Blanc, Bishop Anthony, New Orleans, Louisiana, to The President and Trustees of St. Louis Church, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1843 October

Blanc received their letter of the 16th accompanying a copy of the resolutions adopted in their meeting on the same day. In spite of the authorities referred to, Blanc asks himself why the council denounces the propositions contained in Blanc's letter. 1. Why does the council refuse to turn over to the pastor the registers of baptism, burials, and marriages? No doubt because using Article 7 of the charter as a basis they consider these registers as belonging to the fabrique. Church law makes it the duty of the pastor to record these actions and to show them to the Bishop on his pastoral visit. In the case of marriages the obligation is even greater as the pastor is also accountable to the civil authorities. 2. Blanc demands the free and independent use of the presbytery by the pastor such as the last pastor enjoyed except that the use of a neighbor's door opening on the small court of the presbytery prevented him from being master of his own house. 3. Blanc asks that the tariff which the priests are to follow be approved by the bishop. The council, relying on Article 16 of the charter, believes that it alone has the right to provide the tariff. But in that article Blanc finds nothing about the formation of the rates he quotes part of the article. For several years the clergy have had hardly half of the part assigned to them by the tariff while the public believes that they have received their entire part; this brings an odium on the priests which they do not deserve. When Father Constantine Maenhaut, as pastor, was appointed to a committee charged with setting up a new table of rates, the cry went up that they wanted to interfere in the administration of temporal affairs. Today, as for the 10 years Blanc has had charge of the diocese, he has never dreamed of interfering. 4. Blanc asks that the pastor have the choice of and control over the people employed in the Cathedral from the altar boys to the organist. If the trustees say that since they pay the salaries they have a right to choose them, it would follow that they also have the right to choose the pastor and the other priests. Canon law guarantees this right to the bishops. Blanc has to add to this the Instructions sent him from Rome. He invites the council to appoint a committee to come to his house to see the Brief of the Holy Father which regulates Blanc's conduct. :: V-4-o A. Draft S. French 4pp. 4to.