Italian-born Father Vincenzo Cardilicchia, 43, discovered his calling to the priesthood through the Neo-catechumenal Way. He is the first member of this community to be ordained for the Diocese of Brooklyn.

Born in Turin, Italy, he attended public schools and Istituto Professionale Statale Giuseppina Colombatto, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in catering management.

After completing a year of mandatory military service, he returned home to work as a caterer in hotels, restaurants, bars and clubs. In his spare time, he enjoyed street bikes, snowboarding and travel.

“However, something was missing in my life,” he said. “I sought happiness in relationships, sports and arts, yet remaining deeply unsatisfied.”

Although raised in a devout Catholic family, he drifted from the Church in his teenage years and underwent an existential crisis in his late 20s.

“I was crying out for a spiritual life, for deeper meaning in my life,” he said.

He began contemplating God in nature, and by February, 2002, he felt a clear desire to return to the Church. At this same time, his parents had become deeply involved in the Neo-catechumenal Way, and through prayer with them, he felt drawn into meditation by the Word of God. That spring, he entered the Neo-catechumenal community in his hometown.

In 2003, he attended a retreat at which Chapter 21, verse 17 of the Gospel of John was proclaimed. In the days and weeks after the retreat, Jesus’ command, “Look after my sheep,” continued to resound in his mind and heart.

“I was touched by Christ’s invitation,” he said.

Following a vocational program and retreat, he discerned that the Lord was truly calling him to the priesthood. When his community invited him to attend Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary, based at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary, Denver, he accepted.

As part of his pastoral formation, he was sent on a field experience to the Brooklyn Diocese to serve in St. Joseph’s Church, now the co-cathedral.

“I spent three years in Prospect Heights, and it was a blessing,” he said. “I watched the church go from ashes to glory.”

In August, 2012, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio invited him to stay in the diocese, and he was happy to give up the Rocky Mountains for city skyscrapers.

He transferred to Redemptoris Mater Seminary, Kearny, N.J., and completed his studies at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception at Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy through St. John Vianney Theological Seminary and his master of divinity degree at Seton Hall. He served his diaconate year at St. Benedict Joseph Labre, Richmond Hill.

“In all of this time of formation,” he said, “I saw the mercy of God. The prayer and generosity of many brothers and sisters in Christ, especially those in the Neo-catechumenal Way, have sustained me in my journey.”

His priestly role models include Father Florian Martin-Calama, rector of Redemptoris Mater, Denver; Msgr. Renato Grasselli, rector of Redemptoris Mater, Kearny; and Msgr. Kieran Harrington and Father Jorge Ortiz, pastor and parochial vicar of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral, respectively.

He is grateful to be ordained in the co-cathedral, where he served as a seminarian, and thankful that his parents, Lorenzo and Anna, and older sister, Giuseppina, will be able to attend his ordination.

Father Cardilicchia will offer his First Mass of thanksgiving at St. Benedict Joseph Labre Church on Sunday, June 29 at 10 a.m.

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