PORTLAND — Asking God to “pour out the grace of his blessing on this, his servant,”  Roman Catholic Bishop Robert P. Deeley of the Diocese of Portland ordained Biddeford native and former St, James School student Alex Boucher to the transitional diaconate in a Mass celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland on Sunday.

“I am overwhelmed by everyone’s love and their presence here this morning,” said Boucher after Sunday’s Mass. “It’s been a seemingly long journey, but I’ve been blessed by the presence of so many people here today. I look forward to serving the Church here in Maine and beyond in the months and years ahead.”

Those ordained to the transitional diaconate in the Catholic Church are men who are in formation for the priesthood. Nevertheless, it is life transforming because, even if he is ordained a priest one day, Boucher will always be a deacon as well, a ministry that is devoted to service.

“It is one of service to God and to the people of God, being of humble service in preaching the Good News,” said Boucher. “The Holy Thursday image of Christ washing the feet of the apostles is the one that comes to mind when I think of diaconal ministry. Following the example of Christ as servant is what I view the deacon’s role and my role to be.”

During the Rite of Ordination, Boucher promised to discharge the office of deacon with humble charity in order to assist the priestly order and benefit the Christian people, to proclaim the faith in word and deed according to the Gospel and the Church’s traditions, to remain celibate as a sign of his dedication to Christ, to commit to daily prayer, and to conform his life always to the example of Christ.

Now ordained, Boucher was vested with a stole and dalmatic, symbols of the diaconate by Deacon Kevin Jacques, a family friend who serves at Good Shepherd Parish in Biddeford.

Boucher says the path to his ordination leads back to his childhood in Biddeford, where the first seeds of his vocation were planted.

“My earliest childhood memories really are of being dropped off at my grandparents’ house in the morning, at some very early hour, and going to daily Mass in the old convent chapel at St. André with my grandmother,” he says. “She would babysit me and bring me to daily Mass with her. She sang and still sings in the funeral choir in Biddeford. I remember going with her as a really young kid and sitting on the floor with a bag of crackers and a notebook and doodling while she sang.”

At age 4, he remembers attending the first Mass celebrated by newly ordained Rev. Daniel Greenleaf, now director of the Office of Seminarians. Boucher says he was struck by the number of priests processing into St. Joseph Church in Biddeford, where the Mass was celebrated.

“As a 4-year-old, I had never seen that before. I had never seen a young priest,” he says. “I distinctly remember tugging on my dad’s shirtsleeve and saying, ‘I want to do that when I grow up.’ So, at four years old, there was certainly something there that was attractive to me. God was working there at a very young age.”

Of course, he says, he also had boyhood aspirations to be a firefighter, police officer, and teacher, among other career choices.

Nevertheless, the thought of a priestly vocation remained and received some nurturing through 10 years attending St. James School in Biddeford, from preschool to grade 8.

“St. James School was a very important and formative place for me,” he says.

He also recalls Rev. Renald Labarre, a family friend, talking with him about the priesthood and sharing what a wonderful way of life it was, something he fondly recalls as his first vocation chat.

Boucher attended Cheverus High School in Portland, where he was active in campus ministry. It was also where he met Rev. George Collins, who was still in formation for the Jesuits at the time and not yet ordained. Collins taught theology in a manner that Boucher found captivating.

“I just remember being drawn right away by not just the subject matter but by him, as someone who had, a little later in life, decided to surrender to God’s call for him. That was really inspiring to me,” Boucher says. “His influence was very powerful for my young mind and my young discerning heart.”

Boucher was also active in youth ministry when he was a teenager. He helped develop a youth ministry program in the Biddeford/Saco area and served for two years as a member of the former Maine Diocesan Council for Catholic Youth, helping to plan diocesan youth events.

“That introduced me to the broader diocesan Church,” he said. “It really was good exposure and experience for me just to get a sense of the diocese as a local church. There is something attractive about that.”

Boucher said, however, that it really wasn’t until college that he really started opening his heart to the possibility God was calling him to the priesthood. He attended The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, D.C., where he found many like-minded students.

“It was amazing, early on in my freshman year in college, having conversations in the dining hall or in the dorm, just with new friends. We weren’t all saying right out of the gate, ‘Oh, I’m discerning a vocation to the priesthood,’ but pretty quickly, we realized there a common thread among many of us.”

Boucher became connected with campus ministry, participated in a men’s discernment group, regularly served at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and became a member of the Knights of Columbus. He credits the chaplain of the Knights, Rev. Frank Donio, SAC, for helping him to conquer his fears of following God’s will.

“He is one of the biggest mentors in my life to this day and just a dear friend,” says Boucher. “He was just challenging me to get out of my own way and, in a sense, kind of stop dragging my feet.”

It was through his connection to Father Donio that Boucher got a job with the Catholic Apostolate Center in Washington, D.C., which seeks to collaborate with dioceses and organizations to form programs for the new evangelization. He would later also work as a project administrator for the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, also in Washington, D.C.

When he was in his junior year at CUA, still unsure in which direction he wanted to head, Boucher decided to take time off. It would lead to a new opportunity in the Diocese of Portland, working as a pastoral associate for the Portland Peninsula Island Parishes, while also continuing to work for the Catholic Apostolate Center and the Leadership Roundtable.

He said having positive interactions with the priests serving in the Portland parishes gave him a fuller picture of what it meant to be priest. Still, he was conflicted because he was also having success serving the Church as a layperson.

Boucher returned to CUA to finish his degree but came back to Maine to assist with the installation of Bishop Deeley. He said it was a conversation with the bishop after the installation Mass that finally helped him move forward in pursuing his vocation. He said the bishop kept asking him, what was next for him, finally telling him, “I encourage you to listen to the Holy Spirit whispering to you, speaking to you in your heart. I think I can hear it, so you certainly can.”

Boucher said the bishop then walked away, leaving him to ponder those words.

“There were so many of those hinge moments,” Boucher said. “They’ve all been encouraging conversations with priests and, ultimately, with Bishop Deeley that really kind of spurred me into action.”

Boucher was assigned by Bishop Deeley to Saint John’s Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts, where he first studied philosophy and recently completed his third year of theological studies, his fifth of six years overall.

“I think it’s made me more aware of God’s movement in my life and in the lives of those around me,” he said.

Many of those who have played a role in Boucher’s vocation journey joined him at the cathedral for his ordination to the transitional diaconate.

“All the friends and family who have come to share this day with me is extremely humbling, these people who have meant so much to me over so many years, who have been so supportive of me. It was overwhelming processing out at the end of Mass, seeing so many people who have meant so much to me for such a long time, to see them here to support me this morning was wonderful.”

Boucher said he is looking forward to ministering as a deacon.

“Doing all the things a deacon does. I have had some good examples of deacons. Deacon Kevin Jacques being one of them and Deacon Bob Parenteau, also in Biddeford. Just the way that they have joyfully, humbly gone about serving the Church and their neighbors has been inspiring to me. I look forward to having a share in that with them as a deacon,” he said.

The bishop has assigned Deacon Boucher to St. Paul the Apostle Parish in Bangor for the summer months.

“I can’t wait to start preaching. I’m very, very excited to preach and to baptize. I’m still waiting for my first baptism to be scheduled, but I’m really looking forward to preaching and to baptizing this summer,” he said.

In the fall, he will return to Saint John’s Seminary for his final year of preparation, in anticipation that he will be ordained to the priesthood next year.

“I’m feeling very, very happy,” he said before attending a post-Mass reception at the cathedral’s Guild Hall. “It’s a long day with more celebration to come. But I’m feeling ultimately grateful to God for the many graces and blessing he has bestowed on me over the course of my life and especially here this morning.”