Ministerial year was a great blessing

    I knew that May 19, 2012, would be a day that would forever change my life, but I never could have imagined what this year would bring. The ministerial year began with me witnessing the marriage of my mother and stepfather and being introduced to the people of God at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Belle Chasse. Growing up, I never could have imagined standing before my mother and receiving her vows. What a blessing it was and a great honor to begin living out the ministerial life by ministering to my own mother.

    I also must admit that I never would have dreamed of being assigned in a pastoral role at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Once I arrived in the parish and began meeting the staff, parishioners and students of the school, I really began to fall in love. My time at OLPH was spent learning many things about ministry and about what it means to be a servant to the people of the parish.
    After being at OLPH for one week with Father Billy O’Riordan, he left on his scheduled vacation to Ireland. This was the time that I was able to really learn about priestly ministry in a parish. There was one night in particular where at 1 a.m. the phone rang and it was a call for anointing of the sick. Since Father Billy was out of the country and it was so late, I knew it would be hard to get a priest to come down. I offered to the family to go to the house and pray with them and just be a comforting presence. I offered the prayers for the dying at the gentleman’s bedside and spent the next two hours getting to know about him and his wife. It was a moment of sacrifice and love. I had to get up early the next morning for a meeting, but I knew the family needed the support and wanted a pastoral presence.
    This was just one of the many lessons I got to learn at OLPH. There were also many wonderful hours spent teaching RCIA and adult education classes, time spent with the CYO kids and in the classrooms of the school. All these were opportunities to see the varied ways that priests are called to love and be with the people they serve.
    There was one group in particular that I grew very close to because of their support of me during the internship. Each deacon intern selects a group of lay parishioners who serve as an advisory committee to offer feedback to the deacon on the ways he can continue to grow and to affirm the positive work they observe. My lay support committee and I met every other week, and by the end of the internship we had developed a little family. They truly helped me to grow into my role as a pastoral minister, as a deacon, as another Christ.
    In the five months that I spent in the parish there was never a day that I woke dreading what was going to happen. It is also true that there was never two days in a row that were the same. Each day was an opportunity to experience something new, an opportunity to see God work through me in a different way.

BIOGRAPHY
Age: 27
Birthplace: Melbourne, Fla.
Home Parish: Our Lady Star of the Sea
Parents: Mr. and Mrs. Donnie Lancelin Sr. and the late Laurence M. Green
Education: St. Philip the Apostle, Holy Ghost and St. Peter Claver; St. Augustine High School (2003); Loyola University New Orleans, B.A. in political science; entered Notre Dame Seminary in 2007.
Favorite Food: I love Gulf shrimp and scallops.
Tell us something people don’t know about you: Well, I wasn’t born in New Orleans, but I came here at 3 months of age.
Favorite Saint: I have a great devotion to the Venerable Henriette Delille, since I was educated by the Sisters of the Holy Family.
Favorite Book: “From Slave to Priest: A Biography of the Reverend Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), First Black American Priest of the United States”
Hobbies: Spending time with my family and friends.  I also enjoy cooking/grilling.
Summer Internships: St. Andrew the Apostle (2008), St. Matthew the Apostle (2009), St. Peter Claver (2010) and a hospital chaplaincy in Houston (2011).
Diaconate Internship: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Belle Chasse.
First Mass: June 2, 2 p.m., Our Lady Star of the Sea, New Orleans; June 9, 8 a.m., St. Raymond/St. Leo, New Orleans; June 15-16, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Belle Chasse, all Masses; June 23, 11:30 a.m., St. Peter Claver, New Orleans
First Priestly Assignment: The Visitation of Our Lady, Marrero, July 1.