Father Rodrigue appointed Notre Dame rector

Father Josh Johnson, vocations director for the Diocese of Baton Rouge, joyfully welcomed the appointment of Father Joshua Rodrigue as rector/president of Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans.
Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans announced the appointment Oct. 14. Father Rodrigue, 44, will succeed Father James Wehner, who has spent the past 10 years at Notre Dame, on Jul 1, 2022.
“(Father Rodrigue) is a great priest,” said Father Johnson, who was taught by Father Rodrigue at St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict.
“He was a great inspiration to all of the seminarians, and we all looked up to him,” Father Johnson added. “I consider him a friend.
“I am stoked, super excited to see (where God will lead him.)”
Father Rodrigue, currently the director of spiritual formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, was raised as a parishioner at St. Charles Borromeo Church and graduated from E.D. White Catholic High School, both in Thibodaux. He attended St. Joseph before attending North American College in Rome.
He was ordained Aug. 10, 2002.
Following his ordination, Father Rodrigue returned to Rome to complete his licentiate in sacred theology and then came back to Louisiana, where he served as parochial vicar at Holy Cross Church in Morgan City before being appointed pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Bayou Black and then rector of St. Francis de Sales Cathedral in Houma.
In addition to his parish duties, he served as an adjunct professor of theology at St. Ben’s from 2006-17 and at Notre Dame Seminary from 2008-09.
In 2017, he was asked by the NAC to return to Rome to serve as director of pastoral formation and later as director of spiritual formation. It was the second time his alma mater had asked him to serve on the faculty; the first time, then-Bishop Sam Jacobs felt there were too many pastoral needs in the Houma-Thibodaux Diocese to release him for service in Rome.
Father Rodrigue said Bishop Shelton Fabre, a New Roads native, let him make the decision of whether or not to go in 2017.
“He told me, ‘They’re asking for you again,’” Father Rodrigue said, smiling. “So, I took it to prayer, and I talked things over with my dad. Dad’s got some good advice. He said, ‘They asked you once; they asked you twice; they’re not going to ask you a third time.’ I was thinking about my family and their health. I had a grandmother who was in her upper 90s. She’s still living. She’s going to be 100 this year. She wasn’t too happy about me going overseas, but she’ll be happy now.”
In Rome, Father Rodrigue also taught for the past five years at the Pontifical Gregorian University (2017-18) and at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, beginning in 2018.
His Roman experience has given him a broader understanding of the universal church and also allowed him to be more intentional about relying on God’s grace in his life.
“It certainly gave me a lot more patience with people who were having to try to figure out my English,” Father Rodrigue said. “Before, I was the rector of the cathedral and I did all kinds of things. When I got there as a faculty member, I was no longer making my own schedule and I felt so incompetent. It was almost  a desert experience in that all your support systems that you have are taken away, and you truly have to rely on the Lord and on God’s providence in everything.
“Sometimes you have to remind the Lord, ‘Look, I’m doing this for you!’ Usually, when I did that, he helped out. I think it was just me remembering that I need to turn to the Lord.”
Father Rodrigue brings a wealth of experience to his new assignment, including his time in Rome, Father Johnson said. He also knows he can turn to Father Rodrigue for advice as Father Johnson fosters vocations for the diocese.
He also had high praise for Father Wehner, who has spent the past 10 years at Notre Dame.
“(Father Wehner) was truly a gift,” Father Johnson said. “He transformed that seminary and made it what it is today.”
“I think (the philosophy of Father Wehner) will continue to remain the same,” he added. “They have the same mind, the same mission. And the community is blessed Father Josh will continue what Father Wehner started 10 years ago.”
Father Johnson said Father Wehner and Father Rodrigue are both good priests who want holy, mature priests to serve the community.
“I trust their leadership, I trust their vision, I trust their plan,” Father Johnson said.
Father Rodrigue addressed the seminarians as a group before Mass in the seminary chapel Oct. 15.
“I love the priesthood,” he told them. “I've loved it for the past 20 years. I hope that my ministry here at Notre Dame will help to form men to be compassionate, loving priests who have great zeal for the salvation of souls, who are willing to lay down their lives for the flock.
“Priesthood is an exciting adventure. Priesthood is like riding a tandem bicycle. The Lord gets in the front seat and he says, ‘Just hop on the back and trust me.’ He says, ‘Just keep pedaling. I'll take you on a ride that you'll never forget. And I think you might like where you end up at the end.’
“The Lord has been really good to me, and I don't know what's on the road ahead of us all, but I trust I trust him and I trust in one thing: God will provide.”
Peter Finney Jr., editor of the Clarion Herald in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, contributed to this story.