BY BRIAN J. LOWNEY, Acting Editor
PROVIDENCE — As Deacon Andrew Messina prepares for his ordination to the priesthood on Saturday, there is a fire burning in his heart.
“I have a great desire to help people grow in their faith and holiness,” he said in a recent interview. “I want to be that person of Christ, to bring my brothers and sisters closer to Christ.”
Deacon Messina, 54, admitted that while he had considered the priesthood for many years before making an application to the diocese and entering Blessed John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Mass., four years ago, he was uncertain of his vocation.
“The Lord took me by the hand,” he recalled. “I wasn’t sure to go forward for not. If the vocation office wanted me, I’d go forward. If not, I’d still have my answer.”
Deacon Messina, a native of Belleville, N.J., received a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Penn., and a master of science degree from Iona College, New Rochelle, N.Y. He was employed as an electrical and software engineer and project manager for many years, including a stint at CBS in New York City where he worked “behind the scenes” on computer-based automation projects.
The ordinand recalled that the desire to be closer to family members led him and his mother Dorothy to move to Rhode Island in 2001. His brother Charles, a lawyer, had moved to the area to attend graduate school at Brown University, married, started a family and settled in the Ocean State.
“I love the water,” Deacon Messina revealed. “That certainly was a part of the attraction.”
The deacon remembered that he had began to discern his priestly vocation while working in New York during the 1990s, but wasn’t ready to take action.
“The call to the priesthood had already occurred, but I wasn’t ready to go ahead,” Deacon Messina noted.
He began to seriously question God’s call in 1998 while attending Mass one day at St. Paul the Apostle Church in Manhattan, and witnessing the wonderful example of the celebrate who drew the congregation closer to Jesus Christ.
Deacon Messina said that while he had those thoughts for about two months, he eventually settled back into his routine.
“Then reality struck,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘Why rock the boat?’”
Deacon Messina said it took seven years to make the application to enter the seminary, and wanted to serve in Rhode Island, his new chosen home.
Deacon Messina attended Blessed John XXIII National Seminary, whose program is designed specifically for second-career candidates for the priesthood. According to the deacon, the average age of the seminarians is mid-to-late 40s.
Prior to entering the seminary, the men enjoyed a verity of professions including law, education, engineering and lay ministry. Some are widowed parents and grandparents.
“Most have lived on their own,” Deacon Messina said. “Now we were a community of 60 men.”
He described the academic program at the seminary as “very different,” noting that courses required a great deal of reading and papers, whereas his previous studies focused on technology and “hands-on” applications.
Deacon Messina, who attended the Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University, Omaha, Neb., during the summer of 2006, is a member of St. Peter Church, Warwick.
“ I have this great love of music,” he revealed, adding that he plays the piano, organ and guitar, and also dabbles as “amateur composer. The deacon enjoys classical, pop and jazz.
“Music is a great outlet,” the deacon noted. “It puts you somewhere else.”
Deacon Messina added that spiritual music is conducive to prayer.
The ordinand also enjoys tinkering as a ham radio operator, an interest encouraged by his late father Dominic, who died in 1979.
“It’s a fun hobby,” Deacon Messina observed, adding that he talks to people all over the world.
After his ordination, the deacon said he’d sign in under a new name — Father Andrew.
“It’s another aspect of ministry,” he said. “Will that help people to think about their relationship with Christ?”
Father Messina will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday at 11 a.m. at St. Peter Church, 350 Fair Street, Warwick.
A reception will follow in the church hall.
