When coping with stress, academic difficulties and relationship problems, most college students turn to their closest friends or family members; however, several Nicholls students go to the Rev. James Morrison, pastor at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, for advice and guidance.”For me, it’s not just a job; that would be pretty boring,” Morrison says. “I work long hours and interact with the folks I minister to. You can’t separate it (from your life).”

Morrison, who has been a Catholic priest for 17 years, says he realized he wanted to enter the ministry when he was in the fourth grade. While attending Vandebilt Catholic High School from eighth through tenth grade, he says he was active in the church but got caught up being a kid and wasn’t sure if priesthood was what he wanted for his future.

Morrison attended St. Stanislaus College Prep in Bay St. Louis, Miss., his junior and senior year, and during his first year at Atchison Benedictine College in Kansas City, Kan., decided to enter the St. Meinrad Seminary in Indianapolis, Ind.

“I kept praying asking God for a sign, asking for a sign,” Morrison says. “One day while praying it came to me that the thing that brought me the most joy and happiness in my life was helping other people and being active in church.”

Morrison says his father owned a lumber/hardware store, so he probably would have gone into some similar field if he had not become a priest. However, he says now he thinks he would be more natural in education or social work where he could help people at risk.

Morrison, who ministers to more than 200 parishioners in the church parish as well as the student community, says he enjoys the exciting youth community St. Thomas Aquinas fosters.

“It’s great because you have people who want to come to church, and they are old enough to make their own decisions,” Morrison says. “It’s good to work with a young church that you don’t have to baby-sit.”
Morrison says he enjoys the upbeat music at his student services.
“In churches, you should have a different style of music,” Morrison says. “Different masses have different people. With the younger church, it should be alive; it’s important to have good music.”

After services, he says he enjoys going to Peppers Pizzeria with parishioners.

Morrison’s ministry began at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Chauvin, however the majority of his career, 13 years, was as pastor at Annuziata Catholic Church in Houma. While there, Morrison says the parishioners built a Habitat House in Houma, which took between six and eight months to construct, and opened a school for children who were expelled from public schools.

“That church has a lot of people, but the strength was the people committed to the parish,” Morrison says.

In his spare time, Morrison likes to waterski and fish.
“Outside the church, I really love people,” Morrison says. “I do a lot of traveling and interact with people. I have a camp in Grand Isle and enjoy going down there. It’s great to enjoy God’s gifts to the world.”

He says having someone to go to for advice is important when many are looking to him for daily guidance.

“(As a priest) your closest friends are going to be your priest friends who you confide in and go to if you have a problem,” Morrison says.