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| Father Timothy G. Canaan | Year for Priests Page |
Date of Ordination- May 22, 1993
Current Assignment- Pastor of Blessed John XXIII Newman Center and St.John the Baptist Church, Plattsburgh,NY, and
Diocesan Director of Campus Ministry
1.) What's your favorite prayer?
A prayer the priest says just before receiving Holy Communion at Mass - Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living
God, by the will of the Father and the work of the Holy Spirit your death brought life to the world. By your holy
body and blood free me from all my sins, and from every evil. Keep me faithful to your teaching, and never let me be
parted from you.
And the prayer that I sing after Holy Communion - O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All Praise
and All Thanksgiving, be every moment Thine.
2.) Favorite saint?
Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and St. Joseph
3.) A holy moment in your priesthood:
There have been many holy moments in my life as a priest, but the one that
comes to mind at this time
was when I was visiting with
a family who was keeping
vigil with a loved one who
was preparing to go home to
God. After administering the
Sacrament of the Sick and
praying the prayers of commendation
we continued to
pray their loved one home to
God with the recitation of the
Hail Mary. It was truly a holy
moment to be gathered with
this family in prayer as their
loved one surrendered their
body to the earth and gave
their soul back to God.
4.) Something you've learned from your brother priests (or a particular priest):
On the day that I was
ordained a deacon in the
Basilica of St. Elizabeth Ann
Seton in Emmitsburg, MD, I
had the privilege of being
vested by Bishop Thomas
Costello, auxiliary bishop of
Syracuse. When he finished
vesting me with the stole
and dalmatic he put both his
hands on my shoulders and
said: “be authentic!” I have
tried to implement this
advice in every moment of
my ordained life.
5.) Advice for young people considering a vocation
I had no desire to be priest.
I already had a great uncle a
priest (Fr. Leo O’Neill, CSsR)
and a cousin a priest (Father
Leo Wiley) so why would God
want another priest in the
family? I wanted to be
wealthy and have all the
things that money could buy.
However, I eventually came
to the reality that my dream
and God’s dream for me were
not one and the same.
Although coming to that reality,
I tried to convince God to
change his mind, but that
does not work. God always
wins. So when I decided to
embrace God’s dream for me
I found much, happiness,
peace, joy, purpose and fulfillment.
Thy will be done is a
prayer that yields true happiness
in this life and in the
life to come.
6.) Something about you that few people would know:
I love to play pinochle and
I make the best yorkshire
popovers in my family. I also
I make my own butterscotch
sauce from scratch.
7.) Favorite temporal (nonchurchy) things:
I love music; I have had the
joy of several lead roles in
musicals and have participated
in many choral groups.
8.) Favorite food:
I love potatoes; my favorite
comfort meal is meatloaf,
mashed potatoes and carrots.
My favorite meal to
order on the menu is Beef
Wellington.