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Ordinandi 2008 Biographies Kevin Belgrave - From theatre to God's Stage
From theatre to God's Stage For Kevin Belgrave, the future looked bright. A young man studying at Ryerson University’s theatre school, he looked forward to a career working backstage on Broadway. But God had other plans. “I began to experience what started as a simple unease, but grew into a deep unhappiness,” he explained at the 2008 Ordinandi Dinner held in Toronto. Something was missing from his life. In third year at Ryerson, he left his studies and headed to Quebec to study French. It was there that he began to realize “just how selfish my life had been up to that point.” After going to his first Confession in 11 years, he began to think about the priesthood. In 2002, he entered St. Augustine’s Seminary and will be ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Toronto on May 10. Now 31, Belgrave said he now sees that “God is love.” :: top of page
Resistance futile for ordinandi God called Edward Curtis at a young age. He remembers hearing the whispers as early as Grade 3. But becoming a priest was the last thing he wanted to do. Through high school and university he felt the same way. But he kept resisting. “God was kind of like that girlfriend who keeps calling — and never taking the hint,” he told those gathered at the 2008 Ordinandi Dinner in early March. But eventually Curtis became tired of running from God and being restless. When he finally resigned himself to accepting God’s call, “my whole life changed almost in an instant.” “I fell in love with God in that moment,” he explained. “God was relentless and He found me even when I didn’t want to be found.” Curtis spent some time at Serra House to discern God’s will before entering the seminary. :: top of page
Canadian winters didn't deter ordinandi When Francisco Fernandez arrived from Spain a few years ago to begin seminary studies here, and landed at Pearson International Airport, he began to wonder whether the Lord had made a mistake. It was a blistering cold winter day and Toronto was in the midst of a huge snowstorm. It was nothing like his homeland. This spring, however, at age 34, Fernandez speaks English easily and is ready to be ordained to the priesthood. He’s a long way from his days as a rebellious youth whose father had died when the young boy was 12. And he’s a little more used to Canadian winters. Fernandez traces his journey to the priesthood back to his teen years. At age 19 he was invited to join a Neocatechumenal Way community, a Catholic lay movement founded in 1964 by the Spanish painter Francisco (Kiko) Argüello to help form Christian adults. “I experienced the love of God” for the first time, Fernandez said at a recent Ordinandi Dinner. Suddenly everything in his life changed, his relations with his family improved and faith was a serious part of his life. Back home in Spain, he continued his faith formation, eventually asking to be allowed by the Neocatechumenal Way to study for the priesthood. His supervisors in the group sent him to Canada. In 1999 he entered the Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary housed at St. Augustine’s. He will be ordained to the Archdiocese of Toronto on May 10. :: top of page
A late call answered Alan Glass seemed to have it all: A satisfying career as a structural design engineer with an international consulting firm. A doctorate from Carleton University. A good parish life in Oakville, Ont. But one question kept nagging him: Should he have become a priest instead? “One might say I had a great sense of regretting that I had missed my vocation,” Glass told the audience at the recent Ordinandi Dinner. The Montreal native believed the seed for a priestly vocation was planted when he was in Grade 2. His teacher had a wonderful sense of faith and love for her students. The seed lay dormant for many years, but suddenly started to germinate when he was hitting middle age. Something began to kindle inside when he got involved with the Bible study group at St. Andrew parish in Oakville, where he was also an instructor in the catechism program. “I talked to a priest and asked: ‘Am I crazy or did I miss my chance.’ ” The answer was no and no. :: top of page
Role models led to priestly call Joseph Gorman had many role models that led him to the priesthood. His parents — “the first teachers of my faith” — brothers and sisters, teachers and others. He particularly remembers with great fondness one priest: Fr. Bill Scanlon of the archdiocese of Toronto. Here was a man he wanted to emulate. Over the years, Gorman had a normal life, full of the joys of growing up in Toronto as a good student and athlete. He played hockey, went skiing, worked as director of the former Columbus Boys Camp and was quarterback of the York University football team. But, in the end, it all came back to an irresistible call to the priesthood. This call started when he was in Grade 2 and never went away. Seminary studies began in 2002. Now, at age 31, he will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Toronto on May 10 at St. Michael’s Cathedral. :: top of page
More than a dinner call Donatello Iocco had an on-again, off-again relationship with the idea of becoming a priest. He thought it was a good idea, but just wasn’t sure if God was calling him. Then an Ordinandi Dinner in 2003 did the trick. As he sat listening to stories of other men who were about to become priests, about their own calling and response, he had the remarkable feeling that these guys were talking to him personally. “That night my life changed forever,” he said at this year’s recent Ordinandi Dinner. “God, He was really calling me to the priesthood and He did it through this event.” That fall Iocco entered the seminary. The decision was proceeded by a long spiritual journey. “I began to hear Christ calling me from the cross,” he said. He decided to go to Serra House, a residence for men discerning whether they should enter the priesthood. But then came the Ordinandi Dinner and the rest is history. Iocco, 35, will be ordained to the Archdiocese of Toronto on May 10 at St. Michael’s Cathedral. :: top of page
Working in God's hands now Damian Christopher Young-Sam-You knows there are more things you can do with your hands than fold them to pray. He was, after all, a licensed mechanic before he decided to become a priest. Born in Guyana, he came to Canada with his family when he was only five years old. Even at an early age he felt the stirrings to become a priest, but he didn’t take this call seriously. “It was on a cold December night in 2000 that I felt this longing in my heart,” he told the audience at the recent Ordinandi Dinner. He decided to go to Serra House, a residence for men discerning the priesthood, and “it was there that my transfiguration began,” he said. In 2003 he entered St. Augustine’s Seminary. Now 33, Young-Sam-You will become a priest of the Archdiocese of Toronto on May 10 at St. Michael’s Cathedral. :: top of page
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