The Rev. Gregory Chauvin, pastor at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Lydia, smiles at objects he brought back from evangelical missions to Costa Rica. Costa Ricans creatively paint ox carts, or carretas, a tradition started in the early 20th century showing the carts that carry coffee beans from the fields to processing plants.

LYDIA — Breaux Bridge native and St. Nicholas Catholic Church pastor the Rev. Gregory Chauvin took a circuitous route across the country on the way to becoming a priest.

The Lydia church’s pastor under Bishop Michael Jarrel travels even farther for his volunteer missions to the parish of Bishop Jose Francisco Ulloas Rojas in Cartago, Costa Rica. Chauvin has Jarrel’s permission and support to evangelize at the St. Bryce Missions, which he helped found after the death of Chauvin’s godson, Bryce Mitchell, who died of SIDS in 2009, the sixth son of Greg and Colleen Mitchell.

The 42-year-old priest refers to his “two assignments in life” as pastor at St. Nicholas Catholic Church and chaplain to the St. Bryce Missions. His official title with the latter is co-founder and director of spirituality on the board of directors.

Chauvin is passionate about his spiritual work locally and abroad.

“It’s a very good place to be a pastor,” Chauvin said about St. Nicholas Catholic Church, where Jarrel sent him Dec. 1, 2010, after serving five months at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church in New Iberia. “The people are wonderful. I really enjoy learning and growing with them. I enjoy leading them, too.”

He shares his heart and soul with St. Bryce Missions, where Chauvin and the parents of his late godson founded the St. Francis Emmaus Center three years ago to offer rest and recuperation time as well as support and health education to pregnant Cabécar Indian mothers who lack access to health services. The center, which has the capacity for 20 women, is named after St. Francis of Assissi, known for his care of the poor and outcasts, and Emmaus, which is the road in the gospel where Christ met two disciples after His resurrection, he said.

The Mitchells, a deeply religious couple, sought his aid and guidance after the death of their infant son. They said God’s help showed them how to use their suffering to “help His children,” Chauvin said.

The result happened by circumstance or, some might say, God’s will. Greg Mitchell traveled to Costa Rica on business in early 2010, where he met the Cabécar people in the Tayutic region, according to information on stbryce.org. The Mitchells believed God showed them the first community St. Bryce Missions could serve and they moved there with their five sons to become the ground team in the area in January 2011, the website said.

Then Chauvin began his missions there, supported by generous donations from his congregation.

Evangelization of the poor people there is one of Chauvin’s top priorities, which is why he treks deep into the scenic cloud forest to spend time with the Cabécars to teach them about Jesus Christ. The Cabécars are receptive to the teachings, he said.

“It shocks me as an American Catholic priest that the gospel hasn’t been brought to those indigenous people,” Chauvin said.

“My (St. Nicholas Catholic Church) parish has been supporting the missions from Day One. They (parishioners) take collections once a month to help the missions,” he said, proudly. There also was a po-boy fundraiser Jan. 24 for the upcoming mission and a raffle drawing for three prizes will take place Feb. 28.

The pastor said he travels to Costa Rica a few times every year. He’s bringing six local lay people — three parishioners and three non-parishioners — with him on his next trip March 7-14.

Chauvin and Janet Gaspard, Renee Rogers, Ricky and Rikki Lynn Gravois and Caroll and Crystal Trahan will fly United from Lafayette to Houston to San Jose, Costa Rica, in the Central Valley region with the Talamanca Mountains, and stay Monday to Monday. Rogers and the Gravois couple attend St. Nicholas Catholic Church.

“We’re going to help teach the faith, like at a vacation Bible school with the kids. We can do all kinds of things on a mission trip … Our mission is teach the faith. We’re going in to evangelize,” he said.

“I’m trying to get people involved in going on missions. The hope is maybe to make it a yearly trip and get others to come,” he said.

It is a Third World country, he said, but there is no danger posed by visiting the reserve.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re actually very friendly people. There are no problems,” he said.

Challenges do await the six people.

“It’s got the normal Third World things, like not as much infrastructure,” he said, noting there are few modern conveniences.

They will stay at a rented house in Turrialba, which does have flushing toilets but the electricity is known to go out, just like the hot water, so a cold shower may be in order.

Ricky Gravois, 36, said he is looking forward to the trip. Ditto for his wife, he said.

“Oh, certainly. The closer it gets, the more excited I get. I’m not sure what to expect,” he said.

He is very sure about their intentions. He always was interested in going on a mission, he said.

“We had talked about it three or four years ago, but with three young kids it’s not an easy decision to make. The timing wasn’t right,” he said.

Last year, however, the talks became more earnest and plans were made. Their children, Mason, 9, Dawson, 8, and Hannah, 5, will stay with the couple’s respective parents while they are gone.

Gravois said he is good friends with Chauvin.

“He likes to fish. I took him fishing and to the camp (on Wax Lake Outlet),” he said.

More importantly, he said, the pastor’s message gets through to him.

“I actually enjoy him because he keeps me focused. He can hold my attention better than most. His sermons aren’t boring,” Gravois said.

In about a month, Chauvin and the others will meet the Cabécar Indians, who live on the Chirripo Reserve — a remote, mountainous reserve set aside for them by the Costa Rica government, much like the U.S. government did for American Indians — where they strive to keep cultural traditions and language alive. The tribe’s pregnant women must walk several miles to have access to proper medical care before and after the birth of a child or in the event hospitalization is necessary for either the woman or newborn.

Pregnant women must wait before and after delivery if there is no room in the 10-bed hospital, Chauvin said. As a result, the Cabécar Indians suffer infant and mortality rates almost five times higher than the rest of Costa Rica, he said.

It is a world away from where Chauvin grew up and graduated from Teurlings Catholic High School (Class of 1992). He attended three colleges and three seminaries before being ordained at Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans in 2007.

“I was searching in life,” he said about his start at the University of Southwestern Louisiana and subsequent moves to St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana and to Plattsburgh State on the East Coast. He went to Notre Dame Seminary for 1 ½ years, then Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis before going back and finishing at Notre Dame Seminary.

Before going to Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church and St. Nicholas Catholic Church, he was at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church in Abbeville, then Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Church Point.

Chauvin, the son of Ron and Barbara Chauvin of Lafayette, has an older brother, Ronnie Chauvin of Lafayette, and two younger sisters, Becky Willis of Lafayette and Kim Thibodeaux of Iowa.

Donations for this and future missions are being accepted, he said, and can be sent to St. Bryce Missions, P.O. Box 374, Lydia LA 70569. For more information call 369-7510 or go to stbryce.org.

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