Harold Robert Perry

Harold Robert Perry, S.V.D. (October 9, 1916 – July 17, 1991) was an American Catholic prelate who served as an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New Orleans from 1966 to 1991. He was the first openly African-American Catholic bishop, the second overall, and the first since 1875.

A member of the Society of the Divine Word, Perry was also the first Black male provincial superior in the United States, His cousin Louis V. Ledoux would become the first Black diocesan priest in the Deep South. At age 13, Perry entered St. Augustine Seminary in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, the Black seminary of the Society of the Divine Word.

Early priesthood On January 6, 1944, Perry was ordained to the priesthood. He was the 26th African American to become a Catholic priest. He then served as assistant pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Lafayette until 1948, when he was transferred to Notre Dame Church in St. Martinville. He served at St. Peter's Church in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, (1949–1951) and at St. Gabriel's Church in Mound Bayou, Mississippi, (1951–52) before returning to Louisiana as founding pastor of St. Joseph's Church in Broussard. In 1963, he and other religious leaders were invited to the White House to discuss peaceful desegregation with President John F. Kennedy. However, Perry declared, "My appointment is a religious one, not a civil rights appointment. My religious work comes first. I have no desire to work directly as a civil rights leader." He received his episcopal consecration on January 6, 1966, from Archbishop Egidio Vagnozzi, with Archbishops Philip Hannan and John Cody serving as co-consecrators. White protestors held a demonstration outside his consecration, and one woman described it as "another reason why God will destroy the Vatican".

As an auxiliary bishop, Perry served as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church and St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Church in New Orleans, vicar general of the archdiocese, and rector of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor. He lived in the rectory on the grounds of Ursuline Academy, the oldest girls' school in the United States. For many years he also served as national chaplain of the Knights of Peter Claver.

Death He remained an auxiliary bishop until his death at the age of 74, due to complications of Alzheimer's disease at Wynhoven Health Care Center. Upon his death, Archbishop Francis B. Schulte said, "As the first African-American bishop in this century, [Bishop Perry] was a symbol of the great changes which have taken place in our church and in our country."