Blessed Shrimpers

Clad in scarlet, white and gold vestments, his tall mitre on his head and his tall golden crosier in hand, Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel of New Orleans stood one day last week on the wharf of small Chauvin in the parish of Terrebonne. Behind him stood 1,000 bayou Catholics with 500 of their children all in white, ready for their First Communion and Confirmation. On the waters before the Archbishop bobbed the shrimp fishing fleet of Bayou Little Caillou. Raising his staff with a gloved hand, Archbishop Rummel intoned Latin, French, English.

Few days later the shrimp fleet sailed forth on its annual run into the Gulf of Mexico, its pious shrimpers proud that for the first time in its history the blessings of the Church had been bestowed upon it by a high prelate in full panoply instead of a plain parish priest.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.