Father Jerry

Friends, Clergy bid farewell to Father Jerry at Funeral Reverend Floyd “Jerry” Bleaux

Born: 17 September 1947

Ordained: 5 May 1973

Died: 2 September 2009

Plattsburgh - The Reverend Floyd, Joseph, “Jerry”, Bleaux was not one to mince words. Once, after another particularly direct homily, a parishioner approached him and said, “Father Jerry, you really told it like it was.” “Being pastor is not winning a popularity contest,,’” replied Father Jerry, who was pastor at St. Patrick’s Church in Hogansburg, N.Y. O’4V1er this past year. In the last lengthy theological discussion I had with Fr. Jerry we talked about how Albert Einstein described the relationship of God to man. Einstein was quoted as saying, “We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library filled with books in many languages. The child knows someone must have written those books. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child dimly suspects a mysterious order in the arrangement of the books but doesn’t know what it is. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see the universe marvelously arranged and obeying certain laws but only dimly understand these laws.” For some people, miracles serve as evidence of God’s existence. For Einstein it was the absence of miracles that reflected divine providence. The fact that the world was comprehensible, that it followed laws, was worthy of awe.

Fr. Jerry’s brother priests, friends, and acquaintances on Saturday remembered that “simple and direct approach” that seemed to make him a popular pastor in many parishes .. Fr. Jerry’s first assignment as parochial vicar was at St. Mary’s, Champlain, N.Y. He also served in St. Peter’s, Lowville, N.Y., Notre Dame, Ogdensburg, st. Patrick”:s, Colton. He was appointed pastor of St. Francis of Assisi, Constable, later at St. Mary’s .. Massena, St. Mary’s, Ticonderoga, Our Lady of Victory, Plattsburgh and St. James, Gouverneur and most recently, the tri·parishes ofSt. Mary’s, Fort Covington, St. Patrick”s, Hogansburg and St. Joseph’s, Bombay.

Fr. Jerry passed away Sept. 2, 2009, at Our Lady of Victory Rectory, surrounded by his ~oving family. He was born in Plattsburgh, N.Y. on Sept. 17, 1947, the son of Floyd and Eleanor (Jones) Bleaux, Sr. After completing studies at Christ the King Seminary in Orleans, N.Y., he was ordained to the priesthood on May 5, 1973, by the Most Reverend Stanislaus J. Brzana at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg, N.Y.

Calling hours were held from 4 to 7 p.m. at Our Lady of Victory Church, South Catherine Street, Plattsburgh, N.Y. They ended with a 7 p.m. vigil service presided over by Rev . Msgr, John R. Murphy. “Fr. Jerry was no wishy washy guy,” said, Msgr. Murphy, in welcoming remarks at the vigil service. Later, Rev. J. Michael Gaffney, a fellow classmate of Fr. Jerry’s, recalled several of the condolence messages saying, “One parishioner at St. Mary’s in Massena distinctly remembered his first homily where his parents were talking about their selection of his name at birth. His mother wanted to name him Joseph Floyd Bleaux, while his father wanted to re·arrange the names as Floyd Joseph Bleaux. His mother quickly said, Oh, no they’ll be calling him Joe Bleaux!” Fr. Gaffney continued, “we mourn a certain way for a priest who has had a long life of service” while we mourn differently for someone like Fr. Jerry, who has died at the age of 61.”

At a Mass of Christian Burial the following day at 1O:00a.m., Fr. Terry LaValley, Diocesan Administrator said, “After a meeting at the chancery office, 1 said to him, ‘you’re a damn good priest.’ He replied, ‘I know’.”

Dozens of priests and a Knights of Columbus Honor Guard comprised a huge procession that filed past Fr. Jerry’s closed casket at the end of the funeral liturgy, while a choir and individuals in a packed Our Lady of Victory Church loudly sang the recessional hymn titled, How Great Thou Art. Outside of the church, Priests of the Diocese of Ogdensburg, who had walked out in the procession, formed a line on both sides of1he sidewalk to the waiting hearse. As the casket was being carried to the hearse, they devotedly sang in Latin, The Ave Maria. The brief prayer on remembrance cards handed out by ushers read, “Almighty God, loving Father, Who called your servant, “Jerry’”to share in the Priesthood of Your son, Jesus Christ, in this world, mercifully grant to him now, eternal rest in the company of all the saints in heaven. Amen. Mary, Queen of the clergy, pray for him.

By: Vilctor Martin