Diocèse Catholique
Catholic Diocese
Timothy Humphries
Alexandria-Cornwall
Timothy Humphries
Diocèse catholique d'Alexandria-Cornwall Catholic Diocese
220, ch. Montreal Rd, C.P./Box 1388, Cornwall ON K6H 5V4 * 613-933-1138
Le Grand Seminaire de Quebec - Class of 2008-2009. Timothy is the furthest to the left.
I was born in Toronto, the first of four siblings, of an English immigrant mother and a native Torontonian father. My paternal grandfather,
also from England, married a Francophone from Iroquois, near Cornwall.
While my mother is Catholic, my father discouraged religious
practice, so we attended Mass infrequently. As a teenager, I became
increasingly interested in the faith, and I enrolled in a programme of Catholic studies at the University of Toronto. The real ye-opener
for me was a year I spent studying and teaching in Paris. Not only did it improve my French, but the glories of French Catholicism
enthralled me: the churches, the culture, the history, the religious communities. I lived in a Jesuit student resident, and upon my
return and subsequent graduation, I applied to the local seminary. The rector, however, advised that I was too inexperienced and recommended
that I live independently for a few years.
I began working for the Ontario Legislature and later obtained a degree in education.
After teaching in London, England, and Toronto, I applied again to the seminary in Toronto and was accepted. After two wonderful but
exhausting years of studies, I felt I needed a break. I was granted a leave of absence and returned to the workforce. Some five years
later, I was ready to resume studies for the priesthood. The seminary, however, felt I had been absent too long. I either had to abandon
the idea of the priesthood or find another diocese.
Looking to my roots in Eastern Ontario, I sent letters to the bishops of
both Alexandria-Cornwall and Kingston. His Excellency Bishop Paul-André Durocher was the first to respond. After meetings and discussion,
followed by extensive testing, Bishop Durocher welcomed me as a candidate to the priesthood for Alexandria-Cornwall.
The bishop
chose the Grand Séminaire de Québec, founded in 1663, as my seminary. He felt it would help perfect my French and thereby better enable
me to serve all the people of the diocese. I am currently in my first year at the Grand Séminaire, enjoying the spiritual, intellectual
and human formation, as well as the marvelous sites of Old Quebec.
A vocation to the priesthood or religious life is always mysterious
and unique –– as is each of us. I felt the beginnings of a call in my teens, so impressed was I by the Church and its powerful, counter
cultural message. The call crystallised in France after my encounters with the Jesuit and Benedictine communities and many devoted
laypeople. I wanted to be part of a force that had contributed, and continues to contribute, so much to the good of mankind. A certain
idealistic vision gave way to a more concrete view of the Church’s activity after years of volunteer work, but this did not diminish
my desire to lead a Christian community. Of course, I have always sought to determine the will of God in this matter. The call comes
from him, not us. Discerning a vocation is not something that one does once for ever, nor can one respond just once: it requires daily
reflection and acts of the will. For the moment, the Lord appears to be leading me towards the altar, and each day, I say yes to this
tremendous grace –– sometimes easily, sometimes with difficulty, always thankfully. I continue to look to the day when I will be able
help Bishop Durocher serve God’s people in the Church of Alexandria-Cornwall.
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