MONROE — As a child, Deacon Louis Lapeyre expected to become an Air Force pilot like Tom Cruise in “Top Gun.”

But as a teenager, he began to grow closer to God through his activities at his parish, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Grotto), including singing in the choir.

“And when you grow closer to God, he tells you things,” said Deacon Lapeyre, who will be ordained to the priesthood on Oct. 19. “He said, ‘why don’t you become a priest?’”

“It became this invitation, this desire that didn’t go away, that I felt I had to pursue,” he said.

Deacon Lapeyre was born in New Orleans but grew up in Royal Oak, and participated in the Civil Air Patrol as a teenager, where he learned a lot about the need for personal discipline and self-knowledge.

He realizes now that it was not training him for the rigorous lifestyle of the Air Force, but rather for the equally rigorous lifestyle of the Catholic priesthood.

“I was always thinking about what I could do for others, for the people around me,” he said. “It really dawned on me that this was connected with my faith. That’s something that came to me in prayer. I realized, ‘why not become a priest?’”

Deacon Lapeyre comes from a long line of French Catholics, with several of them belonging to religious life: “It goes all the way back to the original French settlers,” he said.

More recently, he had a great-aunt who was a religious sister with the Society of the Sacred Heart, and a late great-uncle who was a Jesuit. Additionally, his mother, Ruth Lapeyre, teaches at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.

He said it can be hard for families when their son discerns a call to the priesthood, but the reasons vary according to the person.

“They might say ‘I know this person, he’s not that holy; he might not make it.’ Or, ‘I don’t know how to support that,’” explained Deacon Lapeyre, admitting it can be somewhat overwhelming. “They know you, they know everything about you.”

But at the same time, he said the best witness a man who’s becoming a priest can offer is in his humility, “in our care for others, and regarding others as individuals all working toward the kingdom.”

A large part of Deacon Lapeyre’s work toward the kingdom includes his six months serving as transitional deacon at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Monroe, where he will also be ordained.

“I am learning as much as I can under Fr. David (Burgard) since the priesthood is a big step!” he said.

Deacon Lapeyre’s daily assignments include assisting at Mass, performing baptisms and funeral services, visiting the sick and bringing Holy Communion to the homebound. He has also done some substitute teaching for CCD classes.

It’s a busy schedule, but he says he was thoroughly prepared for this commitment during his time in the seminary.

Attending St. John Vianney Seminary at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota for his undergraduate degree, and transitioning to Sacred Heart Major Seminary for later formation, he found himself growing immensely in humility, courage, independence and fortitude.

“When you say ‘yes’ to God you always get more,” Deacon Lapeyre said. “God calls us to be perfect like Him. But when you fall short, you rely on your trust in the Lord.”

In the seminary he learned “that no one can be perfect. A priest is not his own — you don’t have to set a standard, since it’s already been set. You have to live up to that one standard which is Christ.”

With merely a few weeks before he enters the priesthood, Deacon Lapeyre says he will continue to strive toward that standard.

“The world today needs priests because the world today needs Jesus,” he said. “The priest stands in the person of Christ in Mass, in confession, in delivering all the sacraments.”

“The priest is kind of like the person who figures out the way to open a door a bit wider, to let more people in. The doorway is very narrow for us if we don’t see God’s caretakers — the hands of the priests — open up the door wider for us.”

Attend the ordination
What: Priestly ordination of Deacon Louis Lapeyre
Where: St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Parish, 127 N. Monroe St., Monroe
When: 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19