Rev. Mr. Adam Crowe 4th Theology St. Raphael’s, Heuvelton

           I grew up outside of Heuvelton on a family run dairy farm that has been in my family for five generations.  My father runs the farm with my uncle and my mother works in the Heuvelton school system as a teacher’s aide.  I come from a family of four children, two older brothers, and I am blessed to be a twin with a twin sister.  My home parish is St. Raphael’s where I have attended Mass and received most of my sacraments for the twenty-five years of my life.  I attended school at Heuvelton Central and graduated in 2001 with a Regents Diploma, and in the fall of 2001 I entered Wadhams Hall and began my journey of discernment. 
            I first was introduced to the idea of a vocation by my grandmother.  She was a faithful Catholic who attended Mass regularly.  Usually we would attend the Saturday evening vigil Mass and then go to her place for dinner.  It was on one evening like this where she asked if I had ever considered a vocation to the priesthood.  At that time I was only about eleven and really didn’t give it much thought.  However, the idea stuck with me; and as I approached the end of my junior year in High School, I felt more and more certain that there was something for me in the seminary.  I began to talk more openly about the idea, especially with my pastor and by the middle of my senior year I was on the road to entering the seminary.
            When I entered Wadhams Hall in the fall after graduation I knew that this was going to be an adventure, but I didn’t know how much of an adventure God had in store. By the end of my freshman year, it had been announced that Wadhams would be closed and we would be sent elsewhere for studies.  At that time I had to make a serious decision: Would I continue in seminary and have to go somewhere far away from friends and family, or would I leave seminary behind?  My first decision was to leave seminary behind, but throughout the summer months I continued to feel God’s call for me to return to the seminary and so I did.  I was sent to St. John’s Seminary in Boston.  I remained there through my sophomore year of College and it was then announced that they too would have to close their doors.  By this time I was resolved to continue in the seminary journey and when I was sent to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA.  I went with some trepidation but with the knowledge that God had a plan for me.
            I have remained at St. Charles for five years and am now going into my sixth.  I was blessed to be ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacon on the 24th of May 2008 by His Excellency Robert J. Cunningham, Bishop of Ogdensburg.  I have had a somewhat rocky road through seminary but knowing that it was all part of God’s plan has made every moment worth it.