Rev. Msgr. Paul Metrejean

A Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, January 21, 2020, at 3:00 PM at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Opelousas, Louisiana for the Rev. Msgr. Paul Metrejean.  Msgr. Metrejean died on Sunday, January 12, 2020, at the age of 83.  The celebrant of the Funeral Mass will be the Most Reverend J. Douglas Deshotel, D.D., Bishop of Lafayette.  The Rev. Msgr. Keith J. DeRouen will be the homilist.

Visitation will begin on Monday, January 20, 2020, at 6:00 PM at Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church until the Wake Service at 7:00 p.m., presided over by the Rev. Father Paul Bienvenu. Visitation will end at 8:00 p.m.  Visitation will resume on Tuesday, January 21, 2020, after the 7:00 a.m. Mass.  Recitation of the Rosary by members of various Parish ministries will begin at 8:00 a.m., continuing hourly, until 12:00 noon when the Divine Mercy Chaplet will be prayed.  Burial will be in the mausoleum at St. John the Evangelist Cemetery in Mermentau, Louisiana.

Msgr. Metrejean was born in Opelousas, Louisiana on November 15, 1936.  He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Larry and Shirley Metrejean, and his beloved nieces and nephews.

Msgr. Metrejean was preceded in death by his parents, Paul Metrejean, Sr. and Mary O'Donnell Metrejean, and his sister, Shirley Blackwell.

Msgr. Metrejean was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Lafayette by Bishop Maurice Schexnayder on May 25, 1963.  He served the Diocese of Lafayette as Associate Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in New Iberia and St. Mary Magdalene in Abbeville.  He was a teacher and spiritual director at Immaculata Seminary in Lafayette.  Msgr. Metrejean served as Pastor of St. Bernard in Breaux Bridge; Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette; St. Elizabeth in Coteau Holmes; St. Michael the Archangel in Crowley; St. John the Evangelist in Mermentau; St. Margaret in Estherwood; and St. Leo, St. Catherine and St. Jules Churches in Leonville.  He retired from full-time ministry in 2004.  Other assignments included Counselor and Assistant Principal at Landry Memorial and St. Louis High Schools in Lake Charles; Director of Calcasieu Center for Catholic Studies in Lake Charles; Director of Spiritual Formation at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans; Administrator of Catholic Schools in Opelousas; Vicar for Religious, Vicar for Clergy, Vicar for Religious Personnel and Episcopal Vicar of the Central Acadiana Deanery and the Western Region of the Lafayette Diocese.

Pallbearers will be the Rev. Father Mikal Polson, the Rev. Father Andre’ Metrejean, the Rev. Father Paul Bienvenu, the Rev. Msgr. Jace Eskind, the Rev. Msgr. Ken Hedrick, and the Very Rev. Jared Suire, V.E.

Honorary pallbearers will be Ryan Bruce, Henry Mitchell, Daniel Stelly, Tommy Calais, Robert Landry, Dr. Paul Edwin Metrejean, John L. Metrejean, Jr., Christopher Metrejean, Claiborne J. Bruce,II.

Family and friends are invited to sign and view the online guestbook at www.lafondardoin.com.

LaFond-Ardoin Funeral Home, 2845 South Union Street, Opelousas, Louisiana 70570, (337-942-2638) has been entrusted with the funeral arrangements.