July 17, 2013

By Suzanne Pietropaoli
Staff writer

Looking at him today, it is easy to believe that Jacque Leduc’s favorite childhood bedtime story involved Samson, the Old Testament hero renowned for his extraordinary strength.

What is harder to imagine are the difficulties Jacque faced in early childhood, the deep roots of his faith in God, and the experiences that led him full-circle to the Catholic Church.

Removed from their parents as toddlers, Jacque and his brother were entrusted to the care of the aunt and uncle who would later adopt them; three years later the children were returned to Florida by court order. 

“We were first put in a boys’ home,” Jacque remembers, “but then we were taken in by a Baptist deacon and his wife.  They were good to us, but there was a lot of religious pressure.  The big question was, ‘Where will you be when you die?’ So, at age five, because I wanted to go to heaven, I agreed that I wanted to be baptized, that I wanted to be saved.”

Later that year, the court returned the boys and their younger sister to their aunt and uncle in northern New York.  Jacque brought along his fervent Baptist beliefs—and knowledge of the Bible well beyond his years.

“Our new parents were Catholics, and they were surprised by all the Bible stories they had never heard before,” says Jacque.  “Then, at a family funeral, they heard the local Baptist preacher and got hooked.

“When we were growing up, my mom was secretary at the Baptist church, so we were totally immersed in it,” he said. “We were in church every Sunday morning  and every Sunday and Wednesday evening.   In those years I made my profession of faith, dedicated my life to Christ, and went to revivals.”

Then, in 2004, Jacque’s life was threatened. 

“I was three days from death with an infection in my brain and spinal column,” he relates.  “I lost a lot of work, and there were financial issues because workman’s compensation did not pay.

“Though a church member reminded me that such things happen for a reason, I was still angry at God,” he said. “Later that summer, I interviewed at Alcoa - after unscrewing my I.V. and leaving it in the truck - but got a rejection letter.  A few months later, I was hired and am currently a journeyman electrician/crane inspector there.

“Yet after starting that job, and working a lot of overtime, I found myself drifting from the Baptist church,” he said. “I had been engaged, and was hurt when that ended.

'I guess ‘drifting’ describes my life at that point,” he said.

Then everything changed.

“A friend at the gym introduced me to Pam,” Jacque said. “We hit it off immediately and a year later, we were engaged. 

“But Pam was Catholic and I was Baptist: whose church would we be married in?  I assumed that it would be mine - until we talked to the Baptist pastor, who said he would not marry us unless Pam converted,” he said. “This changed my mind pretty fast, and we went to talk with [then-pastor] Msgr. Duprey at Malone Catholic Parishes.  His approach was very different: we could be married after the usual marriage preparation. 

“Pam and I were married in 2007, and it was the happiest day of my life,” Jacque said.

About a month later, Jacque found himself wanting to go to church on Sundays. 

“We started going to St. John Bosco because that had been my wife’s church.  I liked it, but also felt left out; I was part of the Mass, but could not receive communion.

“We had been going for about a year,” he said. “I talked to Pam and was wrestling with some things in myself.
“One day Msgr. Duprey told me, ‘If you would like to join our Church, we would love to have you.  Make an appointment and let’s talk,’” Jacque said.

“I asked him lots of questions to clear up my misconceptions,” he said. “The biggest one: why do Catholics pray to Mary?  Monsignor explained that we don’t pray to her; we ask her to use her influence by praying for us to God. 

“So I started RCIA class and loved every minute of it, partly because I know how important it is to keep on learning,” he said. “When I was welcomed in to the Church at the Easter Vigil and received communion for the first time, I felt totally different—so enriched! 

“Since then I have been asked to speak at RCIA, and really enjoy doing it,” he said.

Telling his parents about his new-found faith was another matter entirely: 
“My dad took it pretty quietly.  Since I was happy and going to church, he figured he couldn’t complain.  “Mom was angry: ‘How dare you turn your back on the Baptists?’  My dad died two years ago, and had a Baptist funeral - but was buried in the Catholic cemetery.  “Two months later, Mom called to tell me she had been thinking about returning to the Church.  “The healing took a while, but we are much closer now,” he said.
Jacque notes other positive changes in the three years he has been a Catholic.

“I catch myself a lot,” he says.  “My 30-minute ride to and from work has become my daily communion with God - something I did not do before, but do now.

“Now I crave Church—I WANT to go,” he said. “I want my children, Naomi and Garrick, to be immersed in the faith.  I want Church to be their favorite place.  I pray each night with Naomi, who is three; she is learning the Lords’ Prayer.

“The relationship I have with God is something no one can take away,” he said. “Now I have a responsibility to pass it on to my children because it is the most important thing in my life.”

Jacque Leduc is shown with his Wife Pam and children Garrick and Naomi. He became a Catholic three years ago and is now a parishioner of Malone Catholic Parishes. “The relationship I have with God is something no one can take away,” he said. “Now I have a responsibility to pass it on to my children because it is the most important thing in my life.”