Seminarian makes profession

By Tanya Connor

 The Catholic Free Press

In preparation for ordination as a transitional deacon, John Larochelle made “The Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity” March 29 at St. Paul Cathedral - before television and online viewers instead of away from the public eye at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, where he had been studying.

He was to make this profession and oath at St. John’s March 19, but the seminary was evacuated March 13 due to the coronavirus threat, he said. The temporary closing of seminaries has affected others studying for the priesthood too.  

On Feb. 24, Mr. Larochelle received his “call to orders” from Bishop McManus, saying he is to be ordained a transitional deacon on June 6, with hopes for priestly ordination in 2021, he said.

 As turbulent as things are with this pandemic,  “I’m very much at peace and feel incredibly blessed … that God has brought me to this point,” Mr. Larochelle said. “I just want to be ordained - whether my family has to watch the live stream” or can be present. 

For now, Mr. Larochelle is back at St. Paul Cathedral, helping as needed and continuing his studies online.

He did an internship at St. Paul’s last summer and gave a talk in support of the Partners in Charity Appeal there in February.

Last Sunday he served at the television Mass Bishop McManus celebrated at the cathedral.

Bishop McManus told viewers that Mr. Larochelle would join in the profession of faith, and the seminarian did so, as the clergy and others serving at the Mass recited the Creed.

Then, by himself, Mr. Larochelle placed his hand on the Book of the Gospels and made the oath of fidelity, saying he believes the Church’s teachings, and will carry out his duties as a deacon and obey the Church’s laws and bishops.

Jose Carvajal and Carlos Ardila, the other diocesan seminarians scheduled to be ordained transitional deacons June 6, already made their Profession of Faith and Oath of Fidelity at St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, where they are enrolled, said Father Donato Infante III, director of the Office for Vocations.

Twenty-three of the diocese’s 24 seminarians were sent home by their seminaries because of the virus, Father Infante said. James Boulette remains at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston.

Father Infante said several of the seminarians were to be installed as lectors and acolytes at their seminaries this spring, but now the diocese will have to do that, once the virus subsides.

Meanwhile, the seminarians are taking classes online and checking in with their spiritual directors and formation advisers.

“We made sure all of them were placed in parishes or are able to get to the private daily Mass of a priest,” Father Infante said of the seminarians who are back here. Some are helping priests with such tasks as live streaming Masses.

The Worcester Diocese is blessed to have so many good men discerning a priestly vocation, Mr. Larochelle said in his Partners in Charity talk.  

“But it also means we have to educate and support those 24 men,” he said.

That’s where Partners comes in. Mr. Larochelle said the diocese doesn’t want the cost of preparation for the priesthood to be a distraction when men are pursuing such a vocation. So money to support them is raised through Partners in Charity.

“The diocese has paid for my education” which is “a huge blessing,” Mr. Larochelle said. 

“Seminary education is full time,” he said. “I have no time to hold a part-time job to support myself. Most seminarians have to have a car to get to our pastoral assignments” and need to buy textbooks. “I still have normal living expenses.”

Thanks to donations to Partners in Charity, the diocese can give seminarians a stipend for such needs.

Father Infante said most of the Partners’ money the vocations office receives goes to pay for seminarians’ tuition and health insurance. Some also supports the discernment process, for events such as retreats for prospective seminarians. 

Mr. Larochelle said he never lived at the Holy Name of Jesus House of Studies, where some men discerning a priestly vocation live. When on a parish assignment, he stays in the parish’s rectory, and he also stays in a rectory during time off from the seminary.

When he returned to St. Paul’s to give his Partners talk, he said he was grateful for the opportunity to share part of his story. He told the congregation that the seeds of his vocation and faith were sown at home. He grew up in Worcester, the oldest of eight children, whom his mother, Virginia Larochelle, home-schooled, he said. (He said he wants to put her up for sainthood!) After his father, Gervais Larochelle, now deceased, who worked in construction, got home, the family ate dinner and prayed the rosary together.

Mr. Larochelle said that stayed with him and was a big part of his discernment, which started about 10 years ago and included praying the rosary before the Blessed Sacrament.