FAYETTEVILLE — The word discernment often brings to mind images of a young woman or seminarian considering a vocation. But Father John Antony believes that discernment is a life-long process of listening to the quiet whisperings of the heart.
Father Antony, who was ordained a diocesan priest in 1996 and has been pastor of St. Joseph Church in Fayetteville since 2009, knows discerning can often lead to another road. On Aug. 6 Father Antony began discerning becoming a Carmelite friar.
The whisperings, although not new, have of late grown louder, emphasizes Father Antony, because he knew God had been calling him to more deeply explore the possibility of a new vocation.
“The bishop was gracious to give me this time,” said Father Antony of his three-month sabbatical at St. Mary of Mount Carmel Parish in Dallas where he will step away to further discern.
At the end of three months, depending on God’s call, Father Antony could continue to discern the vocation with a year-long novitiate. A novitiate could be completed at Marylake Monastery outside Little Rock or in Dallas, he said.
What stirred these heart desires for Father Antony came in the unlikely form of a document that he began studying several years ago after leaving as pastor at St. Raphael Church in Springdale.
“I began studying Pope John Paul II’s ‘Theology of the Body’ and what impressed me was the importance of the role of relationships in life,” he said. “Whether it is a marriage or your relationship with parents, friends or God, what really matters at the end of the day is your relationship with God and with other people. That’s when I began to hear what the Lord was really saying. We can go through life without really developing an intimate relationship with the Lord, and prayer is the only way to do this. Carmelites separate from the world so they can pay better attention. Their approach to prayer is really about deepening this relationship.”
The root of “Theology of the Body” is a Carmelite spirit, explained Father Antony, and it was this Carmelite heart speaking to him in the writings that awakened dormant desires he has entertained since high school.
“The purpose of a Carmelite is to pray,” Father Antony said, “and when a Carmelite prays, there is no limit to the efficacy of their prayer, it is far reaching and helps the whole body of Christ. In faith, I know that their prayer is changing the world because it is motivated by love of others.”
Born in New Delhi, India, in 1969, to K.K. and Raichel Antony, John Antony came to Arkansas when he was 7 years old and grew up in Little Rock where he attended Catholic High School led by the late Msgr. George Tribou. Father Antony, who has an older brother and younger sister, could often be seen attending the 6:30 a.m. Mass at the Carmelite Monastery in Little Rock where Msgr. Tribou would be the celebrant. Even then, Father Antony said there was something drawing him to that kind of life.
Upon graduation, he attended Holy Trinity Seminary in Dallas where he received a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He pursued his master’s degree in philosophy at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., and then was ordained by Bishop Andrew J. McDonald in 1996.
His first assignment after ordination was at Christ the King Parish in Little Rock. His next assignment was at St. Edward Parish in Texarkana for two months. Following his time there, he was assigned to St. Joseph Parish in Fayetteville for the first time for 10 months. In 1999, he was asked to study canon law at Catholic University of America.
Returning to Arkansas in 2000, Father Antony was given his longest assignment to date at St. Edward Church in Little Rock where he served as pastor, judge on the diocesan tribunal and vocations director until 2005. He served at St. Raphael Church in Springdale from 2005 to 2009, and then was asked to return to Fayetteville in 2009.
Although some have charged him with suffering a mid-life crisis, Father Antony, 44, believes it is more than that.
“Why can’t the Lord use this deeper questioning?” Father Antony asked. “What I am discovering at this point is the importance of relationships and to make them real, authentic and not superficial. Pope Francis seems to be emphasizing much the same thing. I think that is what gives joy to life is that we invest in people, and we don’t let the superficial things in life get in the way.”
