Scott J. Carpentier
Meet our Seminarians / Scott J. Carpentier
At first I was hesitant to attend the SEARCH for Maturity, a retreat held at the Fr. Marot CYO Center, at the end of my freshman year in High School. I thought it was going to be another High School clique just in a religious atmosphere. Though I had social reservation I am very thankful to God that I attended the retreat with the encouragement of the rectors, one being a cousin.
At SEARCH, I met God in a personal way. The presentations, prayer, conferences, retreat team and staff, all of which centered around the sacraments, brought me into a personal experience of God in my life. This experience changed my world view. Before this experience, I responded to the world as a timid, shy and fearful teenager. After this experience I lived with a new understanding of who I was before God and in relation with others and the world. God brought much freedom in my life and a true commitment to live for Christ, in whom I have been baptized. Our Heavenly Father gives us every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). Another grace during the retreat was to hear, in my heart, the Lord call me and invite me to follow Him. Follow Him where? To His priesthood.
Through the rest of High School and continuing through my college years I journeyed with Christ, family, friends and spiritual directors and vocation directors to grow deeper in discerning God’s call to serve Him as a priest. Much prayer, study support from family and friends, even strangers have offered their support and prayers as I journey towards the ministerial priesthood. God has continued to confirm His call to discern the priesthood and I pray that He will continue to form and transform my life from the inside out to serve Him and His Church
Saying, “Yes” was the first step in experiencing God in a powerful way. Saying “Yes” was the reply from my own heart and mind, my whole being, to the invitation of the love our God has for us through His Son, Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit. God filled my whole being.
Scott Carpentier
St. John’s Seminary
Brighton, MA