The people of Dulac, near New Orleans, in the USA saw Fr. Antonio Maria Speedy put on a life jacket, on a pirogue — the regional version of a canoe — with a sign that read, “Dulac, come back to Mass!” He rang a bell as he passed by the fishing boats. The 42-year-old friar said his plan to boost church attendance is slowly but surely paying off.
“This had to be a sign,” Speedy said. “So I while I was praying vespers, I saw that the first sentence was ‘The Lord’s voice resounding over the waters.’ So I figured this very well could be God’s will.”
“We’ve been looking at different ways to evangelize this diocese,” the Australian native said. “One time we did a walking procession over the Intracoastal Canal Waterway bridge from St. Francis de Sales.
We also did a Eucharistic procession up Bayou Lafourche in October.”
Speedy, who was ordained as a priest in 2014, is a member of the Poor Friars, a 34-member religious order under the Catholic Church.
The Poor Friars originated in Italy and established a community in Houma in 2012. Since members take a vow of poverty, the friars don’t have any money and often hitchhike to get around town.
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