Dear Classmates,

     Where have the years gone? It's been almost 45 year since I left my family home in San Francisco and joined many of you as 6th Latiners at St. Joseph's College. We began in the old system and shared those years of change in curriculum, freedom, and personal responsibility. We were the last class to graduate as Rhets in 1967 because the following year would see the reorganization of the seminary system into separate high school, college, and theologate programs.
      1968 would also see other changes in my life. I began to have serious doubts that I could live a happy celibate life. To explore this, I transferred to Cal Berkeley where I completed by bachelorâ's degree in psychology. During this time Tom Hanson asked me to be his best man. His bride-to-be asked a grammar school classmate of hers (Joan Herrmann of San Mateo) to be her maid of honor. Four months after their wedding Joan and I were engaged. I had found my answer.
     In August of 1970 Joan and I were married and moved immediately to Tucson, Arizona where I earned my doctorate in clinical psychology. Because we were both Bay Area snobs, we returned here as quickly as we could. I landed an internship at the Veterans Hospital in Menlo Park in the shadow of St. Pat's and later a job with San Mateo County Mental Health where I worked for twenty-seven years. I also taught for a brief time at the College (now university) of Notre Dame in Belmont. One of the students in my first class was Joe Barile. 
    In 1975 with a four-month-old daughter (Lisa) and a second child, a son (Jeff), on the way, I was hired as a part-time faculty member at St. Joseph's College. I taught mostly upper division psychology classes there for twelve years. In the mid 1980's with a dwindling enrollment at St. Joe's I was kicked upstairs (so to speak) to St. Pat's where I taught pastoral counseling for 13 years.
     Throughout all these years, Joan and I were active in our parish in Sunnyvale. Joan had been a member of the Immaculate Heart Sisters in Los Angeles for a few years before we met. With our backgrounds we had a lot to offer our parish. When our son was about nine years old, a parishioner asked him about his hobbies. He told the person that he played soccer and collected stamps; but then he added, "My dad's hobby is Church."

     If you have the picture that our life was just sailing along, you are right. Joan and I and our children were very happy. Then in the summer of 1999 tragedy struck. With only minimal symptoms, Joan was diagnosed with cancer of unknown origin, which had metastasized to her liver. She lived for almost eight months. In God's providence, however, she died well, supported throughout her illness by family and friends who showered us with love and reminded her of what a remarkable person she was. She faced death as she had lived life with faith, courage, humor, and love.
    In January 2001 I returned to St. Pat's as a student to prepare for ordination in the Diocese of San Jose. I believe strongly that this was the new path God had laid out for me. Ministry was very much a part of my married life. When I spoke to my children about my plan, I did not surprise them; but they surprise me. They told me that Joan had spoken to both of them privately before she died and said to them, "Don't be surprised if your father decides to go back into the seminary." I feel this was Joan's way of giving me her blessing. It is not something she and I had talked about directly during her illness although the thought was percolating within me. But I never wanted her to feel for a moment that I was looking beyond our life together. We had promised each other and God that we would love one another in good times and in bad. We were totally committed to one another regardless of the circumstances.
     In September 2002 I was ordained a transitional deacon and assigned part-time to St. Nicholas Parish in Los Altos. Three weeks after becoming a deacon, I walked our daughter down the aisle and presided at her wedding. The following May I was ordained a priest and assigned to be the associate pastor of St. Nicholas. Two weeks later my first granddaughter, Peyton, was born to our son and his wife. Since then, my son and his wife have had another daughter (Devin Joan) and my daughter and her husband have had their first (Virginia Joan). Last July I was appointed pastor of St. Nicholas when my predecessor's term limit was up. 
     In his poem, The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost writes: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." For reasons I do not fully understand, God brought me back to the fork in the road. I stood at this juncture with a mixture of sadness and hope. I miss Joan tremendously although I feel she remains my partner in life and in ministry. But because of my life with Joan, I feel that I have the charism of celibacy now. My parishioners love the idea of having a priest, now pastor, who has been married and has children and grandchildren. A lady told me recently that they feel it makes me one with them.
     Questions persist in my mind about how and why all this has happened. Many faith-filled friends shared their reflections with me, which helped me to partially understand. I also found comfort in the words of Cardinal John Henry Newman: "God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another."I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. Therefore, I will trust Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about."
     I hope to see you on Alumni Day at St. Pat's on April 29. 

Larry Percell, 9/10/06    lppercell@gmail.com

NOTE FROM WEB EDITOR: The below is the first part of an story in The San Jose Mercury News- July 30, 2006. Unfortunately I could not retrieve the whole article., but check out THE PHOTO TO THE RIGHT. Congrats, Larry. -JB

There are two great loves in the Rev. Lawrence Percell's life: his family and his church. The two came together again Saturday at St. Nicholas Catholic Church in Los Altos when Percell -- also known as Father Larry -- sprinkled holy water over his two granddaughters' heads, baptizing them into the faith that has sustained him throughout his life...."