About Roy

I am God’s beloved son. This is the hardest thing I do. Everything else is easy compared to remembering this fundamental spiritual reality.

I am Mindi’s husband. I am Max and Benjamin’s dad. And for a few unlucky souls, I try to be a good friend. I am a member of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church parish in Broussard, LA.

That’s the important stuff. Now for the details…

I earned my Masters in Counseling from the University of Louisiana, Lafayette and am a proud alumnus of St. Joseph Seminary College in Covington, LA. For two years I was a resident alien in Rome, Italy studying ministry and spirituality at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Upon returning from Italy I began teaching and ministering at St. Thomas More Catholic High School. While there I served as Grass Cutter, Religion Teacher and Director of Campus Ministries. I grew in humility on most Saturday mornings while getting trounced in tennis by my principal. I was accompanied by some amazing friends who loved kids and were as relentless as me in attempting to reach them in the most effective way possible.

Today I am privileged to serve as a counselor and administrator at St. Cecilia School in Broussard, LA and as Counselor Intern at Pax Renewal Center in Lafayette, LA. My counseling ministry draws upon my own experience of the therapeutic process. Click here to read more about counseling services.

While my wife was pregnant for our first son Max, I sat down and started putting into words what our STM Campus Ministry team had learned and implemented–the good, the bad and the ugly. I bravely emailed that to St. Mary’s Press and subsequently joined three other campus ministers from around the US to co-author A Practical Guide to High School Campus Ministry (St. Mary’s Press, 2007). Not too long after that I began writing What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About the First Five Years of Marriage (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2010).

The first thing I ever wrote was a few spec columns for our local Catholic newspaper, The Acadiana Catholic. That has become an internationally syndicated column, called Our Young Church. This is my favorite piece to write. When I write this column I think of all those who are “in the trenches” with kids–the parents, the ministers, lay and clerical/religious, the volunteers and the educators who struggle day in and day out to help kids know the Lord. I hope it helps inform, inspire and encourage them. I also write a weekly reflection on the upcoming Sunday’s Gospel entitled “The Broom Tree.”

Over the years my love of speaking has grown into a passion to help facilitate experiences for people to enter sacred space and encounter the Lord. I’ve been privileged to do this in Churches, Schools, Conferences and Dioceses around the country.