Welcome to Blessed Trinity Deacon Avery! Deacon Avery is our new chaplain, and he is very excited to be a part of the BT community. He sat down with the Titan Times to share a little bit about himself and what he envisions for his future contributions at BT.

Deacon Avery began thinking about becoming a priest and joining the seminary during his senior year of high school and first year of college. He emphasizes how God called him to religious life, saying, “It was just an alarm that kept going off and wouldn’t stop or go away. It caught my attention, and finally, I started to pray on it. I realized that was what God was calling me to actually be a priest.” He then decided to join the seminary after his first year of college. 

Since joining the seminary, he has traveled to Vatican City, Guatemala, and now Roswell. Besides filling up the Rice Krispy tray, Deacon Avery spends his time at BT with the students and with God. 

He describes the beginning of his day, saying, “I expose the Blessed Sacrament for adoration before the 7:10 community service [which] I celebrate. I then usually go and get some breakfast and eat with students that are in the cafeteria.” Throughout the rest of his day, he tries to connect with the students he sees roaming the halls in between class changes. 

Mr. Pham notes from the perspective of a teacher this connection with the students, saying, “Deacon Avery acts like a friend. The way he gives them fist bumps and greets them in the hallway is a great way of first forming fellowship, the way to come to Christ, and through that fellowship, God working through Deacon Avery, [the students] will encounter God for themselves.” 

Senior, Mary Baker, further elaborates on the connection with the students, noting, “He is doing a great job at making everyone, especially the freshmen, feel welcome and appreciated.”

Although Deacon Avery has only recently started at BT, he already has big plans for the future of Campus Ministry and how he wants to impact the students. He shared one thing he plans on that he finds very important to him, saying, “ I really want to take the Kairos retreat program that Father Bob started and run with that and expand it. I want to make it as accessible to people as possible which is why this year, for example, we are pretty much doing one every month of both semesters.” Deacon Avery emphasizes the significance of these retreats, explaining, “I am a very strong believer in the power of retreats to help us draw closer to God especially in high school to help us get away.” Mr. Pham comments on Deacon Avery’s goal of accessibility, adding, “He wants to make sure that all the Sacraments are available to all [such as] school mass, adoration, and confession.”

Not only does Deacon Avery want things to be accessible to the students, he also wants everyone to feel included and welcomed to come to him and the Campus Ministry. He notes this desire for inclusivity, saying, “I want people to know that the whole reason why I am here is to be here for you and to have your back [by supporting] you with whatever you need and to talk about whatever you need to talk about.” Baker can attest to this, saying, “I am super excited to have Deacon Avery because he is always there for everyone. He is very considerate and is one of the best listeners ever.” Deacon Avery concluded by reinforcing the purpose of Campus Ministry, saying,  “Every space in the school has a purpose of a certain kind. I want the purpose of Campus Ministry simply to be you all, and [for] it to be your space.”