Finally Professed

After six years of living, praying, and sharing common life alongside the Paulist Fathers, I made my final profession on Friday, September 6, 2019.

I, Paolo Puccini, believe that I am called to serve God and the Church as a member of the Missionary Society of St. Paul the Apostle.  Attentive to the Holy Spirit, and faithful to the example of St. Paul and the charism of Servant of God, Father Hecker, I commit myself for life to membership and mission in this Community for the sake of God’s kingdom. I promise to live an evangelical life according to the Constitution of the Society, in fraternal support of all my fellow Paulists. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Paulist Promise

It’s a bit odd to call it final profession. It’s a promise made for life, but this won’t be the last time I make it. I intend to restate the promise in public at Paulist gatherings and privately through my actions as a Paulist. Yes, it is a final and definitive commitment. But it is also a beginning, a new chapter, and an invitation to a way of life in ministry and fraternal support that will beckon me everyday.

I’ve known the Paulists for fourteen years now, and I’ve lived with various Paulists in six different cities during my six years of formation. Yet I can’t pretend to know the depths of this promise that I have made and that they, in turn, have made to me in receiving me for life into the community. I know so many Paulists who have lived the Paulist promise for decades, and their wisdom and witness give me confidence that together with the Holy Spirit my profession will bring me and my community countless graces.