Father Dawson Sets Sail on Priesthood

Before assuming his first assignment as parochial vicar at St. George Church in Baton Rouge on July 1, Father David Dawson will take a sailing trip in Florida. An avid fisherman, his recreational time on the water speaks of his sailing into his vocation as a fisher of men.

Bishop Michael G. Duca ordained Father Dawson to the priesthood May 22 at St. George Church.

As Father Dawson was on a retreat before he graduated from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, it started to sink in that he was going to be a priest working in the Diocese of Baton Rouge, ministering to people’s needs and their souls.

Although considered a late in life vocation Father Dawson actually had a call to the priesthood as a youngster. During a “Come Lord Jesus” session when he was a sixth-grade student at St. Aloysius School in Baton Rouge, the students were asked to take turns around the table saying what they wanted to be. 

Father Dawson was going to say “priest” but when the class clown mockingly said a priest and drew laughter from the other children, Father Dawson instead said lawyer, because his dad was a lawyer. But the seed was planted.

Father Dawson went on to become a cardiovascular perfusionist, the person who keeps the heart going during by-pass surgery. As a priest he will still be involved with matters of the heart but now in a spiritual sense.

It was ultimately the call to help restore people to wholeness that led him as a parishioner at St. George to talk to then-deacon and now Father Cary Bani and then pastor Father Mike Schatzle.  They directed him to the Office of Vocations and Father Matt Lorrain, then director of vocations, helped him discern his call. He was ordained as a permanent deacon and assigned to St. George in 2013.

During his time as a deacon, Father Dawson said he had “been around the diocese.” He said the priests he has worked alongside were good, holy priests and were “fine models of what a priestly vocation looks like.”

He received support from them and the laity when “making the leap” to become a priest. 

One of his biggest supporters is his daughter Jacquelyn, who proclaimed the word at his Mass of thanksgiving on May 23 at Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Baton Rouge. Father Dawson served as a permanent deacon at Sacred Heart before entering to seminary. “She’s super excited,” said Father Dawson.

Going to seminary in 2018 in his mid-40s had challenges for Father Dawson but even more highlights. He developed mutually beneficial relationships with the other seminarians who on average were in their 20s and 30s.

“They came and talked to me about life issues. But they knew their stuff theologically,” said Father Dawson.

One of the biggest differences for Father Dawson between being a permanent deacon and now a priest is stepping into the role of being “shepherd of the flock.” 

“As a deacon I assisted the priest in his vision for the parish and how to help bring people closer to God.  Now as a priest, it will be my vision of how to bring people closer to God,” said Father Dawson. 

And he is humbled by the task.

“I hope to be a priest of the people. I want to be there for people, to be their pastor and friend,” he said.

So after setting sail in Florida, Father Dawson will begin his new vocation which has him feeling “immensely settled” and joyful at St. George.

“I will invest myself totally and utterly in my new assignment. This parish has a special place in my heart from my time there 15 years ago,” Father Dawson said.