May God bless you! With great joy, I am informing you of today’s announcement that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has appointed the Most Reverend Shelton J. Fabre, D.D., now Bishop of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux in Louisiana, as the tenth bishop and fifth archbishop to lead the Archdiocese of Louisville. I have been appointed by Pope Francis to serve as the apostolic administrator until Bishop Fabre’s installation on March 30, 2022.
I am delighted with this appointment!
I invited Archbishop Fabre to give a presentation about racism last March at one of our Archdiocesan Leadership Institutes, and many of our pastoral leaders had the opportunity to benefit from his wisdom and leadership through this event.
Before becoming Bishop of Houma-Thibodaux in 2013, Archbishop Fabre was ordained as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New Orleans in 2007. From his ordination to the priesthood in 1989 until being ordained to the episcopate, Archbishop-elect Fabre served as a priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, LA in parish and archdiocesan ministries, including in the areas of pastoral planning, Catholic schools, clergy personnel, and the Tribunal. Archbishop Fabre served as the Director of the Office of Black Catholics for the Diocese of Baton Rouge from 1990 to 2005. Presently, he serves as the chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Ad Hoc Committee Against Racism, and he led the writing of the U.S. Bishops’ most recent pastoral letter on racism, Open Wide Our Hearts, which was approved in 2018.
Archbishop Fabre will be introduced at a press conference today at 10:30 a.m. The livestream of the press conference will be available on YouTube, Facebook, and the Archdiocese of Louisville website.
For more information about Archbishop Fabre, see www.archlou.org/Archbishop-Fabre.
Please join me in extending a warm Kentucky welcome to our new Archbishop and please keep him in your prayers as he prepares to lead our wonderful Archdiocese. God love all of you!
