Congratulations Jose Carvajal

We extend our congratulations and prayerful best wishes to JOSE CARVAJAL who was ordained a Deacon this Saturday, June 20, 2020 by Bishop Robert McManus at St. Paul’s Cathedral and who will join us on Sunday, June 21 at the 5:30 pm Mass to serve and preach as Deacon.

Jose was born in 1989 in Medellin, Colombia and was raised in Bello where he attended elementary school and high school. He received his bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish in 2011 from the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana and later began a master’s program in education. He returned to his home town to teach English as a second language at the same school he had attended. He then taught English and Spanish at the Collegio Jesus Maria in Medellin and served as principal there from 2013-15. He also served as an adjunct professor of Spanish as a second language at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana in Medellin.

In August 2015 Jose came to the United States and through December of that year he studied ESL at Clark University in Worcester. He joined us here at St. Mary’s Parish on the weekends before he began his preparation for the priesthood at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, MD. Jose then spent the summer of 2016 with us for a ten-week internship. Jose his working on a master of divinity and master in theology degrees in Baltimore. Recent summer internships have brought Jose to St. Patrick’s in Rutland, Our Lady of the Lake in Leominster and St. Mary’s in Uxbridge. This summer Jose is assigned to St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fitchburg.

This weekend it is a joy and a blessing to welcome Deacon Jose back to his “home parish” in the United States – St. Mary’s in Shrewsbury. Join us for the 5:30pm Mass today. A simple, outdoor, socially distanced reception will take place following the Mass where you will have the opportunity to congratulate the new deacon.