09/29/2022
REMEMBERING MY BROTHER AND PRIEST: We implore your kindness, O God, for Rev. Canon A. Gerard Jordan, your servant and Priest, that, as you made him a steward of your mysteries on earth, so you may bring him to be nourished by their truth and reality as unveiled in heaven. Through Christ our Lord. AMEN.
This Creole native was born in Lafayette, LA. In his participation in “the sacred dance”, Gerard has had the opportunity to be a previously married man, father of his now adult children and is a proud grandfather. He was a former U.S. Marine and civilian, with a previous career as a business manager that led to the ownership of his own real estate conglomerate and mental health services corporation.
Upon retirement, after a 20-year business career, in August of 2005 he then revisited his relationship with religious life. He began discerning his vocation to the priesthood as a young boy in 1976. He was educated by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament while attending Immaculate Heart of Mary School and graduated from St. Louis High School. Following a business career, Gerard matriculated in his undergraduate business studies at Cabrini College in Radnor, PA, (Magna cm Laude) and LaSalle University in Philadelphia, (Philosophy). He also studied preaching at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies, Xavier University. He became a certified hospital chaplain through the University of Pennsylvania Health System at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He then earned a Master’s of Divinity from the Catholic Theological Union, (CTU) in Chicago.
In May 1976, he became a member the Knights of St. Peter Claver and is now a 4th Degree Knight. He is heavily involved with the local service projects with all of the organizations mentioned.
Finally, His Eminence, Cardinal Francis George, OMI, with the support of Rome, announced that with the Church’s pursuit of the cause for canonization of Father Augustus Tolton, the Tolton story should be shared with the world. Gerard was appointed as Special Assistant for the Cause while he was still a seminarian in Chicago. He was elevated to Promoter of the Cause and travels the country telling the story of this Servant of God and his entire family.
Taken from: A Day of Reflection: The Suffering Servants, Rev. Canon A. Gerard Jordan, O. Praem., Archdiocese of Cincinnati, March 30 - 31, 2019