Father John Tokaz, OFM, Cap.



MAY GOD GIVE YOU PEACE

It is a pleasure and a privilege to be here at this beautiful church and parish of St. Peter as your priest. I would like to thank you for your cordial and warm welcome. I would just like to share a little bit of my background with you as we begin to live and practice our Catholic Faith together and join you in thanking Fr. Tom for his nine years of priestly service. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1950. My parents, both public school teachers, moved to Walpole, Massachusetts in 1952. I attended public schools there graduating in 1968. Then I began to study for the priesthood in the archdiocese of Boston finishing with a BA in philosophy in 1972. At that time I left the diocese to join the Capuchins. I completed novitiate and went to Garrison, NY to begin a degree in divinity. It was then that I first met Fr. Tom. We both completed an internship year in Okinawa, Japan. We were ordained together, having completed our studies for the Master at Maryknoll School of Theology. We both returned to Japan in 1978 and I returned to the U.S.A. in 1982 because of illness. I was involved in our Capuchin Formation Program for our new friars from 1982-1985 at which time I obtained a Master of Theology from Harvard University in 1986 and went to Catholic University for doctoral studies in Church History. From 1989-1994 I was once again part of our Formation Program. From 1994-1997 I served in St. Pius X Parish, Middletown, CT while completing the doctoral dissertation. From 1997-2006 I served as college chaplain at St. Joseph College of Maine. From 2006-2014 I was a pastor in central New York state returning to our Formation Program in Boston in 2014. I now join you here in Vermont and promise to do my best to help you to enrich your faith and your love of God one day at a time. I am your priest and I am at your service. May God bless us all with health and peace. Fr. John Tokaz