Roman Catholic Diocese of Houma–Thibodaux

Pope Pius VI in 1793 erected the Diocese of Louisiana and the Two Floridas, encompassing the Spanish colonies in Louisiana and Florida. With the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Louisiana became part of the new United States and the diocese came under American jurisdiction. The first parish in Thibodaux, St. Joseph, was established in 1813, with the first church opened in 1819.[3]

Pope Leo XIII erected the Diocese of New Orleans in 1825.[4] The Houma and Thibodaux area would remain part of the Diocese of New Orleans, replace by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, for the next 152 years.

The first parish in Houma, St. Francis de Sales, was established in 1847 and the first church was completed in 1854.[5]The first Catholic school in Thibodaux was opened in 1855 by the Sisters of Mount Carmel.[6] In Houma, the Marianites of Holy Cross founded Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Academy in 1870. Sacred Heart Academy opened in Morgan City in 1893.[7] St. Joseph Hospital in Thibodaux started accepting patients in 1929.[8]

St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, Thibodaux

Pope Paul VI erected the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux on June 5, 1977, taking its territory from the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The pope designated the Church of St. Francis de Sales in Houma as the cathedral and St. Joseph Church in Thibodaux as the co-cathedral.

Paul VI named Auxiliary Bishop Warren Boudreaux from the Diocese of Lafayette in Louisiana as the first bishop of Houma-Thibodaux.[9]Boudreaux became known for placing a ban on church fairs in 1985, objecting to the consumption of alcohol and overall frivolity at such events.[10] He retired in 1992.

The second bishop of Houma-Thibodaux was Monsignor Charles Jarrell of Lafayette in Louisiana, appointed by Pope John Paul II in 1993. He became bishop of Lafayette in Louisiana in 2002.[11][12] John Paul II replaced Jarrell in Houma-Thibodaux with Bishop Sam Jacobs from the Diocese of Alexandria in Louisiana.[13]

After becoming bishop, Jacobs held town meetings in every parish to meet parishioners and hear their concerns. Under Jacobs, the diocese inaugurated the Steubenville South Youth Conference and constructed a new youth center at the Maryhill Renewal Center in Alexandria to accommodate youth retreats.[14]

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the diocese provided numerous temporary shelters for storm victims and admitted to its schools hundreds of children whose schools had been flooded. The diocese provided similar assistance when Hurricane Rita hit the region in September 2005.[15]

After Jacobs retired in 2013, Pope Francis named Auxiliary Bishop Shelton Fabre as the fourth bishop of Houma-Thibodaux.[16][17]He became archbishop of the Archdiocese of Louisville in 2022.

To replace Fabre, Francis in 2023 named Auxiliary Bishop Mario E. Dorsonville of the Archdiocese of Washington as the new bishop of Houma-Thibodaux.[18][19]

In September 2020, police arrested Reverend Travis John Clark, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Pearl River, on obscenity charges. Police had discovered Clark performing and filming sex acts with two female dominatrixes on the church altar one night. After his arrest, the diocese immediately removed Clark from ministry.[20]He pleaded guilty to an obscenity charge in November 2022 and received a received a suspended three-year prison sentence. The diocese destroyed the desecrated altar and announced plans to petition the Vatican for Clark laicization.[21] Though these events took place in South Louisiana, no one or any property involved is connected do the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux.

Dorsonville released a statement in August 2021, calling on the Biden Administration to address the refugee influx into the United States from the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan that month.[22]In a September 2021 homily, Dorsonville asked parishioners to help Afghan refugees.[23]

Police arrested Reverend Robert Melancon from Sacred Heart Parish in Cut Off, Louisiana, on aggravated rape charges in June 1995. A 17 year old boy from Houma had accused Melancon of sexually abusing him when he was six or seven years old for several years.[24]The diocese reportedly paid the victim a $30,000 settlement in 1993. Melancon was convicted in June 1996 of aggravated rape and sentenced to life in prison in August 1996.[25][26]

Reverend Patrick Kujawa of Holy Cross Church in Morgan City was arrested in January 2000 on charges of processing 62 pornographic images of boys. A housekeeper in his residence had discovered them, along with many pornographic images of men. After learning about the images, the diocese had notified law enforcement and sent Kujawa to a hospital in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested.[27] He pleaded guilty in December 2000 to possessing child pornography and was sentenced to inpatient therapy and ten years on probation. Kujawa was convicted again on child pornography charges in 2004 and sent to prison.[28]

In January 2019, the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux released the names of 14 clergy who were accused of committing acts of sex abuse.[29] Kujawa, Melendez and Melancon were convicted of sexual abuse crimes committed within the diocese while Guidry was convicted of crimes committed in Texas.[30]

• Etienne LeBlanc
• Dale Guidry
• Bernard Schmaltz
• Claude Boudreaux
• Gerard Kinane
• Alexander Francisco
• Lawrence Cavell
• Patrick Kujawa
• Robert Melancon
• Carlos Melendez
• Gerald Prinz
• Ramon Luce
• Dac Nguyen
• Daniel Poche

1. Warren Louis Boudreaux (1977–1992)
2. Charles Michael Jarrell (1992–2002), appointed Bishop of Lafayette in Louisiana
3. Sam Jacobs (2003–2013)
4. Shelton Fabre (2013–2022)
5. Mario E. Dorsonville (2023–present)

• Joseph Nunzio Latino, appointed Bishop of Jackson in 2003
• Oscar Azarcon Solis, appointed auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles in 2003

• Central Catholic High School – Morgan City
• Edward Douglas White Catholic High School – Thibodaux
• Vandebilt Catholic High School – Houma

• Central Catholic Elementary School – Morgan City (formerly Holy Cross Elementary School) [31][32]
• Holy Rosary Catholic School – Larose
• Holy Savior Catholic School – Lockport
• Saint Bernadette Catholic Elementary School – Houma
• Saint Francis de Sales Cathedral School – Houma
• Saint Genevieve Catholic Elementary School – Thibodaux
• Saint Gregory Barbarigo Catholic School – Houma
• Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary School – Thibodaux
• Saint Mary's Nativity School – Raceland

Maria Immacolata Catholic School – Houma (closed in 2020)[33]