There are a lot of important positions in the Diocese of Worcester, and, as director of the Office for Vocations, Father Donato Infante III certainly has one of them.
“Basically, we recruit and train the next generation of priests,” Father Infante said.
The office plays a crucial role because too few young men are interested in becoming priests.
“It’s challenging, but it’s very rewarding,” Father Infante said, “and it’s a lot of fun, in fact, because the people who do contact me, they’re at the point where they’re open to what God is doing in their heart, in their life, and they’re zealous. They’re asking, ‘How am I supposed to serve God?’ So it gives me a lot of hope to work with these young men and sometimes older men, too.”
The diocese didn’t ordain any priests last year, but four are scheduled to be ordained this year, two in May and two in June.
Father Infante became the director of vocations in July 2019 and last year he walked five men through the application process. It usually takes six years to become a priest.
“Vocations come from healthy parishes,” he said. “We have excellent priests in our diocese. They are the ones who are inspiring men principally and then they reach out to me. Is my role important? Yes. But so is the role of all of our priests.”
When Father Infante attended Algonquin Regional High School, he contacted Msgr. Thomas J. Sullivan, then the vocations director, for advice. When Father Infante attended Boston College, Msgr. Sullivan’s successor as vocations director, Father James S. Mazzone, met with him.
“His encouragement, guidance and the advice he had given me were all very helpful in explaining to me what the process was and what seminary was like,” Father Infante said.
Father Infante said a few people give directly to his office, but “99 percent of my funding comes from Partners in Charity.”
The funds allow Father Infante to provide such resources as books and retreats to the men who contact his office. At retreats, the men hear from seminarians, priests and Bishop McManus. The office also provides formation, education and health insurance for seminarians.
“If we want priests for the next generation,” Father Infante said, “if we want them to have good formation, if we want to be able to send them to seminaries that can provide the best formation for them, we need people to support Partners in Charity. We are providing the legacy of the next generation of priests.”
Father Infante and Father Hugo Cano serve as co-directors of the Holy Name of Jesus House of Studies, which houses seminarians who study at Assumption University and international seminarians who study English at Worcester State University.
Prior to the pandemic, the vocations office held dinners, Masses and question-and-answer sessions each month for those interested in the priesthood. During the pandemic, Father Infante has met one-on-one with men outside of coffee shops instead of inside them.
In March, 24 young men from the diocese attended the annual vocation retreat that was conducted in a socially distanced manner at the church and hall of North American Martyrs Parish in Auburn.
After the pandemic ends, Father Infante hopes to conduct events for all men, not limited to those interested in becoming priests. He’d like to hold a three- or four-day overnight summer program pondering such questions as,“What does it mean to be a Christian gentleman today?”
Michael Hoye, a 27-year-old Sutton native, is scheduled to be ordained a priest in June 2022. The seminarian is a big believer in the vocations office.
“Whether they become priests or not,” he said, “the fact that they come closer to God is the first priority.”
Mr. Hoye wonders if more young men would enter the priesthood if they had a better understanding of what faith was all about.
“There’s a lot of distraction from social media,” he said, “and there’s not enough silence in the culture. Without silence or quiet reflection, how can you hear the voice of God when he speaks to our hearts?”
At Holy Name Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School, math teacher Greg Marcotte, music teacher Joseph Burke and psychology teacher Wendy Yakstis inspired Mr. Hoye to consider the priesthood.
“They showed me what faith looked like on a daily basis,” he said. “Their own love for Christ, you couldn’t miss that. It wasn’t just another discipline, it was their actual life. So that’s what sparked my own faith.”
As a senior at Holy Name, he began to consider priesthood even more seriously after attending a vocation retreat conducted by Father Mazzone.
After graduating from Assumption, he studied philosophy at the Theological College in Washington, D.C., and then attended the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Now he’s spending a pastoral year at St. Mary Church in Uxbridge before he returns to Rome for two years. He teaches elementary school gym at Our Lady of the Valley Regional School and adult faith education programs at St. Mary parish hall.
Hoye believes he’s heading on the right path and he appreciates the guidance from the vocations office.
“They certainly were able to offer me the right resources,” he said, “in order to pursue that desire to become a priest so I didn’t have any doubts about what I was getting into.”