Glen Provost
Glen John Provost was born August 9, 1949, in Lafayette, Louisiana. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from St. Joseph Seminary College (1971), then studied in Rome and Europe — the Pontifical North American College, French at the Institut Catholique in Paris, and theology at the Angelicum (STB 1974, STL 1975). He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Lafayette by Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1975, in St. Peter's Basilica, and later added a master's in English literature and study of Victorian literature at the University of London. He speaks French, Italian, and Spanish.
As a Lafayette priest he served as rector-pastor of St. John Cathedral (1985–1998), a diocesan tribunal judge, and dean — a Latin-literate scholar-bishop with a literary and liturgical bent. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the third Bishop of Lake Charles on March 6, 2007; he was consecrated and installed at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on April 23, 2007.
Provost's episcopate was defined by catastrophe and recovery: Hurricane Laura (August 2020) devastated the diocese, followed by Hurricane Delta, a 2021 ice storm, and flooding — roughly $135 million in damage across hundreds of structures, including the cathedral roof. On liturgy he is regarded as orthodox and traditional-friendly. Having turned 75 in August 2024, he submitted the resignation required by canon law; as of mid-2026 it had not been accepted and he continues as Bishop of Lake Charles, with no successor named.
Bishop Glen John Provost has one of the more clearly favorable Traditional Latin Mass records among living U.S. bishops, and it rests on deeds, not merely reputation. When Traditionis Custodes landed in July 2021, Provost did not suppress the old rite. His decree of November 1, 2021 implemented the document while expressly dispensing two parishes — the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Sulphur — to continue the 1962 Missal, invoking Canon 87 and a spirit of epikeia.
His stated reasoning is notably sympathetic. His traditional faithful had worshiped in the older rite since the diocese was founded; none had opposed Vatican II or denied its legitimacy; and those who spoke with him affirmed the validity of the reformed liturgy. On that basis he judged that he 'would be grossly negligent, if not callous, to implement any restrictive law while at the same time ignoring these realities.' This is a bishop defending his traditional flock in plain language, not grudgingly tolerating them.
The strongest proof of goodwill is affirmative: at Provost's own invitation the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest established the St. Francis de Sales Oratory in Sulphur in 2021, reported as the Institute's first apostolate in Louisiana. Inviting a traditional-rite society into the diocese during the post-TC crackdown — while himself a Latin-literate scholar-bishop — marks Provost as a genuine friend of the traditional liturgy. The one caveat is that this rests substantially on his 2021-era acts, and Provost is past 75 with a resignation submitted, so the durability of these provisions will ultimately rest with his successor.