Father Kevin Cook

My name is Father Kevin Cook and I am the Associate Director of Vocations and Seminarians for the Diocese of Fall River. I am also serving as chaplain of Coyle and Cassidy High School in Taunton, Massachusetts, as well as part-time chaplain of Morton Hospital in Taunton. I was ordained on June 9, 2001 by Bishop Sean P. O’Malley, OFM at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fall River. After my ordination, I served my first five years of priesthood at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, New Bedford, along with being the local vocation representative of the New Bedford Deanery. In June of 2006, I was transferred to St. Patrick’s Parish in Wareham, where I served for only a year, when the bishop asked me to take on this current assignment. I am very humbled to have been asked to take on these new responsibilities, and I consider it a great blessing to be able to focus in this line of apostolate. My specific role in this position is to help find ways of promoting vocations in the diocese, and make time to meet with those who are thinking Our Lord may be calling to follow him in the priesthood or religious life. Everyone has a vocation. Each one of us has a great responsibility to discern what our vocation is. Let me give you a little background about myself and how God showed me my vocation.

I grew up in Pembroke, MA, and I am the eighth of nine children. In my home growing up, the Catholic faith was lived joyfully among the family, and the message about discerning one’s vocation, seeking to serve others, and responding to the universal call to holiness was spoken of and taken seriously. And yet we were your normal family – we tried hard in school but were never the best, loved sports, learned to put others before us in the home and outside of it. We had a small farm where we learned daily responsibilities and sacrifices, and with a large family, my parents made the conscious effort to help us wait for things so that we would see that responding to our immediate wants, or the having of many things, would not help us find happiness nor help us respond to God’s Will (but many times pulls us away from it). Two of my sisters and my five brothers are married and have been blessed with many children (currently there are 43 nephews and nieces). My oldest sister was the first in the family to respond to her vocation in giving her life to Christ and His Church, and it certainly moved me at a young age to take seriously the discernment of God’s call. It was in this normal and joyful environment where God was able to help me gradually hear his call to give my life as a priest. The joyful example of my parents living a true generosity of heart with us children and with one another was a great environment where God could form and call us.

The awareness of that call (and the struggle in responding) intensified during college, where I attended the University of Dallas (a great catholic university where I was further blessed to have many friends who spoke of the possible vocations to marriage, priesthood, diaconate, religious or consecrated life, and the single state). Finally, God was able to move me to see that He was calling me to the priesthood when I was working in the Washington, D.C. area and living in Virginia.

I can look back and see how God worked through so many moments in my life, through the sacraments, through prayer, through family and friends, and with the help of Mary our Mother to help me to see and respond to God’s calling. The vocation to the priesthood is great “gift and mystery”, as Pope John Paul II described it during his fiftieth anniversary as a priest. The humbling awareness that I am called to act in the person of Christ is so amazing, especially in the face of my own imperfections and sinfulness (and yet Our Lord called). I must admit, growing up I did pray about my vocation, but I always was hoping Our Lord would call me to be married and have a large family. I did not really want to be a priest, but that was because of my lack of love for the priestly vocation. But once I submitted to His Will, I have never regretted it. I must say I love being a priest, even when in the times as a priest I was faced with rejection from others simply because I was a priest. Offering the sacraments, absolving a person of their sins, baptizing an individual, proclaiming the gospel and teaching, or talking with someone and they bare their whole soul before you is truly something supernatural, and yet as the priest there are times we can take those things for granted because one does not always feel supernatural things.

Determining your vocation is not so much about "feelings" but is about self-gift and how you can best serve Our Lord. True happiness is only found when you are doing His Will with a deep generosity. So, if you really want to be happy, it is in your best interest to ask God to show you your vocation. When you focus on doing His Will, you will not be distracted by the million little passing problems of the world. Think about the "rich young man" of the Gospel. Our Lord called him to give away his many possessions and come, follow Him. The lad went away sad, for he had many possessions. Do not imitate him. Whether or not you are rich, do not pursue the material at the expense of the supernatural. Raise your minds to higher things and determine to give of yourself. That is how heroes are made. That is how saints are made. You are called to be a saint. Perhaps you are being called as a priest or religious, or as married and a parent, or perhaps as a single person. Find out that calling and pursue it with all your might. Like a couple who enjoys a happy marriage, I have never regretted my decision and my love for my vocation only grows each day. As long as I continue to face life's challenges in cohesion with my spiritual spouse, my peace and joy and clarity only grows. In hindsight God did answer my prayers all along. I have a spiritual spouse and family greater than I ever could have imagined.

I hope that whoever is reading this is praying about their vocation. For those who have already responded, may you always persevere in the means Christ has given to live your vocation heroically. For those still trying to discern God’s call: always strive to remain in the state of grace and live your life for others; seek to know and love Christ in the Eucharist and Confession by frequenting them; trust in the help Mary, the Mother of Christ by praying the rosary daily; read good spiritual books, especially the writings of the saints; seek to live a deep prayer life, and do not be afraid to ask Our Lord for the ability to see what he is calling you to; and finally find a good, faithful, joyful priest to talk to if you think God may be calling you.

If you have any questions or would ever like to talk, please feel free to email myself or Fr. Bissinger. God bless.