Deacon Candidate Shawn DeKeyser

Blessed Sacrament Church
West Fargo, ND
Wife: Lori

Shawn DeKeyser was born in eastern Kansas, spending the first 16 years of his life in the small town of Eudora right outside of Lawrence. His parents made sure he and his three siblings went to Mass every Sunday at Holy Family Church where he received the sacraments and often served Mass. After his sophomore year, his parents moved him and his younger brother to southwestern Kansas to the town of Lakin. He was a talented athlete and was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to play basketball at a local community college, and eventually Jamestown College in North Dakota where he met his wife Lori. After Shawn graduated, he and Lori married at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Bismarck in 1991. They moved to Fargo where Lori had a good job, and Shawn began graduate school at NDSU. Eventually they moved to Casselton in 2000 and lived there until 2013 when they decided it was imperative to enroll their children into Catholic school where they could live the faith more fully.

There were several events where Shawn felt God was calling him to be a better Catholic man, including the profession of his wedding vows, the baptism of his children, Mass, through good priests, and through many pious men and women. He and Lori grew in their faith by attending classes in Education for Parish Services, and by being active at St. Leo’s Church in Casselton and Blessed Sacrament Church in West Fargo. Shawn is in the Knights of Columbus. Both he and Lori are in Teams of our Lady and lived a Cursillo weekend. He first felt the calling to the diaconate while at St. Leo’s in Casselton, and was given numerous affirmations that this was definitely the direction God is calling him toward.