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Fr. Dought Named to USCCB Post
Bishop J. Douglas Deshotel of the Diocese of Lafayette announced today that Fr. Dustin P. Dought has been named by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Washington, DC as Associate Director of the Secretariat of Divine Worship.
Fr. Dought is a priest of the Diocese of Lafayette who currently serves as Pastor of St. Leo the Great Catholic Church in Lafayette, Director of the Diocese of Lafayette Office of Worship and Chaplain of Teurlings Catholic High School.
The Divine Worship Secretariat of the USCCB oversees liturgical celebrations of the bishops at national meetings, the preparation and publication of liturgical books used in Catholic Church parishes across the country, leadership in liturgical formation and sacramental catechesis, and serves as a resource for bishops and diocesan liturgical commissions and Offices of Worship seeking advice.
“I am very happy to announce that at the request of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Fr. Dustin Dought has been released for temporary service as Associate Director of the Secretariat of Divine Worship. This organ of the USCCB researches and advises the Bishops of the United States on all matters liturgical. Father Dought has done extensive studies in Liturgy and it is a great honor for him to serve the Conference in this capacity. As a Diocese, we are proud of Fr. Dought and wish him well in this new area of service to the Church.”
+Most Reverend J. Douglas Deshotel
Bishop of Lafayette
Fr. Dought holds a B.A. in Philosophy and Theological Studies from St. Joseph Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana, a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology and Liturgical Studies, also from Catholic University. Following his ordination as a priest in 2013, he served in various pastoral assignments in the Diocese of Lafayette, including as Parochial Vicar of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Eunice and the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church in Duralde before being appointed Pastor of St. Leo the Great Church in 2017.
Fr. Dought said “I am humbled to receive this invitation to serve the bishops of the United States and their respective dioceses. I look forward to supporting them in their mission of liturgical formation and celebration.”
The effective date of Fr. Dought’s new assignment in Washington, DC is February 8, 2021. He will serve for a period of three years. A new pastor for St. Leo the Great Church will be named in the near future. -
A Statement from Bishop Douglas Deshotel and the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops
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Catholic Charities of Acadiana Wins $5 Million Grant to End Homelessness
Catholic Charities of Acadiana, a faith-based social services organization based in the Diocese of Lafayette, announced today that it has been selected to receive a $5 million grant
from the Day 1 Families Fund.
Launched in 2018 by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, the Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families.
“We are sincerely thankful for this investment in our community, at this critical time when a growing number of families are facing homelessness in Acadiana as a result of COVID-19, Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta,” said Kim Boudreaux, CEO of Catholic Charities of Acadiana. “The current level of homelessness in Acadiana is the highest it’s been in our nearly 50 years of serving the community. Our goal is that homelessness is rare, brief and non-recurring. This grant will bolster our ability to compassionately respond to families in crisis.”
This one-time grant, awarded to organizations doing meaningful work to connect families with shelter and support, will allow Catholic Charities of Acadiana to invest in diversion services, working to reconnect families with their natural support systems and helping them avoid the traumatic experience of homelessness. Funds will also be used to redesign and expand the organization’s family homeless shelter to allow for private sleeping arrangements. They will also implement a rehousing program that transitions families experiencing homelessness into permanent housing.
Catholic Charities of Acadiana is one of 42 nonprofits across the U.S. to receive the third annual Day 1 Families Fund grants, as part of a continuing commitment by the Day 1 Families Fund to help end homelessness for families. The Day 1 Families Fund issued a total of $105.9 million in grants this year. To select these organizations, the fund worked with an advisory board of homelessness advocates and leaders whose expertise spans housing justice, racial equity, direct services, homelessness policy, equity for Native American communities and anti-poverty work.
This year, the grant recipients from around the country include: Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness; The Cathedral Center, Inc.; Catholic Charities of Acadiana; Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention; Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida; Community Action Council for Lexington-Fayette, Bourbon, Harrison and Nicholas Counties; Congreso de Latinos Unidos; Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio; Denver Indian Family Resource Center; East Los Angeles Women’s Center; East Oakland Community Project; Facing Forward to End Homelessness; Families Together; Family Life Center; Friendship Place; HELP of Southern Nevada; The Homeless Families Foundation; Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System; HOPE Atlanta; House of Ruth; Housing Matters; Housing Up; Kahumana; MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership, Inc.; Metro Denver Homeless Initiative; MUST Ministries; The National Center for Children and Families; Native American Youth and Family Center; North Carolina Coalition to End Homelessness; One80 Place; Poverello House; Rainbow Services; Refugee Women's Alliance; Safe Haven Family Shelter; Samaritan House; Solid Ground; St. Vincent de Paul CARES; Su Casa – Ending Domestic Violence; The Salvation Army Austin Area Command; Time for Change Foundation; United American Indian Involvement, Inc.; and WestCare California.
The Bezos Day One Fund was launched in 2018 with a commitment of $2 billion and a focus on two areas: funding existing nonprofits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, non-profit tier-one preschools in low-income communities. The Day 1 Families Fund issues annual leadership awards to organizations and civic groups doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate needs of young families. The vision statement comes from the inspiring Mary’s Place in Seattle: no child sleeps outside. For more information, visit
www.BezosDayOneFund.org/Day1FamiliesFund.
About Catholic Charities of Acadiana
Catholic Charities of Acadiana (CCA) cares for the sacred gift of all human life, especially the most vulnerable. CCA operates several programs that serve those who are currently experiencing homelessness, hunger and poverty in Acadiana. Since 1973, its programs have represented a response to the Gospel call to carry out the corporal works of mercy: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, offering hospitality to the homeless, caring for the sick, visiting the imprisoned and burying the dead. -
Diocese to Establish St. Andrew Dung-Lac Parish in Abbeville
For the first time in 40 years, the Diocese of Lafayette
will welcome a new Catholic church parish.
St. Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions Parish will be established under the patronage of a Vietnamese priest, martyr and saint who was brutally tortured and beheaded on December 21, 1839 for refusing to renounce his Catholic faith. In all 117 gave their lives for Christ; 96 were native Vietnamese: 37 priests and 59 lay people (some of whom were catechists). One was a lay woman and mother of 6 children. Twenty-one were European missionaries (including 6 bishops). The ancient adage that, “The blood of martyrs is the seedbed of the Church,” proved true once again as the persecution had the contrary effect of rousing even greater faith among thousands of Vietnamese Catholics who died for their faith over the past three centuries. The parishioners of the new parish follow devotedly in this same line of witnesses. The Vietnamese elders of this parish crossed 8,000 miles of ocean to our diocese as living seeds of faith. Together with their children and grandchildren they now join together to form a new parish family. St. Andrew Dung-Lac was beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1900 and canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988.
The 122nd parish of the Diocese of Lafayette will be formally established on Tuesday, November 24, 2020, the feast day of St. Andrew Dung-Lac. However, a larger weekend Mass celebrating the new parish will be held at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, November 22 at the Vietnamese Community Center in Abbeville, located on LaFitte Road off the Highway 14 bypass. Bishop Douglas Deshotel will celebrate the Mass, assisted by Fr. James Nguyen, the founding pastor of the new parish. Groundbreaking for construction of the new church is expected to begin in the near future. The church will be built adjacent to the current Vietnamese Community Center.
Bishop Deshotel said “St. Andrew Dung Lac will be established as a personal, non-territorial parish. A personal parish is established to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of a group in a Diocese. The Vietnamese community is a vibrant and growing ethnic group in Acadiana and their Catholic faith is intimately connected to the Vietnamese culture. It is a non-territorial parish, meaning that it will serve Vietnamese Catholics throughout the Diocese of Lafayette. St. Andrew Dung Lac and his companions were martyred because they would not renounce their Catholic faith in the midst of the worst kind of violence and intimidation. The saints inspire us to never give up, and to be enthusiastic about our faith even in the midst of challenging and difficult circumstances in our lives. I pray that by establishing this parish, Vietnamese in the Diocese of Lafayette will grow in their spiritual lives and be even greater witnesses to their Catholic faith in the Diocese of Lafayette.”Congratulations to Fr. Nguyen and parishioners
of the new St. Andrew Dung-Lac Church!
Photo courtesy of St. Paul Catholic Church, Westerville, Ohio -
"Year of St. Joseph" Begins in Diocese of Lafayette
The Diocese of Lafayette will kick off “The Year of St. Joseph” during a special Mass and celebration this weekend at St. Joseph Church in Patterson. Bishop Douglas Deshotel will celebrate the Mass, which begins at 9 a.m. on Sunday, August 16. The Mass will be live streamed on the Diocese of Lafayette YouTube channel.
On December 8, 1870, St. Joseph was declared patron of the Universal Church by Pope Pius X in his decree Quemadmodum Deus, and 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of that declaration.
Catholic Dioceses around the world are joining the celebration to honor a saint who played a pivotal role in the life of Christ, as Jesus’ earthly father, as the protector of the Holy Family and the loving, chaste spouse of the Holy Mother. “The Year of St. Joseph” in the Diocese of Lafayette will conclude on May 1, 2021, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker, with a closing Mass at St. Joseph Church in Milton. Throughout the year, Masses and parish missions will be held at all thirteen St. Joseph Churches in Acadiana. In addition to Patterson and Milton, St. Joseph Churches are located in Broussard, Cecilia, Centerville, Evangeline, Iota, Loreauville, Maurice, Parks, Plaisance, Rayne and Ville Platte. In the Year of St. Joseph, the Catholic faithful are encouraged to make pilgrimages to one or more of the St. Joseph Churches to receive a Plenary Indulgence granted by Pope Francis.
