Father Daniel Tuite
Father Tuite, 26, is the son of Richard and Deborah Tuite of Staten Island. He has one brother, Sean. His home parish is Our Lady Queen of Peace. He always had an interest in the priesthood, and he was once stopped in the hallway at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School by the principal, Msgr. Joseph Ansaldi, who asked, “When are you going to come and take my job?” But Father Tuite, for a time, actually had his eye on a career in diplomacy.
“I guess I began to think about (the priesthood) as a possibility a bit in high school,” he said. “I worked in my home parish in the rectory and you kind of get to see all sides of the priesthood, and I mean in a very good way. But I went to college and forgot about it for a while, and then seriously began to think about it in my senior year.” He studied politics and history at Stony Brook University, spent a year at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom, and received his bachelor’s degree in 2005. He applied to graduate school to get a master’s in international relations but he always kept the priesthood in the back of his mind. He had served in the university apostolate at Stony Brook. One event during senior year dramatically brought the priesthood back into focus for him: the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2, 2005. I watched all the coverage and I thought, ‘What an incredible life.’ I thought, ‘I’ll never aspire to that but, why not give it a shot?’
He had been accepted at the School of Diplomacy at Seton Hall University, but he deferred Seton Hall and entered St. John Neumann Residence for a year of reflection. “In the end I figured out this is where I should be,” he said. “My parents knew before I graduated. It kind of surprised them because I’d been selected at Seton Hall and so I was all gung-ho, but they were very supportive.” So were his friends, although some found his decision hard to understand. “I have three friends that I have been with since high school,” he said. “They wouldn’t proclaim themselves atheists, but they are kind of that ilk. My first Mass as deacon, I preached in my own parish, and they all came. I walked in before Mass and there they were…It was great! I said, ‘My first miracle, there it is!’
Most of his apostolic assignments in seminary involved working with high school and college students. Recalling his old principal’s invitation, he acknowledged, “I would love to teach in the high school setting. Some people are definitely afraid of teenagers. But I think it would be an absolute blast.” Father Tuite knows it is not up to him, of course. He is entering the priesthood when numbers are few. “I’m ready for it,” he said. “Wherever the Lord wants me, he’ll show me. Whatever he’ll send my way, he’ll give me the strength to deal with it. What else can I do but respond?” (Excerpt from Catholic New York, May 6, 2010)
Father Tuite was ordained by Archbishop Timothy Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on May 15, 2010. He celebrated his first Mass at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church on Staten Island on Sunday, May 16th. Father Tuite has been appointed to St. Patrick’s Parish, Yorktown Heights.
