Fr. Tony's 2014 Prayer for the Saints

God of all unity,

We stand before you this day, ever grateful for the unifying spirit that has made us the Who Dat Nation!

We hail from all across the South - united under the banner of the New Orleans Saints and blessed by the presence of every walk of life.

We are One Coast. One Voice. One Dome!

We represent almost every group of people who have walked on the face of this blessed earth.

Among us are members of every faith community and every generation. We come from every race, creed and color. Stretching across the Gulf Coast and reaching deep into every state in America, we are the Who Dat Nation, unbowed and ever proud of our legacy.

Some of us ride boats up the bayous while others ride horses in Mardi Gras parades. Some drive streetcars down St. Charles Avenue while others rock shrimp boats in the Gulf. Regardless of our home ports, occupations or ways of life, we are united as Who Dats and come before you with one voice of eternal praise.

Lord, you said that where two or more are gathered together in your name, you would be in our midst. Well, as we gather as the Who Dat Nation in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome and in other stadiums across the land, we believe your words to be ever true.

As you unite with us in the Dome and in our Gulf Coast homes, we ask you to send your blessings down upon "Our Boys." Help each of them to be the best that they can possibly be.

Guide our team's front office. Help them to make the best decisions and lead us into the land of great promise. Especially send your blessings upon Tom and Gail Benson. They are the heads of our Who Dat family. Shower them with great health and your undying spirit of love.

Bless Rita Benson-LeBlanc and Mickey Loomis. Infuse them with wisdom as they continue to choose the path down which we march as one.

Bless our coaches. Help Sean Payton, Joe Vitt, Pete Carmichael, Rob Ryan and Greg McMahon devise successful game plans that will ultimately get us to the Super Bowl. Allow each of them to teach and preach a message of success that will inspire "Our Boys" to be as united as the rest of the Who Dat Nation.

Bless our players. Send your grace upon Drew Brees, Zach Strief, Junior Galette, Curtis Lofton and Thomas Morstead and all of our players. Keep them safe from all major injuries and allow them to victoriously represent us across this great land. They are our brothers and our sons. Let them know just how proud we are to call them "Our Boys"!

Bless the entire Who Dat Nation as we march under the banner of the Fleur-de-Lis. Together with your grace, we will remain banded as one as we support and encourage the New Orleans Saints. May we always be One Coast ... One Voice ... One Dome!

Through the prayers of our heavenly New Orleans Saints, St. Francis Cabrini, St. Katherine Drexel, St. John Paul II, Blessed Francis Seelos and the Venerable Henriette Delille, may we be as united on earth as they are in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Together, may we always be one nation under God, undaunted and indivisible. May we stand tall before all as proud members of the Who Dat Nation!

Amen!

The Rev. R. Tony Ricard, M. Th., M.Div., is the New Orleans Saints Catholic team chaplain and a theology teacher at St. Augustine High School. Read Sheila Stroup's interview with Fr. Tony and the complete story behind his annual prayer for the Saints.

Voodoo used against Saints' opponents

Meet New Orleans Saints super fan Dorian Cummings, the Gris-Gris Man

10/16/12 3:20PM

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Jeff Duncan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Sixth in a season-long series on super fans of the New Orleans Saints.

Some New Orleanians have a Michalopoulos print or JazzFest poster hanging in their living rooms. Dorian Cummings has a bald eagle. The mounting of the majestic bird, with its six-foot wingspan and menacing outstretched talons, dominates the main room of his Old Jefferson cottage and serves as a daily reminder to his native American ancestry.

Photos: Dinah Rogers, Times-Picayune

Native Americans are the only Americans allowed to acquire bald eagles. Cummings, whose grandfather Lowell "Chief" Cummings was a full-blooded Pawnee, had to apply to the federal government and join a lengthy waiting to list to acquire his specimen. Only birds that die of natural causes in national parks are accepted. Cummings' wait took three years.

"It's my spirit," said Cummings, 35.

"When I decided to do this (become a super fan), I wanted to do something that was original, something that was true to me," he said. "It's nice to be able to see that every day as you walk out the door."

Long before Bienville settled New Orleans along the sandy banks of the Mississippi River, native Americans ruled the fertile crescent. Members of the Atakapa, Chitimacha, Choctaw, Houma and Natchez nations eventually helped European explorers colonize the area and were often among the first line of defense during battles to protect the city. It was native Americans who carved out a portage between Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River now known as Bayou St. John and guided Bienville to Pass Manchac.

Based primarily in Nebraska, the Pawnee Nation never really gained a foothold farther south thanOklahoma. After ceding their territory to white settlers in the 1800s, many Pawnee dispersed to neighboring states in the Midwest and South. Cummings' grandfather was one of them, moving to Louisiana decades ago to start a surveying business on the north shore.

Wally Cummings was one of Chief's 10 children, a clan they jokingly referred to as "the 10 little Indians." Like most New Orleanians, Cummings became a staunch supporter of the Saints after they were founded in 1966 and passed his devotion on to his children.

One of Dorian Cummings' earliest memories was of his father yelling at longtime Saints antagonist Billy "White Shoes" Johnson of the Atlanta Falcons during yet another Black and Gold loss. "I caught a bug after that," Cummings said.

The seeds of super fandom germinated after Cummings became friends with Leroy "Whistle Monsta" Mitchell. While accompanying Mitchell to a recording of the short-lived TV show, "Fanatics," hosted by Bob DelGiorno Jr. in the French Quarter, Cummings decided to throw on a crude native American outfit. DelGiorno Jr. picked him out of the audience before a commercial break.

"He said, 'Hey, Gris-Gris Man, take us to a commercial and put the gris-gris on Atlanta," Cummings said. "That's where it all started. It just took after that."

He'd grown comfortable with the idea of dressing up. He'd dressed as a chief for a couple of Mardi Gras parades in middle school. One of the various jobs he held after graduating from Grace King High School, was Ray-Cycle Man, the environmental super hero of New Orleansduring Ray Nagin's first term as mayor. Dressed in green spandex tights, gold boots and brandishing a trashcan-lid shield, Cummings attended various public events as and was a regular on the cable-access TV show "The Clean Team." He even rode in Endyminion, throwing recycled coasters to revelers instead of beads.

"That's when I really started feeling the power of acting retarded and getting attention," Cummings said.

While Cummings loved the name, he was careful not to step on the toes of Dr. John, the original Gris-Gris Man and one of the city's cultural icons. He also didn't want his character to reflect negatively in any way on the Pawnee. Gris-gris, after all, originally referred to an African voodoo amulet. 

Throughout the evolution of his character, Cummings has strived to maintain his ancestral authenticity. He'd take mental notes while attending the annual Pawnee powwows in Stillwater,Okla., then return to New Orleans to add an element to his costume, with the help of his mother, Christine, who serves as his official seamstress and online researcher. 

His chest plate is made of elk bone. His loin cloth is cut from antelope hide. His head piece is a handmade porcupine hair roach. He accessorizes with a turtle-shell rattle and wrist- and ankle-bands of bells.

His face paint is also designed after Pawnee ancestors. The black handprint, per Pawnee warrior lore, signifies the killing of an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, Cummings said. His other favorite pattern mimics the face of a wolf, the national symbol of the Pawnee tribe.

"The Pawnee are very prideful," Wally Cummings said. "It needed to be done with respect and good taste. He's done that so I have no problem with it."

On game days, Cummings applies the face paint in a parking lot behind Handsome Willy's, the watering hole in the CBD that serves as his launching point on game days. He punctuates his pre-game walk to the Mercedes-Benz Superdome with a sacred Pawnee chant on the outside apron of the stadium, praying and blowing smoke toward the heavens. His season tickets are in the upper deck but like many of his fellow super fan colleagues he prefers to roam the Dome after kickoff.

"I'm Gris-Gris; everything is kind of based on feel," Cummings said. "People look at me like I'm crazy, but the mojo has got to be right."

Predictably, his outfit inspires plenty of banter from opposing fans, especially on the road. Trips to Florida are accompanied by catcalls from Gators and Hurricanes fans who confuse him for a lost fan of the Florida State Seminoles. Back-to-back home games against the Redskins and Chiefs this season produced inquires from fans from both sides. When it rains, he's besieged by requests to dance and clear the skies. "Like I've got that kind of pull?" Cumming quipped.

Although the Pawnee were known for their courage and cunning, the U.S. government classified them as a "friendly" tribe. As Gris-Gris Man, Cummings has stayed true to the designation. Although he and friends once incited a mini-riot during halftime of a road game in San Francisco, he said he favors a friendly, upbeat in-game comportment, something he learned from Mitchell. Even this year's 1-4 start hasn't dampened his spirits.

"I got over the losing thing a long time ago," he said. "Did everyone think we were just going to be great forever? You've got to pay homage to the gods. If you're going to dress like us, you better be nice to people and take some pictures and have fun. If not, you're going to get some bad gris-gris along the way."