“So together, we want to learn what it is, to search for what it is, so we can, together, give testimony to God’s love.
Fabre, who is not related to Bishop Sheldon Fabre of Houma-Thibodeaux, said that initially, he planned on becoming an engineer. He was turned off from that career path when a professor said that engineers would have to “sell themselves.”
After that, Fabre said he went back to his parish, prayed, and decided to become a priest. He entered the Missionaries of St. Charles, who are also known as the Scalabrinians. The order, which is largely Italian, focuses its work on refugees and migrants.
As the fourth Haitian to join the order, Fabre said that “it wasn’t easy to adapt, to fit in,” at first. He likened his experience as a new priest to moving to Charleston, saying that he was “looking forward to learning” and he would “be building” on the work laid out by Guglielmone.
“The American system of life is always thinking about the future, the next generation,” said Fabre. “While (for) us, I’m from Haiti, we think about today, for me. Whatever I do is for me, and for my family, not for the future.”
“Whatever we’ll be doing together is to make sure that we leave a Church which is stronger, a society which is stronger, and a society that can accept everyone and find their place and exercise the gifts that God has given us, all of us, different gifts,” he said.
People coming together and sharing their gifts “can create miracles,” explained Fabre, saying that he had seen this at his past appointments. He said that even though this is a time of division, he hopes that he will be able to bring people together.
“I feel like I’m like the prophet Amos,” he said. “I’ve been called from a mission Church into a cathedral.” For the entirety of his priesthood, Fabre has been in “rural areas,” and this will be his first time working in a city.
“I received a call, and I said ‘now you need to stop being yourself and let God take you and lead you,’” said Fabre. “And I will do that, with your prayers.”
Fabre will be consecrated and installed as Bishop of Charleston on April 29.
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