Deacon Weston Will Bring Zeal to Priesthood

By Maria Gaetano
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the issue of 6/6/02)

Deacon Michael Weston says he has been exceptionally blessed to have had good priestly role models throughout his deaconate. Deacon Weston, who will be ordained to the priesthood June 8, cites Father John Kelly, pastor of St. Leo the Great Parish in Fairfax, and Msgr. Richard Skelly of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Mortal, Pa, as "tremendous priest mentors and spiritual fathers." He hopes to carry on their daily example of priestly service and charity into his own priesthood, he said.

The youngest of five children of the late Thomas Weston Sr. and the late Lucy Weston, Deacon Weston was born in Arlington on Oct. 28, 1972, and raised in Northern Virginia. He notes that there were many people in his life who influenced his decision to become a priest. "However, there were three people that greatly influenced me from childhood and that influence remains with me to this day. First and foremost is my mother. She lived a selfless love for others and encouraged me in the vocation I chose," said Deacon Weston. Father Jerome Fasano (pastor of St. Andrew the Apostle in Clifton) and Immaculate Heart of Mary Sister Mary Justin, who were present in his life in elementary school, have also been strong influences because they were "faithful to their vocations and encouraged the priestly vocation," he said.

The possibility of a priestly vocation first occurred to Deacon Weston when he was in second grade. The desire, he said, stayed with him throughout elementary school. While he dismissed it for a time during high school when he strayed from the Faith, his vocation was renewed in the years following high school. Deacon Weston says that his siblings "have always been an important part in my life and my vocation, especially since my mother passed away in 1999. They have, if you will, stepped in for her and have done a wonderful job encouraging and supporting me over the last few years of seminary formation. I thank God that I am fortunate to have two brothers and two sisters that are as loving as our mother was," said Deacon Weston. He has eight nieces and nephews, two of whom are his godchildren.

During his years of discernment and seminary studies, Deacon Weston said, he did experience challenges. "The challenges in discernment are numerous. The greatest challenge for me is to trust in God, to remember that what I go out to do as a priest must be rooted in Him and have Him as its goal. I must always remember as a priest to give my best effort and know that God is the One to bring that same work to a fruitful completion," he said.

Deacon Weston graduated from Annandale High School in 1990. He graduated magna cum laude from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, College Division, with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He attended St. Charles Borromeo for his seminary studies as well. Deacon Weston’s 2001 summer assignment was at St. Leo the Great Parish in Fairfax.

As a deacon, giving homilies on Sundays each week at daily Mass has provided Deacon Weston the basic experience of homilist as well as the insight for other priestly duties. "It has opened my awareness to the needs of the people of God. I hope to use this awareness to serve God’s people each day in the priesthood, more specifically in the administration of the sacraments, especially in the confessional," said Deacon Weston.

In looking ahead to his ministry, Deacon Weston says that he hopes to never become tired of being a priest. "I hope that the zeal that I have now as a new priest will be renewed each day and that that zeal will be an encouragement in any kind of situation and challenge the Lord puts in front of me throughout my life," he said.

According to Deacon Weston, many priests from different backgrounds and parish experiences have given him invaluable advice. "The most important advice has been two-fold — first, to always love my brother priests remembering that they too have received a sacred vocation from God and, second, to always be sure that the spiritual well-being of God’s people is the primary principle that directs decisions each day. It is for these people that God has called me to the priesthood, not for myself," said Deacon Weston.

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