Bishop Dominic Carmon, who served New Orleans for decades, dies at 87
Dominic Carmon, who served as Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans for 13 years, died Sunday (Nov. 11), the Archdiocese of New Orleans said. He was 87.
Carmon, a native of Opelousas, entered the St. Augstine Seminary of the Divine Word Missionaries in 1946 and was ordained in 1960. He served as a parish priest in Chicago and Opelousas.
He served as Auxiliary Bishop of New Orleans from 1993 until his retirement in 2006, according to a release from the Archdiocese. Carmon was named auxiliary bishop at Archbishop Francis Schulte’s request; Schulte asked Pope John Paul II to appoint Carmon soon after the death of Bishop Harold Perry in 1991, who was the 20th century’s first black bishop in the United States, according to The Times-Picayune records.
“In recent years there have not been that many auxiliary bishops named throughout the world and the United States,” Schulte said at the time. “The appointment of a second African-American auxiliary for New Orleans is a clear recognition by the Holy Father of historic importance of African-Americans in the history of this archdiocese.”
There were then 11 active African-American bishops in the American church.
“First of all, my role is to serve the entire community, and I hope to be a worthy representative of the African-American community by my dedication, my fidelity to the work of the church,” Carmon said in a Times-Picayune report of the appointment. “I am here to serve everyone.”
Carmon also once served as the national chaplain of the Knights of Peter Claver and its ladies auxiliary, according to The Times-Picayune archives. The organization is a Catholic service organizations of African-American Catholics. He also served as a missionary in New Guinea for seven years.
Carmon was the eldest of seven children born to Edna and Aristile Carmon.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
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