Staff Members
Reverend Kenneth Smith, Pastor
As a child growing up in Natchitoches, Louisiana, I wasn’t very athletically inclined, so my kitchen at home became my comfort zone, the place where I learned how to cook and bake from an early age.
I graduated from Delgado Community College’s Culinary Arts Program, ultimately rising to the position of executive chef at the Upperline Restaurant in New Orleans. I even had the thrill of having my recipes featured several times in the New York Times.
But in 2010 at age 49, at the “the top of my game” professionally, I gave up my career as a chef to study for the priesthood at Notre Dame Seminary.
I had felt a tug toward the priesthood since the fifth grade, but had ignored it. When I was well into my 40s, I still felt drawn to the idea of becoming a priest, but I assumed it was too late for me to consider this vocation.
This mindset began to change when one of my customers at the Upperline gave me a prayer card listing a meditation written by St. Ignatius Loyola. The prayer read, in part:
"Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess you have given me. I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will.”
The person who gave me the prayer card was none other than Archbishop Gregory Aymond.
When I first read the prayer, I thought, “This is too hard to even say, because it’s asking me to let everything go!” I told myself, “No! I’ve worked too hard for this stuff!”
But I took the prayer card and tucked it into my Bible.
Around the same time, I started attending daily Mass at Mater Dolorosa Church and found myself riveted by the Masses celebrated by Father Francis Ferrié. I began sitting in the front pew and soon realized that the “surrender” prayer that Archbishop Aymond had offered me was getting easier and easier to say!
The next time I saw the archbishop at the restaurant, I marched right up to his table, shook his hand and asked him, “What’s the process to become a priest?” He answered, “Talk to the bishop.”
Of course, I was talking to the bishop – and the rest is history!
(Read the full story at the Clarion Herald)
I graduated from Delgado Community College’s Culinary Arts Program, ultimately rising to the position of executive chef at the Upperline Restaurant in New Orleans. I even had the thrill of having my recipes featured several times in the New York Times.
But in 2010 at age 49, at the “the top of my game” professionally, I gave up my career as a chef to study for the priesthood at Notre Dame Seminary.
I had felt a tug toward the priesthood since the fifth grade, but had ignored it. When I was well into my 40s, I still felt drawn to the idea of becoming a priest, but I assumed it was too late for me to consider this vocation.
This mindset began to change when one of my customers at the Upperline gave me a prayer card listing a meditation written by St. Ignatius Loyola. The prayer read, in part:
"Take, O Lord, and receive my entire liberty, my memory, my understanding and my whole will. All that I am and all that I possess you have given me. I surrender it all to you to be disposed of according to your will.”
The person who gave me the prayer card was none other than Archbishop Gregory Aymond.
When I first read the prayer, I thought, “This is too hard to even say, because it’s asking me to let everything go!” I told myself, “No! I’ve worked too hard for this stuff!”
But I took the prayer card and tucked it into my Bible.
Around the same time, I started attending daily Mass at Mater Dolorosa Church and found myself riveted by the Masses celebrated by Father Francis Ferrié. I began sitting in the front pew and soon realized that the “surrender” prayer that Archbishop Aymond had offered me was getting easier and easier to say!
The next time I saw the archbishop at the restaurant, I marched right up to his table, shook his hand and asked him, “What’s the process to become a priest?” He answered, “Talk to the bishop.”
Of course, I was talking to the bishop – and the rest is history!
(Read the full story at the Clarion Herald)
Craig Taffaro, Deacon
Craig P. Taffaro Jr. of Meraux has been married to his wife Debbie for 32 years. They have nine children – Meghan, Craig, Emma, Grace, Paolo, Mollie, Luca, Antonio and Rocco – and three grandchildren. Craig attended Holy Cross High School in New Orleans, completed his undergraduate degree at University of Southwestern Louisiana and completed his graduate studies at the University of Southern Mississippi in counseling psychology. Craig was ordained as a deacon on June 23rd. 2018
“What has been most revealing to me in my formation is that God has not called me to be successful on my terms but to succeed in his terms,” Taffaro said.
“What has been most revealing to me in my formation is that God has not called me to be successful on my terms but to succeed in his terms,” Taffaro said.
Georganna Alphonso,
Parish Secretary
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Terri Dunn,
Parish Receptionist
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Debbie Taffaro,
Director of Religious Education
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