Mary Cole can repeat the words of the Virgin Mary in St. John’s Gospel at the Wedding at Cana, “Do whatever he tells you,” when her son Declan shows up to teach a lesson inside her theology classroom at Conwell-Egan Catholic High School in Fairless Hills, Bucks County.
Following his ordination as a priest last month he will have extra authority in his mother’s classroom when her students address him as Father Declan Cole.
The Huntingdon Valley native joined his seven other seminarian classmates May 16 at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia when Archbishop Nelson J. Pérez ordained them priests for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
Family members brought plenty of support that day as they have throughout these future priests’ lives and vocational journeys.
“Journeying with Declan for the past nine years, I am reminded of my favorite quote, ‘God does the extraordinary through the ordinary,’” Mary Cole said. “When God set Declan apart, He took the ordinary and made it extraordinary right before my eyes.”
Father Thomas Cipolla’s parents Daniel and Elena Cipolla gave their son what he felt was an atmosphere in the home conducive to growth in faith and an attraction to “holy things and to the priesthood itself,” Father Cipolla said.
The Cipolla family attended Immaculate Conception Parish in Jenkintown.
He said his dad never wanted to push priesthood upon his son, but three years of prodding by Thomas resulted in his father taking his son to an open house at the former campus of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, a path that led to his priestly formation in the seminary years later.
Father Charles Cappelli’s familial influence, growing up with both parents Carl and Susan Cappelli and a pair of brothers attending Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Doylestown, delivered what he called a really solid upbringing in the faith. He said his mother converted to Catholicism after his parents married.
Father Cappelli’s paternal grandparents modeled Catholic devotion that stays with him to this day.
“My grandmother (and) my grandfather had a huge devotion to Padre Pio. My grandmother still does,” he said.
Father Cole said that Mass and devotions at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Southampton were the most important part of his childhood family life. He celebrated his first Mass there on May 17.
His mother’s vocation as a theology teacher was a constant faithful presence to him alongside his father Quentin and Father Declan’s six siblings. Mary Cole’s strong spirit of missionary discipleship within the household nurtured the seeds of her son’s vocation in his early years.
“‘Wouldn’t it be cool to be a priest?’” the young priest remembers his mother saying. “‘Imagine getting to save souls. Imagine getting to hear confessions, bring people to God.’”
Many of the new priests say their families attended countless events at St. Charles Seminary while continuing to support their sons and brothers through the tough times that invariably come to any student away from home in their formative years.
“When I go home and I’m stressed about exams or busy, they’ll encourage me,” Father Cappelli said. “There’s a rosary group that prays for vocations at my home parish, and my parents joined that when I entered seminary.”
The extensive priestly formation that each new priest has received in seminary has created a role reversal at home. The priests now are teaching more details about the Catholic faith to their parents and siblings, an opposite pattern from their childhood.
Father Cipolla said his parents would see him pray the Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office, a prayer that clergy, religious, and seminarians commit to praying throughout each day as a life habit. The liturgy, prayed either individually or with others at prescribed hours of the day, features prayers and readings from Scripture including the Psalms.
“My mom was interested” in praying the office, Father Cipolla said. “‘Oh mom, you should check this out,’” he told her. “’Start with Night Prayer. It’s kind of short and easy to do. It’s always the same each day,’” he said. “She started doing that.”
Their studies in seminary and catechesis in their homes no doubt will find their way into future homilies at their first parish assignments, capping a truly life-changing experience last weekend.
“I just pray that Tom’s joy and love for his faith will help others,” said Elena Cipolla. “His life will not be easy, but his inner joy and love for his faith is what our Church needs. He has influenced us in his devotion to prayer and his reverence for the Eucharist. I am so excited for all the families and for our Church.”
Father Cappelli says he’ll be able to thank all those who have influenced his faith by giving them a gift that literally means “thanksgiving:” the Eucharist.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I look at my family. They gave me the gift of my faith. I look at my parish. They helped form me in my faith. I look at my friends. They all encouraged me and supported me.”
“My son is spending his life selling eternal salvation and the Lord. Wow! That is humbling,” his dad Carl said.
“We pray that God gives him strength to lead, the strength to open people’s hearts, minds, and souls. He will be the George Bailey (of “It’s a Wonderful Life”) of the Catholic Church.”
Those supporters will also gain an advantage by having a son, brother or friend become a priest as they have an open invitation to Christ in the Eucharist.
“I know they’ve already told me how excited they are, that I can now celebrate Mass for them all, wherever they want,” said Father Cole, “and in their house.”
Or maybe at school for Mom’s students, where she’ll tell them to do whatever her priestly son tells them.
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