What's in a name? Ordinand revels in family's conversion

Five men will be ordained to the transtional diaconate May 22 at St. Louis Cathedral by Archbishop Gregory Aymond. Today, we profile Lennin Dario Arroyo Martinez.

►Age: 40

►Home parish: Born in Monteria, Colombia

►Diaconate internship: St. Jerome, Kenner

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

God works in mysterious ways.

Although Lennin Dario Arroyo Martinez’s grandfather grew up in heavily Catholic Colombia, he wanted to showcase his non-belief in Catholicism by naming his son “Lenin” after Vladimir Lenin, the Russian revolutionary.

“And the priest said, ‘No, that is not a Christian name. He cannot be Lenin,’” Arroyo Martinez said. “When my father was growing up, he always heard from his relatives, ‘Ah, the priest didn’t like your name!’ He told them, ‘When I have my first son, I’m going to name him ‘Lenin.’”

He did, adding an extra “n” to the name to get Lennin. “That was a strategy by my dad,” Arroyo Martinez said, laughing.

Arroyo Martinez said his family did not regularly practice any religion, but because his father was a teacher and understood the value of education, he sent his three children to Catholic school.

“But I didn’t like the faith,” Arroyo Martinez said. “When they would say, ‘Jesus loves you,’ I said, ‘Hah, that guy’s dead. How can he love me?’”

When Arroyo Martinez was a high school senior, one of his friends invited him to a  prayer meeting.

“I wasn’t looking for that – I was looking for a girlfriend,” Arroyo Martinez said. “Someone asked everyone in the room, ‘What was the reason you came?’ Everyone was saying, ‘I came here to know more God’ or ‘I came here because I want to learn to pray.’ I wanted to be sincere, so I said, ‘I came here to look for friends.’ And the guy running the meeting pointed to the tabernacle and said, ‘OK, he is going to be your best friend!’ I closed my eyes and said to myself, ‘I won’t believe, never!’”

But Arroyo Martinez’s friend continued to drag him to the meetings, and something changed. He began praying at home with his mother, the only one in his family who had been attending Mass. Later, he became youth director of a group that helped the homeless.

“I felt responsible for making the young people have an experience with God through prayer and helping the needy,” Arroyo Martinez said.

Arroyo Martinez studied for five years in the seminary in Medellin before leaving for a year. At World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011, he felt compelled to return.

When Dominican Father Sergio Serrano, director of the archdiocesan Hispanic Apostolate, visited Medellin and asked if there might be seminarians who felt called to minister in New Orleans, Arroyo Martinez’s rector pointed to “Lenny” as a prayer group leader.

“I was afraid because I was very comfortable in my city – my friends, my family, my motorcycle,” he said. “But I like to be obedient. When I heard him, I felt the presence of God.”

The great news? Arroyo Martinez’s entire family, including his father, now attends Mass.

“Two of my dad’s sisters started to cry when they saw him praying,” Arroyo Martinez said. “They said, ‘We never thought we would see that!’”