COBBLE HILL — For Benoit Chavanne, a transitional deacon in the Diocese of Brooklyn, the journey to the priesthood has been a lifelong process.
Deacon Chavanne, with less than a month before his ordination, described how hints of a future vocation came to him as a child in Sèvres, France, southwest of Paris.
He said his mother shared how, soon after his birth in 1991, she prayed that this son, the youngest of five children, might consider joining the clergy.
“My mom took me and said, ‘Lord, if you want to take him, he is yours,’ ” Deacon Chavanne said.
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That sent him to ponder a priestly future, which accelerated one day at age 10 when he found a bottle of water in his home. Normally, his family drank tap water, so he decided to see if there was a taste difference.
A couple of days later, he heard his mother yell, “Who drank the water from Lourdes?”
“I said, ‘Oh, my gosh. I thought about the priesthood because I drank from the water from Lourdes!’ ”
Now, approaching his mid-30s, he said he does not believe there was a connection between that taste of holy water and his vocation.
“It’s a funny story,” he said with a chuckle. “But I add it just to say that this question was present as a child. I knew someday I would have to take time to answer this question.”
In 2006, he toured Central America with his parents, which included a stop in El Salvador, where his older brother, Louis, was a lay missionary.
Deacon Chavanne marveled at how his brother interacted with marginalized people in rough, gang-ridden neighborhoods of the capital city, San Salvador. It was an early glimpse at the sort of ministry he would one day seek for himself.
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“I realized, ‘Oh, this is what I want to live,’ ” Deacon Chavanne said. “I want to live with people from humble neighborhoods. I want to live this ministry of presence.”
This charism, also known as the “ministry of being there,” involves active presence in the lives of people, sharing their joys and sorrows, while also helping to nurture their Catholic
faith.
Deacon Chavanne said his understanding of the ministry of presence is rooted in the words of Jesus from Matthew 25:40 — “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.” In 2014, he went on a similar mission trip, this time for 13 months in Valparaiso, Chile.
There, he practiced the ministry of presence by developing a friendship with a young man named Pedro, who had left an orphanage to live on the streets before joining a gang and getting jailed for robbery.
“Within the jail system, he remained a gang leader,” Deacon Chavanne said. “There were a lot of fights, and, as a gang leader, he had to be rough and tough.”
Outside of jail, Pedro visited Deacon Chavanne’s mission group. He felt unencumbered by the need to be on guard against violence, and ready to inflict it if attacked, Deacon Chavanne explained.
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“He said we were the only people he could be himself with,” the deacon added.
Pedro thanked the group for not judging him by his violent past and for listening to his life story.
“For me,” Deacon Chavanne said, “it was a great sign of what we were trying to live in this mission — to feel this need of a human heart.”
Deacon Chavanne ultimately returned to France, where he earned a degree in business management from the Grenoble Ecole de Management. But his desire to serve God and his people took another step when he joined Con-solatio, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit organization, he said. Rooted in the Catholic faith, the Con-solatio group “ministers to people from every walk of life, especially those most socially isolated” throughout the world, according to its website.
Deacon Chavanne’s future plans began to coalesce. Still, he wanted to be sure the priesthood was for him. So, in 2015, he went on a nine-day Ignatian retreat, conducted in silence, so that he could prayerfully seek divine guidance.
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As he spent time alone, he realized the joy he received from being in communion with God’s people.
“And at the end of the retreat, I received this confirmation,” Deacon Chavanne said. “It was like a seal on an envelope, but it was a seal on my soul. “From that moment on, it was very clear that I wanted to be a priest.”
Through Con-solatio, he became acquainted with two members who were also priests serving in the Diocese of Brooklyn. Father Paul Anel, also from France, is pastor of St. Paul and St. Agnes Parish in Cobble Hill. The other is Swiss-born Father Alexandre Morard, who served as parochial vicar for St. Paul and St. Agnes, but was recently named pastor of Holy Family-St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Park Slope.
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The two priests told him the Diocese of Brooklyn would provide him with an excellent seminary education. Bishop Emeritus Nicholas DiMarzio then approved his entry into St. Joseph’s Seminary and College, Dunwoodie, Yonkers.
He is now one of seven transitional deacons who will be ordained on June 28 at the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph in Prospect Heights.
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Deacon Chavanne said he is excited that his parents, three brothers, and sister will attend and expressed his enthusiasm for being an administrator of the sacraments.
Still, he is most eager for the opportunity to pursue the ministry of presence, similar to Fathers Anel and Morard, who regularly visit people who are homebound, in the hospital, or living in nursing homes.
“There are tremendous needs,” Deacon Chavanne said.
“They are by themselves the whole day. So, they are very happy to have someone coming and spending a few minutes or half an hour with them.
“We have to be able to build up this common life, and to be part of each other’s lives.”
