New priest wants to serve the people

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

He made an impromptu first confession and first Communion and told the priest he wanted to be a priest – so he too could bring people God’s mercy. Some years later he was rescuing children from prostitution.

These are elements of Father Thiago Moises Da Silva’s spiritual journey. He reached one of his goals Saturday when he was ordained a priest at St. Paul Cathedral.

“I don’t want to be a priest,” he said, “but a GOOD priest for our diocese, our Church. I think this is what the Church needs today – good priests … to be more with the people … know their expectations (of) us. … I don’t want to be a priest (in) an office.” He’s here to serve the people, not himself, he said. 

Father Da Silva Thiago told parts of his story to The Catholic Free Press and in a brief autobiography he compiled. 

He grew up in Brazil, where his mother, a humble person without much education, was determined to educate him in faith and morals. He prayed the rosary daily with his grandmother and cousins. His aunt was their catechist.    

One day when he was about 11 he asked to go to a Mass which took an hour to walk to. His mother said no one was available to go with him, but at his insistence she let him go.

There he found a line of people waiting for confession, and felt compelled to join it, although he thought of the priest as someone full of the Holy Spirit and trembled as he advanced in the line.

“I stayed there because (of) my desire to receive Communion at Mass and tell my mother that I had made my first Communion,” he wrote. He made his confession – shaking and with the priest’s help.

“When he said, ‘I absolve you from your sins,’ in that moment I felt the mercy of God and I felt the people needed to know … the mercy of God,” Father Da Silva recalled. He told the priest, “I want to be a priest because I can do the same.”

Thinking about that day later, he wrote: “I believe that my vocation to the priesthood was born in this confession and in the experience with the Eucharist. That day, I was surrounded by such a great mystery that it is hard to describe. Throughout the Mass, I was not thinking about anything except the time of Communion. … Nothing compares to the joy I felt that day, receiving Jesus for the first time in my life.”

As for him becoming a priest, the priest told him to wait until he was 15, when youth in his diocese started vocations discernment. Those considering priesthood or religious life met with the bishop monthly for two years, sharing their thoughts and playing games to help them understand vocations, he said. Each one also met monthly with a psychologist and a priest or nun. 

He pursued studies for priesthood, earning his licentiate in philosophy in 2004 and taking theology classes.

“In my vocational journey, there were many internal and external voices that left me confused, but the voice of God was always clear, especially during spiritual retreats,” he wrote. “I felt God calling me.”

After his studies he asked for time to think about his vocation, as he didn’t feel ready to be a priest, he wrote. For a few years, he taught philosophy in public school and directed a shelter for poor children. 

A priest friend had invited him to help start the shelter in an area where many parents, because of their poverty, sent their children out for prostitution during the daytime, he said.   

Partnering with the mayor and the Church, the shelter offered those children an education, food and other help instead, keeping them occupied all day. Then they went home to sleep. 

After two years, Father Da Silva left and pursued priesthood again, but the shelter continues to exist, he said. 

As a seminarian, he was assigned to a parish with 17 chapels. He said he baptized people and performed weddings and funerals with the bishop’s permission. A priest came monthly to celebrate Mass and consecrate hosts. He called the priest when confessions were needed. 

“When I was there, Father Adriano (Lessa) contacted me and he told me the Diocese of Worcester needed Brazilian priests,” Father Da Silva said. Father Lessa, a former classmate of his in Brazil, has been serving Brazilians in the Worcester Diocese, and is now associate pastor of Holy Family Parish in Worcester, which has a Brazilian community.

“I told him, ‘Father Adriano, give me one week to think,’’’ Father Da Silva said. “He called me the next day. Again I told him, ‘Father, I need to talk with my bishop.’” 

Father Da Silva said the bishop agreed to give him a letter of recommendation. At Bishop McManus’ invitation, he came to the Worcester Diocese to start the discernment process here in August 2015.

“I believe it was God’s calling,” he says now. “It was not easy.” He said he’d never left Brazil and liked being there. The most challenging thing about moving was the language difference. But priests there told him he could learn English and help the Church here. And he wanted to serve.

“I love to be here,” he says now. “Nice country. The people are so friendly. And I can see how the Americans – they love Brazilians. I feel loved by them. And I love them.”