Meet the Parochial Vicar:  Rev. José Mercado

When the late Pope John Paul II wrote in his book Gift and Mystery that discernment of a priestly vocation began in the first seminary he was formed in, I instantly identified with the Pope—it was the family. As a child I often witnessed my father, after a long day of hard work, in his room at night, under a lamp meditating upon Sacred Scripture. It was then that I learned about faith. One Sunday, I witnessed my mother in tears as my father embraced her. They led me and my brother in procession with other members of the Hispanic faithful for the first time into the upper church for Mass after the then smaller community for years had Mass in the lower chapel. It was then that I learned about hope. I often witnessed, after coming home from school, my mother, before working 3rd shift at a factory, cooking for us as my father arrived from work so that we would have a hot meal together. It was then that I learned about love. I developed the most basic understanding of the virtues of faith, hope, and love within the school of my family—their witness. The seed of a priestly vocation that was sown from my baptism was cared for in this garden.

Although I was attending a Catholic school, Sacred Heart in New Britain, I did not take my faith seriously. I was often called in to the principal’s office for disciplinary problems. At graduation my classmates voted me class clown. Yet my teachers, both the Daughters of Mary and the laity, never marked me as a lost cause. Sister Mary Jennifer would take time to tutor me in the summer, help me with my science project, or simply call me in to her office to talk about my progress in school. The example set by these teachers especially the Sisters has always been a lasting impression in my life that would eventually be a part of my discernment of a priestly vocation.

In New Britain High School I was a more reflective student than the class clown I was previously labeled. Attending a weekend youth conference at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York with Hispanic youth of the Archdiocese of Hartford I was introduced to the Order of Our Lady of Mercy, the Mercedarian Friars. In speaking with the Friars at their information table I was impressed with their charism of seeking to redeem those captives in the world that find themselves in danger of losing their faith. As everyone in high school was applying to colleges and universities, I was discerning a vocation to the consecrated life.

After graduating from high school I entered the Mercedarian Friars moving to their Formation House in LeRoy, New York. To introduce me to this way of life, I visited several houses of their community both in Cleveland, Ohio and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and lived according to a daily schedule of prayer, apostolate, and work. My Novice Master during a class told us that first a Friar is called to be a Mercedarian, then a priest or a brother. It was then that I began to realize I was not called to be a religious, but a diocesan priest. Since my earliest moments of discerning a vocation within the Church, before considering consecrated life, the priesthood was at the center of God’s call in my life.

In 1997 I entered the Archdiocese of Hartford’s Pope Paul VI House of Formation while attending the University of Hartford. I received a B.A. with a double major in Philosophy and English Literature. After my graduation, I was assigned to study at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I received a M.Div. and M.A. with a concentration on Sacred Scripture. I was ordained a priest on May 20, 2006 at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph by the Archbishop Henry J. Mansell, D.D. My first assignment as a newly ordained priest is to Saint Joseph Church, as parochial vicar, and Saint Paul Catholic High School, as part time chaplain.

The diocesan priesthood, unlike the call to the consecrated life, is a call to serve as a parish priest within a local Church such as the Archdiocese of Hartford led by a Shepherd, the bishop, ours being Archbishop Henry Mansell. As a diocesan priest you are first called to be a priest—an icon of the eternal priesthood of Jesus Christ—in a life of service to all. It is the diocesan priest who lives within this world among the joys and hardships of individuals and families in a parish, yet to all lives as a sign, serving and leading others through this earthly life to the next in communion with God. This is the life in which God has called me to—the priesthood.