Father Roussel Living Out ‘God’s Plan’

Father Danny Roussel found himself at a crossroad, a brief pause at the intersection of the future and the past, with the present only offering a detour.

His job with a national beverage company had fizzled when it closed its local plant, requiring him either to make a long distance move or accept a buyout.

A native of Vacherie, Father Roussel, who had been active in Our Lady of Peace Church for most of his life, elected to accept the buyout and spend the next year discerning his future, praying about what he was perceiving as God’s call to the priesthood.

He began attending daily Mass and “stepping up” his volunteer ministry. As he became further immersed in church life, he became more open to answering the call to priesthood “at that specific moment in time, (but) I’m sure he was calling me before.

“It was God’s plan the whole time.”

On May 22, a journey that endured one extra year was completed, as Father Roussel knelt before Bishop Michael G. Duca in St. George Church in Baton Rouge receiving the sacrament of holy orders.

“I am super excited; it’s unbelievable,” he said in the days leading up to his ordination. “This is more meaningful to me because I feel totally prepared for it right now.”

Father Roussel, who has been assigned as parochial vicar at St. Aloysius Church in Baton Rouge, said he is eager to helping people deepen their relationship with God. He said some people view God as someone “checking off what you do right, checking off what you do wrong,” causing some to turn away from God and the church.

“I hope to be a priest that bridges the gap, showing them who God really is and how we can receive him in the Catholic Church through the sacraments and how that builds us up physically and spiritually.”

He hopes to be a priest whose life is an example of his devotion to the Lord, and a life that also expresses his hope and joy. Father Roussel, who celebrated his first Mass at Our Lady of Peace only hours after his ordination, said even with all of the turmoil in modern times, “you can’t lose hope. We have to hope for tomorrow.”

“Of course our eternal joy is going to be in heaven but we can’t live our lives like our time on earth is nothing,” he added. “Jesus gave us the great commission to go out (and evangelize). And he doesn’t just give that to priests. He gives that to all of the us. 

“I have my special role to do but so do other people.”

Father Roussel said he also wants to be a priest that parishioners find “totally, totally” approachable. He said he wants parishioners to respect his office but he also wants them to understand that he also sees the dignity in their calling.

Father Roussel noted that as the church struggles with a shortage of priests, there “is no way a priest can do everything. You need the collaboration of the people.

“Let me do the things that only I can do as a priest but we need the lay faithful to step up as well because of this great commission that we have to do our part of bringing heaven to earth. 

“There is no way physically we can do it alone in 2020.”

Father Roussel  served his diaconate internship at St. Jean Vianney in Baton Rouge in 2019, where he praised pastor Father Tom Ranzino as being a wonderful mentor.

For the past 10 months he was assigned to St. Mary’s of False River Church in New Roads in a role that was not officially a parochial vicar but did serve as an introduction into parish life. He said the coronavirus pandemic created its own set of challenges, including celebrating several funerals, but through it all he “felt like a parochial vicar.  I felt like a priest.”

“The people of St. Mary’s were awesome to me,” he said. “They stirred up my vocation and they brought me back to life.”

Father Roussel said his previous assignments have all helped him to prepare to serve with pastor Father Randy Cuevas at St. Aloysius. He’ll also be surrounded by familiar faces, because in previous years St. Aloysius would attend a mission trip in Vacherie, which Father Roussel helped organize.

“It’s going to be an even bigger step but I know I can handle it and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said. “I’m excited to be working with Father Randy.”

As his own ministry develops Father Roussel said he wants to do what Jesus commands, to be loving and open.

“What the Holy Spirits wants me to do, being open to that,” said Father Roussel, who said he was baptized in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal movement in December 2020. “That is what is so beautiful about my first Mass being celebrated on Pentecost.”