Redemptorist Kevin Bellot to be ordained to diaconate Oct. 8

Redemptorist Kevin Bellot, a native of the island nation of Dominica and a member of the Redemptorist community at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (Mission Church) in Roxbury, will be among those ordained to the transitional diaconate October 8 at St. Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill.

 

Bellot will finish his studies at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry this fall, and will spend his time as a deacon serving in Redemptorist parishes and ministries in the English-speaking region of the Caribbean.

 

Bellot, 28, the older brother to one sister, grew up in the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. He attended Catholic schools, and first felt called to the religious life during high school. Volunteering in the infirmary of the Christian Brothers, Bellot was touched by the simple acts of genuine service to another.

 

“The fact that you could dedicate your life to something without counting the cost, that was really what triggered the idea of religious life,” Bellot said. “When you’re tying the shoelaces of a patient, or helping them fix their clothes or walk down the hall so they can play cards, and they just smile at you. That smile had so much wealth in it, whether they could say thank-you verbally or not. I knew then that’s how I wanted to spend my life.”

 

Bellot joined the Redemptorists in 2001 and has worked in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, in inner-city Philadelphia and New York. He completed his degree in philosophy and psychology at St. John’s University in New York, and professed his first vows as a Redemptorist in 2007 and his final vows in 2010. He is expected to be ordained to the priesthood in August 2012.

 

Of his vocation journey, Bellot said the path looked a lot easier than it turned out to be.

 

“It’s quite a journey. But the adventure is very good, and the mystery behind that adventure is what really pushes me on,” he said. “It’s absolutely worth doing! And the fact that I’ve had to work a lot harder than I imagined makes me appreciate it even more.”

 

The Redemptorists serve in parishes and retreat houses, and preach parish missions throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. They maintain permanent missions in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the independent countries of Dominica, St. Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies.

 

Bellot is one of 11 Redemptorists studying at Boston College and in residence at Mission Church, including four seminarians from Vietnam and two from Haiti.