Dr. Devin Owens at his office in Houma
A family’s story of searching, conversion and spiritual blessings Story by Janet Marcel ~ Photo by Lawrence Chatagnier Dr. Devin Owens is a family physician who practices at the Family Doctor Clinic in Houma. He currently lives in Thibodaux with his wife Ashley, a pain management doctor for Thibodaux Regional Health System, and their two children, Evelynn, 7; and Peairs, 6. He and his family are recent converts to Catholicism and his story is an interesting and inspiring one which led the family to the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux. The Homer, LA, native is a graduate of Northwestern State University in Natchitoches. After receiving his master’s degree in clinical anatomy and his medical doctorate at LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport, he completed a residency in Family Medicine at Baton Rouge General. Devin was raised Baptist; his wife Ashley was raised Methodist, but her mother was Catholic. So they were both brought up with a strong Christian background. After college, he says they both were experiencing periods of spiritual apathy. The two met in medical school while studying in the anatomy cadaver lab. Two years later they were married in a Methodist church in Baton Rouge. During their medical residency, he says their faith unfortunately took a back seat and they were not really practicing any faith. They both felt an emptiness, so they began going to different churches and exploring different Christian denominations. They moved to North Carolina for Ashley’s fellowship and at that time Devin stayed at home with the children. “We befriended a devout Catholic family who through their witness drew us into learning more about their daily practice of the Catholic faith, which included following the 18 • Bayou Catholic • Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux • August 2022
liturgical calendar, intercessory prayer, studying the lives of the saints, and a devotion to Mary. They also introduced us to the sacraments. We saw that they had something special and began to ask more questions. Our friends were bold enough to share their faith and once they knew we were interested, we had many great discussions with their family,” says Devin. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic as Ashley was finishing her fellowship in North Carolina that she accepted a job at Thibodaux Regional. During that time, they experienced a series of family hardships that put their lives into a spiritual turmoil. Devin says the combination of these hardships, moving across the country, starting new jobs, and Ashley studying for board exams created a perfect storm of stress and uncertainties for their family. “It became even clearer to us that we needed to trust what God had begun in our lives with this spark of searching into the Catholic faith,” he says. They moved to Houma in August 2020. Their friends from North Carolina had just moved to Jackson and they invited them to a Healing Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Luling, with Father Anthony Odiong. “We went to this Mass with very little knowledge of what a Catholic Mass was and even less knowledge of what a Healing Mass was, so we just had to take this leap. We followed along as best we could and after the Mass, we followed a group of people into a small chapel who were praying the rosary for the Healing Mass. We explained our situation to Father Anthony, who prayed and blessed each of our family members. He asked that we pray the rosary every day for the following 30 days. It was hard to
a
