‘TRUST IN GOD’

Alessio Fasullo set to be ordained a transitional deacon

Seminarian Alessio Fasullo is set to be ordained a transitional deacon on May 16 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany. (Photo provided)

Alessio Fasullo first thought about a vocation to the priesthood during his confirmation in the 11th grade at the Parish of Mater Christi in Albany.

“People (including his confirmation sponsor MaryGrace Dansereau) had been talking about it for quite a while, and it was then that it first occurred to me that I might have a calling,” he said. “Like a lot of high school students, I pushed it back. I was interested in other things.”

After graduating from Albany High School, he then attended Hudson Valley Community College and the University at Albany where he majored in anthropology and minored in journalism. The calling remained, but was “way, way, way on the backburner for a number of years.” 

While it might have been on the backburner, Fasullo became involved with the Interfaith Center and the Newman Catholic Association as both an undergraduate and later as a graduate student at UAlbany. 

“As a graduate student, I was even more involved and as I went on through college I found myself getting more and more involved with the Catholic group on campus and their events,” he said, “and going to Mass and doing service projects with them more than I was studying.”

When his “a-ha” moment came, it was with two friends who weren’t even Catholic.

“I told two of my best friends at the time, neither of whom were Catholic, that I was thinking about the priesthood and I told them because I wanted them to tell me no this is a bad idea,” Fasullo said. “Instead, they both said, ‘That’s a great idea, you should go ahead with it. You are always in church anyways, why not?’ That was a big moment, even people who aren’t Catholic can see it in me so I really should be considering this.” 

On May 16 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at 11 a.m., Fasullo will be ordained a transitional deacon along with Gilbert Kimaro. They will join Deacon Alexander Turpin, who will be ordained to the priesthood, and Timothy Kilpeck, who will be ordained to the permanent diaconate. Fasullo said “he is nervous and excited. … I am ready to serve the Diocese of Albany and the people of God in a new way.”

Fasullo started his journey at the House of Formation in 2019 but didn’t fully apply until 2021. He studied at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Munde­lein Seminary in 2022, was at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., for a year and then went back at Mundelein, which is outside of Chicago. 

Fasullo, who is 30 and has one brother and two sisters, along with his parents, Michael and Cinzia, has enjoyed his time at Mundelein, particularly “the atmosphere of prayer discernment, getting to meet people across the country and from across the world.”

“We have seminarians from everywhere here,” he added. “Getting to know other people who are discerning this call and seeing how global and diverse the church is; it is bigger than myself, my parish or Albany. It is something that is universal.” 

While going through the process in the Diocese of Albany, Fasullo has spent time at the RPI Newman Center, Holy Trinity and St. Michael’s in Cohoes, St. Madeleine, St. Gabriel’s and Our Lady Queen of Peace with Father James Belogi, St. Mary’s Church in Glens Falls with Father Scott VanDerveer, who was his former religion teacher when he was a student at St. Pius X in Loudonville, and with Father Jay Atherton and his parish cluster, most principally Sacred Heart Church in Cairo.

Fasullo, who will be part of the Clinical Pastoral Education/Spiritual Care Education Program at Albany Med this summer before heading back to Mundelein, said he has loved the joys and challenges that come with parish life.

“Just walking with and accompanying people on their faith journey. The past two years, I’ve helped out with OCIA, with people entering the church. That has been a great blessing, being with people who are entering the church,” he said. “They’re looking at the faith with fresh eyes because it is all new to them. They bring up a lot of stuff that I take for granted having been Catholic all of my life; things like the sacraments, the music, the rosary, the saints. They seem to appreciate it a lot more than I do. It has been great.”

And what would he tell someone thinking about a vocation to the priesthood?

“Trust in God and pray because our first vocation is our call to holiness, so it doesn’t matter what your vocation is, if you’re married, clergy or religious, your first vocation is always to holiness,” Fasullo said. “Trust in God and keep up your prayer life. If you are called to the priesthood, God will make it clear to you and God will give you the strength to do it. And if you are called to married life or religious life or another calling, God will make that clear to you too.”