Homecoming is a special time for alumni to gather, so please make plans to join old friends in Covington in the coming days! Festivities begin with the St. Ben’s Abbey Open on Thursday, April 24 at Bayou Oaks in City Park, then join us on the beautiful grounds of Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College for Alumni Day on Friday, April 25. Planned activities will give you a chance to catch up with classmates and to learn about the new and exciting things happening at Saint Ben’s. We look forward to seeing you!

St. Ben’s Abbey Open, April 24
Bayou Oaks in City Park, New Orleans

SCHEDULE

7-8:45 AM - Registration
9 AM - Shotgun start
1:30 PM - Lunch

REGISTRATION FEES

$150 Individual | $600 Foursome
(Covers green fees, golf cart, & refreshments during and after play)

TOURNAMENT SPONSORSHIP LEVELS

Presenting Sponsor, $5,000
Hospitality Sponsor, $2,500
Swag Sponsor, $1,500
Diamond Sponsor, $1,000
Platinum Sponsor, $500
Gold Sponsor, $300
Silver Sponsor, $200

Alumni Day, April 25
Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College Campus

SCHEDULE

1-4 PM - Registration
2:30 PM - Schola Alumni Practice
4 PM - General Assembly
5:30 PM - Mass
6:30 PM - Cocktail Social
7:30 PM - Dinner

HONOREES

2025 Alumnus of the Year
Rev. O’Neil Anthony “Chicki” Landry, Class of 1942
Click to Read More

2025 Son of Saint Ben
Sean Harrison, Class of 2005
Click to Read More

2025 Honored Classes
’65, ‘75, ‘85, ‘95, ‘00, ‘05, ‘15, ‘25

FEES & REGISTRATION

Alumni Dues: $35 Alumni: $5 Students
Social & Dinner: $50 Alumni; $25 Students
Sponsor a Seminarian: $30

2025 ALUMNUS OF THE YEAR

Rev. O’Neil Anthony “Chicki” Landry
Retired, Diocese of Lafayette
Class of 1942

The Rev. O’Neil Anthony “Chicki” Landry, Class of 1942, is the 2025 St. Ben’s Alumnus of the Year.

Fr. Landry is a retired priest with the Diocese of Lafayette. Born in Rayne on June 6, 1924, he marked his 100th birthday last summer.

Fr. Landry received his early education from St. Joseph School in Rayne and regularly attended Mass at St. Joseph Parish, where he served as an altar boy. When he was 15 he knew he was being called to enter into the seminary to discern the priesthood, and he was accepted into Saint Joseph Seminary College.

“That was in 1939,” he told the Acadiana Catholic during a 2019 interview. “It wasn’t then the way that it is today. I left home to go into the seminary during my senior year – we only went up to the 11th grade back then – so I actually graduated from high school in the seminary.”

He said his fondest memories of days at St. Ben’s involve the camaraderie of his classmates. “They weren’t just people from around here; there were seminarians from other dioceses, too, and we all got to be friends.”

Following his time at St. Ben’s, Fr. Landry moved on to Notre Dame Seminary, where he completed his studies. On June 7, 1947, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Jules B. Jeanmard at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Lafayette.

Fr. Landry’s first assignment was to serve as associate pastor of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Franklin. He was there six years before being assigned pastor of St. Joseph Church in Centerville, which had been a mission of Assumption Parish since the 1890s. The church became an independent parish in 1953, and Fr. Landry was its first residential pastor. He served as pastor of St. Joseph’s for 46 years, from 1953 to 1999, when he retired.

2025 SON OF SAINT BEN

Sean Harrison
Owner, Parish Broadband, New Orleans
Class of 2005

Sean Harrison grew up in Slidell, La. He attended St. Margaret Mary School and graduated from Pope John Paul II High School, where he was active in the parish’s youth group and retreat team programs before discerning a call to the priesthood. Sponsored by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Harrison attended St. Ben’s from 2001 until graduation in 2005, with a post-Katrina bonus semester for Notre Dame Seminary back at St. Ben’s before he took a year off to further discern his vocation. 

During that year of discernment, Harrison providentially re-met his now wife, Frances, at a summer camp in North Carolina. He previously met and worked with her during his freshman year outreach assignment to St. Andrew the Apostle in Algiers. They were married in 2008 and now live in New Orleans with their four children. The three youngest attend St. Andrew the Apostle School, and their oldest is a freshman at Jesuit High School. Both Sean and Frances remain active at St. Andrew, where Frances works in the 2-year-old program and is the director of the parish’s School of Religion and RCIA programs.

Since graduating St. Ben’s, Harrison has maintained an active role in his faith and in the local Church, especially. He has worked in leadership at Camps Kahdalea and Chosatonga, where he spent his seminary summers fostering the faith while teaching rock climbing, white-water canoeing, and other wilderness activities. He has also taught at St. Andrew the Apostle School in Algiers and St. Matthew the Apostle School in River Ridge.

With a propensity for all things electronic and computers, Harrison worked in the Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of Information Technology for 10+ years and continues to help support the needs of the Archdiocese in a similar capacity. With the network engineering skills gained and connections made during his years with the Archdiocese, he has since started his own internet service provider business, Parish Broadband, which serves internet and phone service to the greater New Orleans area.

Since graduating, Harrison has maintained a connection to St. Ben’s, assisting in the media production for the former Abbey Youth Festivals, broadcasting and livestreaming the annual Bonfire football games between St. Ben’s and Notre Dame Seminary, and assisting with other systems at the Abbey/Seminary when needed.

In June 2022, Harrison miraculously survived a small airplane crash in the mountains of North Carolina with two other men (all doing well today). Word spread quick among the St. Ben’s community and the outpouring of messages, prayers, and financial support was overwhelming.  It was a reminder of just what St. Ben’s was and is for him.

Harrison largely credits the multi-faceted formation he received at St. Ben’s, intended and un-intended, with the person he is today and the successes he has achieved.  St. Ben’s is the absolute bedrock of who is today, and he traces everything back to SJSC – his wife, his family, his career, and most importantly his faith.