Rev. Louis Verlin LeDoux and his cousin, Bishop Harold Robert Perry, SVD. His educational path is as follows: 1936-1943: Sacred Heart School in Lake Charles, LA 1943-1947: Divine Word High School Seminary of St. Augustine in Bay St. Louis, MS 1947-1949: Novitiate at the Divine Word Seminary in Techny, IL 1949 – First Vows 1949-1951: Divine Word College in Epworth, IA 1951-1957: St. Augustine Major Seminary in Bay St. Louis, MS 1957 – Final Vows May 11, 1957 – Ordination to the priesthood 1957-1961: Studied Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and received a Doctorate in Canon Law and a Master’s in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian Fr. LeDoux’s ministry of sixty-one years included: 1961-1967: Taught Canon Law and Moral Theology at St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, MS; 1969-1980: Taught Moral Theology at Xavier University in New Orleans. He was the first black chaplain at Xavier. Following the teaching ministry, Fr. LeDoux was assigned as pastor of several parishes over the years in Louisiana and Texas until his retirement in 2015 (St. Martin de Porres Church in Prairie View, TX; St. Paul the Apostle Church in Baton Rouge, LA; St. Augustine Church in New Orleans, LA; and Our Mother of Mercy in Fort Worth, TX). In 2016, he was assigned as the priest in residence of Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas, Louisiana. Fr. LeDoux was a man of many talents. He loved his computer where he put his creative thinking into words that he shared with many others. He did a weekly syndicated column, “Reflections on Life” and was the proud author of a book “War of the Pews”, a personal account of St. Augustine in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a brilliant conversationalist and often shared his knowledge and wisdom through word and song that impacted the lives of people from all walks of life. In an email he sent to family and friends regarding his surgery dated 11/10/18, he wrote “In case you are curious, I am at peace in the Lord”. Fr. LeDoux was preceded in death by his parents, Peter and Mary LeDoux and his sister, Mary Agatha LeDoux Sonnier. Cherishing his memories are his sister, Veronica LeDoux Mitchell of St. Albans, New York; his brothers: Chaplain Louis Verlin LeDoux of Tacoma, Washington and Nathanial LeDoux (Hilda) of Henderson, Nevada; four nieces, Marlene Smith and Gail Mitchell of St. Albans, NY, Yvette Sonnier of Beaumont, TX and Lynette Victor of Austin, TX; his SVD brothers and a host of family members, relatives and friends. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Williams Funeral Home of Opelousas, 337-942-2037

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Father Jerome Gaston Ledoux SVD

February 26, 1930 - January 7, 2019