Holy Name of Mary parish in old Algiers was the “mother church” of the area and once took in all the land in Orleans Parish west of the Mississippi and parts of both Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes.  By 1952 two smaller churches had been established by the Archdiocese, All Saints and St. Joseph Chapel (later known as St. Julian Eymard Parish).

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.