Father Richard Crawley, OFM Cap, was but a young man when he first thought of becoming a priest, but, as he said, he was “too young and too immature at the time and kind of ran away” from the call.

He got a job as a department store sales clerk and was engaged to be married, but he knew God “hadn’t given up” on him.

“It’s really true that Christ has chosen us; we have not chosen Him,” he said. “When He chooses you, He’s got plans for you.”

Father Crawley is administrator of St. Bridget and St. Stanislaus churches in West Rutland and St. Dominic Church in Proctor.

Born in the Bronx, he grew up in Wallkill, New York, the youngest of the four children of Henry, an auto mechanic — who died in 2017 — and Bridget, who died when he was six years old. He earned an associate’s degree in psychology at Duchess Community College in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1992 and entered the Capuchins the following year.

He recalled a “powerful spiritual experience” with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Newburgh, New York, in 1989 when he felt great peace, but he said he was too young to understand that call.

Now 57, Father Crawley looks back on that experience as pivotal in his call to the priesthood, which he had looked into with the Capuchins. By 1991 he had given up the idea of the priesthood when a Capuchin priest called him and asked if he were still interested.

He didn’t “rush” ordination and served in campus ministry at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, as a religious brother; he earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies from Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

But many people asked him what he was waiting for regarding ordination, and he realized he was avoiding it. “It took a surrender and a willingness to accept it,” he said. So he called his Capuchin provincial and said he was ready. “He said, ‘Not a problem,’ and off I went.”

Father Crawley was ordained in 2009 at Sacred Heart Church in Yonkers, New York.

As he met a visitor at St. Stanislaus Church one spring morning before a funeral, he strode in with a smile in greeting, wearing his brown habit with a wooden rosary at his waist and a black vest. A brown knit zuchetto sat atop his naturally bald head; with a broad smile he called it his “ozone protection.”

A friendly man whom parishioners say is a blessing to their churches, he came to West Rutland/Proctor in September; he lives at the friary at St. Peter Parish in Rutland with two other friars.

He tries to listen to the needs of the three-church parish and “do little things well” while building up people’s faith in Christ. He likes to have fun, too, as evidenced by an Eclipse Festival during the April solar eclipse that drew a “good crowd.” (He prayed the rosary at the festival at St. Bridget’s during the eclipse.) He looks for ways to bring parishioners together.

Father Crawley plays hockey in Rutland and in Woodstock, and his #31 jersey identifies him not by name but as “Holy Goalie.”

But what he loves most about his life as a priest is the opportunity “to serve Christ in a very intimate way that blesses others.”

He’s a thoughtful man, wearing for example, vestments bearing the image of Our Lady of Czestochowa — patroness of Poland — for the funeral of a long-time parishioner of West Rutland’s Polish parish. He listens carefully and laughs easily.

“I’m amazed how fortunate I am that I didn’t fight my own calling to such a degree that I ruined it,” he said. “I’m aware that this is what I am called to do, and it makes me happy.”