Schaff Family embraces cross together on path to new life at Easter

The Louis Schaff family’s faith journey through suffering and loss came to an emotive point at Easter as a time of hope, new life, and new beginnings when Schaff’s daughter, Evie, received the sacrament of confirmation in place of her deceased mother, April, at the Easter Vigil Mass at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Baton Rouge.

April and Louis were LSU college sweethearts. April was active in the Methodist Church and Louis was Catholic. They baptized their children, Evie,16, Lily, 12, and Louis III, 9, at Our Lady of Mercy Church in Baton Rouge. The children attended OLOM School and April spent a lot of time there.

Evie, who was scheduled to be confirmed with her class this year, was with some of her friends at OLOM’s 2023 Easter Vigil Mass when one of them whispered to her, “That could be your mom next year.” 

"I didn't really believe it," said Evie, "but I really hoped for it."

April and Evie walked together at least three times a week and sometimes they had deep, theological discussions.

“She would explain why she didn’t agree with certain things in the Catholic faith, and I would do the best with the knowledge I had to tell her why we believed what we did, and these conversations were actually a catalyst for me for diving into the whys of my faith,” noted Evie. “I wanted to know more so I could tell her.”

Evie thought April stubbornly did not listen to what she had to say. But gradually April started listening to her daughter.

“I could see the gears in her head turning,” said Evie.

She said that’s likely when her mother started to wonder if she could live her faith more fully in the Catholic Church.


Father Cleo Milano, pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church in Baton Rouge, administers the sacrament of confirmation to Evie Schaff by anointing her forehead with Chrism oil.

April prayed about her decision to convert from being Methodist to being Catholic for a long time, according to Louis.

“She was a really deep, thorough discerner on anything that was of significance to her or anything she was going to spend any amount of time on,” said Louis.

Louis and Evie, a student at St. Joseph Academy in Baton Rouge, had ongoing conversations with April about the faith, but “didn’t know it was coming” (April’s entry into the RCIA program), until she texted them a picture of her RCIA card on Aug. 1, 2023.

“(The day she sent us the RCIA card picture) I was at work at the time,” said Evie.  “And I received the picture. I said, ‘I’ll be right back guys.’ And I went to the bathroom and cried my eyes out."

“Knowing that I was going to be confirmed the same year as her was incredible. It was everything I could have ever hoped for,” she added.

April came home from her first RCIA class very excited, according to Louis.

“She said, ‘I have so many questions and so many things I want to talk about,” said Louis.

April was filled with anticipation about entering the church; however her desire was not fulfilled as she was killed and all her family injured in a multiple-car accident on Interstate 1-12 near Holden on New Year’s Day, 2024.  

The Schaffs were returning from visiting Louis’ parents in Mississippi and were only 20 minutes away from home when they came upon vehicles that were stopped due to an accident. As they slowed down and came to a stop, their car was hit from behind by another vehicle. April died at the scene. Louis and his three children suffered extensive injuries in the crash.

Louis was rushed to a local hospital. Evie and Lily were transported to Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, with Evie being airlifted there. Louis III was hospitalized as well.

While everyone is recovering and going through physical rehabilitation, the outlook is good for them, Louis noted. 

Schaff also notes that as his family grieves, each of them have been supported by family, friends and the entire OLOM community.

As excited as Evie had been about her and her mom’s upcoming confirmation, the accident skewed her thoughts about that.

“I had just come back from a doctor’s appointment, and it was a follow-up for one of many surgeries I had,” stated Evie. “I was upset because (the doctor) had not told me what I wanted to hear.”

That’s when she received a text from OLOM about whether she would be joining her confirmation class for confirmation that Thursday.

“I really hadn’t thought about it … it was one of the last things on my mind,” said Evie.

She asked if there were any other options and was told that she could be confirmed privately at another date or stand in her mother’s place and be confirmed at the Easter Vigil Mass.

“Immediately my soul felt that [being confirmed at Easter Vigil] was exactly what I needed to do,” said Evie.

She asked God, “Is this really what you want from me? Do you want me to stand in her place and to try to live up to the woman that she was?”

“He told me ‘You don’t have to be anyone but who you are because that has always been enough,’” said Evie.

The Schaff family said April’s spirit of determination to do something once she set her mind to it carries on in them.

In a conversation Evie had with her mom before she passed about what ultimately led her to enter RCIA, April told her that several years ago she was in a very dark place in her life, and she felt that God didn’t have anything left for her.

She came with us to Mass and told God, "If you don’t give up on me, I won’t give up on you,’” said Evie. “And she felt something that told her ‘I’m not giving up on you.’”

The Good News of Easter is that faith is more than the hard times and people must be willing to go them and not let the darkness win when trials seem too much to bear, according to Evie, because it's worth it.

“Keep showing up,” said Evie. “My mom decided she was done, and she showed up one last time and He didn’t give up on her.”

I was a motherly ushering forth for Evie all the way to the Easter Vigil.