Deacon Blount has ‘given’ himself to Jesus

During the laying of hands by Bishop Michael G. Duca, while laying prostrate on the altar at St. Joseph Cathedral in Baton Rouge as the Litany of Saints was being sung, Deacon Albert Blount knew that was the moment he was “all in” regarding his vocation.

“Until you are ordained, until hands are laid on you (by the bishop) there is no 100% guarantee things are going to happen,” said Deacon Blount, whose family moved to Houma when he was five years old, said. “There is still an opportunity for something to come up, for the Lord to change things. To be all in, the ordination has happened, there is no more question. No more flaking out on Jesus.”

Deacon Blount and Deacon Joseph Bresowar were ordained as transitional deacons, the final rite before priesthood ordination, May 28 at the cathedral. Deacon Blount and Deacon Bresowar are scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood in May 2023. 

Both deacons will spend the next four months away from the academic grind at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, shifting priorities to their diaconate assignments. For Deacon Blount, a self-admitted “people lover,” he relishes the opportunity to be out of the classroom and among parishioners at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs, where he will serve his internship. 

“You are not called to be in seminary but to be a priest,” he said. “What is the whole point of the classroom? To take (what one learns) and to give what I learned to everyone else; to serve and put all of the formation into practice.”

Deacon Blount said the purpose of the diaconate internship is twofold: gaining an understanding of the daily operations of a parish and also learn what it means to be a priest and how to be in ministry with the people.

“Seminary is a lot of academics, a lot of theory,” Deacon Blount said “My desire is to be home with the people. 

“And then I’ll learn everything necessary. The Lord will determine what needs to be learned.”

He said those lessons will be offered by ICC pastor Father Matthew Graham and parochial vicar Father Taylor, although there is the potential for high-level dinner conversations since all three clergy members studied engineering at LSU, with Deacon Blount and Father Sanford former classmates.

Administering the sacraments and helping people to understanding the spiritual impact and meaning of the sacrament is a challenge Deacon Blount embraces. 

“Until you are ordained, until hands are laid on you (by the bishop) there is no 100% guarantee things are going to happen.” 

Deacon Albert Blount

“What does it change in you, what does it mean, how does life now look different?” he explained. “How does (receiving the sacraments) affect their lives and their walk toward eternity. How does it help form them to be saints?”
Although living life as a celibate, Deacon Blount admitted he has a deep love of marriage and family life, so he is especially looking forward to helping couples understand the sacrament of marriage. He said what many couples do not understand is they are actually giving the vows to each other, and it is not the priest giving the vows.

Deacon Blount will be able to perform several sacramental duties of a priest, including marriage and funeral rites as well as well as assisting in RCIA classes. However, he cannot celebrate Mass or hear confessions.

“For me, to take the opportunity to live as a deacon and to live that well to serve the people and be with the people is exciting,” Deacon Blount said of his internship. “To some level it’s intimidating. I must preach in front of all of these people.”

Deacon Blount has taken a non-traditional route to the seminary, having converted to Catholicism 10 years ago. He admitted his sophomore year at LSU was “kind of a dark year,” figuring out “what was and what is the purpose of life. Life was kind of like all over the place.”

He said a campus minister at Christ the King Parish and Activity Center in Baton Rouge inspired him to initially discern about becoming Catholic. He said the joy and peace he found in the campus minister left him yearning for what she had found in her faith and in her life.

He initially rejected the idea of ordination but while on a silent retreat in 2015 in Connecticut Deacon Blount, during a moment of silence in eucharastic adoration, said he heard the Lord ask him. “Will you be a priest?”

“It was a simple yes,” he said. “I really believe the Lord is calling me to be his priest.”

Although his roots are planted in Houma, and he was living in the northeast at the time, Deacon Blount knows he was called  to return to Baton Rouge. So his first contact was with Father Josh Johnson, who became his spiritual father.

“(Father Johnson) told me ‘it’s about time,’ ” Deacon Blount said of that initial conversation. 

“This is it. My discernment is over,” he added. “I’ve given myself to Jesus.”