By Gretchen Keiser

Father Peter Ludden, chancellor of the archdiocese, is seriously ill with cancer and prayers have been asked on his behalf by Archbishop Eugene A. Marino, S.S.J.

Father Ludden, 50, entered Piedmont Hospital Feb. 27 for apparently routine gall bladder surgery, but the procedure revealed a malignant tumor in the intestine and also malignancy in the liver, he said. The intestinal tumor was removed and Father Ludden has been recovering at the hospital. He was released March 7. He said that an additional three to four weeks of recovery from the surgery was anticipated at home. Father Ludden said that he expected to undergo chemotherapy in the future for the liver cancer.

“But the main focus is for the healing power of the Lord being at work here. That’s where I am most confident,” he said, “and that’s where I am so encouraged” by the cards, phone calls about other contacts from people expressing their faith and their prayer support. A stream of visitors came by his room throughout last week and weekend and flowers, balloons, cards and expressions of support lined it. Believing that “the Lord opts for life, not for death. I have to believe healing is what the Lord wants us to pray for,” he said.

The archbishop was a daily visitor last week, Father Ludden said, and Father Tom Gilroy, who brought Communion daily, concelebrated Mass in the room with Father Ludden toward the end of the week. Other priests, friends and former parishioners from a number of parishes and staff from the Catholic Center were also visiting.

“Overall it was a great support and a wonderful encouragement,” Father Ludden said, “because it’s not easy to come to grips with that kind of news.”

Archbishop Marino has asked all parishes to pray for Father Ludden, a Dublin, Ireland native who has been chancellor since 1983. A priest of the archdiocese for over 20 years, he was founding pastor of St. Andrew’s parish in north Fulton and also is a former pastor of Holy Spirit in Atlanta and St. John Vianney in Lithia Springs.