Welcome

Hello, and welcome to my personal website. Here I’ve been chronicling various interests including the Catholic faith, photography, south Louisiana, and my everlasting struggles with web design, fitness and the culinary arts; amongst other things.

A Brief Bio

I’m a Catholic Priest in the Archdiocese of New Orleans, and I’m currently stationed in Metairie, Louisiana. I was born in New Orleans decades ago, and have lived here all my life. People have asked if I’m from Virginia, the midwest, New Zealand, Germany, Italy…

Part of my family is from Uptown New Orleans; I grew up in Old Metairie, and a large part of my family is from down the bayou in Houma, Louisiana. Like most people from Louisiana, I’m related to half the state, with Allen, Falgout, Lapeyrouse, and Lottinger being prominent names in the family trees.

I went to St. Catherine of Siena grammar school, Archbishop Rummel High School, and attended both the University of New Orleans and Loyola University New Orleans as I studied music, and Notre Dame Seminary for Theology. I’m as local as it gets.

When I was growing up I fell in love with the piano and the organ, and ended up working with those professionally in the New Orleans area. “God needs musicians,” I ofen thought. Sometimes at Mass, I still think that.

Music was a great and enjoyable life, when suddenly and out of the blue, God started calling to me again.

Or perhaps I just became more aware of His call.

“God needs musicians,” I often thought. Sometimes at Mass, I still think that.

At any rate, I was soon enrolled in a seminary, where to my sheer horror I realized I was going to be writing 15 page term papers for years to come. But you know what, I loved it.

I was ordained to the Priesthood in June, 2004, and it’s been an amazing experience of personal growth, self discovery, and abandonment to Christ.

A Few Things

  • I’m a cradle Catholic who fell away from the Church for about 20 years.
  • When the Catechism was published I learned for the first time may things about the Faith I had never known.
  • My understanding of religion was based on childhood experiences, and I never knew that I needed to grow up in Faith as well as other areas of my life.
  • A spiritual director working with the Sacrament of Reconciliation changed my life completely, taught me more about the Faith and the power of God’s mercy and love much more than any class I had in Seminary.
  • I still get nervous every time I get up to speak in front of large groups of people every Sunday.
  • I love the Priesthood. And despite a few notoriously bad experiences I’ve had the misfortune to suffer, I still love the Priesthood.

Nowadays

Currently I’m a Parochial Vicar at St. Mary Magdalen Church in Metairie, with a great Pastor, Fr. Bob Massett. I still play music. And that’s it in a nutshell. That, and my favorite iPhone game is Scrabble.

Well, thanks!

To live, to adventure, to understand the will of God…

Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield.
May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us
who have put our hope in you.