Three men ordained to serve Catholics

Rev. Thomas Lawless' remark about his vocation sums up those of his two fellow "class of 2007" priests: "The call came late, but it hit hard."

On June 9 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard ordained three new priests for the Albany Diocese: Revs. Michael Cambi, Paul Catena and Thomas Lawless.

Similar in age, enthusiasm for exercise and enjoyment of the New York Yankees (much to the disappointment of their Mets-fan Bishop), the trio also tell nearly matching stories about their paths to the priesthood.

REV. MICHAEL CAMBI

A native of Westchester County, Father Cambi, 39, emphasized that priesthood was "not something I saw myself doing, growing up," but something "the Lord got me thinking about."

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he spent 11 years as an engineer in Ohio and Florida, then at General Electric in Schenectady.

Then came "the call."

Emotions at Mass

"It happened within a few months of moving to Albany" in 1998, he recalled: At Mass at Christ the King parish in Westmere, he would suddenly become emotional for no apparent reason.

The music sung at Mass would make him well up with tears, or he'd see a family with children and think, "That's not something I'll have in my life."

"I knew something was going on," Father Cambi told The Evangelist. "God was gently massaging my heart, drawing it toward Him."

At first, he didn't tell anyone he was considering the priesthood. When he did, he found that friends and family weren't as surprised as he expected them to be.

"They respected me enough to trust I knew what was best for me," he explained.

Major change

Entering the seminary as a "second-career priest" was a major transition for him.

From being a single professional with money in the bank who had been dating and deciding how to spend his free time, he went to living in a dorm full of strangers at the Theological College of The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., and taking "brutal" coursework in theology.

"There was a lot of stress," Father Cambi remembered, but "I never once considered not going through with it. I was committed to giving it a couple of years -- and when I got to my first summer [parish] assignment, that's when the affirmation started coming in."

As a seminarian, he served at Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Latham, St. James in Albany, Holy Trinity in Johnstown and St. James in Chatham. He also completed the clinical-pastoral education (CPE) program at Yale, which sparked an interest in working with people dealing with illness.

Crisis moment

Father Cambi recounted one experience that's never far from his mind: being at the bedside of a 12-year-old boy who was dying of cancer.

Watching his final hours was "heart-wrenching," but then Father Cambi saw him "at peace. His suffering had stopped, finally."

The family's reaction moved the future priest: "I was ministering to these people, but also being touched and healed by them and their faith."

Homilies

In the seminary and parishes, Father Cambi discovered a talent for preaching. As he prepared for his ordination, he anticipated celebrating Masses in his first parish assignment.

"I'm not really that anxious," he added. "I'm looking forward to living the life I've been preparing for for the last six or seven years!"

Having followed his call to the priesthood, Father Cambi believes that "I've done my part with trying to live the plan God had in mind when He created me."

Now, he's eager to "do whatever I can to help people be connected with the Church, drawn into deeper communion with God."

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REV. PAUL CATENA

Journalism, teaching and politics were all stops along Rev. Paul Catena's meandering career path, but he's grateful to have found his final destination as a parish priest.

"I have a lot in common with Michael and Jim," he noted, referring to the vocation stories of Father Cambi and Rev. James Walsh of the diocesan Vocations Team. "I worked; I dated; I wanted to be married -- yet I had this other thing going on."

An Amsterdam native who's now 41, Father Catena was the sixth of seven children in an Italian family from St. Michael's parish.

Headed to marriage

Without a specific career plan in mind, he attended the University of New Hampshire, majoring in political science and international relations.

He spent his junior year in Italy, later returning there to do post-graduate work at the University of Padua. He also met an Italian girl and got engaged, figuring that marriage was his real calling and any career he chose was simply a way to support a family.

During periods back home in the Albany Diocese, Father Catena worked as a substitute teacher for eighth-graders in Amsterdam, then as a journalist for the Amsterdam Recorder. Neither job seemed like the career he was looking for; and when he entered a five-year doctoral degree program through New York University, that didn't quite fit, either.

Changes

Father Catena ended up working for the New York State Senate, where he held three different positions for state senators between 1996 and 2001, all focusing on family and social services issues.

Having broken off his engagement during that time, he recalled that "I liked working in politics, and I was dating a lot, but things weren't working out for whatever reason."

Neither jobs nor relationships were bringing the fulfillment he sought.

Trying out God

The priest said of those days, "I started thinking, 'Maybe God does have another plan.' Then my sister-in-law saw an announcement of a discernment day by the [diocesan] Vocations Office. I told her, 'I'm really not that interested,' but I relented."

Hearing then-seminarian Michael Cambi talk about discerning a vocation to the priesthood struck Father Catena as amazing: "He doesn't have it figured out, and he's going to the seminary!"

He realized that it might be a good idea to put as much effort into looking into the priesthood as he'd spent dating.

"I had to give God a chance," he said simply.

Decision

Father Catena entered St. Mary's Seminary in Maryland in 2001, but it took another four years for him to become sure of his vocation. He remembers the exact date when his decision was made: May 3, 2005.

"I was talking to Father [John] Malecki [a counselor and priest of the Albany Diocese], and I said, 'You know, I guess I'm ready to sign on the dotted line -- to commit to the priesthood," he recalled. "It just came out -- and I left with an amazing sense of peace, as if the world was lifted from my shoulders. I was so grateful to God."

In his seminary days, Father Catena served at the "North Country cluster" of parishes (St. John the Baptist in Chestertown, Blessed Sacrament in Hague and St. James in North Creek), St. Henry's in Averill Park, St. James in Albany and St. Mary's in Ballston Spa, and completed a CPE course through Albany Medical Center.

Ministry choices

Father Catena likes the idea of ministry with newly married couples who need support and with youth who need role models in "people who practice the faith and are normal people! And, from youth, we have potential vocations."

But the new priest is just as enthusiastic about other types of ministry, as well.

"Pastoral care, religious education -- there's so much I'd love to be able to do!" he remarked. "I like getting to know people."

Father Catena takes comfort in his new title: "I gave up biological fatherhood, but not spiritual fatherhood. 'Father' is a relational term. I want to be a good 'Father' -- and I'm excited to get started."

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REV. THOMAS LAWLESS

Rev. Thomas Lawless finds it ironic that financial concerns delayed his vocation a bit.

Seminarians, he noted, often have to worry about paying off cars and college loans before they can commit to a vocation that won't provide the salary of a secular career.

Finances are something the 43-year-old new priest knows a lot about: His previous career was doing reimbursement accounting for Saratoga Hospital.

Work life

The youngest of five children raised in Saugerties, Father Lawless remembered boys in his childhood discussing the priesthood, but it wasn't something he'd really considered for himself.

Instead, he attended SUNY-Cobleskill and Siena College in Loudonville and went right into accounting. It wasn't until he heard Rev. Anthony Maione, a priest of the Albany Diocese who passed away last year, give a talk on vocations that "it hit me: 'That could have been a great life.'"

He mistakenly thought it was too late. "I was 33 or 34, and I thought everybody went in[to the seminary] right out of college," he said.

Second career

After reading stories of "second-career vocations" in The Evangelist, he started to realize that the priesthood was still possible for him and to seriously consider that path.

"I wasn't sure who to talk to about it," he admitted, but then he was approached in 2001 by Father Maione, who had planned to ask him to think about a vocation.

Father Maione immediately put him in touch with the Vocations Team, who were starting their first support group for men discerning a call to the priesthood.

On his way

"Everything fell into place," Father Lawless remarked. "I don't think the desire has ever been less from that time on."

Until he actually entered CUA's Theological College in Washington, he didn't tell anyone about his choice.

"I thought I was going to catch a lot of flak," he admitted, "but it was amazing how supportive and excited people have been about this!"

'Small-town' guy

Although he joked that seminary courses in philosophy "almost killed me," Father Lawless enjoyed being around other men who had the same goal.

When he wasn't at school, he served at Holy Trinity parish in Johnstown, Our Lady of Victory in Troy, St. Henry's in Averill Park and St. Mary's in Glens Falls.

"I tend to be a small-town person," he pointed out. "I enjoy the connections you make in that setting -- when everybody knows everything [about one another]. That's normal for me!"

Waking up ordained

For that reason, he said he wouldn't mind a parish assignment on the outskirts of the Diocese.

But every parish he's served so far, regardless of location, "has reinforced the fact that I like working with people," he said. "The parishioners have just been great and supportive of me. Hopefully, I've been supportive of them; you go into this hoping you can bring God alive for people."

As much as he anticipated his ordination, Father Lawless really looked forward to the days after the big event.

"I can't wait until June 11," he enthused. "When I wake up, I'll be ordained, a priest in the trenches!"

FUTURE

Concern, hope and faith at start of ministry

The new priests all expressed concerns for the Church they were just ordained to serve, but great hope for its future and faith in God's plan.

Having entered the seminary just as the abuse crisis was hitting the Boston Archdiocese, the new priests have spent their entire formation dealing with the effects of that scandal.

"Most seminarians have been emboldened, because they realize 'the Church needs me now more than ever,'" Rev. Paul Catena remarked.

He believes that newly ordained priests look at those who have been removed from ministry and say, "There are some bad apples, but they're not me and I'm not them."

Parish family

"Regardless of crises, the Church is going to survive," affirmed Rev. Michael Cambi. "I have faith that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church."

What concerns him more is the decreasing number of priests available to serve in parishes.

As a celibate person, he said, "the parish is going to be like my family." But, if there's a shortage of priests, he will be stretched thin among several parishes, and that family relationship will be weakened.

Time of change

Rev. Thomas Lawless compared being ordained today to entering the priesthood during Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

With the "Called to be Church" process underway in the Albany Diocese, he explained, "we don't know what the Church is going to look like five years from now. I have to trust that the Spirit is leading us so we can continue to do the work we hope to do."

Father Catena is encouraged by the caliber of his classmates, and of the other seminarians and discerners in the Diocese. He said that Jesus promised to provide for the Church, and "how can I doubt that?"

Besides, he noted with humor, "the early Church started with the 12 Apostles, and they evangelized the world. We're just going to have to do it again." (KB)

(6/14/07)