Passion for Church, social justice propels new ICC associate director
Roarke LaCoursiere, the new associate director of the Indiana Catholic Conference, will be a regular presence at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis beginning with the 2025 legislative session. (Submitted photo)
By Victoria Arthur
She hails from Australia, her confirmation name is Meinrad, and she is embarking on a journey that will bring her love for the Catholic Church and its teachings into the public sphere in Indiana.
Roarke LaCoursiere was recently named the new associate director of the Indiana Catholic Conference (ICC), the public policy voice of the Church in the state. It is a role for which she believes God has been preparing her all 24 years of her young but remarkable life.
“I can look back and see how God’s hand has guided me here,” said LaCoursiere, who took on the position in early September following two years of law school, experience in the Indiana Attorney General’s office and many formative summers at Saint Meinrad Archabbey and School of Theology.
“Everywhere I’ve been, I have learned important things for this job. It’s wonderful for it all to have come to fruition like this,” she said.
Alexander Mingus, who was promoted to executive director of the ICC in June, recognized LaCoursiere’s unique qualities as well as the work of divine providence as he sifted through job applications this summer and pondered who would replace him in the associate director role.
“There were a few things that stood out about Roarke,” said Mingus, who joined the ICC in 2020. “Obviously she is very smart, she’d been through a couple years of law school, and she is very interested in her faith, as evidenced by her years of formation at Saint Meinrad. Those were some characteristics that I was primarily looking for—someone who had some public policy or law or government experience, and someone who had clearly demonstrated interest in the Catholic faith.
“We are so blessed to have her in this new role, and I am looking forward to collaborating with her as we represent the Church at the Indiana Statehouse and beyond.”
‘So very connected to Saint Meinrad’
Although she now views her new job as the perfect fit, LaCoursiere could hardly have envisioned any of this in her early years, which took her from Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, Australia, all the way to Terre Haute.
Her mother Teresa—a Terre Haute native with a young son Denim—had met Ashley Matchett, an Australian whose career as a physical therapist had brought him to the western Indiana city. They fell in love and decided to marry and begin their life together in Australia, where Roarke was born. Eventually, with Teresa homesick for Indiana, the young family moved back to Terre Haute.
Today, LaCoursiere recalls a childhood in which the Catholic faith was important but not at the center of her family’s life. That all changed when her father—who had grown up in a large Catholic family in Brisbane but had fallen away from the faith somewhat through the years—experienced what LaCoursiere calls “a major reversion.”
This led to a spiritual renewal within the Matchett family and young Roarke’s first watershed moment at Saint Meinrad: her introduction to the “One Bread, One Cup” youth liturgical leadership program there, where she learned about the Mass, the sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours, and built community along the way.
As LaCoursiere took part in One Bread, One Cup every summer of high school, she could feel her faith grow exponentially with every passing year.
“Those weeks in the summer that I was at Saint Meinrad totally transformed my life and helped me to have an encounter with Christ that sustained my prayer life beyond the hill,” LaCoursiere said.
This profound experience also led her to choose
St. Meinrad as her patron saint when the time came
for her confirmation at St. Joseph University Parish in Terre Haute.
As she was completing high school, prayer and discernment led LaCoursiere to apply to the One Bread, One Cup college internship program, in which college students return to lead the summer sessions for the younger participants. She was selected, and this brought her back to the seminary during the summers as she was seeking her degree at Pepperdine University in California.
“Those summers spent with other college interns who are also just on fire for their faith were very special,” LaCoursiere said. “They formed me.”
Benedictine Brother James Jensen, who helps lead the program at Saint Meinrad, said that LaCoursiere’s
God-given gifts were apparent then and will serve her well in her new role.
“Roarke has an intentional ability to bring people together, and she is always informed by her faith,” Brother James said. “This is what she will bring to the ICC. I think what will inform her work the most is what she learned at Saint Meinrad—our Benedictine values of balance, of having a strong personal prayer life, but also being able to externalize that and live that out in public ways.”
‘An extrovert’s dream job’
After graduating from Pepperdine University in California in 2021 with a degree in political science, she decided to return to Indiana and take a gap year before pursuing law school. She moved to the Fiat House, a home in the Broad Ripple area of Indianapolis where women ages 21 to 35 could share their Catholic faith.
“I had just been living the college life, and now I was surrounded by these professional women who were living fully for the Lord,” said LaCoursiere, who also became involved at St. Joan of Arc Parish. “Having their mentorship and friendship was something very influential for me.”
But then she was off to law school at Georgetown University, spending a year in Washington, D.C., before discerning that Indianapolis is where she wanted to remain. She transferred to the McKinney School of Law at Indiana University in Indianapolis.
The move back to Indiana was providential, as it coincided with leadership changes at the ICC. Angela Espada, who had served as executive director for five years, announced her retirement early in 2024. With the announcement not long after that Mingus would be promoted, a rare opportunity arose.
“I wanted to connect my education and my passion for public policy, for bettering society, and for promoting the common good with my Catholic faith,” LaCoursiere said. “So I had this decision to make: Do I pass on applying for this job that truly seems like a dream job for me, or do I stay the course and finish law school? That was something I took to prayer for six months, and the job continually took up more space in my heart and my mind. I’m so glad I trusted God in the process.”
She applied and landed the job just as she was preparing for another major life change: getting married. Roarke Matchett had met Chase LaCoursiere, the information technology director at St. Joan of Arc School, as they both were attending daily Mass regularly.
The two wed at St. Joan of Arc on June 29 and inspire all around them with their dedication to the Church and to ministry, particularly through their
work serving the needy through the
St. Vincent de Paul Society.
“It’s beautiful to see her discerning the next things God is calling her to do and how much she is letting go and trusting that the Lord is going to take care of her and that God’s will is going to be done,” said Sara Levy, a close friend and bridesmaid who teaches middle school science at St. Joan of Arc School.
For the past two months, this has included traveling the state in this election year and meeting with the five bishops she will help to represent in her new role, as well as with Catholic lawmakers and advocates ahead of the 2025 Indiana General Assembly.
For LaCoursiere, the past few months have been a happy and productive whirlwind.
“One thing I love already is coming home from a busy week and telling my husband, ‘This is an extrovert’s dream job!’ ” LaCoursiere said. “I love meeting people, I love talking to them and hearing what they care about. As we’ve been going around the state meeting with legislators, they share with us what their priorities are for this upcoming session, and we get to dialogue with them about how to accomplish their goals through the lens of Christ and his Church’s teaching.
“I look forward to meeting all of the legislators and advocates and building relationships with these people who have committed their lives to bettering the state of Indiana through public life,” she continued. “To be part of that is an incredible opportunity.”
For more information about the ICC and ways to get involved with its mission, visit www.indianacc.org.
(Victoria Arthur, a member of St. Therese of the Infant Jesus [Little Flower] Parish in Indianapolis, is a correspondent for The Criterion.) †
