Rev. Thomas Woodhouse, Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary Class of 2013, didn’t always plan to become a priest. In fact, he resisted the idea for the first decades of his adult life. Listen to Fr. Tom on CATHOLIC MILITARY LIFE, a podcast of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA, talking about his call to priesthood and being ordained at age 56. https://soundcloud.com/catho.../father-thomas-j-woodhouse-on
After attending college at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, Fla., where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical studies, he served as an aviation supply officer for the helicopter squadron in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was commissioned in 1981 and served to 1984.
Woodhouse deployed to Okinawa, Japan, for six months during that time, but was stationed mainly in southern California. Before going overseas, Woodhouse said, “Whenever I got to a new duty station, I’d just go to church, because that was home.”
After the service, Woodhouse worked for Texas Instruments as a supervisor for the aircraft maintenance crew and also worked as a pilot. He was the chief pilot for Raytheon’s missile systems flight operations department.
In 1988 Woodhouse became involved in a Rite of Christian initiation at his local parish. “I just wanted to learn more about my faith.
“It’s part of a process where we bring people who are interested in joining the faith to the church,” he explained.
After a presentation he made to the group, he was asked by a deacon if he’d thought about becoming a priest, “and I thought he was crazy,” Woodhouse said.
He’d hear the question again and again over the years but always dismissed it. He enjoyed his work, and thought someday he might marry.
Though he pushed the role of priesthood away, Woodhouse said, “my faith life just kept growing and growing.”
In 2008, while visiting his family and attending Mass daily at St. Paul Church in Cranston, the question began to stick. The priest there asked Woodhouse about joining the priesthood after seeing him at so many Masses.
“This guy doesn’t even know me,” Woodhouse said. “That’s the first time I really started getting excited about it.”
He enrolled at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in 2009 and was ordained a priest on June 1, 2013, by Bishop Thomas J. Tobin for the Diocese of Providence. He is currently the Pastor of St. Paul in Cranston, Rhode Island.