The Sunnyvale Sun

Cover Story

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer

His Church: The Rev. Larry Percell, a former Sunnyvale resident, walks through his church in Los Altos.

Father Figure

Widower is an ordained Catholic priest

By Joanne Griffith Dominque

The first thing the Rev Lawrence Percell points to in his office is a framed picture of himself as a younger man, with a lovely wife and two handsome children. "My other life,'' says Percell.

Percell, 59, an ordained Roman Catholic priest, lived his other life in Sunnyvale, where he and his wife, Joan , raised a family. They were also active lay ministers at St. Martin's Catholic Church in Sunnyvale for 25 years and their children graduated from Homestead High School.

When Percell's wife died of cancer in 2000, after almost 30 years of marriage, he received permission from his bishop and his adult children to enter seminary.

He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 2003, just in time for his daughter Lisa's wedding. He walked her down the aisle of St. Martin's and then performed her marriage ceremony to Sean Hatch. Percell wore vestments for the wedding and a tuxedo for the reception.

Percell talks about his family--his wife, his children and grandchildren--in his homilies. When he celebrates Mass, he loves looking out and seeing his daughter in the congregation. His grandchildren say, "There's Grandpa.''

Many have wondered how this can be.

"There's never been a prohibition against widowers becoming ordained,'' said Percell. "In the eyes of the church, marriage ends at death.''

In 1980 the first widowed priest was ordained in San Jose. In 2005 there were four in the San Jose Diocese of 100 priests.

Lisa and Jeff Percell were 12 and 11 in 1986 when their parents bought their house in Sunnyvale, moving from a nearby home in west San Jose.

Lisa and Jeff Percell were 12 and 11 in 1986 when their parents bought their house in Sunnyvale, moving from a nearby home in West San Jose.

"Sunnyvale was our primary social sphere," Percell said. The children participated in church youth activities and in gymnastics at the Sunnyvale Community Center.

"Sunnyvale offered a great quality of life," Percell said. "It was safe. The city was so well run."

Some of Percell's favorite memories of those years are of friendships, especially with Gail and Ron Ritucci.

"We connected as two couples," Gail Ritucci said. Gail and Joan met at St. Martin's School where they both taught.

"We went to concerts and plays. We gathered at a restaurant in Sunnyvale for dinner every Friday night. This went on for years and years," Ritucci said.

Ritucci said the Percells were fun to. "We really enjoyed each other's company. They were a couple you liked to watch. They really made a difference in our parish. They were well loved. Their impression on others was huge."

Larry and Joan worked with the adult initiation ministry, where they met with people new to the Catholic faith, teaching about baptism, confirmation and the Eucharist. They were lectors, reading Scripture at Mass. They were Eucharistic ministers, helping to distribute Holy Communion during Mass.

"We were both seen as ministers," Percell said. "The two of us together were better than either one of us alone."

"We were not really surprised when he became a priest," Ritucci said. "His second love was to work in the parish community. And he was so effective with that work."

Percell said he had thoughts of the priesthood in his heart for most of his life. As a child ,when asked what he wanted to be when he grew up, he always answered, "A priest."

He grew up in San Francisco, attended parochial schools, and then seminary. He realized he wanted to be a priest, but not a single man. So he left the seminary and transferred to the University of California at Berkeley to finish his degree.

Eight months later he was the best man in a wedding. Joan Herrmann was the maid of honor. "It's a fairy-tale story," Percell said. "For me it was love at first sight."

Both came from devout Catholic families. Joan had spent time in a religious community considering a vocation with the church. "After two years she realized marriage and family were her vocation," said Patrice Underwood, a longtime family friend and pastoral assistant at St. Martin's church.

Joan had already left the convent when she met Percell .

"I didn't lure her away from the religious life," Percell said. "We found God in each other."

The couple married in 1970. Percell earned a doctorate in clinical psychology at the University of Arizona. They returned to the Bay Area where Percell began work for San Mateo County as a clinical psychologist within the criminal justice system.

They settled in West San Jose, then Sunnyvale. Their children grew up. Their lives were full of meaningful work, enduring friendships and a rich, satisfying faith.

In 1999 Joan was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. "It was so unexpected," Ritucci said.

Friends at St. Martin's brought in food. "We'd come and sit with Joan and give Larry some time. It was a wonderful thing to see from the parish community this outpouring of love and support," Ritucci said.

"People brought us dinner four nights a week for eight months," Percell said. "They would have brought it seven nights a week, but that was too much food."

As Joan's health failed, Percell knew that sooner or later he'd be a single man again. "My desire to be a priest had never left. Joan told me, 'If I don't survive, I know where I'll find you.' She was giving me permission to think about it."

It became Joan's goal to attend their son Jeff's 4 p.m. wedding on March 11, 2000, in Fresno. "For a while it seemed like Joan would make it to the wedding," Percell said.

But friends told Percell she never would, that she might die on the way to Fresno or during the wedding. "So I told her she wouldn't be able to go."

Lisa worked in Hollywood on the TV show Everybody Loves Raymond.

The president of CBS arranged for closed-circuit TV from Fresno to the Percell home in Sunnyvale. Percell told Joan she could watch the wedding on TV. She said that wouldn't be the same.

Joan Percell died just after midnight on March 11, the day of the wedding.

"I think she decided the only way to be at the wedding was to die. In our faith we believe she was there in the communion of saints," Percell said.

Life was not easy after her death. Percell decided he wanted to pursue the priesthood and discussed it with his children. "I wanted them to be a part of the decision so they wouldn't feel they were losing two parents. I met with them separately. But they each said the same thing, that 'Mom talked to us and to expect it.' "

"I was happy for him," Lisa said. "I knew it would bring him happiness again. I was almost relieved. It was nice of him to consult us."

Percell retired from his job with San Mateo County and by January 2001 was back in seminary. "At age 25 I was not able or ready to choose a single life." But after the benefit of a happy 30-year marriage, "I was ready to make this commitment."

In May 2003, at the age of 55, Percell was ordained a Roman Catholic priest at St. the CathedralBasilica of St. Joseph in San Jose. On June 1, 2003, he celebrated his first Mass at St. Martin's in Sunnyvale.

Many thought he might then serve as a priest in St. Martin's parish. Instead, Percell, called Father Larry by his parishioners, was assigned to St. Nicholas in Los Altos. "It is better to start where your initial identity is as a priest," Percell said.

Percell finds great joy in his grandchildren. His son Jeff, an assistant principal at a high school in Fresno, and his wife, Christianna, have two girls: Peyton, 3, and Devon Joan, 1. Lisa, who lives in Gilroy with her husband Sean, has a daughter, Virginia Joan, who is 1. There's a family joke about when Peyton will wonder why her middle name isn't Joan too.

Percell baptized Devon and Virginia last July. People magazine did a story about the Catholic priest who baptized his own grandchildren.

"That was exciting," Lisa said. "Some friends who subscribe, I didn't tell about the article. They saw it and were surprised.''

Her friends know her father is a priest. "Some friends are more open to religion because they know him and how approachable he is."

Percell has sold the family home in Sunnyvale. He bought a place near the ocean that is large enough for his family to gather for holidays and celebrations, such as baby Virginia's recent first birthday.

"I come up over a hill and there's the ocean,'' Percell said. ""And it still takes my breath away."