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Former student named vice rector of Redemptoris Mater Seminary
Father Giovanni Capucci will also serve as adjutant judicial vicar
By Nissa LaPoint
The priesthood is a gift that Father Giovanni Capucci feels he doesn’t deserve.
From a young bambino in Italy who came to despise clerics, to a humble priest with nine years of service to Christ in the Denver Archdiocese, Father Capucci said he’s been on a journey that’s led him to a deeper discovery of the existence of God, the meaning of life amid suffering and a love that conquers death.
 Fr. Giovanni Capucci |
The priesthood is a “call that comes from God and that I answered through the grace of God, not on my own strength,” he said. “I see today I wouldn’t change my life for anything.”
After six years of graduate work studying canon law in Venice, 38-year-old Father Capucci is returning to the archdiocese where he was ordained and began his priesthood in 2003. He will start his new appointments this month as adjutant judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal—the judicial arm of archdiocese—and as vice rector of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary.
In his new positions, Father Capucci said he hopes to convert hearts and to love Christ above all things.
“In loving Christ,” he asserted, “I will also serve better this tribunal and the life of the people.”
Father Capucci began his journey when his parents, who were considering a divorce, forgave each other.
“That forgiveness spoke to me more than the many words that can be spent on the existence of God,” he said. “There I began to believe in a God that I did not know before.”
He followed his parents into the Neocatechumenal Way, a parish-based catechumenate, and later was sent from Italy to be a missionary in India, spreading the Gospel to the poorest of the poor. At 20 years old, the shocking poverty he witnessed made him question the existence of God and the suffering among people who appeared to have a meaningless existence, he said.
The experience was ultimately enlightening.
“I discovered in a new and deeper way the existence of God and his love for every man,” Father Capucci said. “For me it was an important experience.”
He studied as a seminarian in India before coming to the United States and joining the first class of seminarians at Denver’s Redemptoris Mater. He earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and a master’s degree in divinity from Regis University and St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. He recently earned his licentiate and doctorate in canon law from the St. Pius X School of Canon Law in Venice.
In his experience as a missionary and a priest, Father Capucci said he’s learned that in giving his life for the sake of the Gospel, he’s received life.
“The best wisdom I’ve discovered is that when I renounce myself, I see that there I find life,” he said.
And when he gives himself to others, he added, he finds happiness.
Nissa LaPoint: 303-715-3138; Nissa.LaPoint@archden.org; www.twitter.com/DCRegisterNissa
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