Meet the four new novices
Four men entered the novitiate shared by the two Canadian provinces on Saturday, August 21, 2010. They join the four men who are beginning their second year of novitiate.
Adam Lalonde
Adam Lalonde was born in Ottawa, ON in 1986 and completed an Hon. B.A. in Mediaeval Studies at the Univ. of Toronto. During this time, Adam became highly involved in student life, serving at the local and national levels of the Canadian Catholic Student Association along with several other councils and committees. His studies have focused mainly on mediaeval ecclesiastical history. Over the years he became more and more inspired by the spirituality and history of the Jesuits and looks forward to learning to live a life devoted to finding God in all things.
Denis Gerard Paquin
Denis Gerard Paquin was born in Brockville, ON in 1963, the youngest of eight children. Ottawa was ‘home base’ for much of his life, although he lived and worked in Sherbrooke, QC as well as Japan, India and the United States. He has completed a combined honours degree in Economics and Political Science at the Norman Paterson School of Carleton Univ. (Ottawa), and doctoral studies in International Affairs and Public Policy at the Univ. of Pittsburgh, including specialized courses on Japan and Asia. He has also served as a senior policy advisor in the federal government of Canada, working with various departments on matters of international affairs, economic policy, and security. There, he sought to contribute his specialized expertise on how culture and other dimensions of human interaction affect these areas. Over the years, he increasingly sought to apply interdisciplinary insights from such things as Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory and, of course, Ignatian spirituality. Jesus, in turn, gradually led him to see how all of this pointed to the door of the Jesuits.
John-Philip (JP) Penny
John-Philip (JP) Penny was born in New Glasgow, NS in 1979. He comes from a family of six, of which he is the 2nd youngest. Although born in Nova Scotia, he was raised in the Thousand Islands area of Ontario. He completed high school in St. Catharines, ON, and then spent four years living in the Alberta Rockies, where he felt his vocation grow, surrounded by beautiful mountains. He returned to Toronto to finish his B.A. in the Fine Arts and while doing so met a couple of Jesuits, who became important in his life. He has recently completed live-in experiences in Midland, Montreal and Quebec City, where he studied French. He is very interested in the relationship between art and religion. He sees the Jesuit order as extremely fascinating, both for what they have done in the past, and for what they are doing now. He says, “Jesuits are not afraid to be in the forefront of any field of human endeavour. I admire this!”
Thomas Paul Slabon
Thomas Paul Slabon was born in Kitchener, ON in 1992 and is the older of two children. He recently graduated from St. Mary’s High School in Kitchener, having been named valedictorian of his graduating class and one of the region’s students of the year. While in high school, Thomas discovered a passion for philosophy, languages, and creative writing. He has been actively involved in student government as a student trustee with the local Catholic school board, and as a member of numerous extracurricular clubs and activities. Although he has always dreamed of becoming a priest, Thomas first began to discern the possiblity of following this vocation immediately after high school while on pilgrimage to Israel with his family and parish.