Deacon Andrew Sanchez: God’s interior warmth

► Age: 35

► First assignment: St. Francis Xavier, Metairie

► First Mass: June 6, 11 a.m., St. Luke the Evangelist, Slidell

► Mass of Thanksgiving: June 20, 10:15 a.m., St. Margaret Mary, Slidell

By Peter Finney Jr.
Clarion Herald

Four thousand miles away from home – as a newly minted Army dentist at Ft. Wainwright in Fairbanks, Alaska, where in January the sun barely creeps above the horizon for less than four hours a day and temperatures plunge to minus-40 degrees Fahrenheit – Chalmette-born Deacon Andrew Sanchez says he found the light of Christ.

It was so cold during his initial encounter with Alaskan winter that the 2003 Brother Martin graduate, who had become an accomplished triathlete (swimming, biking and running) during his undergraduate days at LSU, had to concede temporary defeat.

“I tried to sneak out on my lunch break to squeeze in a run just to be outside, but you can only do so much when it’s 40 below,” Deacon Sanchez said.

It wasn’t the cold that got to Deacon Sanchez as much as the lack of light.

“That really affected me, so it was a struggle,” he said. “I think being away from home made me take ownership of my faith for the first time. I had to say, ‘OK, do I want to practice this because it’s just something I’ve done all along? What’s this mean?’ That awakened in me a desire for something more than I had practiced my faith in the past, something more than just going through the motions.

“Being 4,000 miles away from home forced me to assess my relationship with Christ and his church. And, as a result, I grew closer to our Lord and lived my life more fully according to Catholic teaching than at any other time in my life.”

Although he met a “beautiful, loving and caring young lady” and was discerning  marriage and family life, “it slowly became evident to me that God was instead calling me to seminary to discern more thoroughly a life dedicated to him as a priest,” he said.

At Fort Wainwright, he met a priest who would change his life, Father James Peak, a priest of the Diocese of Spokane, Washington, and a chaplain for the Archdiocese of Military Services. Father Peak will vest Deacon Sanchez in his priest’s chasuble at his June 5 ordination Mass at St. Louis Cathedral.

“He gave a homily geared toward vocations one day when I was at a point in my life when I was discerning marriage, but kind of fruitlessly,” Deacon Sanchez said. “It didn’t seem like God was really calling me to that marriage or any marriage. I shared that with him. I think I really identify with his personality. He’s a bit more reserved but also a very caring individual who obviously cared for his flock and desired to bring them to Christ.”

Deacon Sanchez says he is most looking forward to “bringing Christ into the everyday lives of the people of God.”

“I want to bring his love and mercy and joy to life in a new way in their lives,” he said. “Also, I am looking forward to celebrating the sacraments.”

He feels his preaching as a transitional deacon “started off rocky,” but he has learned “to have that balance of having a text but not being glued to the text. I do feel like I grew a lot.”