Our (Other) Fathers

Mary Arcement Alexander, Licensed Professional Counselor & Diocesan Victim Assistance Minister

BEING CATHOLIC

In Small Town South

LOUISIANA IN THE ‘70S AND ‘80S WAS THE NORM. I honestly thought everyone was Catholic until I went to college. Yes, my world was very small. What I remember most about the different priests we had over the course of my childhood, unfortunately, is not the greatest. It is not so much that we had “bad” priests, rather they all seemed old and unapproachable to my then child’s eyes. Some of the priests were intimidating to me, some seemed grouchy and unhappy, some were cheerful and nice enough, and some were rather nondescript. Only one priest stands out as being quite, honestly, mean. I won’t mention his name out of respect for the priesthood. With all that said, I’m happy to report that this is no longer the case for me. We at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Shreveport have been very blessed with amazing priests. I want to highlight a few (unfortunately I don’t have the writing space to mention them all). I will begin with Fr. Karl Daigle.

Fr. Karl and I are the same age. Why am I mentioning this? Because he is the first priest I ever encountered who was my age. It was weird and cool at the same time. I loved the fact that he, too, is a child of the ‘70s and ‘80s. It felt like we were able to bond over this commonality. I remember feeling immediately at ease around him both because he is a friendly, approachable person and because of our age. He is the first priest who I ever became friends with and that meant a lot to me at the time. It still does. It was Fr. Karl who called me up one random Tuesday night and left me a message asking that I call him as soon as I could. I felt like I had just been called to the principal’s office. I can’t explain it but the inner child in me came out and that is where my mind took me. To my great surprise, he was calling to ask me to lead the middle school youth ministry. He told me that God had laid my name upon his heart. Although I was honored, I was also hesitant.The obedient child in me wanted to immediately say, “Oh, yes sir I will!” but the adult in me instead asked for some time to prayerfully consider (I said yes by the way). Over the course of roughly five years, Fr. Karl and I were able to build a great relationship that honestly felt more like brother and sister which is fitting considering he is my brother in Christ. On April 16th, 2016, my husband and I were honored to have Fr. Karl officiate our wedding. I must say, it was pretty amazing having a priest who knew me, liked me, and considered me a friend as our wedding officiant.

“The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. When you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

-St. John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests

During this same time period we were also blessed to have Fr. Mike Thang’wa as our associate pastor. I think it is safe to say we at SJC will forever think of Fr. Mike when we hear the words, “God is good all the time. All the time God is good.” He said this during every homily and we all knew he meant it. One of my favorite memories of Fr. Mike was during one of our end-of-year parties with the youth group. We had outside water activities including a slip-n-slide. Fr. Mike had so much fun on that slip-n-slide! I

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