Fr. Roger J. Landry
Holy See Mission Weekly Newsletter
February 5, 2022
Father Roger Landry, a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, arrived as Attaché at the Mission at the beginning of March 2015, after serving for 16 years as a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, where he had been a high school chaplain, the pastor of two parishes, and the Diocesan newspaper editor for many years.
He was originally recruited by Archbishop Auza to serve as a negotiator on the human rights and development team, but upon his arrival, Archbishop Auza asked him instead to serve as Director of Special Events, an omnibus position that included coordinating the many conferences the Holy See Mission runs each year at the United Nations, assisting on the drafts of UN interventions and the other speeches of the Nuncio, improving the communications of the Mission (website, newsletter, social media, etc.), engaging in external relations for the Mission with the NGO community, the Catholic community and other religious groups, as well as various other activities. Eventually he would also be asked to direct the enhanced internship program of the Mission, take charge of the Path to Peace Gala, and serve as the Executive Director of the Path to Peace Foundation.
“In my first ten days on the job,” he recalled, “I had to work on nine different drafts. Six were speeches for side events during the intense Commission on the Status of Women. Three were for other engagements of the Mission and the Nuncio. I was accustomed to hard work, but I soon learned that the Mission would require a whole new level of energy!”
Among the highlights of his seven years at the Mission, he pointed first to the visit of Pope Francis in 2015, the UN portion of which he helped Archbishop Auza to coordinate.
“Even though it happened during the high-level time of the UN calendar when 180 world leaders converge, and took place immediately before the historic adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, everyone at the UN’s attention was on the papal visit,” he remembered. “It was like Christmas in September. At the Mission, we were getting calls even from national presidents asking for one-on-one visits with Pope Francis. The 160 tickets we had for the General Assembly Gallery were in huge demand.”
He was also very honored to have a chance to coordinate about 125 conferences that the Holy See sponsored at the United Nations, all prior to COVID.
“There’s only so much the Holy See can say in the four-minute official interventions. Side-events and conferences allow us to lay out much the Holy See’s positions on important topics much more extensively.”
He said he was particularly proud of several such conferences.
“We had two conferences on Down Syndrome to coincide with World Down Syndrome Awareness Day, which takes place each year on March 21 (3/21) to call attention their third twenty-first chromosome. In it we were able to have experts as well as the Holy See speak powerfully about what amounts to a genocide of those with Down Syndrome through in utero genetic screening and selective abortion and describe how such practices violate what UN Conventions clearly affirm about the rights of those with disabilities. It was also awesome to have those with Down Syndrome, like Chloe Kondrich and Karen Gaffney, show the whole world their dignity, beauty and intelligence.”
He also recalled a conference held together with ADF International immediately after the canonization of Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
“Mother Teresa was a Nobel Peace Prize winner who really put into practice the UN’s commitment to ‘leave no one behind,’ and took seriously the summons to help lift the poor out of material and spiritual poverty. For that event, which had 569 seated and many others standing, we invited 100 of those served by the Missionaries of Charity [the religious order founded by Mother Teresa] in New York to come to the UN and afterward held a banquet in which Archbishop Auza, the President of ADF and several ambassadors and Holy See staff served these special invited guests. I also sat them with name-plates in the rows right behind the UN Ambassadors. It was so moving to me to see those who are often forgotten about by society to see their name at the UN and treated by all of us as dignitaries.”
Fr. Landry was also very happy to coordinate several events at the UN focused on persecuted Christians in Iraq, northern Nigeria, Syria and elsewhere, “to make sure that they would not be forgotten and their cries would echo within the walls of the UN.”
Two other things he mentioned as among the highlights of his time was his work with the interns of the Mission as well as his work helping to coordinate the Path to Peace Gala Dinners each year.
“The interns kept us all younger by their enthusiasm, joy, hard work and abundant gifts. Since I started coordinating the program we’ve had 139 interns from 33 different countries. We have had hundreds more apply from all over the world whom we were not able to accept but who nevertheless I have gotten to know through the rigorous application process. They are a great hope for all of us and for the whole Church.”
With regard to the Gala, he said, “Several of the members of the Gala Dinner Committee have become very close friends. The Gala is a lot of work and I’ve been blown away by the commitment and generosity of so many to help the Holy See Mission to our work before the international community.” He also said the privilege to get to know and work with some of the Path to Peace Awardees has also been a privilege.
His next position will be Catholic chaplain at Columbia University in New York City, an appointment he said was a big surprise.
“Without my knowledge, Cardinal Dolan [Archbishop of New York] called Bishop da Cunha in Fall River to ask if he’d consider allowing His Eminence to appoint me to serve the Columbia community. My bishop called me, we spoke about it, and together made the decision.”
As an alumnus of Harvard College, he is excited to return to an Ivy League campus, “where I know I will learn a lot and have a chance to propose to students, faculty and staff the exciting adventure of Catholic life as disciples of Jesus in communion. In an age of rampant loneliness, individualism, materialism and relativism, Catholics are able to show that there’s a different way to live, and I’m excited to take what I’ve learned at the Mission and bring it to the challenging work of campus ministry.”
Before he takes up his new post, he will have a few months of sabbatical, starting February 28, during which he will have the chance “hopefully” to finish two books he has been working on, preach retreats for cloistered sisters, priests and lay people, lead three scheduled pilgrimages, and do some travel for Aid to the Church in Need USA, for which he was appointed ecclesiastical assistant last October by the Vatican.
He’s happy to have a chance to remain in New York, where he will be able to continue some of the apostolates he has been engaged in and stay close to the Mission, “where some of my closest friends in the world are.”
He also expressed hope that his new position may also profit the Mission.
“I hope to send many bright Columbia students as future interns,” he quipped.
