by Rebekah Davidson

On Dec. 15, 2024, Deacon Kevin LeMelle celebrated his 40th administration of baptism since being ordained a transitional deacon on April 27, 2024. The baptism took place at St. Brigid Church in Xenia, where he served his internship.

“I was praying leading up to my ordination, and the idea of 40 was coming to me as a Biblical number—with 40 days for Lent,” said Deacon LeMelle. “It was a number of baptisms that seemed attainable, yet something to strive for. I decided to make that my goal on my ordination day. It’s not all about quantity. It gave me something to push myself toward as a deacon because it can be easy to be in the seminary and content with waiting to become a priest [instead of ] trying to make sure you’re being active and giving.”

When Deacon LeMelle relayed his goal to the secretary at St. Susanna Catholic Church, his former summer assignment, it opened a door of opportunities to perform baptisms.

“I’ve had to become more giving of myself,” he said. “It’s getting me out and about and more active on the weekends. It’s been less down time, but it’s also a very, very rewarding thing. I didn’t know how wonderful it would be until I was ordained: spiritual fatherhood and being the one who brings a soul into the Church is just really awesome.”

Originally from Springfield, OH, Deacon LaMelle first heard the call to the vocation of priesthood while he was a sophomore at the University of Dayton.

“I was 19-years-old and went to the Sunday night Mass with the same priest every week,” he said. “As I would listen to the homilies, I would think, ‘I’d like to do that one day,’ and then, ‘Where is that coming from? Those are not my plans for my life.’ It started with small things like that. It took me seven years to enter the seminary. I tried to negotiate and bargain with God, but that didn’t work out. [I told God,] ‘I will have 10 or 12 kids. My wife and I will be open to life. Just make all of them [the children] priests and nuns.’

“I tried to avoid my vocation. It took a long time to be ordained, but I’ve been more fruitful in my ministry just through baptizing than I could have been as a father in a physical sense. I find the spiritual satisfaction rejuvenating to my prayer life and ministry as an ordained deacon. It’s a life-giving experience in the most literal way to that child’s soul. It’s a really beautiful thing to watch and be part of and to be the one who says the words of the prayer and does the baptizing.”

Deacon LaMelle has been blessed to also baptize children of other ages, including sets of siblings. After convalidating one couple’s marriage in the chapel, Deacon LeMelle said they went out to the baptismal font, and “I changed my vestments and baptized all three of their children.”

He asks either the parents or godparents to sign the inside cover of his Order of Baptism of Children book that tracks his baptisms, although one signature is sideways, written by a seven-year-old who requested to sign her own name.

When asked how it feels to be an ordained deacon, LeMelle gives a three-word answer: fit, natural and secure.

“It’s like a custom-made suit. It fits you. [It] feels natural and comfortable. You were made for it. It gives you a sense of security like, ‘My vocation has been confirmed.’”

Deacon LeMelle will be ordained a priest on May 17, 2025, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains.