FAMILY MINISTRY

When God became man, he entered into and belonged to a family, the family of Nazareth. To renew the entire human race, Christ’s salvific mission began and developed within the context of the family. What Christ did then, he still does today. He still desires to enter into and be present in every family with all its joys and sorrows, lights and shadows. In light of the centrality of the family, the Second Vatican Council recovered the concept of the family as the domestic church, and this will have a great bearing on my priestly ministry. If indeed the church is to be ever more relevant to the world today, she must with a greater energy renew the family, and as such enable the Gospel to affect every baptized person since the family is the most fundamental community of the baptized. What we celebrate in our parish churches and cathedrals as mysteries must become lived out realities in the family. It is principally in the family that the rubber of the Gospel hits the road of daily life. Yet, it is without saying that most families today face tremendous challenges, most of which we know. Many have to walk alone into the darkness and confusion caused by the prevalent cultural trends, most have no spiritual life, and the virtues and the moral life are never taught.

Since the ministerial priesthood is at the service of the common priesthood, entering into the family will become for me a way in which I place my priesthood at the service of the baptized in the wider context of married and family life. As a priest, I want to demonstrate my availability to enter into every household, to listen to the members, to accompany them while allowing their joys and sorrows to affect my priestly ministry. What shape this ministry will concretely take, I do not fully know. But for certain, I hope that family visitations will be an essential element in my ministry. By doing

The first time that I can recall thinking of the priesthood was when I was maybe in about the second or third grade. I attended elementary school at St. Francis de Sales in Houma, and I can recall one day after a school Mass thinking of being a priest. This would be the only time I would think of the priesthood until I graduated from Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma in 2015. As I was considering what path to take in life during my senior year at Vandebilt, I was originally planning on pursuing a degree in electrical engineering, yet during this time, my faith was starting to truly grow. I would occasionally attend daily Mass during that school year, and I began to go to confession on a more regular basis. Concurrent with the initial growth in my own spiritual life, I began to read Scripture more on my own and try to pray as best as I could as a high school student.

What really first encouraged me to take my own faith more seriously around that time in my life was reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. To sum up the impact of this book for me, it helped me reflect on the question of who Jesus really is, and that he does truly desire to be in a relationship with us.