In the spring of 1951, Mr. Norman made known to Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel his plans to further develop his Aurora properties and that the need for establishing a new church parish was great.  Archbishop Rummel and Mr. Norman were both very devout Catholics, highly respected, and astute in handling complex business deals.  Mr. Norman was extremely generous and he and his wife had previously donated land for what is now known as Our Lady of Holy Cross College.  They now wanted to donate a large tract of land to the Catholic Church for construction of a permanent church and parochial school.  At the time, Aurora Gardens had about 200 homes, with Catholics numbering 136 adults and 113 children.  Huntlee Village had about 290 homes, with Catholics numbering 256 adults and 142 children.

After several months of negotiations and study, the details of which make for quite interesting reading but too lengthy for this web site, Archbishop Rummel made his decision and on June 5, 1952 informed the pastor of Holy Name that a new Parish would be carved out “for the Catholic residents in the area known as Aurora Gardens and Huntlee Village.”

Next installment:  St. Andrew gets a pastor, a name, and a temporary church building and celebrates a historic Christmas in 1952.

St. Andrew the Apostle Parish would like to welcome our new seminarian, Kyle Sanders.  Kyle was born in Kenner.  He was baptized at St. Jerome Parish in Kenner.  He began his formal schooling in kindergarten at St. Philip Neri, in Metairie.  While at St. Philip he became active in the altar servers and the band, both of which would help to form Kyle into the person he is today.  He left St. Philip to attend Archbishop Rummel in eighth grade.  Through the atmosphere of faith, the holiness of life of his teachers, and positive peer pressure at Rummel, Kyle began to live an active faith life.  He joined Life Teen at St. Edward the Confessor in Metairie.  It was there that his interest in music was reinvigorated.  He picked up the bass guitar.  Six months later, with an overwhelming desire to write songs, he picked up the acoustic guitar.

It was during this time in his life that Kyle met two priests that very much influenced his hearing God’s call for him.  The first was Fr. Pat Wattigny, the chaplain at Rummel.  His presence at Rummel was a great witness to Kyle.  Fr. Pat continues to be a mentor to Kyle to this day.  The second, Fr. Kyle Dave, was newly ordained in 2002 and assigned to Kyle’s adopted parish, St. Edward the Confessor. Kyle saw in the priest who shared his name, a man of great reverence, prayer, and joy.  He desired to imitate that.  He wanted to be like, well, Fr. Kyle.

Kyle’s senior year at Rummel became a time of serious discernment and prayer.  He spent much time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and praying the Rosary.  The Eucharist and Mary are the two rocks of his spiritual life and discernment.  Through many different confirmations of God’s call, he contacted the Vocations Office at the Archdiocese and started the formal process to enter the seminary.

Seeing in Kyle a call, the Archdiocese sent him to do philosophical studies at St. joseph Seminary College in Covington.  There he came into contact with the Benedictine Order.  Their motto, Ora et labora, work and prayer, had a profound influence on his life.  It helped to direct his life.  At St. Ben’s, as the seminary is affectionately called, he met some like-minded and  like-gifted seminarians.  Together they started a rock band, whose focus was vocation promotion and an outlet for his gifts.  Kyle ended up playing with them all four of his years of philosophical study.  He even recorded two albums with them.  He graduated in 2007 from St. Ben’s with a degree in philosophy and liberal arts.

The summer in between the end of his philosophical studies and the beginning of his theological studies he was sent to Ciudad de Mexico to study Spanish.  He lived for two months in a seminary there and taking classes at Universidad Panamericana.  The highlight of his time in Mexico was his weekly visits to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe because Our Lady’s image has appeared everywhere the Lord confirmed His call for Kyle.

Returning from Mexico, Kyle began his theological study at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.  While there he was given pastoral experiences at St. Jerome in Kenner, his birthplace into the church, St. Catherine of Siena in Metairie, as well as at Christus Santa Rosa Hospital in San Antonio and East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie.  This past May he finished his third of four years of coursework.  He will be here at St. Andrew the Apostle until the beginning of May 2011.  Not soon after he finishes here and God so wills it, he will be ordained a deacon and year later a priest.

Kyle continues to play music, when time allows, and he is currently working with another seminarian to write and record an album of songs about saints.  He like long walks but not on beaches because the sand is bad on the ankles.  He would rather be on mountains.  Rock is much more stable (see Luke 7:24-27).

The Tommy Award will be presented to Richie Babin, Maintenance Supervisor, on Saturday, June 5th at 4:30 pm mass.  Richie has worked for many years at St. Andrew Parish and has been a vital part of both the school and the parish.  He was the project manager for both the construction of  “The Tower” and the renovation of the church.  A big thank you goes to Richie for all his years of service and dedication to both the children of our school and the people in our parish!

Other award winners:  TYLER LOGA  was presented with the St. Timothy Award which recognizes outstanding youth who exemplify Christian service, Catholic leadership and good moral standards. The recipients of this award are not only outstanding in their church parish but also in the larger archdiocesan community, displaying high ideals and spiritual growth.  TYLER LOGA, DAVID BEYER and ELLEN YOKUM were given the Outstanding Youth Award for St. Andrew Parish.  SAMMY MERRITT was honored by the local Serra Clubs of  New Orleans as an altar server of the year for St. Andrew the Apostle Parish.  Altar server recognition in the parish went to:  EMILY JUNEAU for altar server of the year, VERONICA LEBLANC and  ZACK SMITH for rookie altar servers of the year, and TEAM K – RAY, EMILY, and MEGAN KLEEFISCH and TYLER MICELI as altar server team of the year.