Conform self to Christ

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

From being an altar server to graduating from The Catholic University of America in 2012 and studying for a year at St. Joseph Seminary in Washington, D.C., Deacon David Doyle’s parents always knew he would be a priest one day.

“It was something I wanted to do,” Deacon Doyle said, even though affirmation of his call took a while. Prayer and listening to God and others who encouraged him kept his journey focused on giving God his all while becoming who he was created to be.

“It took me a while to get to where I am, but I also know for me, it needed to take that long,” Deacon Doyle said, noting that everyone’s path is unique. “I needed to be ready, and for me, that was time.”

Deacon Doyle will be ordained June 3 as a priest of the Archdiocese of New Orleans priest. He will be vested by Father Timothy Wiggins, whom he knew at St. John the Evangelist Parish in New York. Father Wiggins also celebrated the Funeral Mass for both his parents.

“He’s the priest who first inspired me to love the liturgy in the way I do,” he said. “It’s the way he celebrates Mass and how he always wants the best for the church and sees that we need to be giving people the best we can because it’s all for God. … He’s the only one I would have wanted to do this.”

Seminary so fulfilling
Deacon Doyle said he entered the seminary with a set of expectations. After all, he witnessed the church from the inside as a sacristan and night receptionist at his home parish of St. John the Evangelist in White Plains, New York, and also at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in D.C.

“I learned that my own wishes and what I thought it was going to be was not what it was going to be at all,” he said. “Just seeing how much I have grown from when I started to now, and everything I’ve done makes me the best priest I can be, because the people and the parishes of the diocese deserve the best.”

In his four years of seminary, Deacon Doyle discovered a hidden strength in preaching.

“I didn’t think I would enjoy preaching, but I do,” he said. “I don’t think I’m any good at it, but people tell me I am. For me, my goals would be to bring people to Christ and bring God to them.”

Deacon Doyle said he’s also enjoyed the seminary’s pastoral work.

“There was nothing I didn’t like,” he said. “It was doing what God made me to do and was calling me to do. Not that every day was easy, but there hasn’t been a day when I’ve woken up and said, ‘I wish I were doing something else.’”

Deacon Doyle immersed himself in his diaconate internship at St. Clement of Rome in Metairie, thinking it was important to show everyone, especially the school children, that he was just a regular person.

“I was doing everything I could,” he said. “It’s not like priests, deacons and religious are people who don’t have their own issues or problems or do anything differently than anybody else. With the kids, being relatable to them was important and might help to inspire vocations.”

Next steps
Deacon Doyle said he is excited to be assigned as parochial vicar at St. Anselm in Madisonville and to serve with Msgr. Frank Giroir.
“I know Father Frank’s experience and love for the people will inspire me,” he said.

While he doesn’t have set duties, yet, Deacon Doyle hopes to be involved in St. Anselm Parish’s School of Religion, which has 600 children.

“I’d like to be part of it, but I want to be a part of everything,” he said.
He’s looking forward to the ordination Mass, especially the anointing of the hands and when Archbishop Gregory Aymond hands him his chalice and paten and says these words in prayer: “Receive the oblation of the holy people, to be offered to God. Understand what you do, imitate what you celebrate and conform your life to the mystery of the Lord’s Cross.”

Deacon Doyle’s ordination chalice is silver with scenes from the life of Christ. It is engraved in memory of his parents.

“We’re taking the bread and wine, but it is so much more than that,” he said.

Priests are giving their entire lives to Christ symbolically through the bread and wine and offering that to God.

“At the same time,” he said, “I’m conforming myself and my life in what I am celebrating as standing in the person of Christ and becoming more and more close to Christ.”

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