Deacon Paul Soileau

My name is Paul Soileau.  My wife Jill and I have been parishioners at St. Jude the Apostle Church in Baton Rouge since 2008.  We have two children, Madelene (25 years) and Gabriel (22 years).  Jill and I are originally from New Orleans but except for five years, we have lived in Baton Rouge since 1988.  We lived in Victoria, Texas from 2002 till 2007 due to a transfer with my job at Dow Chemical.
This past September I was blessed with the opportunity to retire from my job of 32 years at Dow.  During that time, I held various Chemical Engineering and Management positions.  My plans for retirement include the diaconate, various hobbies, and travel.  Jill and I love to travel and hope to continue that passion in the years to come.  God willing, June of 2021 is my ordination date for the Permanent Diaconate.  My desire to pursue this vocation was driven by my desire to support our priests.  As is well known, our numbers of priests in the diocese is dwindling and the priests that we have are overworked.  My reason for entering the diaconate was and still is to take some of that work load away from the priests and allow them to be the holy men that God has called them to be.