Father Mark Lawlor shares stories from his spiritual journey

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An Unexpected Calling Leads to a Rich Spiritual Journey

St thereSe CatholiC ChurCh prieSt penS book

by Karel Lucander | by Photography by Lisa Crates

Last year as Father Mark S. Lawlor was approaching 60 and celebrating 25 years as a priest, he finished writing a book that’s been in the works for years. With help from Saint Benedict Press, this pastor of St. Therese Catholic Church in Mooresville’s “Lessons and Stories from the Journey: Reflections from the Life of a Joyful Priest” is complete. “I decided it was time to bring the project to some conclusion before the Lord brings me to a conclusion,” he says.

Before becoming a priest, Father Mark graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in mechanical engineering and worked for five years as a nuclear engineer on submarine overhauls for the Department of the Navy at the Charleston Naval Shipyard in South Carolina. But that path took a dramatic turn when he got the call for a different life.

“I consider myself an unlikely candidate for priesthood and yet the Lord called me and here I am,” he says. “I believe that it shows that the Lord has a sense of humor.”

In his more than two decades of service, Father Mark has celebrated Masses in basilicas, hotels, fields, prisons and on ocean cruise ships. He has worshiped in holy places, including at the Chapel of Tepeyac in Mexico, the Grotto of Lourdes in France, the altar and tomb of Pope St. John Paul II in St. Peter’s, and at the tomb of our Lord in Jerusalem. As a priest, he has visited mansions, trailers, coal mines, and prayed in the cave on the island of Patmos, where disciple St. John received the vision for the Book of Revelation. He has baptized thousands, and officiated hundreds of weddings and funerals. He has prayed with people in mountains, jungles, on beaches and from the top of church towers down to subterranean catacombs. He has been everywhere for the Lord.

His book provides insights about those experiences as well as encounters with people who helped him grow along the journey, including his family. He dedicates his book to his deceased mother, sister and grandmother. “My mother would write articles for the Salisbury Post. My sister, Leslie, had Down syndrome and was a great Christian. My mother wrote an article about her and that became a book chapter. My grandmother’s strong faith inspired us.”

Story themes include joy, hope, sadness and mystery – along with his trust in Divine Providence and sanctifying grace. Father Mark hopes his book might help others reflect on their own faith journey. “In the end we have nothing to fear if we believe what St. Paul wrote to the Christian community of Rome: ‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’ [Romans 8:31]. I truly believe that God is for us.”

You can find “Lessons and Stories from the Journey: Reflections from the Life of a Joyful Priest” at Amazon.com.