As a young adult, Deacon Raymond E. Goins, 34, wandered from the faith. A career in the military jump-started not only his faith but also his future vocation as a priest.
Deacon Goins grew up the second of three children and attended St. Joseph Church and School in Herndon. He said the school gave him wonderful spiritual formation, but later in his young adult years, he drifted from the faith.
He experienced a reversion while attending the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. On a spiritual retreat, he had a profound spiritual experience in Eucharistic adoration. “I got my own time slot, and the Lord really reached out in a new and unique way,” he said. “I knew he had arranged everything for me to be there and had been extremely patient with me, waited, allowing me to wander.”
Deacon Goins said this spiritual experience set him on a trajectory toward the priesthood. After graduating from West Point in 2014, he served five years in active duty as an Army field artillery officer. But he continued to build his relationship with the Lord in the field.
“I started going to daily Mass during my first assignment, which was one year in Korea,” he said. He created a regular prayer routine: rosary, daily Mass and silent mental prayer.
His spiritual journey took a turn while participating in a retreat run by the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. The chaplain overseeing the retreat saw something unique in Deacon Goins, asking if he’d like to participate in a retreat specifically for men discerning the priesthood and service as a military chaplain.
“That was really where the call was clarified,” he said. He had no doubts about his vocation after that.
During the remainder of his military career, Deacon Goins served on a military base in Oklahoma and did active time in the United Arab Emirates and in Qatar. When he first applied to seminary, he still had one year remaining with the Army; so, he had to put his seminary plans on pause for one final year. “It’s all in God’s hands, and it worked out extremely well,” he said.
Formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., brought Deacon Goins “so many memories.” One such memory was welcoming Deacons Christian N. Njodzela and John Fimmuchime from Cameroon. Deacon Goins said helping them through orientation at seminary reminded him of his service abroad: “I was able to draw on some of my experience of international travel, you know, going into that first assignment in Korea, not knowing anyone.”
After ordination, Deacon Goins will be parochial vicar at Blessed Sacrament Church in Alexandria.
As he approaches the priesthood, Deacon Goins anticipates two things, “being able to celebrate the Mass, and be able to hear confessions, to be a part of … reconciling people to God,” he said.
