A young boy made a deal with God. Now a priest, he takes it to the community

Rev. Yvon Royer. Photo by Victoria Reed

Light pours through the stained-glass windows, colors dancing across the wooden pews. Rev. Yvon Royer, the church’s pastor of more than two years, walks down the center aisle of St. Francis Xavier Church’s empty, cavernous nave, with a wide smile on his face. He has been a priest for over 33 years and says he now uses his role in the church on the corner of Weaver and St. Peter streets as a vehicle to spread love throughout the Winooski community.

“Some of the specific ways that I spread God’s love is via my visit to the sick and elderly, school children, and classes, and hopefully my homilies,” said Royer, who recently took an afternoon to sit down and share the subtle intricacies of a day in the life of a priest.

When not attending to priestly duties, Royer, 61, can be found at his house in Alburgh. “Two friends and I built it. So, there’s three of us, and we have 600 square feet of porch looking at the water. That’s what I do on my days off!”

Can you walk me through a typical day in your life?

My typical day is quite varied, but it always includes starting my day with stretches, morning prayer, preparing for mass, and then I also spend time visiting with the different schools grades, office work, and visiting the hospital, Respite Home, and shut-ins, and then most evenings I will have a meeting or some class. I do not get bored!

Why did you become a priest?

I became a priest because of two experiences. First, I broke my leg in fifth grade on a school skiing trip. I grew up on a farm, so during those six weeks when I couldn’t do chores, my religious ed program, Catechism, was learning about prayer. I knew [God] was there and somebody I could talk to and draw strength from. Fast forward two years, my father became seriously ill, and he wasn’t expected to live; and I made a deal with God. The deal was, if he got my father better, I would become a priest.

My father got better unexpectedly, and I experienced God’s love through that whole difficult situation. Besides the deal, I felt called that God was telling me, “As I have helped you to know love during this difficult time with your family, I want you to share that love with other people.” That was the impetus.

I changed schools, went to Catholic school, and I went to St. Michael’s. My junior year, I spent so much time in that chapel, just to make sure that I was saying I was going to be a priest for the right reasons, not because I made a deal with God and didn’t want to break the promise.

Can you tell me a little more about your visits to the sick and elderly? When you talk about ways to spread your love, where do you see the effects of that work manifesting?

The most visible way that I do that is by sharing with [the elderly] the gift of the Eucharist which has been an important part of many of their lives. For some even going to Mass daily before their health declined and they are no longer able to join us at Mass. The second way [is] by helping them to know that they continue to be an important part of our faith community which means they know that as they travel through this part of their journey that they are not doing so alone. They have a community of faith with them sharing God’s love.

What kinds of community events does your parish do?

We have some committees, and one really strives to stay connected to our shut-ins from the Parish. We have a committee that does financial assistance for people who come looking for all kinds of things—fuel, food, medication, rides. Yesterday, within 45 minutes, I had four people who came looking for assistance. I definitely think within the last year we’ve become much more active in assessing the needs of the people around us, and then actually doing something concrete to help meet them.

Did you see, during COVID, a drop off in those services, and has it been coming back since then?

Definitely, across the Diocese there was a big drop, and some people never returned.

Winooski has many different cultures and religions. How do religious leaders work together for the community? How do you bridge the cultures?

I am sad to say that not much is done in this area together. As a Parish we support the needs of refugees in several ways, housing, clothes, and help with schooling, however we are not connected with the area churches to address this need in a united way.

What do you see your role in the community as being?

I think it’s a two-parter. I think one is to help people amongst the craziness have hope. We are meant to be connected to God and to other people, and when we do that, things are going to be okay.

The other thing is to help people recognize their blind spots. We all want to assume we’re living a perfect life, or that we don’t need to do anything differently. In order for us to grow, we have to be able to recognize those areas of our lives where we’re not living the best versions of ourselves.

Have you ever been on a sailboat?

No, I have not. I’ve been on a cruise ship. I don’t know if that works with your metaphor. No, the cruise ship doesn’t have the booms, where the sails are. If you wear a hat, you don’t always see [the booms]. If you whack your head a couple of times, you hopefully very quickly remember, “Okay, on the boat, I can’t wear this kind of baseball cap, because there’s a lot of blind spots.” The same is true with our faith. Sometimes, the warnings are there, but we have the cap on and we’re blinded to what’s there.

Can you give some specific examples of what those 'blind spots' are?

The best example would be failing to see how our actions and words are affecting other people in an unexpected way. The way that I attempt to do this is by inviting people to walk with me through certain scenarios in which they are then able to see how their actions mimic the ones that they find questionable.

What are some vows that you had to make as a priest?

As a priest I took the vow of celibacy and obedience to the bishop. Religious order priests also take a vow of poverty which means they do not own property.

Does that only apply to priests of Religious orders? Can you own property as a priest? I’m wondering specifically in reference to your house in the Islands.

You are right, priests who are part of a Religious Order, like the Edmundites, take a vow of poverty as part of their vows while Diocesan priests do not.

As a Diocesan priest, I am responsible for my own car, some of my insurance, and housing after retirement; thus, the salary that we receive is to be invested in such a way that it allows us to take care of these needs. My home in Alburgh is going to be the place that I go when I retire, and until then it is my place to go on my days off and vacations.

What do you do on your days off? Do priests have days off?

As a priest, we are encouraged to take a day off a week and we are allowed three weeks vacation per year. For my day off, I go to Alburgh and help with the building process. During the summer, I enjoy the water.

Victoria Reed is a sophomore majoring in English and minoring in creative writing and media studies at Saint Michael’s College. She also works as a peer Writing Coach and Student Ambassador.