Two seminarians for the Diocese of Lake Charles received their call to candidacy on June 11, 2025, the Feast of St. Barnabas, Apostle.
Bishop Glen John Provost accepted Cameron Fontenot and Michael DesOrmeaux to Candidacy for Holy Orders during the 12:05 p.m. Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
His Excellency remarked, “It is appropriate to have the reception to candidacy on the Feast of St. Barnabas, a great prophet, apostle, teacher. He is an important figure in the early Church and certainly has a great deal to say to us on this occasion.”
Serving as concelebrants were Very Rev. Ruben Buller, V.G., Pastor of the Cathedral; Rev. Michael Caraway, Director of Vocations; and Monsignor Jace Eskind, Pastor of St. Martin de Porres. Also assisting were Deacon Hunter LaRocca, Rev. Levi Thompson, and seminarians. Very Rev. Joseph Caraway served as Master of Ceremonies.
In the Admission to Candidacy rite, the candidate for ordination publicly expresses his intention to receive ordination as a Deacon and subsequently as a Priest.
The rite includes three components: The call to candidacy, the scrutiny of the candidate, and the blessing of the candidate. Bishop Provost accepted Cameron and Michael with the words, “The Church receives your declaration with joy. May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.”
Cameron is the son of Tommy and Kelley Fontenot and is a parishioner of St. Martin de Porres Catholic Church in Lake Charles. A 2017 graduate of St. Louis Catholic High School, Cameron began his formation at Notre Dame Seminary in the Fall of 2022 after discerning the priesthood for a year at the Vianney House in Lake Charles. He received his Master of Philosophy degree on May 8, 2025, and will return to his theological studies at Notre Dame in the fall.
Michael is the son of David and Courtney DesOrmeaux and is a parishioner of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles. A 2021 graduate of St. Louis Catholic High School, he began his formation in the Fall of 2021 and graduated on May 9, 2025, from St. Joseph Abbey and Seminary College with his Bachelor of Philosophy. Michael has been assigned to the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he will begin his theological studies and formation in the fall.
There are currently 12 young men studying for the priesthood for the Diocese of Lake Charles. Please keep all our Lake Charles Vocations seminarians in your prayers!
