Deacon Luigi (Lu) Del Gaudio, M.S.W
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts on August 9th, 1946 to two immigrant Italians from Naples, Italy. I am the youngest child and only son of the four children born to my parents. I attended Catholic grade school in Somerville, Massachusetts where I was raised.
I was a dutiful altar server at St. Joseph’s Parish and grew up attending every kind of activity the church had to offer from CYO baseball to the drill team where I played as part of the drum team. I went to high school in nearby Cambridge at St. Mary’s Catholic High School where I graduated in 1965. I was a fair student and a below average football player. A year after graduation, my parents moved to Van Nuys, California where I went to college, graduating from California State University, Northridge in 1970. I married my wife, Susan, in 1969. We then moved back to Boston where I spent two years working on my Masters in Social Work at Boston College, graduating in 1972. All things “Boston” bring me great pleasure.
In 1972, Susan and I returned to California where I began my career as a social worker. I retired in 2006 as a manager in the child welfare services field for the State of California Department of Social Services.
On June 15, 1996, after four years of formation, I was ordained to the Permanent Diaconate by William K. Weigand, Bishop of Sacramento. Bishop Weigand assigned me to St. Mary’s Parish where Susan and our daughters, Rachel and Emily have been parishioners since 1974. Since my ordination I have had the privilege of baptizing hundreds of children, witnessing many marriages, sharing the Gospel through preaching and helping to bury our dead. I am also involved as an instructor in RCIA and baptism classes, “Catholics Returning Home” and chaplain to our parish “Social Club”. These experiences have been a blessing to me and my family as God has given me so much more than I have ever given in return. My time now consists of working around the house, visiting with and playing with our three grandchildren and devoting time to my diaconate vocation, all, except the house work, I cherish.
I have come to know that Christ is at the center of all that happens to us, the good and the not so good. He sustains us, cares for us and cherishes us through his Church and asks that we love him and our neighbors in return because that will bring us a peace and a joy that we cannot realize without Him. We always wind up the beneficiary for loving Him and others in His name.
