ORLANDO | Two very different deacons find themselves approaching Ordination to the Priesthood united in their love for Christ and His Church and a desire to be servant leaders. On May 23, 2026, Deacon Daniel Bassile and Deacon Sinclair Cushmore will receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders conferred by Bishop John Noonan at St. James Cathedral.
DEACON DANIEL BASSILE
Deacon Bassile is the father of five, two who are already in heaven, and grandfather of two. He recalled growing up going to Mass for Christmas and Easter and “not every Christmas and Easter.”
The middle child of three boys, his parents divorced when he was young. In Catholic school until the fifth grade, he recalled a beautiful statue of Mary at the top of the stairs at the Shrine Church of St. Bernadette in Brooklyn where he lived. It is where he received his Sacraments of Initiation.
Upon graduating from high school, Deacon Bassile worked at the New York Transit Authority as an elevator, escalator and swing bridge mechanic. He began to pray earnestly and wanted to learn more about Jesus. Realizing he knew little Scripture, he took up reading the Bible at “God’s pace,” slowly so he could absorb it and reflect. It took him five years. He often discussed with his co-worker who was a Jehovah’s witness. They encouraged each other. He also became more active in church.
In 1988, he married Tammy, and the couple had a daughter, Kelsey. He recalled looking into her eyes and thinking, “How could you love anything more than this child?” He heard the Lord’s voice in his heart say, “You’re called to love me even more than your own child.”
“You’re right, God. I have to love you above everything first. And then from that, I can love everyone and everything,” he responded. “That was an eye-opening moment and experience for me.”
On the weekends, he took Kelsey in a stroller to church and sang in the choir. They loved “Let us Build a City of God” and that’s still their favorite song.
When his second daughter, Esmée, was born, Tammy’s womb ruptured and Esmée was tragically born brain dead. He did not know if either of them would survive the night.
Days passed and he recalled a gray afternoon and it was hailing outside. He said with tears in his eyes, “I remember walking down the street in Brooklyn just trying to absorb everything that was going on in my life and I turned the corner, and the rain was just coming down, this ice rain. And I just got so angry at God in that moment. I raised my hand and said, ‘How could you do this to me?’ I was really feeling the pressure in that moment and as I raised my fist at heaven, I felt this rush of warm, cool air and the rain immediately stopped and I could feel God’s presence with me, like He was with me.”
They lost Esmée one month later. In grief, he clung to his faith. The family then moved to Florida and joined Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Indialantic.
They tried to have more children, but suffered a miscarriage. Then he prayed the 54-Day Novena to Our Lady and Nicholas was conceived. He was also praying Is 41:10 – “Fear not! I am the Lord, your God, and I lift you up with my righteous right hand.” When he went with his daughter to find a prayer card for Nicholas, on it was the verse, Is. 41:10.
They were surprised when they conceived Isabel. But the marriage was falling apart, so he surrendered it to God. They eventually divorced, sought annulment, and he focused on raising his children.
Deacon Bassile returned to Church when Isabel was of age to make her First Holy Communion. While teaching faith formation, he felt the call to the permanent diaconate. “It was a beautiful experience because I grew in my faith and the children grew in the faith,” he said. And when he entered diaconate formation, their faith soared. Ordination day brought him tremendous joy.
“I still remember Bishop Noonan laying his hands on me and feeling this grace of God falling down upon me,” he said.
While serving as a permanent deacon at the altar, the burning in his heart returned. “I really felt like God was calling me to be the one who He uses to consecrate the Eucharist. And after everything I’ve just been through, I thought I could never be worthy.”
He kept pushing the idea away, but it only became stronger. He spoke to his spiritual director, pastor, children, the director of the diaconate and the vocations director, who all agreed he should pursue priesthood. He left his elevator job, gave away his possessions, sold his house and entered Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts — a seminary for later vocations or second career vocations — and never looked back.
His daughter, Isabel, even changed his contact in her phone to read, “Father Dad.”
Deacon Bassile is grateful for every part of his journey to the priesthood. His takeaway?
“Even in those difficult moments when you pour yourself back out to God, you can’t outgive God. God responds and there’s an abundance, a super abundance.”
He is counting down the days until he can be the one to say, “Take this all of you (and eat it). This is my body which is given up for you.” “I cannot wait to be able to do that. And I realized, this is also my body given for all of you. I’m giving my life for everyone. I’m going to pour out my whole life for all of you.”
DEACON SINCLAIR CUSHMORE
Deacon Cushmore is the second of four children. Born in Long Island, New York, he and his sisters swam competitively and grew up in a musical family, enjoying choral music and musical theatre. Recalling his favorite musical and vocation story “on the big screen,” he launched into singing “The Hills are Alive,” from The Sound of Music.
The story is similar to his, in reverse.
“My older sister had been telling me I should become a priest since we were kids,” he recalled.
But he felt called to a career in hospitality. So, he went to Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, and joined the Newman Club, a Catholic club on campus that had “a very big impact on my faith journey because I was with peers who cared about the Church, cared about religion, cared about moral values that weren’t necessarily popular,” he said. “That meant a lot to me to have that kind of community as well as the support of campus ministers willing to help me wrestle with any questions or doubts I had.”
After interning for Disney in 2014, he loved Orlando so much he decided to stay. He worked for Rosen Hotels and Resorts for five years, then realized climbing the corporate ladder would leave him less time to serve the Church. He volunteered at Holy Cross Parish and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe. He reconsidered a vocation to the priesthood and entered Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary.
During his years in seminary, he grew closer to God, seeing Jesus as his “eldest brother” and “best friend.” His time spent in Miami, where he was practicing Spanish, made him quite fond of the Cuban culture.
“In Miami, not only did my Spanish improve, but I started to drink the coffee for the first time and Cubans have very strong coffee,” he laughed. He even started wearing guayabera clerical shirts and a fedora.
His favorite Scripture verse is from the prologue of John’s Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overcome it.”
“To me, it represents how Christ is the light shining through all the challenges in my own life,” he said. He looks forward to being that light to others, “really giving all my time, all my talent, all my energy to leading other souls to heaven.”
Deacon Cushmore also spent some time serving in prison ministry. He recalled the words of a terminally ill prisoner who shared, “I know I’m not getting out of these walls and that’s okay. I’m not living for this world. I’m living for heaven.”
“That was certainly a witness to me,” he recalled. The experience drove home his vocation to priesthood. “People are willing to invite you into parts of their lives that they wouldn’t let anybody else into. That’s a special gift. It’s a very humbling gift and it’s a big responsibility.
“Men who are ordained to the priesthood don’t receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders for themselves. They receive that Sacrament for others. We receive Holy Orders so everyone else can receive the Sacraments,” he continued. “I hope to be a good face to show the Church as kind, to show the Church as approachable, to show the Church as willing to help, that wants to welcome everybody regardless of what they’re struggling with, regardless of what issues they had in the past and a Church that wants to lead everyone to heaven.”
Join us for the Ordination of the Priesthood on May 23, 2026. Click here for details.
By Glenda Meekins of the Florida Catholic staff, May 8, 2026