Deacon Stephen Boatwright’s journey to his May 31 ordination as a priest was marked by 44 years of marriage with a loving wife, 33 years as a permanent deacon and 13 years in retirement.
He will be ordained at age 74 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul.
“The thing I’ve learned very keenly in the last, well, two years, I guess, is that God doesn’t always draw in a straight line,” Deacon Boatwright said on the May 16 “Practicing Catholic” radio show on Relevant Radio 1330 AM.
He grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, with his late parents, Dan and Barb; and siblings, Mary; his late sister, Nancy; and brother, Bill. Each night after dinner the family gathered to pray a rosary. He attended St. Pius X Catholic School in Urbandale and Loras College in Dubuque, both in Iowa, which also provided supportive environments and led him to a year at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul from 1973 to 1974.
“I’ve come to the conclusion that either I wasn’t ready for God or God wasn’t ready for me” at that time to pursue the priesthood, Deacon Boatwright said.
He went on to forge a 35-year career with AT&T Inc. in accounting and billing resolution and retired in 2010.
He met his wife, Marcia, in 1975 and they married in 1977. They had a daughter, Sarah, who married, has three children, and plans to travel from her home in Tennessee to attend his ordination. His wife died of pancreatic cancer in 2021.
“She was a nurse, through and through,” Deacon Boatwright said of his wife. She gave of her time and talent in other ways, as well, including making clothes for people in impoverished countries. A moving example was fashioning wedding dresses into burial garments for infants, the deacon said.
A fond memory is their first date, eight hours riding together on a tandem bicycle through Des Moines, topped by an ice cream with candy sprinkles.
“When we were done, I looked like I’d been on a horse for four years,” Deacon Boatwright said.
He and his wife moved with his work to the Twin Cities in 1987, and in 1991, Deacon Boatwright was ordained a permanent deacon. God remained close, he said, and he loved the ministry and working with people.
“All throughout my life I have discerned a calling. I wasn’t always sure where the Lord was going to lead,” he said.
Two pieces of advice helped him get through the death of his wife. The first came from a Jesuit priest and the second came from a book: Recall the good and happy times of his marriage; and life is a book filled with many chapters.
“After my wife passed, I decided that ‘OK, buster, there’s a new chapter. What are you going to do?’”
His experience as a permanent deacon included people wishing he could hear their confession and administer the anointing of the sick, two sacraments that can only be performed by a priest.
“I went and talked with Father (David) Blume (then-vocations director for the archdiocese) and a number of other priests to see if it was even possible” to pursue a priestly vocation, Deacon Boatwright said. “I started formation when I was 72 years old.”
Those considering a religious vocation should “pray, pray, pray and pray more,” Deacon Boatwright said. “Develop your relationship with Christ.”
Be prepared as well to study and work hard, he said.
“I say that because I was retired for 13 years. I had gone through my wife’s death, and I had not been in school for 50 years. I’ll tell you; education has changed a whole bunch since the early ’70s with the internet and all that other business. The courses for a master’s (degree) and above require a lot of work. I think the younger you can go into that, the better off you are.”
A blessing is the support provided in the seminary to develop the human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral dimensions of ministry, Deacon Boatwright said.
“You’ll have spiritual directors, formators, all those folks who will provide you input and feedback throughout your journey.”
As he readies to begin his priestly ministry, Deacon Boatwright said he looks forward to celebrating Mass, and he hopes to spend “whatever remaining time I have with the people and serving God as a priest.”
