Ascension of Our Lord parishioner donates 30,000 books

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Mark Williams, a member of Ascension of Our Lord Parish in LaPlace, has been an avid fan of Catholic evangelist Matthew Kelly, regularly serving as a local ambassador to distribute Kelly’s books to fellow parishioners and to students at the parish school.

Now, Williams has taken that interest to a new level.

The retired executive with the Port of New Orleans has underwritten the distribution of 30,000 copies of Kelly’s latest book about prayer, “I Heard God Laugh,” to thousands of students in Catholic high schools of the Archdiocese of New Orleans as well as to those who participate in youth ministry in church parishes.

Even at the relatively inexpensive cover price of $1 a copy, the gift amounted to a $30,000 gift.

Archbishop Gregory Aymond thanked Williams for his generosity in making the book available, and Williams said he hoped the book would help those who read it deepen their prayer life.

“I learned to pray the rosary when I was a kid with my family, but I didn’t know much more about different kinds of prayer until a few years ago,” Williams said. “I’m 70 now. Most of my life, I was not much more than a prayer of the rosary. This book covers a lot of different kinds of prayer and gives people a chance to develop a personal communication with the Lord.”

Pushing book to teens
Williams said he wanted to target teenagers with the book because “I know that even though they might be in Catholic high school right now, they are most likely to go to a public college, so their connection with praying and prayer may end after high school. That was the idea of giving them something they could take and read.”

Williams has helped distribute Kelly’s books at Ascension of Our Lord during Christmas and Easter, and he did similar distributions at St. Joan of Arc in LaPlace and Sacred Heart in Norco.

“You can’t beat the price,” Williams said.

His motivation is simply to encourage reading about the Catholic faith.

“It’s just that I’m able to help, and that’s kind of a good feeling,” Kelly said. “Everybody needs a personal connection with our Lord, and this book will help them get that. The rosary and other prayers are good prayers, but I never really turned to the Lord personally and established that kind of relationship. There are all different kinds of reasons to pray and ways to pray.”

Williams is a regular adorer at Ascension of Our Lord’s eucharistic adoration chapel and also has participated in spiritual direction for the last four years.