Priests, deacons: What Jesus has meant to me

The Clarion Herald asked priests and deacons celebrating milestone anniversaries of ordination what their life of service to the church has meant.

40 years a priest

Father Joseph Dau Van Nguyen

I have chosen a happy life. I am very happy to be a priest. I have served people in different fields: a pastor in different parishes, a teacher at Notre Dame Seminary, a hospital chaplain at Tulane Medical Center and a contract priest at the Naval Air Station in New Orleans.

I enjoy every moment to be with people in their need. I understand their situations. To be with them is the most important thing – to laugh with them and to weep with them. In fact, after I retired as a pastor in 2020, I continue to serve as a priest at the Navy base. 

In a word, I have enjoyed 40 years of service as a priest. I will return to Vietnam to teach in the seminary for the rest of my life.

Father Lich Nguyen

I am going to celebrate my 40th anniversary of ordination on May 19. As I reflect on my priestly ministry for the last four decades, I am so grateful to God for the privilege of sharing in the priesthood of Jesus Christ.

In the rite of ordination, the phrase “alter Christus” (another Christ) reminds me that, although Christ himself is present to “another Christ” by virtue of his ordination. What a tremendous blessing that has been to me.

I have never felt worthy of the gift of priesthood. But what Jesus said offers me some comfort: “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and send you forward to bear fruit” (John 15:16).

So, in order to answer the question: What has my life as a priest meant to me?  

Our role is to shepherd God’s people, but only Jesus himself is the Good Shepherd. We ordained priests are just the Shepherd’s best companion. We are associated closely with Jesus in caring for the flock, corralling the sheep, giving the guidance and direction of knowing the mind of the true shepherd and assisting. That, to me, is an image of what priesthood is about.

 

Father Bac-Hai Viet Tran

May 19 will mark my 40th anniversary of the priesthood. My, my, my – 40 years! This is more than half of my life and almost a half-century long! Can you believe it?  

Whatever you think is short or long, to me, it’s just right. I was recommended and ordained by Archbishop Hannan. Looking back over these 40 years, I was very blessed and lucky in my ministry as a priest. I owe it all to our beloved Archbishop Hannan.

Throughout my 40 years in ministry, I was assigned to four parishes, twice as a parochial vicar and twice as a pastor. My first assignment was at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Pines Village, which is no longer there due to Katrina. My first pastor was the late Msgr. Frank Lipps. Talk about lucky. He was so generous and compassionate.

He taught me many things as a newly ordained priest that were so different from what I learned in the seminary. As an Asian, Msgr. Lipps was the one to teach me about finances and “petty cash,” which no longer exists today. He knew that I liked Oriental food more than American food, so he opened for me a small account so that I could purchase my Oriental food. I have never found another pastor as kind and generous as Father Lipps. I have no doubt that he is in heaven.

My next assignment was at St. Andrew the Apostle in Algiers with Msgr. John Tomasovich. There was a rumor at that time that Father Tommy always got what he wanted. I was given the nickname “Golden Boy,” and I didn’t understand what that meant. But later on, I was told that all associates chosen at St. Andrew by Father Tommy were given the same nickname: “Golden Boy.” I don’t know if that was a compliment or an insult! I think both.  

My first assignment as a pastor was at Sts. Peter and Paul in Pearl River. It was quite a job. Picture a little city boy serving for the first time in a countryside parish. I had to learn everything – from chlorine pills to treat the soft water and getting used to the smell of eggshells from the water, and rings around the collar from the shirt to the toilet. But, I was willing to learn, and, guess what, I stayed there more than 10 years.  

Finally, my last assignment has been here at St. Agnes in Jefferson. Right back to the city. Can you believe that it has been 17 years that I have been here as pastor? It feels like it was just yesterday. They say time flies when you are having a good time.  

So, to all my parishioners past and present, I sincerely want to thank you for your welcoming and your kindness in accepting me the way I am to serve and to work with you in each parish. Without you, I would not have made it this far.  And by looking back, I can say, “Hai, baby, you’ve come a long way!” 

Like any other vocation, priesthood is the same. If you read the passion of the Lord, you will get the picture. A priest’s life contains the whole package of joy, happiness, suffering, struggles, persistence, forgiving, praise, rejection, betrayal, etc. You have to accept the whole package. You cannot avoid the bad things and only accept the good things.  

The only thing that is different is we priests don’t have the luxury of having a double life. In the priesthood, we do what we are and we are what we do. The day you have a double life is the day you are in trouble.

No matter who you are, what you do and where you do it, I always follow the Golden Rule: “Treat other people in the same way you want to be treated.” And my grandfather taught me: “You get what you give out.”  

Thanks to all of you who always remind me of what I do and who I am so that I can be a faithful and good priest until the day I die.  

Let’s continue to pray for each other as I am going to retire on July 1. Let’s ask God to help us to always remember that whatever we are and whatever we do, we do it for the greater glory of God and his kingdom, and not for our selfishness, now and forever. Amen.

25 years a priest

Father Cyril Buyeera

“So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” – Lk 17:10

The joy of knowing and serving God as a priest over the last 25 years has been immense. Unworthy as I am, he still called me to use me to discharge his mercies and graces. Celebrating Mass and being available to my parishioners for my priestly services are dear to me. I truly believe that a priest is not his own.

My priestly life has been within a parish setting, putting me in contact with parishioners all the time. Their thirst for the word of God and the desire to enter into a deeper relationship with God has been a great inspiration to me. It has allowed me to possibly become a better priest.

Over the years, I have come to know how much Catholics love, pray for and appreciate their priests. It is a fact I have experienced while working in Uganda and here in the United States. The love and support I have received from parishioners back home, from St. Maria Goretti Church, New Orleans, and currently, Ascension Our Lord Church, LaPlace, is humbling. 

Msgr. Christopher Nalty

One of the profound privileges of being a priest is being allowed to share in the most important times in people’s lives. Sometimes those times are joyful, like a wedding or a baptism, but oftentimes those are very sad times, especially during illness and at death. 

Most of us would prefer to live in joyful times, but I do find that living through difficult times teaches us most about ourselves and increases our reliance upon God.

I’ve always enjoyed celebrating baptisms and weddings, and the celebrations that may follow, but I think I have grown closer to people with whom I’ve shared suffering.

The word “compassion” is often understood as “sympathy,” but it’s deeper than that. The word compassion has its origin in the Latin words “cum” meaning “with,” and “passio” meaning “suffering.”  Having compassion is to share in another person’s suffering, to suffer with them.

Over the last 25 years as a priest, I have shared suffering with many people, and that has brought me closer to them. But it’s also brought me closer to the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Since the cross is our only way to heaven, I rejoice in the times that I have embraced it with my friends and parishioners.

25 years a deacon

Deacon Terrel J. Broussard 

There are not enough words or time to express what my life as a deacon means to me.

I was ordained in 1999 at one of the busiest times in my life. My ordination increased my embrace of Jesus as my sanctifier. As a deacon, Jesus has repeatedly purified me and allowed me to recognize the holiness of my family, my profession and the Body of Christ.

I am an attorney and was ordained two weeks after I completed a three-week federal jury trial. My ordination as a deacon allowed me to clearly see my profession as an opportunity to do justice and walk with God.

The charisms of Word, liturgy and charity are my sanctifiers. It is through these charisms that I meet the God who chose this flawed child of his to serve him as a deacon.

Deacon Rodrigo Fonseca

The seminary was where I Iearned many of the fundamentals of the spiritual sacramentary life. It was a real in-depth discovery of Jesus’ kingdom.

Important advice was and is: “Listen to your wife.” 

Since my ordination and periodically thereafter, it was like the archbishop grabbing me by the arm and telling me: “Rod, this team over there needs a little help; they could benefit by your talent.”

So, now, instead of me wondering when I was going to have a life, Jesus and his church have given me a real life. I’m on Jesus’ team: He loves me, he wants me, I love him and he has given me his Holy Spirit to guide me to do good in and for his kingdom and world.

Deacon Greg Gross

Being a Catholic deacon has delivered times of great grace, challenges and profound joy. During our ordination, God’s grace was being dispensed as our triplets served the Mass, thus beginning my vocation rooted in faith and family. This spiritual life comes with intense physical demands, both joyous and sad, but the physical has always been complemented with the spiritual. The two are inseparable.

I recall the shock and awe of my first preaching attempt in New York on New Year's Eve 1999 during our family vacation. In the midst of my homily, a man vigorously kept shouting “No!” whenever I proclaimed the theme, “Who was willing to travel with Jesus?” He kept raising his fist and shouting louder and louder. The intense tension melted into divine astonishment when we learned after Mass that the man hadn’t spoken a word in years. Such moments underscored the unpredictable yet grace-filled nature of diaconal ministry.

The sorrow of witnessing a couple whose vows I had witnessed separate reminded me of how fragile we humans are and of the strength required to maintain our own marriages. Being present at the bedsides of dying mothers, fathers, newborns and veterans has been my profound honor, sharing in the sacred passage from this physical life to the spiritual banquet promised for us all.

I often get lost during Mass when I pray. I get overwhelmed with the Trinity’s presence, and the reality of the innate truth – true holy Communion, the union between the physical and the spiritual, right in front of the eyes – deepens the miracle of faith. 

The freedom of processing and/or running through the streets of New Orleans, during nine-church walks, praying with fellow believers and bystanders, and presenting the archbishop with a “Soles for Christ” T-shirt in front of St. Louis Cathedral embodies the joyous outreach of a deacon’s many strange missions.  

Attending the Super Bowl with my closest friends and family, while holding up my prayer-backed poster for all to see, was super awesome. The recent blessing of a grain ship to cast out undesirable spirits, while the ship was being loaded with white corn on the mighty Mississippi, captures the varied dimensions of a deacon's life – public witness, personal faith and the blending of a deacon’s actions into his spiritual life.

My life as a deacon has been an indescribably delicious journey of faith, service and love. It’s a vocation that has challenged, shaped and fulfilled me. The diaconate is another instrument enabling members of the body of Christ to open their hearts to God’s kingdom here on earth though very lowly servants.

Deacon Bertrand Scalise Jr.

Serving as an ordained Catholic deacon for 25 years has been a fulfilling and a humbling gift. The program of studies for the Archdiocese of New Orleans was a blessing, challenge and life-changing experience. Our wives being included in all of our training and study was amazing and led to a deeper bonding and partnership in my marriage with Marcia and prepared us both for a lifelong ministry of service. 

Diaconate ministry happens not only on the altar – proclaiming the Gospel and in the sacraments – but even more in our day-to-day lives. We continue to grow at times and learn that what we may have considered a weakness can also become one of our strengths. 

Supporting and walking with each other on our journey in the midst of sickness, difficulties, heartache, hard times, uncertain times, happiness, joy and triumph is the core of my ministry serving as a deacon.

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” 

– Philippians 4:13