The parish community at St. Ann Church in Arlington gathered for a special Mass on the feast of the Holy Trinity June 4 to send off one of their own. Brother Mark Joyce, a parishioner, will enter the novitiate for the Missionhurst-CICM in the Philippines this month.
Brother Joyce entered the order nearly two years ago and completed his postulancy in San Antonio. The novitiate is a period of formation that a candidate takes before being admitted to the religious or monastic life. It is a year of discernment, prayer and study of religious life. He will live in community and strive to deepen his relationship with God.
The novitiate concludes with the first Profession of Religious Vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. According to the Missionhurst provincial office, he would then study theology for four years in preparation for the religious missionary and priestly life. After that, he would be sent overseas for an internship in a mission country for three years after which he could be admitted to ordination.
At St. Ann’s, Missionhurst Father Andre Kazadi, U.S. vice-provincial, celebrated the Mass with Missionhurst Fathers Mel Portula, St. Ann’s pastor; Bill Quigley and Ricardo Terga.
Brother Mark’s parents, Joan and Steve Joyce, were present and stood behind him for a special blessing.
Steve’s work for the U.S. State Department’s Agency for International Development took the family to Cairo, when Brother Mark was 2 years old. Six years later, the family moved to Arlington and joined St. Ann. He attended Jamestown Elementary School, Williamsburg Middle School and Yorktown High School. He attended Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, where he majored in international relations and minored in Arabic.
Brother Mark had planned on joining the military but decided against it senior year. While at VMI, he spent two summers in Morocco studying Arabic and volunteering.
After college, he did a summer internship on Capitol Hill and then spent two years as a field/ community organizer on Democratic party campaigns. In summer 2016, he moved back to Arlington and started working as a sales rep for a commercial real estate services company based in Washington, where he worked until 2021. During that time, he started taking his faith seriously and attended daily Mass. Later that year, he started formation with Missionhurst.
Brother Mark said being a parishioner at the Missionhurst-staffed Arlington parish did influence his decision to join the order. “To me, it felt like a perfect set of circumstances,” he said. “Since growing up in Egypt, I have long had a love for international experiences and a compassion for the needs of the poor.”
He said he had started discerning his vocation from 2018 to 2020. He met regularly with the diocesan vocations director, Father Michael C. Isenberg, but said he struggled to articulate what about the priesthood he felt called to.
During a meeting with Father Ramel O. Portula, the Missionhurst pastor of St. Ann’s, gave Brother Mark a copy of Missionhurst Magazine.
“The magazine had stories written by Missionhurst missionaries around the world describing the communities they serve and the programs they run to serve their needs,” he said. “After reading the magazine, it felt like my heart jumped and that I could articulate how my life experiences and passions fit well with a missionary vocation.
“I had long enjoyed hearing the missionary stories that (Missionhurst) priests had shared in their homilies at St. Ann’s. On top of this, I had been a member of the Arlington Council of the Knights of Columbus since 2015. The long-term chaplain for the council was Father Joe Giordano, who was a retired American Missionhurst missionary.”
Brother Mark said it was these connections that made him feel as if he knew Missionhurst “well before I even started discerning joining them.”
