For Deacon Matthew J. DeForest, who will be ordained to the
priesthood Saturday at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in
Arlington, becoming a priest is the fulfillment of a
childhood dream. Born on Jan. 13, 1982, he decided to become
a priest when he was only a fifth-grader at St. Thomas More
Cathedral School.
It was not a single defining moment that led him to his
vocation. Instead it was a realization that came to light
gradually while growing up in Catholic schools and serving as
an altar boy.
“It wasn’t a burning bush or falling off a horse or anything
like that,” Deacon DeForest said. “It was just one of those
subtle attractions over time. You see these men who are out
on Sundays in vestments helping people and preaching, and
then you get to see that they’re real men too. They eat,
sleep and put pants on one leg at a time. It was just a life
I was constantly attracted to.”
While attending Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington,
Deacon DeForest worked with Father James R. Gould to complete
the application process for the seminary. Father Gould gave
him advice that has stuck with him for years, telling him to
“preach with courage, teach with clarity and serve with
charity.”
After graduating high school in 2000, Deacon DeForest entered
St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pa. He graduated
in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He spent his
spirituality year at the Mary Immaculate Center in
Northampton, Pa., and in 2005, was assigned to Mount St.
Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., where he graduated in May
with a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Theology.
During his time in seminary, Deacon DeForest also earned his
Spanish ministry certificate, which helped him learn to
minister and preach to Hispanic communities.
Over the years, Deacon DeForest says he has been floored by
the kind of support he has received from family and friends,
and especially the parishioners of St. Philip Church in Falls
Church, where he grew up, and the Cathedral of St. Thomas
More.
“I get letters and phone calls and emails and everybody wants
to know how I’m doing,” he said. “You just don’t know how
much that means, day in and day out, especially as you
prepare to enter the seminary – that constant knowledge of
love and prayers and support. That’s what has helped keep me
going and helped me to say, even when it gets tough, ‘yes,
yes, yes.'”
Deacon DeForest says he also has found inspiration in other
priests, who have all supported and challenged him,
especially Father Robert Rippy, rector of the Cathedral of
St. Thomas More, Father Robert DeMartino of St. Peter Church
in Washington, Va., Father Kevin Walsh of St. Philip Church
in Falls Church, and Msgr. Walter Rossi of the Basilica of
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in
Washington, D.C.
“They are fathers in the truest sense of the word,” Deacon
DeForest said. “You can see the ordinariness and how our Lord
has worked to make them something extraordinary for the
people.”
Now, nine years after he first entered the seminary, Deacon
DeForest said he is thrilled to finally be able to follow in
their footsteps and start his own journey as a priest.
“There’s nothing I’m not looking forward to,” he said. “I’m
on the cusp of ordination and I am ready to do whatever the
Lord wants me to do.
“People have prayed and God is answering those prayers and
he’s providing priests – three of us are being ordained. Now
my prayer is that I will be a good father for them.”
