Sebastian Hazelton

Ignition: Where did you grow up?

Sebastian: I originally grew up in Connecticut but I am of Brazilian descent, I’ve been all over though...10 mailing addresses in ten years. I’m currently very happy in South Florida. God really called me here. He called me back to South Florida to help my mom through a tough time and now I’m engaged to a girl from here—God does work in some not so mysterious ways sometimes.

I: What was your first experience with the Movement?

S: I really had no interest in Movements. I was living very far from the Church, I would still go to Mass but I really wasn’t living a life in accordance with the Church’s teachings. I met some guys at Mass who really said I needed to get my act straight and to this day I am still trying to do that. A few friends from North Carolina tricked me into going to a Spiritual Exercises Retreat—it was in Maryland!!! I made a general confession and that started the ball rolling. That was in the summer of 1999. It shows that sometimes the guy you write off is the one the conversion fever catches the most.

I: How did living abroad have an influence in your life?

S: My experiences of living in Brazil and traveling to a bunch of other countries in Europe and Latin America have really taught me that your vocabulary should be a Catholic one. In Brazil we still finish sentences with “if the Lord wills it” and the faith of the people in Mexico really touched me, a simple but unbendable faith, a role model for most Americans.

I: You’ve been through the Regnum Christi Formators course, how was that?

S: My face still lights up from the Formators course. A deep conversion experience that seems to bear more fruit every day. It should really be a rite of passage for Catholic men. The best is demanded of you and you want to give your best. My team really was the best bunch of guys I have ever known. We won, but more importantly two of them are now seminarians in the Legion, which is why we won—there was so much quality there. My most memorable event is like trying to describe being in love—it was the small things that you put all together that later becomes something immortal in your memory. Witnessing the blood on the corporal in Orvieto, Italy, at the Eucharistic miracle site, Mass at the catacombs in San Calixto—hearing Adam Jeffries and Ryan Conklin imitate Chewbacca at lunch- it was all great!

I: What do you do for fun?

S: After watching Brazil win the World Cup when they were playing so badly coming in to the tournament was great. I still watch the highlights on tape. But the Bucs, formerly the Yucaneers, were good for Florida, we don’t have much success down here sportswise. I felt bad for James Horan, though, the biggest Oakland fan in the world. Fortunately my life is all fun and all work. I run a youth group at an inner city parish that allows me to go to the beach pretty regularly—sorry for those who live up north. Being engaged is also great—I love her and she’s my best friend. She pokes fun at me for being messy and disorganized; it’s like having a Legionary around.

I: What advice would you give to our readers?

S: My advice to anyone seeking to follow Christ is to do it with a radical conversion and really demand the best from yourself, you would be surprised at how much you can change your little part of the world. Be a hero don’t just wait and watch.

I: What are you working on now?

S: Here in Miami we have a grab bag of apostolates, from YTM to ECYD to Conquest and Challenge. We are committing our resources to building a youth section so Coffee and Creed will start next year and hopefully Theology on Tap.