Something amazing is happening in Lafayette, Louisiana. Our area is seeing a growing wave of male and female vocations. Today, we have 42 seminarians, of which many people in the diocese are aware. What many don’t know is there is a ground swell of young ladies answering the call to religious life.
Like so many south Louisianians, I grew up Catholic. I had the great gift of attending Sts. Leo-Seton Catholic School from pre-K to 8th grade. In seventh grade I began to realize I was more interested in the faith than my family and my peers, but I was afraid to stand out. I took this tension with me to high school at Episcopal School of Acadiana.
Fr. Norbert Maduzia of St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Spring, Texas, greeted Pope Francis at the Vatican on Feb. 6, 2018, while on pilgrimage.
Over 10 years, I felt invitations in prayer to discern the priesthood. But like many of my brother priests, it was an invitation I did not originally want to receive. I was the guy who wanted a big family. I played sports, dated girls, traveled around the world, studied business, and I was the president of a college fraternity.
Originally our pilgrimage to Italy was scheduled for September 2017, the month of our 50th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, the devastation of Hurricane Harvey and the flooding at St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church forced us to postpone the trip to January 2018. When we arrived in Rome, the weather was cold, rainy and windy, but it did not faze any of us. We were determined to move on with our pilgrimage, for God’s plan through the Holy Spirit was for it to be a trip never to be forgotten.
Dear Pilgrim Family,
As we reflect on the last year, words cannot express the gratitude and blessings we have experienced in the last 12 months.