KENNEBUNK---“In response to the Lord’s call, do you resolve to complete your preparation so that in due time through Holy Orders you will be prepared to assume ministry within the Church?” asked Bishop Robert P. Deeley.
 
“I do,” responded Anthony Cipolle.
 
Family, friends, clergy, and fellow seminarians gathered at St. Anthony Monastery in Kennebunk on Saturday, June 4, to watch Anthony Cipolle, a seminarian of the Diocese of Portland, take an important step in his vocation journey: the Rite of Candidacy, in which he openly expressed his desire to be accepted as a candidate for the priesthood.
 
During the rite, Cipolle, who has completed three years of theological study and one year of pastoral ministry at Pope Saint John XXIII Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, also promised to prepare himself in mind and spirit to give faithful service to “Christ the Lord and his Body, the Church.”
 
“Anthony has been devoted in his preparation,” said Bishop Deeley during the Mass. “This has taken place in the many ways in which he has engaged himself in the formation program. Grounding the academic and pastoral formation is the nurturing of a deepening spiritual awareness of the fact that the vocation which is his is not just a wish to do good, but a response to a call from God to use his human gifts and talents for the service of continuing the mission of Jesus. We are thankful that Anthony has responded so generously to this call.”
 
“I’m very grateful. The Lord has brought me this far,” said Cipolle. “A professor at the seminary, Fr. Hoppough, likens this to if Holy Orders is a wedding, this is the engagement. We both make a public statement of our intentions to move forward. It intensifies our commitment to each other.”
 
Cipolle is a native of East Boston but grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts. He enjoyed success in the automotive field as a consultant and sales manager before moving to Chicago where he established a plumbing company.
 
After selling the company and moving back to Boston, he formed a connection with Fr. John Kilmartin, who served at Madonna Queen of the Universe Shrine in East Boston. Cipolle began to study the Bible, started spiritual direction, and earned a catechetical certificate from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton.
 
Cipolle then applied for and gained admittance to Boston College. During this time, Fr. Kilmartin, whom Cipolle calls “his mentor,” passed away.
 
“We were at his funeral and one of the parishioners, who was in a faith-sharing group with me, came up after the Mass and told me that she knew that I was supposed to become a priest,” said Cipolle. “When someone else told me that they were sure I was supposed to be a priest, that’s when I knew. That was it.”
 
Cipolle continued his studies at Boston College, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, but decided that he could not discern priesthood any further without entering the seminary.
 
His next step was to tell his family, a support system that could not have stood stronger. A group that included his son, Mark.
 
“When he told me he was entering the seminary, I wasn’t really surprised because he had been very much a part of the church in East Boston for some time,” said Mark, who sat immediately behind his dad on Saturday. “I thought it was amazing. I’m incredibly proud that my dad is doing this.”
 
Sitting next to Cipolle during the Mass was his 90-year-old mother, Louise.
 
“I am very happy. I really am,” she said as her eyes welled with tears. “I wish my folks were here. It’s wonderful.”
 
In September, Cipolle will return to Pope Saint John XXIII for his fourth year of theological studies. He is inspired by and thankful for his friendships with Fr. Edward Clifford, Fr. Steven Cartwright, and Fr. Matthew Gregory, once all fellow seminarians of the Diocese of Portland who have been recently ordained.
 
And Cipolle never forgets the parishioner who opened his eyes to a greater vocation. A call can come in many forms, something Bishop Deeley spoke about during his homily. In the assembly on Saturday were several Catholic men who had attended a day of prayer and discernment at the monastery that was sponsored by the diocese’s Office of Vocations.
 
“As you discern God’s will for you, you do not do that alone. When we talk of vocation, we talk of God. God works through the Church, the community established by Jesus to continue his ministry on Earth. The call today comes from inquiring, questioning, praying, listening, and listening to what others might say to you. What others might see in your life, perhaps you can’t see.”
 
On Saturday, those who had gathered to seek a deeper understanding of the priesthood were able to see the potential fruits of that discernment on full display.
 
“The Church accepts your resolve with joy,” the bishop said to Cipolle during the rite. “May God who has begun the good work in you bring it to fulfillment.”