Steven Cartwright, a Boothbay Harbor native, will be ordained to the transitional diaconate by Bishop Robert P. Deeley at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday, June 15, at 10 a.m.

The diaconate, priesthood and episcopacy comprise the three holy orders in the Catholic Church. The designation of “transitional deacon” indicates that although the individual will always be a deacon by virtue of his ordination, the expectation is that he will one day be ordained to the priesthood.

Cartwright, 34, began his high school career at Boothbay Regional High School (1993-1995) and graduated from John Bapst Memorial High School in 1997. He attended St. John’s University in Jamaica, N.Y. (1997-1998), and St. Bonaventure University in Olean, New York (1998-1999), majoring in philosophy while minoring in theology.

In 1999, Cartwright was accepted as a seminarian by the Diocese of Portland and entered the Basselin Scholars Program at Theological College at The Catholic University of America. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2001, but then decided to leave formation.

“I just thought it wasn’t for me,” he said. “My life was taking me in a different direction. Since I was eight years old, the only two things I wanted to do with my life were be a priest or be a Division I head coach. It took a lot of courage to leave seminary without knowing where I was going to go, but that was the path I followed.” 

Cartwright swam at all three of the universities he attended. After briefly returning to Maine to coach a swim team affiliated with the Seacoast Swimming Association in Dover, N.H., Cartwright moved back to Washington, D.C. where he was hired as an assistant swimming coach at Georgetown University. In 2006, he was named head coach. 

“But there was something missing,” Cartwright said. “Even though I was at a school like Georgetown, having the gift of being a Division I head coach, working with smart, hard-working, talented and faithful kids, there was still a sense that there was something more. This tugging on the heart never went away. I thought that there was something more that the Lord wanted me to do. If we are honest in prayer, the Lord will guide us along the way.”

In 2010, Cartwright resigned as head coach, leaving one of his boyhood dreams to pursue the other. Months later, he resumed priestly formation for the Diocese of Raleigh, N.C., by attending St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overlook, Pa. In 2012, he transferred to the Diocese of Portland and continued his studies at Saint John XXIII Seminary in Weston, Mass.

“Maine will always be home for me,” he said. “This is where the Lord wants me to be. He is very generous.”

With his ordination to the transitional diaconate on June 15, Cartwright will be able to celebrate the sacrament of baptism, witness marriages, preside at funeral rituals outside of Mass, proclaim the Gospel and preach homilies. After completing a summer assignment in the Diocese of Portland, he will return to the seminary for a final year of theological studies and priestly formation.

“It has been such a long road,” said Cartwright. “It’s very humbling. A sign of the Lord’s love. When I think about my upcoming ordination, there is an inner harmony.

“That peacefulness comes from my relationship with the Lord. That’s everything.”