PARISH MINISTRY IN THE HERITAGE OF HOLY CROSS

“Work ceaselessly to care for the flock entrusted to you.”

FATHER BASIL MOREAU

Basil Anthony Moreau was born in 1799, in the wake of the French Revolution. He was ordained in 1821 and very soon after began teaching in the seminary. Father Moreau believed that ministers needed to be well prepared to deal with the realities of the modern world. He recognized that the needs were urgent since many parishes had been disrupted by the years of disturbance related to the Revolution.

Though Moreau’s talents and abilities were such that he was assigned to teach in the diocesan seminary, his deepest desire was to serve in parish ministry.

Father Moreau’s pastoral sensitivity challenged him to respond to the needs of the people. He gathered a small group of priests to assist in parishes; this group took the name Auxiliary Priests. They would live in or near the seminary, but go out to provide sacramental and pastoral services to those parishes most in need. At this same time, Father Moreau became the chief administrator for the Brothers of St. Joseph that had been founded 15 years earlier. A few years later, he began a group of Sisters to assist the priests and brothers.

Father Moreau sent a small group to northern Indiana. This small group, Father Edward Sorin and five brothers established the first foundation of Holy Cross in the Americas: the University of Notre Dame. Brother Vincent Pieau Residence at St. Edward’s University in Austin, TX is named after one of the five brothers.

Father Sorin later sent sisters, brothers, and priests to administer an orphanage in New Orleans. He later sent some brothers to build a boys’ boarding school on what was the Boyle Farm in Austin; it is now St. Edward’s University.

Father Moreau especially enjoyed giving parish missions and retreats and is known as one of the most effective preachers of that time in France. After he resigned as superior of the Congregation of Holy Cross, the last years of his life were spent giving retreats and missions, and assisting in parishes.