Introduced by Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha’s December 2024 Pastoral Letter, this initiative is centered on strengthening our Priests through six strategic priorities to be implemented over three years. The fruits of this endeavor, as the Bishop explains in his Letter, will be “a Priesthood set up for success for years to come and a new positive ministerial environment where Christ can more readily reach every soul in our Diocese through the mediation of His priests.”
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2026 Ordinations to be held at St. Mary’s Cathedral, Fall River
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Our seminarians are under the guidance of Vocations Director Fr. Jack Schrader and Associate Director Fr. John Garabedian.
See the diocesan webpage for more info https://www.fallriverdiocese.org/vocations-office/
Fall 2025:
Lucas DaCosta: IV Theology at St. John’s Seminary, Brighton MA. He is from St. Francis Xavier Parish, Acushnet.
Kaique Duarte Santos: IV Theology Immaculate Conception Seminary, South Orange, NJ. He arrived from Brazil in December 2023, transferring from the seminary of the Canção Nova Community. He is from Corpus Christi Parish, East Sandwich.
David Ferrucci: First Year at St. John XXIII Seminary, Weston MA. He is from St. Joan of Arc Parish, Orleans.
Nicholas Huegel: Propaedeutic Stage* at St. John’s Seminary, Brighton MA. He is from Corpus Christi Parish, East Sandwich.
Sean Kilty: Propaedeutic Stage at Our Lady of Providence Seminary, Providence RI. He is from Corpus Christi Parish, East Sandwich.
Evan Mello: Discipleship Stage at Mount St. Mary Seminary, Emmitsburg MD. He is from Transfiguration of the Lord Parish, North Attleboro.
Noah Pollard: Propaedeutic Stage at Our Lady of Providence Seminary, Providence RI. He is from St. Francis Xavier Parish, Achushnet.
John Turner: Propaedeutic Stage at St. John’s Seminary, Brighton MA. He is from St. Joseph, Guardian of the Holy Family Parish, Falmouth.
*The “propaedeutic stage” (preliminary instruction) is the very first stage, which “seeks to provide seminarians with the basic groundwork they need to engage in priestly formation.” (Program of Priestly Formation, 6th Edition, #119), It is designed to be a period of preparation that enables the men to enter properly into the life of the seminary with a solid foundation of human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation. During this stage, participants begin to develop a life of prayer, study, fraternity, and appropriate docility to formation, which takes place within the context of a smaller community, free from the academic stress of a typical undergraduate or graduate school curriculum.