Bishop Fabre Celebrates 30 Years As Priest

What a joy!   Looking back at 30 years of priesthood


On Aug. 5, 2019, I will celebrate my 30th anniversary of ordination as a priest. How quickly time flies!!!! On Saturday, Aug. 5, 1989, I was ordained at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge by Bishop Stanley Ott. I was ordained with Father Nicholas John “Jack” Nutter III. Ordinations usually took place in May or June, but since my academic year while studying at the American College of Leuven in Belgium did not conclude until the middle of June, and since I also had to move home from Belgium at the completion of my formation and academic studies that year, our ordination did not take place until early August.

Bishop Ott offered to ordain Father Jack in May or June so that he would not have to wait for me, but Father Jack opted to wait until I returned home so that we could be ordained together. I was touched by Father Jack’s patience and generosity, and remain grateful to him to this day for his kindness. Father Jack Nutter is older than I am, and is now a retired priest in the Diocese of Baton Rouge. I wish him all God’s blessings as he celebrates 30 years of priestly ordination as well!

I can remember as a young priest celebrating such anniversaries with priests who had long served the Lord and the church, and I wondered what it would be like when I would celebrate such a significant anniversary of ordination. Well, here I am, and I would simply like in the limited space of this article to share a few thoughts at this point in my life as a priest.

First, priesthood is a wonderful life!! I have always been fulfilled as a priest, and joy has been by far the largest experience in my years of priesthood. I do not deny that there have been times of challenge, suffering and adversity. However, even in the difficult times I still experienced fulfillment in my priesthood. I have never looked upon my life as a priest from the perspective of what I do not have in life, but only from the perspective of the grace and blessing that priesthood has been to me. 

When I pause as a priest to count my blessings, the list is very long. In my priesthood, I have always been fulfilled, I have known great joy, and I am thankful to God and the church for the gift of my vocation to be a priest. 

Second, I have in the past and continue now to stand in awe of the faith of the people of God! There were so many times in my priesthood when religious or laity exhibited faith that was far deeper and stronger than my own. I continue to be humbled by the faith of people whom I am blessed to encounter in life, and to serve as a priest and bishop. There have been countless times in my life as a priest when I was called upon as a priest to lead people in prayer, worship or service, and while I was blessed and happy to do so, I was nonetheless humbled because the faith of those I was leading seemed far deeper and stronger than my own. In such instances, I was and am called to deeper faith because of the people who I was blessed to serve.

Third, I am so grateful for the support of those whom I have been blessed to serve as a priest for 30 years. I am grateful for the many parishioners and others who have supported me throughout my priesthood. Serving as a priest in a parish is a unique grace and blessing, and I am grateful for the years I was blessed to serve as a parish priest, and miss this experience still today. While serving as a bishop has its own grace, blessings and peace, there is nothing that compares to serving as a parish priest. It is a joy to encounter today those whom I served as a parish priest in the past. It is wonderful to meet couples whose marriage vows I witnessed, or those whom I baptized, or gave their first Communion, or mourned with at the time of the death of a loved one, or was blessed to serve in so many others ways. I recently met a woman whose wedding I celebrated 25 years ago, and it was a joy to visit with her for a moment to simply remember. She shared with me that she and her husband have three children who are in high school and college. What a grace to encounter her!

Fourth, I have not come this far by faith, nor will I continue to grow in faith in the future, without the assistance of others. The prayerful and practical support of so many people have enabled me to reach this point in my service to the Lord, and I stand on the shoulders of those who have helped me throughout these years in ministry in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Houma-Thibodaux. I can only hope that I have given to others the support that has been given to me. I am blessed to have longtime friends who are priests, religious and lay faithful. They have enriched my life and made me the priest and bishop that I am today. Even though we may live at some distance from one another, the ties that bind us enable us to renew our friendship often by way of phone calls or occasional visits. I am grateful to so many who have made me the priest that I am today.

There are so many other things that I could share, but the final one will be that God has always been faithful. When I have trusted God, things that seemed overwhelming have always worked out in a manner that surprised and astounded me. As I promise my ongoing prayers for you, I ask your prayers for me at this joy-filled time of my 30th anniversary in service as a priest. To God be the glory!


This article appears in the July 2019 edition of the Bayou Catholic, Page 8.