Joseph Rummel - Archbishop of New Orleans

Archbishop of New Orleans

Rummel was named as the ninth archbishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans on March 9, 1935. He succeeded the recently deceased Archbishop John Shaw. Rummel transferred to New Orleans during the Great Depression. At the time, cities in the United States, including New Orleans, were rapidly urbanizing, as farmers flocked to the city in search of factory jobs. Also, recent European immigrants, many of whom were Catholic, were also settling in the city. The population of the city rapidly expanded, as did the need for community services, especially schools. Over the next thirty years, the Catholic population in the Archdiocese would double to over 762,000, and the number of students in Catholic schools grew from fewer than 40,000 to over 85,000.

During Rummel's episcopacy, 45 new church parishes were created throughout the Archdiocese, and increasing the number of parishes from 135 to 180. In 1945, he launched the Youth Progress Program, a major initiative to raise money for the expansion of the parochial school system. This program resulted in the construction of 70 new Catholic schools, including several new high schools. Saint Augustine High School in Orleans Parish was built in 1951. Archbishop Shaw, Archbishop Chapelle, Archbishop Blenk, and Archbishop Rummel, all in Jefferson Parish, were built in 1962.

In 1935, Rummel mandated the creation of CCD programs in every parish. He streamlined the accounting procedures of the Archdiocese. And, he created new lay organizations to support an expansion of the many charity programs within the Archdiocese.

In October 1960, at the age of eighty-two, Rummel broke an arm and a leg in a fall, after which he nearly died from pneumonia. Rummel recovered and continued to serve as archbishop for another four years, but his health was a recurring concern during the last few years of his life. He was given a coadjutor, John Cody, in 1961.