Brendan Blawie has been ordained a Catholic priest by the Diocese of Bridgeport.

The Newtown native, 28, was ordained into the priesthood on Saturday, January 2, at St Augustine Cathedral in Bridgeport.

Bishop James Massa, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Brooklyn, led the celebratory Mass. The Most Reverend Frank J. Caggiano, bishop for the Diocese of Bridgeport, was in quarantine after testing positive for the COVID-19 virus.

Fr Blawie then celebrated his first Mass the following day, a Mass of Thanksgiving, at St Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Newtown. It is the church Fr Blawie grew up in and where he received his sacraments.

It was not where friends and family thought he would end up serving.

Until shortly after his graduation from Newtown High School in 2010, Blawie had been fulfilling a dream of being a Marine.

Fr Blawie laughed, just a little, when asked last week about that transition.

“I’ve been blessed to be surrounded by people who have supported me in all of this,” he said Friday morning, January 8. Admitting that some family members and friends were a little surprised, he pointed out that “people make changes all the time.”

Fr Blawie is a son of Karin and John F. Blawie. He has two siblings, Jack and Marian.

“They know how serious I was about the Marine Corps and then to, what at face value looks like a dramatic shift, may have surprised them,” Fr Blawie said. “I’ve been blessed to have parents who have supported me in all of my endeavors.

“They really had a lot of trust in me. They know I wouldn’t make this decision rashly. They certainly want what’s best for me, and they’ve been so supportive. If anything, they made the process easier by being supporting and encouraging through it all.”

Blawie sees many similarities in the two life choices, he said.

“As I’ve grown I’ve realized that there are a lot of similarities in how you comport and discipline yourself, and who you are serving and what is expected of you,” he noted. Both callings require “giving yourself to something that’s bigger than you, something that you belong to, something that requires your time, and your skills, and the entirety of your life.”

When it was time to sign his contract for commission, however, he found he was not completely at peace with that allegiance.

“It was like I was at the dance with the wrong girl,” he said. “It was something I couldn’t fully commit to.”

With a solid foundation in faith, and support from family and friends, “priesthood really became an option for me,” he said.

Once that decision was made, he said, that was when there was “certainly a sense of calm and peace.”

Monsignor Robert Weiss, pastor of St Rose of Lima Church, shared this week that Fr Blawie has often said that he had a plan, and God had a plan, and God won.

Path To Priesthood

Fr Blawie was an active member of the St Rose Youth Ministry throughout high school. He was a member of Newtown Troop 70 Boy Scouts, based at St Rose, and earned the rank of Eagle Scout.

He played football, basketball, and baseball growing up, and remains a fan of the New England Patriots, he said last week.

He graduated from Newtown High School in 2010. Following graduation, he enrolled in the Corps of Cadets at Virginia Tech in the Marine Corps ROTC program.

He transferred in January 2011 to Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he earned his degree in accounting, finishing those studies in spring 2014.

While there, he still pursued a commission with the Marine Corps, graduating from Officer’s Candidate School in Quantico, Va., in summer 2012. That fulfilled the dream he had from childhood of being a Marine officer.

Instead of commissioning as a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Marine Corps, however, he entered seminary for the Diocese of Bridgeport in autumn 2014.

It was not a quick decision to change his life course, and it was not something that happened overnight. Becoming a Catholic priest is a multi-year process. Many men do not finish their studies, for myriad reasons, the priest said.

“I think it’s rightfully structured,” he said, “to allow a transition into seminar, and a true layer of discernment. Gradually you make that mental switch from discerning the priesthood to actively entering the priesthood, and believing that this is the life God has chosen for you.”

Blawie completed two years of pre-theology at St John Fisher Seminary in Stamford before beginning studies in 2016 at Pontifical North American College in Rome.

“We went over in the summer to have an Italian language immersion,” Fr Blawie said January 8. He also immersed himself in the world of Roma soccer, he said, although with COVID, “there’s not too much of that right now.”

Blawie also enjoys traveling and camping, “sports and exercise, things like that help keep me balanced and sane.”

Following three years of studies, Blawie earned his degree in theology, magna cum laude, in 2019 from Pontifical Gregorian University. He returned to the Diocese of Bridgeport in summer 2019 for a pastoral year, done at St Thomas More Parish in Darien. He was ordained a transitional deacon last June.

He returned to Rome in the autumn to begin studies for a Licentiate in Sacred Study.

“I returned in September, and I’ve been there since, just returning home to Connecticut recently for this ordination,” he said last week.

Because of his mother’s declining health, Blawie received special permission to be ordained a priest this month. He has another year and a half of studies ahead of him at Pontifical University to finish his advanced degree in dogmatic theory.

“I received special privilege to have this ordination early,” he explained. “It was originally scheduled to be this coming June, but it was able to be scheduled for January, just to assure that she would be able to be at the ordination, and take part in it fully.

“I am fully ordained, it just happened a few months early. Thanks be to God that whole process worked out smoothly.”

Mass Of Thanksgiving

Msgr Weiss this week called Fr Blawie “a very traditional priest.” The January 3 Mass at St Rose was done in Latin, the monsignor noted.

“It was a celebration that he loved, and it was probably his dream, to have his first Mass in Latin,” Msgr Weiss added.

The celebration went well, although not without a small interruption.

“There was so much incense that the smoke alarm went off,” Weiss noted with a laugh.

Fr Blawie had also mentioned the alarm, calling it “a fun wrinkle to deal with.”

Aside from that, though, it was very memorable to celebrate that Mass at St Rose.

“It was so special to be there,” he said. “Even though the church had limited capacity, the limited friends and family that were there, it was such a real joy to be able to celebrate the sacrament with them, and for them.

“It was something I’ve been preparing for for some time,” he added. “I felt very joy-filled to be able to do that at my home parish.”

Monsignor Weiss, who literally watched Blawie grow up in the Catholic church, described the new priest as “a very well-rounded young man. He’s athletic, he’s bright, and he’s got a lot of qualities that are going to attract a lot of people to the church.

“I really wish the very best for him.”