This is the fourth article in a series profiling the six men who will be ordained to the priesthood for the Archdiocese of Boston at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on May 17, 2025.



WESTON -- Deacon Brian Delaney is already used to being called "Father Brian."

His coworkers gave him that nickname when he worked as a security manager at Raytheon.

"I guess I reminded them of being a priest," said Deacon Delaney, 63, a fourth-year seminarian at Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston and transitional deacon at St. Veronica Parish in Burlington. His ordination to the priesthood is May 17.

He said the reality of actually becoming "Father Brian" hasn't sunk in yet, but he suspects it will on the day of his ordination.

"I always had something in me that wanted to baptize," he said. "I wanted to baptize. I wanted to be able to say Mass, and I just want to be there for people. And I know there are so many people hurting today, and there are so many people that are wanting to seek their faith, and we need a lot of good priests today to make that happen."

Deacon Delaney felt a strong draw to the church since his early childhood in Lowell. He, his parents, and his two older sisters did not attend Mass every Sunday, but as a child, he would stare intently at crucifixes. They "intrigued" him, but he didn't understand why.

"I always had something for Jesus," he said.

He described his young self as "your normal, average, round-about-the-neighborhood kid," playing baseball, kickball, street hockey, and other outdoor games "back in the days when kids were kids." He remembered Lowell as "a melting pot."

"All different types of people, all different cultures," he said. "And you know, that was back in the day when it seemed like we all got along with one another, we all played with one another. There were no differences."

He attended first through third grade at St. Michael School in Lowell, and was inspired by the sisters who taught him, especially Sister Mary Evangeline.

"She was a wonderful person, a very, very holy person," he said. "I think that helped set me off maybe in the right direction."

As a child, he dreamed of being a dentist or a pilot. Neither of those dreams came true, though he has flown private planes on occasion. He doesn't think his younger self would be surprised to know that he became a priest.

"It wasn't until later in life that I figured it out," he said.

He attended high school at Austin Prep in Reading, where he admittedly "wasn't the best student." He was a fast runner and was sought out by the track team, but he didn't have time for sports or extracurricular activities. After school, he worked as head cashier at Market Basket, then known as DeMoulas. From there, he got a job at the Astro Circuits Corporation, where he soon became a manager.

"I guess I was business inclined," he said. "I had that business go-to."

From 1981 to 1984, Deacon Delaney served in the Navy as a cryptologic technician. He was responsible for giving global intelligence briefings to ships docked at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Florida.

The same year, he joined the Navy, he married his wife, Nancy, whom he met at Astro Circuits. They had one daughter, Erin.

"She was a very warm and loving individual," Deacon Delaney said about Nancy. "It was just one of those things that, you know, they say love at first sight. It's just something about an individual, and you just kind of lock onto them."

When he left the Navy, Deacon Delaney was still in his 20s. "Something at that point in time just clicked" with his faith. Nancy encouraged him to start attending Mass again, and the Delaneys became active parishioners at St. Margaret of Scotland Parish in Lowell for the next 30 years. Deacon Delaney started to volunteer at the church.

There, he saw how "blessed" the priests were due to the work they did.

"The more I found myself helping out, the more I wanted to do," he said. "It was kind of funny. The more I felt at home, being in the church."

He got a job at the Analytic Sciences Corporation before joining Raytheon, where his coworkers saw "Christlike qualities" in him. Bringing his faith to his job was Deacon Delaney's way of improving teamwork.

"Treating people with the utmost respect and dignity," he said, "being open, being fair, being honest. Just trying to be Christ, even for the people that you are working with. The corporate world, you've got people that are very nice to work with, and you get some people that are very hard to work with."

When the clergy abuse scandal rocked the archdiocese in the 2000s, he was on the St. Margaret Parish Council. The scandal didn't shake his faith but strengthened it.

"A lot of people were obviously shaken up, and probably rightfully so," he said, adding: "It was all the more reason for us to say 'No, we need to stay together as a faith.'"

He said that the church has endured scandals for thousands of years, "but here we are."

"People are human," he said. "Humans make mistakes. The Holy Spirit is here to protect the church, and the church is still going on."

In 2017, Nancy died of kidney failure at age 57.

"It was very emotional," Deacon Delaney said. "It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever gone through."

It was his faith, and the support of his pastor, Father Ray Benoit, that consoled him.

"He was just a wonderful, wonderful person who helped me get through a lot of things," Deacon Delaney said.

After Nancy's death, he moved to Merrimac and became a member of the Holy Family (now St. Andre Bessette) Parish Council in Amesbury. Deacon Delaney knew the pastor, Father Scott Euvrard, from his time in Lowell. One day, Father Euvrard asked Deacon Delaney if he had ever considered the priesthood or the diaconate. He said, deep down, he had always considered it.

"I could always sense something," Deacon Delaney said, "even while I had a family, and even while I was working at Raytheon."

He met with Deacon Chuck Hall, who served the parish, to discern becoming a permanent deacon. He then thought to himself, "Why stop there?" He continued to discuss it with Father Ron St. Pierre, who had replaced Father Euvrard as pastor. One night, Deacon Delaney was in his office, having just finished praying for God to give him a sign.

"You don't put God to the test," he said. "You're not supposed to ask him for a sign, right?"

Deacon Delaney turned on the TV and saw a priest named Father Delaney being featured on EWTN.

"Could you imagine that?" he said. "I just get done asking the good Lord for a sign, I turn around, and put that TV on and right there, boom, there it is. Talk about a slap upside the head."

His daughter Erin, now an adult, and his granddaughter Mackenzie weren't surprised by the news that Deacon Delaney wanted to become a priest. They supported him, even if it meant not getting to see him as often as they did before.

"They are 100 percent behind me in what I've been doing," he said.

He retired from Raytheon in December 2020 to study for the diaconate, which later became studying for the priesthood. He entered Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in August 2021. After his first year, he sold his condo in Merrimac and all of his possessions, and moved into the seminary full-time.

"It certainly strengthened my faith," he said. "It certainly increased my faith. It certainly increased my knowledge. And I knew at the end of my first year here, something was in me. I could just tell. I could just feel it. And I felt that, okay, yes, this is where I need to be. This is home."