During his journey to the priesthood, Deacon Rondall Howard has grown to understand the importance of conversations – especially conversations with God. It began with his reception of the sacrament of Confirmation in 10th grade when he “encountered God.”
Throughout his high school and college years, Deacon Howard recalled, he spoke with God often about becoming a priest.
“Daily I would say, ‘Lord, I don’t know what you want from me, but I am open to whatever you call me to be.’ I just knew at the end of the day I loved our Lord and trusted that he knew what was best for me,” he said.
After taking a break from college to return home to help his family, God prompted him to “take the leap now.” Deacon Howard, 32, responded yes. That was nine years ago.
The eldest of four children of Lisa Howard and the late Rondall Howard Jr., Deacon Howard has completed studies at Anne Arundel Community College, St. John Paul II Seminary/The Catholic University of America in Washington and Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg.
He has served in several parishes, including his home parish of Christ the King, in his hometown of Glen Burnie, and Holy Family, St. Francis-St. Mary, Middletown.
Archbishop William E. Lori will ordain Deacon Howard to the priesthood Dec. 14 at 10 a.m. at St. Ignatius in Ijamsville.
Originally scheduled to be ordained to the priesthood last year, Deacon Howard asked for some extra discernment time. He served in diaconal ministry at St. John in Westminster, which solidified his call to the priesthood.
“There, I found a lot of external affirmations of my ability to minister well in a parish,” he said, “and I found a bunch of interior affirmation between God and me in that call.”
Over the years he has been on pilgrimage to Mexico City to visit Our Lady of Guadalupe, gone to World Youth Day in Panama and to the Holy Land on retreat.
He’s ministered to the sick in hospitals throughout Maryland, and taught kindergarten through eighth-graders in schools in Harrisburg and Baltimore. He’s been part of parish eucharistic renewal programs, Marches for Life, Catholic men’s conferences, vocational events, youth ministry, young adult groups, Bible studies and chaplain to prayer groups.
.Deacon Howard said shepherding his father into the Catholic faith and, later, accompanying him as he struggled with stage-four cancer played a key role in his call to the priesthood.
“As I became a seminarian, we would have conversations and he would ask questions. … My first year in seminary he started RCIA and asked me to be his sponsor,” he recalled. “I brought him to his first confession and was the one to give him his first holy Communion. I got to shepherd my dad into the faith.”
When his father became ill with stage-four cancer, Deacon Howard remembered, “Everyone kept up hope, and he wanted to fight it, but we spoke and I walked with him, and helped prepare him for the kingdom to come. One of the hardest things, but such a blessed space, those last six months with my father.”
Deacon Howard expressed gratitude to the Lord who “gave me this opportunity to shepherd the one who gave me life into eternal life.” His father died in May 2021.
Deacon Howard expects to focus on evangelization after his ordination to the priesthood. He also wants to “minister the sacraments with compassion and mercy.”
“I want to reach those who are far from the faith and be with them, so they know they’re not alone,” he said.
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