Our (Other) Fathers
from the June 2023 Catholic Connection
The priesthood is the love of the heart of Jesus. When you see a priest, think of our Lord Jesus Christ.” — St. John Vianney, patron saint of parish priests.
Being Catholic in small town south Louisiana in the 70’s and 80’s was the norm. I honestly thought everyone was Catholic until I went to college. Yes, my world was very small. What I remember most about the different priest we had over the course of my childhood, unfortunately, is not the greatest. It is not so much that we had “bad” priest, rather they all seemed old and unapproachable to my then child’s eyes. Some of the priest were intimidating to me, some seemed grouchy and unhappy, some were cheerful and nice enough and some were rather non-descript. Only one priest stands out as being quite honestly, mean. I won’t mention his name out of respect for the priesthood. With all that said, I happy to report that this is no longer the case for me. We at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Shreveport have been very blessed with amazing priest. I want to highlight a few (unfortunately I don’t have the writing space to mention them all). I will begin with Fr. Karl Daigle.
Fr. Karl and I are the same age. Why am I mentioning this? Because he is the first priest I ever encountered that was my age. It was weird and cool at the same time. I loved the fact that he too is a child of the 70’s and 80’s. It felt like we were able to bond over this commonality. I remember feeling immediately at ease around him both because he is a friendly, approachable person and because of our age. He is the first priest that I ever became friends with and that meant a lot to me at the time. It still does. It was Fr. Karl who called me up one random Tuesday night and left me a message asking that I call him as soon as I could. I felt like I had just been called to the principal’s office. I can’t explain it but the inner child in me came out and that is where my mind took me. To my great surprise, he was in reality calling to ask me to lead the middle school youth ministry. He told me that God had laid my name upon his heart. Although I was honored, I was also hesitate. The obedient child in me wanted to immediately say, “Oh, yes sir I will!” but the adult in me instead asked for some time to prayerfully consider (I said yes by the way). Over the course of roughly five years, Fr. Karl and I were able to build a great relationship that honestly felt more like brother and sister which is fitting considering he is my brother in Christ. On April 16th, 2016, my husband and I were honored to have Fr. Karl officiate our wedding. I must say, it was pretty amazing having a priest that knew me, liked me and considered me a friend as our wedding officiate.
During this same time period we were also blessed to have Fr. Mike Thang’wa as our associate pastor. I think it is safe to say we at SJC will forever think of Fr. Mike when we hear the words, “God is good all the time. All the time God is good.” He said this during every homily and we all knew he meant it. One of my favorite memories of Fr. Mike was during one of our end of the year parties with the youth group. We had outside water activities including a slip-n-slide. Fr. Mike had so much fun on that slip-n-slide! I loved watching him interact with the kids. He is sincerely one of the nicest, genuine, kind and God loving persons I have ever met. He exuded warmth and joy. My only sadness is that he left us too soon. But we as Catholics know, our beloved priests are only “on loan” to us for a short time.
Last but not least, our very own, Father not Father, Msgr. Long. I still remember the day it was announced that we would be getting the then Fr. Matthew Long as our new pastor. It was a Sunday 6pm mass and I was sitting with my friend Sommer. As they said his name we both simultaneously squeezed the others hand, turned our heads and grinned like a couple of school girls. To say the energy of the church shifted to excitement is an understatement. At that time I had met Msgr. Long a few times and heard great things about his homilies. One of the most talked about homilies was one I sadly missed. It was at the return mass after one of the men’s ACTS retreats. Apparently it was so good, the church gave him a standing ovation. Now that’s a great homily!
I could write several pages on the positive impact Msgr. Long has had on St. Josephs but since I only get one page I will give this example which I feel sums it up perfectly. As we all know, when Covid hit and the world literally shut down including churches, it was devastating on multiple levels. Watching Mass from home was not the same and brought angst to most of us who longed for the Holy Eucharist. As the government slowly allowed us to open back up, many people were very fearful even with all the precautions St. Joseph’s implemented. I was beyond ecstatic to be one of the first ones there on that fateful Sunday morning. Although it took many months to get back to normal, looking at how much we as a church are currently thriving especially when so many Catholic churches across the country have sadly shut down, speaks volumes about our shepherd, Msgr. Long. I recognize he did not do it alone and want to also acknowledge his faithful side kick during the pandemic, Fr. Kevin Mues. Together they were a dynamic duo and I am forever grateful.
Msgr. Long, you will be greatly missed. Fr. Duncan, your time here was short lived, but you will be missed as well. May God bless you both with much love, acceptance, joy, and fun because, after all, priests need to have fun too!
