Three men to be ordained priests

Three men are set to be ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux this year. The Rev. Mr. Davis Ahimbisibwe will be ordained to the priesthood June 24, at 11 a.m., at Our Lady of Good Shepherd Cathedral, Rushoroza Parish, Kabale diocese, Uganda. The Rev. Mr. Joseph Lapeyrouse and the Rev. Mr. Matthew Prosperie will be ordained to the priesthood July 15, at 10:30 a.m., at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux.

Rev. Mr. Davis Ahimbisibwe is a 33-year-old native of the Kabale, Uganda. He is the son of Rwamahe John Keith and Ayebazibwe Fulgensia and has three sisters.

Rev. Mr. Ahimbisibwe graduated from St. Paul’s Seminary in Kabale in 2006 and Uganda Martyrs Secondary School Namugongo in 2008. He earned a bachelor’s in medicine and surgery (MBchB) from Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda in 2014. He worked for three years as a general practitioner before joining the seminary. 

Rev. Mr. Ahimbisibwe entered Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans in 2017. There, he earned a bachelor’s of philosophy in 2019 and a master’s of divinity in 2023.

Since becoming a transitional deacon last June, Rev. Mr. Ahimbisibwe has been involved in youth faith formation, homebound ministry and hospital ministry at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral parish in Thibodaux from July to October 2022.

He preached and proclaimed the Gospel and assisted at Mass and celebrated baptisms at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, visited homes and performed house blessings, assisted students at St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in their religious education; brought holy Communion to the sick and homebound, and visited the sick and brought holy Communion to patients at Thibodaux Regional Medical Center in Thibodaux.

When asked what he is most looking forward to about becoming a priest, Rev. Mr. Ahimbisibwe says, “Generally, to me, my vocation is just a falling in love with the person of Jesus Christ. I hope that everything I do as a priest may bring people into an encounter and a falling in love with the person of Christ. This is because it’s only an encounter with the love of Christ that can truly transform a person.” 

He says that he is “excited about his priestly ministry in the celebration of all the sacraments and ministry to the Word, but three areas stand out.”

Those areas are ministry of the Word, teaching and preaching; family ministry; and sacramental ministry, especially the Eucharist.
“St. Paul tells us in Romans 10:17 that, ‘Faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.’ Ministry of the word is dear to me because through it, the seed of faith is sown and nurtured. I am always captivated by the words of St. Paul: ‘Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel’ (1 Corinthians 9:16).”

“Of the ministries that are dear to my heart are marriage and family life. As the basic community of the baptized, what is celebrated in the church in mystery must become a lived reality within the family. Since it is Christ’s desire to be at the heart of each and every family, in my priestly ministry, I hope to walk with families and married persons so that they can live out their calling. 

Celebrating the sacraments is the way by which we encounter Christ par excellence. The sacraments offer us an opportunity to enter so deeply into the mystery of Christ so that we can become divinized. As a priest, I look forward to drawing many people to this fount of grace, especially the Eucharist in which the transformative love of God is extremely expressed.”

He will celebrate his first Mass of Thanksgiving at Nyakijumba, Rushoroza Parish, Kabale, on June 25, at 10 a.m.

He will also celebrate two Masses of Thanksgiving in Houma-Thibodaux. The first will be on July 15, at 4 p.m. at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux. The second will be on July 16, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Bridget Church in Schriever.

Rev. Mr. Joseph C. Lapeyrouse, of Houma, is the 26-year-old son of Chris and Robin Lapeyrouse. He has one older sister, Emma Dufrene.

Rev. Mr. Lapeyrouse is a 2015 graduate of Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma. He attended St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College, which is commonly referred to as St. Ben’s, from fall 2016 through the spring of 2019, when he graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and the liberal arts.

Since the fall of 2019 through this current spring semester of 2023, Rev. Mr. Lapeyrouse is completing his priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy. From the fall of 2019 through the spring of 2022, he studied theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where he completed a baccalaureate in sacred theology (STB) magna cum laude.

In his current and last year of formal formation at the Pontifical North American College, he is studying for a licentiate in Canon Law (JCL) at the Pontifical Gregorian University. This is the first of three years of the program that he plans to complete for the Diocese of Houma- Thibodaux as a priest in June 2025.

“Since I was ordained a deacon in Rome, I have not had the opportunity for ministry in the diocese. In Rome, I have been involved with ministries at the seminary and with helping in ministry with American college students enrolled in study abroad programs with colleges such as Ave Maria University.

“Engaging in ministry with these college students doing their time in Rome has provided me with the opportunity to help foster the faith in the students and with others as well as provide an opportunity to learn the church’s teachings at a deeper level in Rome.”
“I am most looking forward to walking with people in their faith and being able to teach the Gospel. While this will happen in the celebration of the sacraments, I am looking forward to those opportunities in which I can teach the faith and spread the Lord’s mercy in other daily encounters as well.

“There are moments every day when the Lord is trying to teach us something and let us know of his concern for us. I look forward to hopefully being able to be a messenger of the Lord in these moments and have him work through me to reach others.
“I am grateful for the support that I have received over the last seven years as a seminarian from people that I have met across the diocese.”

He will celebrate his first Mass of Thanksgiving at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Church in Houma at 6 p.m. on July 15.

Rev. Mr. Matthew Prosperie of Bourg is the 26-year-old son of Nick and Peggy Prosperie and has five siblings.  
    
Like the Rev. Mr. Lapeyrouse, he is a 2015 graduate of Vandebilt Catholic High in Houma. For four years he attended St. Joseph Seminary College and received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and the liberal arts. For the last four years he lived at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, while studying for three years at the Pontifical Gregorian University to complete his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology. He then attended the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, also in Rome, for a yet-incomplete licentiate in dogmatic theology.

Since his transitional deacon ordination, Rev. Mr. Prosperie has been involved in the following ministries: Sacrament of baptism; parish confirmation lessons; planning and carrying out the parish confirmation retreat; and weekend and weekday homilies in various places.

He is most looking forward to “sharing the faith in an enthusiastic way with all those I come across! That might be in the sacraments, on the streets, or wherever I happen to be.”

“Being so far away from the home that I know to study in Rome the past four years has been both a great gift and sacrifice.” He says it’s enriched him in a lot of ways, but he is looking forward to returning home.

He will celebrate his first Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Ann Church in Bourg, on Sunday, July 16, at 10 a.m.