NATIONAL CATHOLIC SCHOOLS WEEK: JAN. 25-31
By Pamela Seal
Diocese of Lake Charles
There is something extra special about a Catholic education that provides good soil for vocations to take root. A vocation wall in the campus chapel of St. Louis Catholic High School celebrates alumni who heard God’s call and offered their lives in service as priests, deacons, and religious.
Schools in the Diocese of Lake Charles will have the opportunity to celebrate vocations and much more during National Catholic Schools Week scheduled Sunday, January 25, to Saturday, January 31. The theme is “United in Faith and Community.”
Catholic schools in the Diocese are St. Louis Catholic High School, Immaculate Conception Cathedral School, St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic School, and Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic School, all in Lake Charles; Our Lady’s Catholic School in Sulphur; and Our Lady Immaculate Catholic School in Jennings.
Several graduates of St. Louis who answered God’s call to the priesthood reflect on the importance of Catholic education in their own lives.
Very Rev. Ruben J. Buller
Ordained on May 10, 2008
St. Louis Catholic High School (1996-2000)
St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic School (1993-1996)
Father Buller is Pastor of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception while serving as Rector of St. Louis and Chaplain at Immaculate Conception Cathedral School.
“The call that I experienced to the priesthood was nurtured in Catholic schools because of the fact that the schools offered an atmosphere to see the various calls of the Church and how one might be called to serve,” said Father Buller. “For that reason, when I first thought of becoming a priest, it was not a strange thing or ‘weird’ reaction. Since the atmosphere was Catholic already, it was normal to be able to think and pray about this lifestyle.”
In his role as Rector of St. Louis, he points out a unique feature is the campus chapel that offers a place for students, teachers, and staff to encounter Christ in the Eucharist.
“It is before the Eucharist that a person will hear the Voice of God which often seems like silence to us. There, one can hear how God is calling a person,” Buller remarked, also emphasizing the presence of priests on campus as an important aspect.
“At Saint Louis, Father Michael Caraway (Director of Vocations) is on campus almost daily, and Father Whitney Miller often stops by as well and goes to many sporting events there,” he said. “I make it a point to spend at least one morning at ICCS as well each week because the priestly and religious presence will then be part of that atmosphere that makes Catholicism the way of life in our Catholic Schools.”
Looking at the wall where vocations to the priesthood and religious life are acknowledged, Father Buller said, “It is heartening to see the number of priests and sisters who have decided to serve the Church in this regard. It is also heartening to see teachers return to teach at St. Louis and ICCS who are in good Catholic marriages and promote listening to God's Voice in this matter as well.”
Father Buller noted that the current atmosphere at Saint Louis and ICCS are such that students often speak about the sense of a need to serve the Church. It is natural and good that they look at the priesthood and religious life.
“Overall, Catholic schools must be about preparing people for heaven with God,” he remarked. “Asking the bigger questions about how one might live one’s life is vital. It is why the Church exists and why she founded and promotes Catholic education!”
Rev. Trey Ange
Ordained on June 3, 2017
St. Louis Catholic High School (1998-2002)
St. Margaret of Scotland Catholic School (1997-1998)
Father Ange, Pastor of St. Henry Catholic Church, said that his Catholic education helped form the roots into his Catholic faith that grounded him into the rich soil of Catholicism.
“It was here that the seeds of vocation were planted and did not bloom until much later in life,” he recalls. “In the structure and lessons of Catholic school, I remember being taught to be open to all vocations, not just married life.”
The beginning of those seeds being planted happened when three of Father Ange’s favorite school formators at St. Louis Catholic High School were ordained deacons (Deacon Vic Bonnaffee, Deacon Rick Hinchee, and Deacon Glenn Viau).
“I was very inspired and thought it was cool that all three men were ordained deacons at the same time,” said Father Ange. “My grandfather (Deacon Julius Garrett Caraway Jr.) was a deacon. At that point, I really thought about being a deacon, but I pushed away any thoughts of the priesthood because I liked girls way too much. (We all know how my story ends up though!)
In his theology class at St. Louis, Father Ange recalls a poster on the wall displaying the Golden Rule. He said that he was inspired by that poster to actually live the Golden Rule. “It made such a difference in how I saw life and other people.”
Rev. Michael Beverung
Ordained on May 22, 2021
St. Louis Catholic High School (2009-2013)
Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic School (1998-2009)
Father Beverung, who serves as Parochial Vicar at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, said that he was provided with more than an academic formation at both Our Lady Queen of Heaven and St. Louis Catholic High School.
“My Catholic education gave me a lived experience of faith that was integrated into everyday life. Prayer, the sacraments, and the witness of faithful teachers and clergy helped me see that following Christ was not just something reserved for Sundays but a daily way of life,” said Father Beverung. “Over time, that consistent exposure to the Gospel being lived out and to the life of the Church helped me recognize that God was inviting me to serve Him and His people in a deeper way, ultimately leading me to discern a call to the priesthood.”
Father Beverung said that he will be forever grateful to his parents for giving him the gift of his Catholic education.
“Catholic school gave me the space and support to begin asking those deeper questions about my future and how God might be calling me to serve,” he said, noting that his vocation was nurtured through encouragement, example, and an environment where faith questions were taken seriously.
“Having access to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, and being surrounded by adults who took their own faith seriously made it easier to imagine giving my life to the Church,” he remarked. “Teachers and mentors helped me understand that discerning God’s will is a process that involves prayer, trust, and generosity.”
A priest for nearly five years now, Father Beverung said that the environment at St. Louis fostered both spiritual growth and personal responsibility.
“Faith was not treated as an add-on but as a foundation that shaped the school’s culture, relationships, and expectations. Opportunities for prayer, service, and leadership encouraged me to reflect on how God was working in my life,” he explained. “Being in a community that valued discipline, service, and faith made it easier to listen for God’s voice and to take the idea of a priestly vocation seriously rather than dismissing it as unrealistic or out of reach.”
Rev. Andrew DeRouen
Ordained on June 27, 2020
St. Louis Catholic High School (2007-2011)
Immaculate Conception Cathedral School (1997-2007)
Father Andrew DeRouen admits that the most important factor of his Catholic education was that his parents were fully invested in it from the beginning.
"I would come home after school and talk about the topics I was learning; we went to Mass together as a family every Sunday,” he recalls. “The classroom was where ideas were introduced, but the dinner table and the parish were where those ideas were enfleshed, guided, and encouraged. In other words, Catholic education didn’t exist in a vacuum for me. Priesthood was not some far off, outlandish idea because I saw its effects in all the other aspects of life outside of school. I have my parents to thank for that.”
Currently a student at Catholic University of America pursuing Canon Law Studies, Father DeRouen said that he “deeply benefited” from curricula and teachers who adhered to what St. John Henry Newman envisioned in his work, The Idea of a University, namely, that faith is never contrary to reason, and that theology is part of the collective knowledge of human history and should not be withheld from the student seeking truth.
“Years of this freedom of being able to pursue my curiosity of God, as well as the frequent involvement of several diocesan priests on campus, proved instrumental in my later discernment of the priesthood,” he expressed.
From the time Father DeRouen was a student at St. Louis Catholic High School to the time he served as the campus chaplain, he said it has been beautiful to see the school grow “tremendously” in its Catholic identity.
“I look back on how Providential it was to be curious about studying Latin. It was the beginning of a linguistic revolution that would light my path through college, seminary, even twenty years later as I’ve returned to study canon law,” he reflected. “If anyone reading this comes across Ms. Laura Monk or Mr. Derrick Suarez, please tell them how grateful I am to have been challenged by their teaching. What an invaluable tool to give a young student, that he might unlock the treasures of the Church and communicate the Love of Christ — ever ancient, ever new — to the souls around him!”
SPECIAL NOTE: To highlight Catholic Schools Week, Bishop Glen John Provost will be the celebrant for a school Mass for St. Louis Catholic High School seniors along with eighth graders at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, January 28, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
