Laboure Society
“It is through prayer before the Blessed Sacrament that I understood a personal relationship with God.”
Meet the rest of my class
My name is Noah Marangoni. I am called to serve Christ and His Church as a priest with the Diocese of Erie. This is my story.
I grew up in a Catholic family of eight in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. We attended Catholic schools, Mass on Sundays, prayed before meals, and my Dad led prayer at night before we fell asleep. However, this faded over time. I woke up one day to find that only my Dad, little sister, and I still clung to the Catholic faith. Then the day came when no one went to Sunday Mass. Nothing hurt quite like the day my sister told me that she no longer believed in God, and that she wanted to give back a rosary that my friend had made for her. I was desperately trying to cling to a faith that I felt was slipping through my fingers. To numb my pain, I focused on pointless tech distractions.
Everything changed when I went to college and I had the freedom to practice my faith fully. I loved studying theology, praying the rosary regularly and attending Mass and Eucharistic adoration daily. I became deeply involved in the campus ministry faith-sharing community, bible studies, retreats, choir, service trips, and liturgy planning meetings. I was a sacristan, an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, and the primary lector for daily Mass. God was truly helping me grow into a life in Him.
I first considered the priesthood in high school, but was spiritually immature and consumed with self-doubt, so dismissed the possibility. As I grew, I realized I am in the world, but not of it, and began to disconnect from tech distractions like social media, instead being drawn to authentic human connection. In my senior year of college, I was overwhelmed with a longing to join religious life.
Through conversation with friends and my spiritual director, a fire for the diocesan priesthood was set ablaze in my heart. Yet I needed to discern whether God might be calling me to serve the diocese in which I grew up as a child, or the diocese in which my faith had so grown as a young adult. After much prayer and discernment, I applied to St. Mark’s Seminary in Erie. As I’ve made progress in the application process, I have felt evermore peace and confidence in this calling.
I first encountered the community, priests, and seminarians of the Diocese of Erie when I attended university. Over the past five years, I have come to know them better, and have been drawn in by their beautiful faith. I desire to serve the diocese that has so deeply served me, to bring the Gospel to people, and people to Jesus Christ.
I want to administer the Sacraments, and to bring God’s unfathomable love and grace to everyone. I long to hear confessions and give absolution, to provide spiritual direction, to baptize children and adults, and, above all, to pray the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. I ache to give my life to God in every way that He is calling me to, including in myriad ways I may not yet have even considered.
In contemplating Heaven, I desperately wish to bring as many people as I can to God. Like a shepherd, I long to bring a great flock to the good pastures that know no suffering, no pain, and no want, but only that eternal fulfillment with our Triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit.
Please pray for me and for my fellow Labouré classmates on our vocation journeys.
Feel free to reach out with any questions you might have at: NoahM@rescuevocations.org.
Download a PDF of my story
Your gift gets our aspirants one step closer to their ordination or profession of vows.