June 10, 2017

Diocese of Springfield welcomes a newly ordained priest, Father Barrent Pease

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

Newly ordained Father Barrent Charles Pease stands with his stepfather, David Wilcox, his mother Roberta Barron and Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski after his ordination, Saturday, June 10 at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD — With great anticipation and after years of preparation, study and prayer, Deacon Barrent Pease became the Diocese of Springfield’s newest priest, Saturday, June 10. Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski was the principal celebrant for the special 11 a.m. Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield, called the Rite of Priestly Ordination.

Father Pease’s vocation story is one of reversion. Like many young people, he had drifted away from his Catholic upbringing. But what unfolded during art class in high school, many would say is nothing short of a miracle.

“I was a 15-year-old sophomore in high school searching for the truth because I felt there was an emptiness in my life. Nothing could fill it, friends couldn’t fill it. Fun activities couldn’t fill it. Stuff couldn’t fill it,” Father Pease told iObserve.

He was also far from God, or so he thought. He said he was baptized Catholic, made his first Communion and then stopped going to church and became angry with God after the deaths of his two grandfathers.

“One of my best friends was talking with a teacher’s aide (in art class). They were discussing matters of religion and what my friend was learning in confirmation class. What was being said I knew was the truth and they were the answers to the questions I had been seeking,” he recalled.

That friend, who was no more than an acquaintance at the time, is now Father Ryan Sliwa, the parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish in Westfield. The teacher offered Sliwa a Bible. He said he had one.

“So I jumped in and said ‘Can I have it?’ I went home that night and I opened it randomly by God’s wisdom to the beginning of the Gospel of John ‘In the beginning was the word, the word was with God the word was God,’” he explained. “That was like someone turned the lights on in a dark room.”

Fourteen years later, Father Pease was ordained, surrounded by family, friends, deacons and fellow priests.

“I’m very excited. Mainly I’m excited to be serving the people of God as another Christ, to make present in time the paschal mystery of Christ and to make his mercy present in the sacrament of reconciliation and the anointing of the sick,” Father Pease said after the Mass.

One of five children, Father Pease grew up in Montgomery. He was born Dec. 17, 1987 to David Pease and Roberta Barron in Springfield. His home parish is Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in Westfield, where he was baptized.  He has one brother and three sisters. He graduated from Gateway Regional High School in 2006. The 29-year-old attended Holyoke Community College for two years before transferring to Our Lady of Providence College Seminary. He graduated in 2010 with a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy.

As a transitional deacon, Father Pease was assigned to Mary, Mother of Hope Parish in Springfield, while he continued his studies at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Mass.

“What a joy it is to give thanks to God for that call given to Barrent that has drawn him this day to serve God and his people,” said Bishop Rozanski during his homily.

“It is in his life as a priest, Barrent is called to reveal the humble love of God,” the bishop continued.

Following the homily, the ordination rite began with the calling of the candidate. There are several steps that follow including the examination of the candidate, when the bishop asked Father Pease to declare his intention to exercise the ministry of the priesthood. The rite continued as Father Pease lie prostrate on the altar as a sign of total submission to God, while the congregation sang the Litany of the Saints. This was followed by the laying on of hands, which is considered the most solemn part of the ceremony.

Father Pease has been assigned to St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in West Springfield. He said he prays his story gives hope to others, who are praying for someone to come back to the Catholic Church. He said the lives of St. Monica and her son St. Augustine offer hope for conversion.

“If you read the confession of St. Augustine, there was a young man who was intelligent but as worldly as can be. The life of holiness was nowhere near on his radar. When he began getting interested in religion, he followed a heretical sect,” said Father Pease, who added St. Monica became discouraged.

“So it was like, ‘Great, my son became religious but now he’s joined this really weird cult.’ But she never stopped praying. So God was always working on him, working on St. Augustine whether he realized it or not, just like he was working on me,” he said.

For a video version of this story, tune in to the June 10 edition of “Real to Reel,” the Diocese of Springfield’s weekly television news magazine that airs Saturday evenings at 7 on WWLP-22NEWS.