BRIDGEPORT—Bishop Frank J. Caggiano will ordain two men as transitional deacons for the Diocese of Bridgeport on Saturday, June 20, 10 am at St. Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport.
Traditionally, ordination as a transitional deacon is the last step before full ordination to the priesthood. For the transitional deacons, the year ahead will include pastoral, liturgical and educational preparation period for the priesthood.
Attendance at the ordination will be limited to immediate family members and other invited guests in order to conform to the public health recommendations for returning to indoor Mass during the pandemic.
Guy Dormévil was born in Haiti to Gustave Dormévil and Angélie Louis Charles, where he was raised along with his 15 siblings. He was married for 29 years to the late Magalie Adolphe, who died from cancer on August 23, 2015. He has two children, Guyvensky (28) and Guylendy (25) Dormevil.
In 1988, he had to leave his job as an immigration inspector to take refuge in the U.S. Since his arrival to the U.S., he has worked as a Burger King clerk and manager, a certified nursing assistant, a grocery store produce clerk, and lastly a produce manager for 19 years. He attended college part time and received a certificate of English as a Second Language and an associate degree in Business Administration. He also obtained additional nondegree credits at UCONN and Sacred Heart University.
On August 3, 2016, Bishop Caggiano approved his application to enter St. John Fisher Seminary Residence, where he began pre-Theology studies. A year later he entered Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary, in Weston, Mass., where he will continue into his 4th year of Theological Studies this Fall.
Guy has been a very active layman in the Roman Catholic Church. His involvement not only included his home parish, but also expanded to both diocesan and national service. He started as a very young altar server, progressed to a youth group leader and then a charismatic prayer group leader. A few of the roles he has exercised at his parish are leader of the liturgical committee, leader of the Haitian Charismatic Prayer Group, eucharistic minister, member of the parish council, a member of the finance board and a parish trustee.
In October 2009, he joyfully and gratefully received the Saint Augustine Medal of Service from the Diocese of Bridgeport, while he was serving as a diocesan pastoral council member, with Bishop William E. Lori, presently Archbishop of Baltimore, Maryland. In 2014, at the fourth diocesan synod of the Diocese of Bridgeport, called by Bishop Caggiano, Guy served as delegate of the Haitian Community and St. Joseph Parish. Currently, he is still one of the five members of the Haitian National Charismatic Committee based in New York and Msgr. Joseph Malagreca, Chaplain.
“After my wife’s death, my plan was to fulfill the dream of becoming a Permanent Deacon,” explains Dormévil. “However, the Lord had something far better planned for me. He re-kindled the priesthood call He made to me as a young adult. So, I prayerfully said yes to the call.”
Of his readiness for ordination, Dormévil shares, “I am willing to learn as much as possible in order to become a good shepherd to God’s people. I hope to be at the service of anyone who requires my help. But most importantly, I will eternally need the prayers of God’s people and I will pray for them as well.”
Brendan Blawie was born and raised in Newtown, Conn., and received all of his Sacraments at St. Rose of Lima Parish. He is the middle of three children, with an older brother, Jack, and a younger sister, Marian. His parents, Karen and John Blawie, raised him in the faith, although he admits to not thinking much about being a priest as a young boy.
Brendan loves sports, playing football and basketball through high school and earned the rank of Eagle Scout. “It was in high school that I began to actually learn about and love our faith,” he shares.
Brendan enrolled in the Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech in the Marine Corps ROTC program, before transferring to Franciscan University of Steubenville where he earned his degree in accounting.
While at Franciscan, he also pursued a commission with the Marine Corps, graduating from Officer’s Candidate School in Quantico, Va. the summer of 2012. This fulfilled a dream he had from his childhood of being a Marine Officer, but in the end, it was clear to him that it may have been his plan, but not the Lord’s.
Instead of commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Brendan entered seminary for the Diocese of Bridgeport. He completed two years of pre-theological studies at St. John Fisher seminary, before being sent to the Pontifical North American College in Rome, where he spent three years. In 2019, he received his theology degree, magna cum laude, from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and have been on pastoral assignment at St. Thomas More parish in Darien for the past year.
“I look forward to returning to Rome in the fall where I will begin my studies for a Licentiate in Sacred Theology,” shares Blawie. “Life with Christ is always an adventure, and these past six years of formation for the priesthood for the Diocese of Bridgeport have been filled with joy and peace. I look forward to a life of priestly ministry in this diocese, which is my home.”
“Approaching diaconate ordination has been a wonderful blessing,” he says. “It is something for which I have prepared and anticipated all these years of formation, but I still find myself a bit anxious as the date grows near. Seminary formation is never the young man forming himself, but allowing the Lord to form him, so as to be a priest after His own Sacred Heart.
Conforming our lives to the will of God allows us to trust in His providence, and I can reflect back with much joy on all the twists and turns of the road of my life that have led me to this point of approaching His altar to receive Holy Orders. Being ordained during a pandemic was never how I pictured it, but I have learned that my plans are often flawed. I continue to trust in His will and His love, and pray that will lead me toward a worthy life of ministry,” he said.
