Father Clyde LeBlanc, SJ, celebrates 50 years as a priest this year. Born in New Orleans, he attended Jesuit High School and entered the Society of Jesus after graduation in 1963. Father LeBlanc currently serves in pastoral and sacramental ministry at Holy Name of Jesus and Immaculate Conception parishes in New Orleans and assists with counseling and confessions at Manresa House of Retreats in Convent, Louisiana.

Following his initial studies as a Jesuit, Fr. LeBlanc served his regency at Jesuit High School in Tampa, where he was asked to start an art department. He spent the first eleven years of his active ministry (1977-1987) at Jesuit College Preparatory School of Dallas, first as a chaplain and teacher, then as the school’s president. With the generous support of collector Frank Ribelin, Fr. LeBlanc established the Jesuit Dallas Museum, today nationally recognized.

He professed final vows in the Society of Jesus in 1982.

After his time in Dallas, Fr. LeBlanc earned a Master of Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1988. He then then served as a chaplain and counselor at Loyola University Chicago’s John Felice Rome Center in Rome, Italy, from 1989 to 1992.

Father LeBlanc was a campus minister at Loyola University of New Orleans for one year before he was assigned as an assistant rector for the Weston Jesuit Community in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He returned to Loyola University New Orleans three years later, serving as director of the Jesuit Center (1996-2000) and as the interim dean of campus ministry (1997-1999). He worked briefly as the Newman Center director for the University of New Orleans in 2001.

For thirteen years, Fr. LeBlanc directed retreats at Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Atlanta and Manresa House of Retreats in Convent, Louisiana. Father LeBlanc was the assistant to the director of the St. Alphonsus Rodriguez Pavilion in Grand Coteau, Louisiana, from 2013 to 2016, and then served as parochial vicar and associate pastor of St. Charles Borromeo, the Jesuit parish in Grand Coteau, from 2016 through 2023.

Since 2024, Fr. LeBlanc has served in New Orleans at the Loyola Jesuit Community. He assists at local parishes, directs retreats at Manresa in Convent, Louisiana, and serves as chaplain at Touro Hospital.

Father LeBlanc earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, studied toward a Master of Divinity (M.Div) at Heythrop College in London, and completed his M.Div. at the Jesuit School of Theology in Chicago. He also holds a Master of Arts from Rhode Island School of Design.

Father LeBlanc’s Reflection on 50 Years as a Priest

I come from a large family with a strong religious fervor. My mom and dad were daily communicants. Our parish, Sacred Heart in New Orleans, was run by the Holy Cross Fathers. Father Louis M. Kelly, CSC, nurtured my vocation early on with a club, Ars et Vocatio, which also developed my lifelong interest in the arts. The scholastics at Jesuit High in New Orleans were an inspiration too. This led to my joining the Society of Jesus.

I’ve felt the finger of God leading me all the way, often removing obstacles. I owe a great deal to Jesuit Father J. Franklin Murray and Religious of the Cenacle Sister Irene Dugan for guiding me through troubled waters. I thank God for all of them, and ask His blessings on all of you reading this! AMDG