By Lisa Dahm

For Brother Marvin Bearis, making his final solemn profession as a Capuchin Franciscan Aug. 12 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Ewa Beach was a life-changing moment. Forever he will stand with his brothers from Hawaii and Guam wearing the brown habit of St. Francis that symbolizes chastity, poverty and obedience.

The event was also a milestone for Hawaii’s Capuchin friars. Born and raised in a big family in Ewa Beach, the 28-year-old Brother Marvin is their first Hawaii “recruit” after 22 years in the islands.

In his homily at the profession Mass, Capuchin Franciscan Father George Maddock likened the order’s ongoing quest for vocations to a long fishing trip.

“We finally are reeling one in,” he said, to laughter and applause.

More than 400 people packed the west Oahu church to celebrate the catch. Many knew Brother Marvin when he was part of Life Teen, a young adult ministry in the parish.

Father Maddock said Brother Marvin’s decision to follow the path to priesthood was reminiscent of the famous lines of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken”

“Marvin, for a long time, has been looking down two roads, as we all do,” he said. “Most people take the road to marriage. But there are others called to another way — to take that road less traveled.”

“That is the road that Marvin has taken,” Father Maddock said.

The elder Franciscan traced for the congregation Brother Marvin’s challenging journey to perpetual vows, a process he helped guide.

First came candidacy. “Just finding out a little about the order,” he said.

Next, postulancy, when the men do not wear habits “but are seriously considering” the religious life.

“It is like anything else — you don’t marry someone unless you date for a while,” he said.

After postulancy was novitiate.

“Like boot camp,” Father Maddock said. “It is finding out, ‘Can I really take it?’” Meanwhile, everybody else is taking a good look to see if he can.

During novitiate, the candidate takes temporary vows from a year for up to three years. At the end, if they do not renew they are free to leave.

“But this ceremony today is also about becoming a friar for life,’ Father Maddock said.

All Capuchins are considered “brothers,” living the simple life of St. Francis. Some, unlike St. Francis, go on to study for the priesthood.

Brother Marvin is studying to be a priest. He returned Aug. 22 to the Westin Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., for his last few years of theology before ordination.

At the beginning of Mass, Capuchin Franciscan Father Eric Forbes, head of the Capuchins’ Guam-Hawaii vice-province, said that he wished Brother Marvin could be ordained right now.

“We could put him to work,” Father Forbes joked.

The Rite of Profession

The Rite of Profession began before the homily with Capuchin Father Paulo Kosaka asking the candidate to publicly state his intention to follow Christ through the rule and life of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin.

After the homily, Father Forbes questioned Brother Marvin about his readiness to consecrate himself to God.

Brother Marvin then lay prostrate before the crucifix in total surrender to Christ as Father Forbes knelt beside him and the choir and congregation led by Shanita Akana sang the litany of the saints.

Finally, in front of Father Forbes, Father Kosaka and Father Robert Maher, Brother Marvin recited the formula of profession, vowing to embrace a life of chastity, obedience and poverty.

After the newly professed Capuchin signed the document of profession at the altar, he knelt in front of Father Forbes who extended his hands over him and pronounced a prayer of benediction.

Each of the friars then embraced him, welcoming him into their community.

After Mass, everyone gathered for lunch and Hawaiian music under tents in the school area.

It was a happy occasion for Capuchin Franciscan Father Michel Dalton, pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish.

“This was his public expression to the Capuchins for all the days of his life,” he said. “God willing he will be ordained and serve.”

Father Dalton had seen the new Capuchin in action this summer at his parish school in Aiea where the young brother was teaching summer classes.

“He is a positive impact on the youth,” Father Dalton said. “The youth enjoy his presence.”

Good examples and models

Brother Marvin credited the good example of his parents and the models of service he saw in the friars who worked in his home parish as the source of his religious vocation.

His parents, Ben and Carmen Bearis, are active at Our Lady of Perpetual Help. His father is also a member of the Knights of Columbus.

The Franciscans were an early inspiration.

“I knew how they interacted with the people,” he said. “They are people-oriented. They work well with people.”

The one experience that helped him discern his future was the time spent with the parish youth ministry program under Capuchin Franciscan Father Robert Phelps.

He realized he might have the call when, as a sophomore in college, he played a friar in a youth ministry comic skit. After that, fellow students jokingly called him “Father Marvin.”

“I think that God was really working with me through that,” Brother Marvin said. “God planted a seed.”

And kept it nourished. Whenever he doubted his vocation, he said, God always sent someone to give him encouragement.

“I always heard God calling me back,” he said.

The moment of solemn profession was “surreal,” he said, but he now feels more connected.

The most moving moment was when he lay prostrate before the crucifix. “I knew God would give me the strength,” he said.

Brother Marvin considers wearing the Capuchin’s brown hooded robe as a sign of his commitment to God. People sometimes approach him in public and question him about his vocation, but most respect his decision. Many of his friends were at first uncomfortable at the sight of him in habit, but they are now accustomed to it.

People see it as a “sign of hope,” he said, that someone is living his life for Christ.

“If I put on this habit I can’t be just talking the talk, I have to be walking the walk as well.”

Brother Marvin said he hopes the young people who came to his profession will consider the religious life for themselves. He’d also want those who work with youth to more boldly promote the option.

“I want them to be agents of that,” he said, “to change things up.”