Deacon John Paul Tomassi’s Vocation Story
June 4, 2023
Dear Friends,
Many of you know me, or at least know me from a distance and have been supporting me as I journey through seminary. So, to start off: thank you for this support, and especially all of the prayers that have helped me along.
My seminary formation began ten years ago, but God began preparing me to respond to a priestly vocation long before that. Born the fourth of five in an Irish-Italian Catholic family in the Portland area, I knew from a young age that God could call me to be a priest – or, as I might have said it, I knew that I could be a priest when I grew up. So on and off in childhood, I wanted to be a priest.
I suppose that this was just part of the Catholic world that I was raised in. While certainly not perfect, my family practiced the faith fervently; better yet, we celebrated the faith vibrantly, especially at Christmas and Easter. The joy and mirth of these very Catholic celebrations became for me an experience of the joy of the Risen Christ. Within that context, the priesthood was admired and respected. The Dominican priests at the parish we attended (Holy Rosary, Portland) were warm and kind to me, and I looked up to them a lot.
After my family's move to Camas, I learned to altar serve in a few different parishes, including Holy Redeemer. For a few quiet years in middle school, I attended daily Mass here with my mom, and I would altar serve (whether I wanted to or not). This was a blessed time, in which nothing remarkable happened, but I gradually grew more familiar with the Mass and the priest's daily offering of it.
In High School, I attended Quo Vadis Days each year, and this provided me the space to check in about my childhood desire to be a priest. Was this just a childhood dream like my others – most significantly to be a fighter pilot? In fact, even as the thought of being a pilot subsided, I kept coming back to this sense that God had placed the priesthood on my heart for a reason. At times, the thought brought me some distress; but in prayer I noticed that it brought me peace. So eventually I applied to college seminary and was accepted.
One thing I dislike about writing my "vocation story" is that it often feels like a story leading to a single moment ten years ago when I entered seminary. Of course, that's not the case at all. Some of the most important discernment has occurred while I've been in seminary. Particularly impactful were various formation opportunities, like attending a summer intensive run by the Institute for Priestly Formation, a summer of chaplaincy work, and two full years serving different parishes. God also worked through the struggle of eight years of schooling, which were not easy for me to get through – and I can even say I learned a thing or two!
Over and over again, I've come face to face with my need to depend on His help to get me through whatever difficulty I'm in. I continue to pray for the grace of this disposition of abandonment to His will, and I ask that you join me in this prayer.
Again, thank you all very much for the prayer and support over the years. I could never have earned the love you have shown me, and I doubt that I could ever repay it. But may God reward you!
In Christ,
Deacon John Paul Tomassi
~ Or, as of about 11am on June 3rd ~
Father John Paul Tomassi
