Biloxi native Father Tony Arguelles to celebrate 50 years of priestly ministry

Father Tony Arguelles will celebrate a Mass commemorating the 50th Anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood Monday, May 20, at 6 p.m. at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Cathedral. A reception will follow in the Sacred Heart Center, located behind the cathedral.

By Terry Dickson

Father Tony Arguelles was traveling along Division Street in Biloxi one day last September when he was startled to see a bulldozer demolishing the old St. Louis Church, which closed after Hurricane Katrina.
Immediately, it brought back a flood of memories — no pun intended — for the Biloxi native, who was born and raised on Point Cadet and whose family attended St. Louis, where he was ordained to the transitional diaconate and celebrated his first Mass, as well as the funeral Masses for his mother and father.
Gone but not forgotten, St. Louis Church was where it all began for Father Tony, who is celebrating 50 years of priestly ministry. Though most people know him as Father Tony, his full name is Ivon Anthony Arguelles, Jr. His family referred to him as Anthony; it wasn’t until he entered seminary that he became Tony.
“Any time your name is more than three syllables, it’s always shortened. So, Anthony became Tony,” he said. “I kind of fought it for a year and then I just accepted it. It’s so much easier to say Father Tony than it is Father Arguelles, especially with kids.”
Father Tony, who was born on January 18, 1949, is the oldest of five children born to Ivon and Louella Arguelles. His parents instilled in their children the importance of helping others.
“My mother went to the Catholic mission in Saltillo, Mexico, 12 times, my dad went nine times, and I went six times over the years,” said Father Tony.
The Arguelles family lived right down the street from St. Louis Church, which was an off shoot of St. Michael Church, where Father Tony received the Sacraments of Initiation.
“I was an altar boy for the pastor, Msgr. Kevin Bambrick,” said Father Tony. “He was my mentor and the one who inspired me to priesthood. He would come to my family home to have lunch on Sunday quite often, and he was very close to my parents who were very active at St. Louis, so it was not unusual for me to think about becoming a priest. The average kid would never think about it because they never see their priest in their home. My grandmother was also his housekeeper, so we had a lot of connections to St. Louis and Msgr. Bambrick.
“The other big influence was my parents. None of them suggested I go to the seminary; it was me who felt comfortable enough to respond to the call of priesthood. Msgr. Bambrick, my parents, and the rest of my family were all supportive of me.”
Father Tony attended kindergarten at Holy Angels in Biloxi and St. Michael School., where he left after the sixth grade.
“St. Michael went up to the eighth grade, but I left after sixth grade to attend Notre Dame High School for seventh grade,” said Father Tony. “I skipped the eighth grade. For some reason, the Brothers of the Holy Cross thought I should go directly to the ninth grade. There were five of us who got that letter; I was eighth in our class. How in the world they chose me to skip a grade, I have no idea. I’m not sure that I would do it again today because it did affect me psychologically.”
Father Tony graduated from high school in May of 1966. “When I was a junior in high school, I wanted to find out more about what you had to do to become a priest because I felt a call to the priesthood,” said Father Tony.
“Msgr. Bambrick put me in touch with Father Paul Canonici, who was the vocations director at the time. He came down to Biloxi, talked to me, and recommended I finish high school, and, after graduation, he suggested I go to St. Meinrad in Indiana instead of going to St. Ben’s in Covington, LA. The reason was because, in those days, you had to have a certain level of Latin to get into St. Ben’s. Otherwise, I would have had to go the summer after my high school graduation to learn Latin. Another reason he wanted me to go to St. Meinrad was because he went there and was familiar with it.”
So it was that young Anthony left Point Cadet for the Hoosier State.
“My family brought me up by car and I went there from 1966 to 1970,” he said. “It was really my stepping into adulthood and being totally responsible for myself.
“Then I decided to come back and finish my studies at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, and I was there from 1970 to 1974. There was a lot of peer pressure to stay at St. Meinrad, but I didn’t stay.”
One person who did stay at St. Meinrad was Father Bob Higginbotham, who will preach at Father Tony’s Golden Jubilee Mass.
“Bob and I have been friends since high school,” said Father Tony. “We were in the band together. I played the saxophone and Bob played the trombone. That’s how we became friends. He came to St. Meinrad a year after me, so he will be celebrating his 50th next year.”
At Notre Dame Seminary, there was a strong emphasis on pastoral ministry.
“They would send seminarians to parishes to experience different aspects of ministry,” he said. “My first year, I was sent to Gretna with six other seminarians. We did a lot of home visits and assisted at home Masses. There were two priests who worked with us.
“The second year, my pastoral experience was teaching at Ursuline Academy in New Orleans. That convinced me I should never become a teacher because I was teaching religion three days a week during the last period of the day to all these rich girls who could care less about religion.”
The next year, Father Tony completed his clinical pastoral education at Mercy Hospital in New Orleans.
“That went on for a whole year, which was very difficult because, at the end of the third year, you take your oral comprehensive exams,” he explained. “You had to go into a room with three professors, and they asked all kinds of questions. That was very intimidating. I’d rather take a written test where you had time to think about your answer. The oral exams put you on the spot.”
At the end of his third year at Notre Dame, Bishop Joseph Brunini ordained Father Tony to the transitional diaconate at St. Louis Church. Also present for that Mass was Bishop Joseph Lawson Howze, who at the time was auxiliary bishop of Natchez and would later be appointed first bishop of Biloxi.
After his ordination as a deacon, Bishop Brunini asked Father Tony to assist at Holy Trinity Parish in Columbia, MS., and St. Paul the Apostle Mission in Tylertown on weekends.
“One week I was introducing myself to the people in Columbia and Tylertown, and the next week I was saying goodbye because it just wasn’t going to work out because of the distance,” said Father Tony. “We were expected to be back at the seminary during the week and it was like a hundred miles each way.
“It was decided that it would be best for me to be assigned to a parish in New Orleans, so I was sent to St. Cecilia Parish, which was in the Lower Ninth Ward.”
Bishop Brunini ordained Father Tony to the priesthood May 18, 1974, at St. Michael Church in Biloxi.
“There is a lot of emotion to it,” said Father Tony of his ordination day. “You’re celebrating the call to priesthood, and you’ve been in the seminary for eight years and all these different people from throughout those eight years are coming together — family, friends and people who’ve never met each other. I feel a lot of gratitude, especially now that I’m celebrating my 50th anniversary. I didn’t do it alone.”
He celebrated his first Mass the next day at St. Louis Church. Msgr. Bambrick preached at Father Tony’s first Mass and his 25th Anniversary Mass. Father Tony preached at Msgr. Bambrick’s 50th Anniversary Mass and his funeral.
After spending the summer filling in at Holy Family Parish in Jackson, Father Tony’s first official assignment was as associate pastor of Our Lady Victories Parish in Pascagoula under the pastoral supervision of Msgr. James Hannon. Father Henry McInerney was also an associate at Our Lady of Victories during that time. Father Tony’s last assignment before retiring from active ministry was as pastor of Our Lady of Victories Church. Following his retirement, Father Tony moved into one of the retired priest homes at Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Biloxi where Father McInerney is now pastor.
Father Tony also served as associate pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Gulfport and pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Dedeaux and St. John Parish in Biloxi. He spent 12 years as rector of Nativity BVM Cathedral and was diocesan vocations director and spiritual director of the Cursillo Movement of South Mississippi.
“Retirement has been wonderful,” said Father Tony. “I was looking forward to it. A lot of priests don’t because they don’t know what they’re going to do. You have to work out a schedule of what you’re going to do. The first year, I did too much. I think I helped out at around 18 or 20 parishes throughout the diocese. “
He continues to assist at the cathedral and that is why he decided to celebrate his 50th anniversary at Nativity.
In his spare time, Father Tony likes to exercise. He also enjoys spending time with his family and friends, especially friends from the old neighborhood where St. Louis Church once stood who scattered after Hurricane Katrina.
“We usually go out to a different restaurant each month,” he said. “There’s usually about 15 or 16 of us.”
Father Tony says he’s thoroughly enjoyed being a priest.
“It really has been a wonderful life,” he continued. “The reason I wanted to become a parish priest was so I would have the opportunity to work with people of various ages. People think of a priest as only being at the altar, but being a parish priest is really about being with people from birth to death. It’s not always easy; you must deal with tragedies like deaths and hurricanes and those types of things.
“However, I’ve really enjoyed my ministry because probably the best gift God gave me was a lot of common sense. I recognize that common sense is a very practical thing to have as a priest, because you’re going to have to deal with people and just try to be consoling and understanding in all types of pastoral situations, from dealing with marriage preparation to helping people cope with the loss of a loved one. It’s not so much that I know it all. That’s just one of the gifts I have. My parents had those gifts, and I think that’s what was passed on to me.”