FR. THADDEUS MCGUIRE
Love for Eucharist, parents’ example inspire priesthood
The first thing a visitor to Fr. Thaddeus McGuire’s office notices is a long, rectangular table laden with holy cards, framed portraits of the saints, holy books and a single, illuminated candle.
This priest is passionate about spreading the Gospel. He wants to pray and inspire, but most of all he wants others to know that the Eucharist stands at the center of the Catholic faith.
He wears the cord of St. Philomena about his waist and has fervor for telling others of the third-century virgin martyr’s powerful intercession. He credits his parents with enkindling in him a love for the Eucharist.
Fr. McGuire grew up in Ohio as one of eight children in a devout Catholic family that made it a priority to attend the first Mass every Sunday morning.
“We always sat right up front and we were always the last people in the church, too,” Fr. McGuire said. “My parents would make an act of thanksgiving. That really did have an impact on me.”
The McGuire family had a sturdy devotional life, too, praying the rosary on car trips and making the Stations of Cross during Lent.
After earning an MBA, Fr. McGuire worked for five years with a consulting firm and traveled to many major cities in the United States, often testifying as an expert witness.
When he was 30, he began to think seriously about the priesthood. He found himself doing a lot of spiritual reading, learning about the lives of the saints and wanting to receive the Eucharist daily. He also discovered a desire to serve somewhere apart from family and friends so as to better discern what God wanted for his life.
He wound up spending three years working among the poor in Jamaica with the Mustard Seed Communities, an apostolate in the Archdiocese of Kingston. Amidst vermin and the absence of running water, he lived humbly, praying and working alongside the people of the tiny island nation.
He eventually approached the bishop of Mandeville about becoming a priest and was sent to study in Rome at the Angelicum, where he earned a licentiate in sacred theology.
With Phoenix growing steadily, the need for priests in the United States became apparent and he was ordained for the Phoenix Diocese in 1999. Fr.
McGuire became pastor of St. Daniel the Prophet Parish five years ago and said he loves being a spiritual father to his parishioners.
His love for the Eucharist means that the children who attend the parish school attend Mass daily. “It has been a huge blessing in leading the children in our school to a great love for our eucharistic Lord,” he said.
While serving at Corpus Christi parish a few years back, someone gave him a book about St. Philomena and told him, “St. John Vianney and St. Philomena have a lot in store for you.”
Since then, he has helped spread devotion to the saint and serves as the spiritual director for the arch-confraternity of St. Philomena for the western United States. He said the saint’s intercession is powerful and has led to many healings and prayers answered.
What are you passionate about as a priest?
The Eucharist. This is the Church’s thinking: the extent to which we come to love, appreciate and hunger for the Eucharist — everything else springs from that. In the Eucharist, we encounter the face of Christ. That’s what we were created for — to see God face to face. And in the Mass, through God’s word and the gift of the Blessed Sacrament, we come to see the face of our Lord Jesus more clearly. Doing that enables us to see the face of Christ and to encounter Christ truly present in our brothers and sisters. It’s not by accident that we hear time and time again that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith life.
Did someone invite you to consider the priesthood?
No. I would say it was the great high priest our Lord Jesus and my personal prayer with Him. I don’t have any memory of anyone ever saying that to me. I think every young man says, ‘I wonder what it’s like to be a priest?’ My mom and dad never encouraged or discouraged us in terms of any vocation or profession. It was a progressive journey to the priesthood.
What can families do to encourage more vocations to the priesthood?
Moms and dads, through their word and example, how they witness to their children their appreciation for the gift of our faith and the way in which they invest themselves in the practice of it by attending the perfect prayer of the Mass regularly and joyfully and with grateful hearts. By their participating in the Mass and in serving their local parish community and beyond — that’s the way.
By Joyce Coronel
Feb. 16, 2010
The Catholic Sun
http://www.catholicsun.org/2010/february/16/ycp-mcguire.html
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