In the movie A Few Good Men there is a courtroom scene where Jack Nicholson, the marine commander at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba who is on trial for murder, loses his temper with prosecuting attorney Tom Cruise. Nicholson's character says that the words "honor," and "duty" have become punchlines, buzzwords, and tag-lines. I am afraid that I would have to say that we have done the same thing with the word love. We love our Coca-Cola or Pepsi! We love our television programs! We love our favorite food! We love our car - an inanimate object! We have devalued all that the word love truly means. Love is...

"A yet more excellent way. If I should speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, yet do not have love, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my goods to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, yet do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient, is kind; love does not envy, is not pretentious, is not puffed up, is not ambitious, is not self-seeking, is not provoked; thinks no evil, does not rejoice over wickedness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

God IS love! In fact, God loved us so much that he sent His Son to show all of us the "yet more excellent way" that Saint Paul wrote of. Which brings me to priests. Priests are called in a special way to set an example of love for God through their love of neighbor. Throughout my life I have been blessed with having known priests who have shown me their love of God through the love and service that they have shown their neighbor. These include the two priests of my home parish of St. Kevin's in Warwick, Fr. Francis O'Hara and Fr. Robert Hawkins, my Vocation Director, Fr. Albert Kenney, my former Spiritual Director here at the North American College in Rome, Fr. Juan Rios, and a newly ordained priest from Oklahoma, Fr. Matthew LaChance. I could go on and on because I know of many others, and I am sure that there are many who serve the people of God that I do not know, but whose service is known to God alone. All of these priests would say that whatever good they have done has been the work of God-and they would be right! But then again, God works through His priests! So what specifically do they bring to the priesthood? First and foremost, that incredible love for God, His Church and His people. Turning a phrase on Fr. Hawkins, these are priests that I know give of the Time, Talent, and Treasure in service to God through their service to neighbor. They are the priests who have inspired me to pursue my love - God and His Church, and His people.

So why am I writing my vocations story? First and foremost because my Vocation Director has been after me for the last four years to write it! Most importantly though, I am writing to tell anyone who will listen of the tremendous love that God has shown me throughout my life. Which brings me to my Baptism. I do not remember my Baptism - surprise, surprise - but I know that the sacrament was administered by a young priest named Fr. Francis O'Hara at St. Rita's Church in Warwick. I grew up there and we attended Mass there every Sunday as a family. We also usually attended daily Mass either there or at Saint Rose of Lima Church, depending upon the schedules. My family gave me all the love in the world - another gift that I now see that God bestowed on me and which I will be forever grateful for. I made my First Communion in St. Rita's and after that began serving as an altar boy - often for the young priest who had baptized me.

I continued to grow and began High School. Religion was becoming less important to me at this point in m life - an adolescent phase. I received the Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Gelineau in St. Rita's; the same church that I had received the Sacrament of Baptism in. More importantly though for this story is the fact that the same priest who had performed my Baptism was present for my Confirmation. He had now been 0resent for two of the three sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church that leave an indelible mark on your soul. I finished high school and actually considered priesthood at that time but thought, ME, a priest? I have been a less than stellar student in school anyway, an admitted goof-off. My father and family had faith in me though and got me started in business. I loved it! The idea of being your own boss, of being responsible, of working to build a business. I loved it so much in fact that I began working seven days a week, turning away from the love of God and family to the pursuit of "stuff". It was great, but it came at the cost of my falling away from the love God was offering me in His Church and in the sacraments. I fell away from my Catholic faith for approximately ten years.

At this point in my life I was about thirty years old. Then a funny thing happened one day. I woke up one morning and the thought struck me...was this all that there was to life? The thought of priesthood briefly returned but "I" quickly dismissed it from my head. I mean, how could God call ME, a sinner, to be one of His priests? The idea itself was crazy to me and besides "I" wanted to have a wife and children. Still, the thought of becoming a priest continued to be something that would just not leave my mind.

The year 1994 became something of a turning point for me. My sister was working in London at that time and we had decided that I would visit her and then fly down to Rome for a couple of days vacation. God's call was growing stronger and stronger at this point in my life. My own desire to become a priest was itself strengthened during this trip but I still did not tell anyone in my family what I was considering doing with the life that I now felt that I owed to God. Besides, "I" still wanted what "I" wanted, among them a family of my own. Returning home from this trip thought, I found myself more drawn to prayer and mass. It was this time that I began praying what is know as The Liturgy of the Hours - prayers that priests and deacons vow to pray five times a day! Still though, "I" just would not bring myself to answer God's call of love to me.

Besides being loving, God is also patient with us! I continued on with my work and then returned to Italy again in the spring of 1997. By this time in my life God's call to me was coming through loud and clear, but I was still refusing to answer the call. I visited Rome again and on this trip went up to the little town of Assisi. What touched me most here was seeing the faith of the people who were venerating the tomb of St. Francis. I now think to myself that God allowed me to witness the faith of these people so that He could draw me to answer His call to serve Him and His people - these people! From this point forward all I could think of was the tremendous gift of love that God was offering to me. I finally realized that although a sinner, all of my sins were no more than a drop of water in the ocean of God's love and mercy for me. I also came to know that whatever love that I could offer to God and His people would never come to be more than the meagerness of offerings for all of the love that He has bestowed on me throughout my life. And that is all that I am looking to do, to return to God a little bit of the infinite love that he has shown me. I am always a little saddened by those who say that they do not believe in God. If they would just look around and consider all of the beauty of His creation, of His gifts of family and friends, of His Church, of His Son!

Two new priests arrived at St. Kevin's Parish during the summer of 1997, Fr. Robert Hawkins and Fr. Francis O'Hara - the priest who had baptized me and had been at my confirmation years before. These two men are living examples of what the priest should be, caring, compassionate - proving their love for God through their actions of love and service to neighbor. So after seven years of refusing to answer God's call I could finally resist no long. I entered Our Lady of Providence Seminary in the fall of 1998 and found another priestly example in my Vocation Director, Fr. Albert Kenney. Fr. Kenney has assisted me with great and small things along the way these past six years and I will be forever grateful for all that he has done for me. After spending two years at Our Lady of Providence Seminary I was assigned to study at the North American College in the year 2000. All that I can say is that I would not trade the last six years for anything. The years in Rome have opened my eyes to the universality of God's Church. I have had the opportunity of coming to know people from all over the world and now have Italian friends who have shown me so much kindness and love that I will never forget them and their families. These people have been one of the greatest gifts that God has given me during my time in Rome and I love them and pray for them as I love and pray for my own family.

I was ordained to the Transitional Diaconate on June 30, 2003 at St. Kevin's Church in Warwick and the young priest who had performed my baptism and had been present at my confirmation was there. He had now presided over and been present for the three sacraments that will have left an indelible mark on my soul - Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders! It has been six years since I entered the Seminary and begun studying for the priesthood and now I am almost finished, but I will never be finished in coming to a greater knowledge and love of God. That is something that not just priests but all of us are called to!

God willing I will be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Providence on Saturday, June 26, 2004 and one of the things that I am most looking forward to is having that now not so young priest who baptized me and who was present at my confirmation and ordination to the transitional Diaconate act as my vesting priest. I have been told that priests consider it an honor to be asked to act as the vesting priest for someone being ordained to the priesthood, but on that day the honor will be mine. It only seems fitting since both he and Fr. Hawkins are the priests that have provided me with the example of priestly service that I would like to imitate. I only hope and pray that God will give me the grace to be half the priest that they are.

"The first commandment of all is, 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second is like it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' There is no other commandment great than these."

I have received the love of God, of my family, of friends, of supportive priests throughout my life. These are the people who have had the greatest influence on me and if anyone asks what leads to vocations to the priesthood and religious life thy have no further to look than here. In closing all that I can say is echoed in the words of Jesus to "Love one another as I have loved you." This is the reason why I have finally chosen to answer God's call-Love of God and Love of neighbor.