Casavant's laughter, joy echo through his priestly life

Parishioners permit priests to touch them in the heart

- WCR photo by Ramon Gonzalez Fr. Sylvain Casavant has been a priest for almost 16 years.

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
Edmonton

A priest for almost 16 years, Father Sylvain Casavant is joyful as always - laughing, smiling and singing the praises of the priesthood, which clearly has been a blessing for him.

"What I love (about being a priest) is that I'm allowed to enter into the lives of parishioners and into the lives of people in a way that regular people don't," he says. "They allow me to enter into the depths of their soul.

"They let me into the most important celebrations of their lives - their child's Baptism, their marriages, their funerals - and I am a total stranger. They let me in because they know first and foremost that it isn't me who is going in but it is Christ who has been given to me."

Casavant, pastor of the 4,000-family St. Thomas More Parish for almost four years, says parishioners have a deep-rooted trust that "Christ is still very active in the priesthood."

That fills him with pride. "It's a tremendous sense of satisfaction to know that somehow you don't just simply talk to people off the cuff about unimportant things but that you can enter into the midst of their lives and that they allow you to enter into the midst of their lives in Christ," Casavant said in an interview. As a priest, "you get to touch people where it really counts - in the heart."

Since his ordination in 1992, Casavant, 43, has served as pastor in Edmonton, Rimbey, Sylvan Lake and Camrose. The communities in which he has served over the years have helped him build his own community with Christ, he said.

"The people do help me see the presence of God."

Sense of humour

From 1997 to 2002 Casavant served as director of vocations for the Edmonton Archdiocese, his job consisting of promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life among young people.

His enthusiasm for the priesthood led him in 2002 to join the Society of Saint Sulpice, a society of diocesan priests dedicated to the formation of priests. As part of his role in the society, he provides an internship for a young seminarian in his parish.

"I think you have to have a sense of humour when you are a priest," maintains Casavant, who is known for his loud, joyful and infectious laugh. "If you can't express the message of Christ with joy, what can you tell the people? Joy is Christ's love revealed."

Born the second of three children in Granby, Quebec, Casavant came to Edmonton in 1974. As his father was an instructor with the Canadian Forces, he did his elementary schooling at the Griesbach Canadian Forces base. His parents, Gilles and Annette, now live in Bon Accord. He has an identical twin brother, Alain, who is married with a wife and child. His older sister Lucie has two adult children and lives in St. Albert.

As a young boy Casavant struggled with the idea of what he was going to be when he grew up. "I didn't know so I prayed to God," he recalled. "I really wanted to be able to change people's lives. What became clear is that I couldn't (on my own) but with God in me I could."

'Are you kidding ?'

The pastor at CFB Griesbach, Father Conrad Verreault, suggested Casavant consider the priesthood but the lad would have nothing to do with it.

"Me, a priest! Are you kidding?" he told the priest.

However, the idea would not go away and became irresistible when he was in Grade 12 at O'Leary High. His questioning led him to St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Saskatoon and eventually to St. Joseph Seminary in Edmonton.

"I had a strong sense that God wanted me to do this," he recalled. But as his studies progressed Casavant had doubts. "There were times when I didn't get a sense of God's presence." He wondered whether he should continue with his studies. He wanted a clear sign that God wanted him to stay. It didn't come.

"But I never heard God say, 'leave' (so I stayed)."

It was Casavant's belief that God is "a power of love that is never going away" that helped him to overcome his doubts about the priesthood.

"I have no regrets," he says. "I love being a priest. It's a very exciting vocation."

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