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Seminarian Patrick McLaughlin
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Patrick McLaughlin was born on October 26, 1987, at Holloman AFB in Alamogordo, NM, to Kevin and Cynthia (Rood) McLaughlin. Shortly thereafter, when his father's Air Force tour was complete, the young family returned to Northeast PA. Over the years, they would change residences many times, which has allowed Patrick to appreciate "home" as a group of people, rather than a as a physical place.
Patrick graduated from Stroudsburg High School in 2006, leaving behind a group of close friends and many fond memories. While in high school, he had been active with student government, student theatre, and many of his high schools' various musical engagements, including concert bands, jazz bands, and marching bands.
That chapter of his life being complete, Patrick entered the Oblates of St. Joseph seminary on August 5, 2006, the vigil of the Feast of the Transfiguration. He had known the Oblates from his boyhood, when he was a parishioner and altar server at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, in Pittston. Later, after moving away, he felt a call to the priesthood which he could not explain, and to which he could not give an adequate answer. He sought guidance from his boyhood pastor, Fr. Paul McDonnell, OSJ. All throughout high school, Patrick continued to discern his vocation, eventually deciding that the next step of God's plan was for him to enter the seminary.
Patrick considers it no small irony that the day of his entry into the seminary was so intimately connected to the Feast of the Transfiguration. Over the years to come, he prays that God will tranform him into the disciple that he was meant to be, a hidden and faithful instrument of the Lord's work, so that in all things, God's will may be done.
Presently, Patrick is preparing for his first religious profession as an Oblate Novice in Loomis, CA. After a year of novitiate, he plans to profess vows and begin studying Theology at the Oblate House of Studies in Oxnard, CA.
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