Fr. Aufiero greets parishioners after Mass.
On Sunday, June 23, newly-ordained Fr. David Aufiero returned home and celebrated a noon Mass of Thanksgiving at St. Anthony’s Church. Aufiero is the first ordained priest from Revere in quite a long time and grew up attending St. Anthony’s, while also being very active in the Youth Group. After graduating from Malden Catholic High School in 2002, he attended UMass Amherst and received a degree in civil engineering, but building bridges in the literal sense was not his calling. He was involved in the Newman Center, where he met the Vocation Director for the Diocese of Springfield. Upon graduating from UMass in 2007, Aufiero entered St. John’s Seminary in Brighton. He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Timothy McDonnell for the Springfield Diocese earlier this month.
He said he had never thought of being a priest until his junior year in high school when former St. Anthony’s director, Fr. Mike Guarino, but a bug in his ear that just wouldn’t go away.
“He asked me, ‘Have you ever thought about becoming a priest?’†said Aufiero in his church biography. “I was a little surprised and flattered by the question, but said ‘no.’ I figured if he asked me, he would ask anybody. I got accepted to the University of Massachusetts, Amherst the following year, and the question ‘have you ever thought about becoming a priest’ didn’t leave
“I felt called for the first time during my third year at UMass,†he continued. “A girl’s mother from my parish [in Revere] died of cancer, and I attended the funeral. Fr. Guarino and Fr. Paul Soper gave the homily at the Mass, and I found them inspiring. It was during the time of consecration I looked at the altar thinking how wonderful the role of a priest is; they inspire hope in what seemed to be a dark moment. I thought to myself I should be up there then I heard a small voice from inside that said, ‘you will be up there.’ I was really nervous about the small voice, because it didn’t seem like my thoughts. I was waiting for an answer, if it came, I was hoping for it to come later than it did, but there it was. At first I tried to suppress it, and tried to convince myself I could live with this hanging over my head; I don’t have to respond. But the call simply wouldn’t leave. As my time at UMass went on, I realized that I would not be able to run from God for long.â€
Fr. Aufiero is the son of Robert Sr. and Lois Aufiero of Revere. He has two brothers, Alex and Robert Jr.
