A message from Father Joe

Please allow me to introduce myself…

Here’s a word or two about me, your new pastor, whom Cardinal Sean has sent here to the parish of Saint Nicholas to serve you, the people of God in the Nashoba Valley.  My name is Fr. Joe D’Onofrio and I have been ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ for eighteen years.  I lived in Cohasset from the time I was two until I entered the seminary at the age of 34.  After Ordination in 2005, I was sent to the people of Saint Agnes in Arlington then to the people of Saint Patrick in Watertown then to the people of three parishes in Quincy now known as the Parish of Divine Mercy and then to the people of two parishes in Methuen, Saint Lucy and Saint Monica.  By way of overview, it has occurred to me that my life choices can be summed up in the words of Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken.”  The last lines of the poem seem to express the way I have made decisions in my life:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I ----
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

Of course, it’s only possible to see such things in hindsight but perhaps a few examples will highlight what I mean.  

On Wednesday evenings, I began to attend something called Eucharistic Adoration when a friend invited me.  Fortunately, it was conveniently located at Saint Anthony’s [God works in what?  Mysterious Ways as I return, in a sense, to Saint Anthony] in Cohasset and I had been a Sunday Catholic all of my life.  But I was 31 years old at the time and I had no idea what adoration was.  Well, during that first holy hour, I couldn’t sit still and all kinds of spiritual junk kept churning around in my gut AKA conscience.  I had just discovered what a conscience makes us feel like when something is wrong.  I knew I had to go to confession!  That night!  I waited for about an hour as the 78 year old priest, Father Peter Shakalis, may he rest in peace, heard confessions of all the other people who wished to go after the Holy Hour.  After my confession, I started going to the Holy Hour every week.  There’s one decision on the road less traveled.  How many thirty-somethings go to Holy Hours?  Another such decision involved going to confession every week and tackling some of the sin in my life.  “Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more” - Saint Augustine.  With sin forgiven and grace abounding, the vocation to priesthood began to crystalize but I didn’t know to what form I might be called.  I decided to step back from a paying job so that I could volunteer and discern full-time.  There’s a road most people won’t take and quite frankly I wouldn’t counsel someone to do it unless they really understood the risks and possible disappointments.

During this time of discernment, I volunteered on the RCIA team at Saint Anthony’s Parish in Cohasset.  There’s a road less traveled!  Wouldn’t a young guy rather be out having fun in the culture?  Well, the RCIA team experience allowed me to share my faith and to hear others share their faith.  It was different than going to mass because it was much more personal.  I think I may have met the Holy Spirit again after a long time of not knowing how the Holy Spirit is active in our lives.

Throughout this period, I continued to attend Eucharistic Adoration and Holy Confession every week.  Father Peter prayed the Rosary and gave a little homily every week.  There was Our Lady leading us to Her Divine Son and there I was discovering the depth of the Catholic faith for what seemed the very first time.  In my 30s!  Talk about a road less traveled!  I wonder what effect might occur in the culture or even just among Catholics if more and more of us really understand Jesus’ real and abiding Presence in the Eucharist.  God is with us!  I really and truly believe that God drew me to the priesthood through His abiding Presence in the Eucharist.  I am still amazed that God waits for me to say the words of Consecration.  Making Him present in the Eucharist continues to be my greatest joy and the center of the life of the priest.  

Every truly good thing in life comes from Our Lord Jesus Christ, from the altar at Holy Mass as from the Altar of the Cross.  

God bless you in this beautiful season of Easter Joy, 

Fr. Joe D’Onofrio