Five men are to be ordained transitional deacons

Five men are to be ordained transitional deacons
To be televised and streamed live for those who cannot attend
 
June 11, 2020, WORCETER, MA -- On Saturday, June 20 at 10 am, Bishop Robert J. McManus of the Diocese of Worcester will ordain five men to the transitional diaconate at the  Cathedral of St. Paul in Worcester. Four of them are being ordained for the Worcester Diocese: Carlos Ardila, José Carvajal, John Larochelle and Lucas LaRoche. Brother Stephen William Shanahan is being ordained as a member of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (Trappists) in Spencer.
Because of coronavirus precautions, only those with a ticket may attend the ordination and all in attendance must wear face masks in order to meet Commonwealth of Massachusetts mandates for safety. Proper social distancing is to be practiced. For those who cannot attend, the liturgy is being televised LIVE on Spectrum Channel 193 and livestreamed from worcesterdiocese.org.
 
Carlos Ardila
Carlos Francisco Ardila, son of Lucila Navia Rinck and the late Carlos Ardila Plata was born in 1983 in Bogotá, Colombia, and has a brother and two sisters. He attended Hackensack High School in Hackensack, New Jersey, and studied filmmaking at Politécnico Grancolombiano in Bogotá; and philosophy and theology at Fundación Universitaria Unicervantes in Bogotá from 2009-2018. He spent eight of those years in advanced study/formation with the Order of Saint Augustine in Colombia. He worked in Colombia in television production, as a script supervisor and floor manager, with different companies.
He came to the Diocese of Worcester in August 2018 and studied English at Clark University before going to St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore in January 2019 where is is completing his masters in theology.  
 
José Carvajal
José Fernando Carvajal, son of Luis Fernando Carvajal Arenas and Diana Lucia Castrillón Cardona, was born in 1989 in Medellín, Colombia, and has two brothers.   He attended Colegio San Buenaventura in Bello for elementary school, middle school and high school, graduating in 2005. He taught English as a second language at this school and later at Colegio Jesús María in Medellín, where he was principal from 2013-2015.
From 2013-2015 he was also adjunct ESL professor at CESDE and adjunct professor of Spanish as a second language at Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, both in Medellín.
At Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana he got his bachelor’s degree in English and Spanish in 2011 and his certification in teaching Spanish as a second language in 2012 and started his master’s in education in 2014.
In August 2015 he came to the United States, and from then through December of that year he studied ESL at Clark University in Worcester. He is working on master of divinity and master’s in theology degrees at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore.
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Lucas LaRoche
Lucas Marshall LaRoche, son of Brian and Ann-Mari LaRoche, was born in 1994 in Leominster. He has two siblings and his home parish is Annunciation in Gardner.  He attended Gardner public schools and Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical High School, where he got a diploma and certificate in printing and graphic design.
While a seminarian residing at Holy Name of Jesus House of Studies in Worcester, Mr. LaRoche studied philosophy, theology and the classics at Assumption College, obtaining his bachelor’s degree in 2016. He completed pre-theology studies at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton in 2017, and received his bachelor’s degree in sacred theology from Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome in 2020. From 2017 to the present he has been at Pontifical North American College. He expects to enroll at Pontifical Patristic Institute Augustinianum in the fall to obtain a licentiate in sacred theology in patristic sciences.
 
John Larochelle
John Louis Larochelle, son of Virginia Larochelle and the late Gervais Larochelle, was born in 1980 in Springfield. He has four brothers, three sisters and 14 nieces and nephews. His home parish is St. John in Worcester.
He graduated from Seton Home Study School in 1998, and received his associate’s degree in business from Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester in 2000; his bachelor’s degee in business/accounting from Nichols College in Dudley in 2002, and his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton in 2017.  He is working toward completion of his master of divinity and bachelor’s in sacred theology from St. John’s Seminary in Brighton.
Mr. Larochelle worked in public accounting from 2002–2015, earning a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) designation in 2014. He volunteered with the American Red Cross from 2009-2015 as disaster services supervisor. He participated in “The Rome Experience” advanced study/formation program for diocesan seminarians in 2018 in Rome.
 
Brother Stephen William Shanahan, OCSO
Trappist Brother Stephen William Shanahan, son of the late William and Mary Shanahan, was born in 1960. His brother is Franciscan Father John Joseph Shanahan, parochial vicar at St. Andrew Parish in Fort Worth, Texas. They attended public schools in Somerville, where they were raised.
Brother Shanahan worked as a youth at the membership desk in Boston’s Museum of Science and as a cook at Tuft’s University. He received his culinary degree, did catering and became a cook aboard the tall ship “Providence.” In 2005 he entered St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, where he has been a sub-cellarer, jelly cook, community cook, wardrobe director, shopper and driver. He has also overseen the storeroom and barber shop and worked in the bookshop, guest house and brewery. He received six years of monastic formation and study at the abbey.
 
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