When Brendan Parlett was born in Washington 30 years ago, he was one of three triplets, born moments apart from his brother Christopher and his sister Megan.
On June 20, Deacon Brendan Parlett will be ordained as one of five new priests for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
In an interview in the week before his ordination, Deacon Parlett said being a triplet has always been a “fun fact” that he shared about himself.
“It feels normal because I didn’t know anything different,” he said.
The future priest – one of six children of Basil and Kathleen Parlett – grew up in Crofton, Maryland, attending Sacred Heart Parish in Bowie with his family. His father, who works for a credit union, has been a longtime leader in the contemporary music group at the parish, playing guitar and piano and singing at Masses. His mother – who now teaches math at Gonzaga College High School in Washington after taking a break from teaching while raising her children – participates in Walking with Purpose, a Catholic Bible studies group for women.
“Growing up, it was clear that God came first. If there was one commitment we kept every week, it was Sunday Mass,” said Deacon Parlett.
And he said that his parents treated their triplet children as individuals, not as a group. His brother Christopher works for the Motor Vehicle Administration in Maryland, and their sister Megan is married and just completed her master’s of fine arts degree at Mary Baldwin University in Staunton, Virginia. The triplets have three younger brothers: Colin who manages a music and arts store; Michael who works as a government contractor; and Ryan, a senior at the University of Maryland in College Park majoring in chemistry.
Earlier while he was a junior majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of Maryland, Deacon Brendan Parlett said that after a few years of searching, “I rediscovered my faith through a profound ‘reversion’ experience in the sacrament of Reconciliation.” Then in his senior year, he began participating at the Catholic Student Center there.
In a reflection on his vocation, he wrote, “I encountered truly joyful men and women at the Catholic Student Center and knew I wanted to be ‘all-in’ for my faith.”
Deacon Parlett said he came to find out that the joy he witnessed in that community “came from deep friendships with each other, rooted in Christ. More importantly, they had deep loving relationships with Jesus personally.”
After graduation, he worked for two years as a technical consultant with a firm and worked with different government agencies, mostly on defense contracts. During that time, he lived in Arlington, Virginia, and became an active member of St. Charles Borromeo Parish, where he discerned his vocation. At the parish, he became involved with a men’s faith group, and he also volunteered preparing and serving meals with a parish ministry called “Dinner for All,” which provided sit-down dinners on Saturdays to the poor, the elderly and people who didn’t have friends or family in the area.
“We would serve meals and would sit, eat and talk with them. My takeaway from that experience was the beauty of encounter, just being present to these people was a way for both of us to encounter Christ,” he said.
The future priest also served as a sacristan and lector at daily Mass, and as a young adult was an altar server for the first time. During that time, Father Donald Planty Jr., the pastor at St. Charles Parish, became a mentor to him, and he will vest him at his ordination. “He’s such a great spiritual father to me. He walked with me in the discernment process,” Deacon Parlett said.
In a reflection on the dcpriest.org website, Deacon Parlett wrote, “After a resurgence in my love for the faith in college, I encountered priests who lived an authentic, holy and joyful priesthood. A desire for the priesthood began to form that I couldn’t shake.”
His call to seek the priesthood became clear in a discernment pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, during an evening of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. That experience, he said, revealed to him “that my desire for the priesthood was not just my own, but was His, too… I knew I could trust in my loving Father that He had a plan for me. I believed, and now know, that this plan was to be His priest, a priest who depends totally on Jesus.”
In August 2020, Brendan Parlett entered Saint John Paul II Seminary of the Archdiocese of Washington, beginning his first Catholic school experience. Entering the seminary, he said, began “the most joyful years of my life.”
Since 2022, he has studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. During his years as a seminarian, he had summer assignments at Immaculate Conception Parish in Washington; St. John Neumann Parish in Gaithersburg; and St. John Francis Regis Parish in Hollywood, Maryland.
Studying in Rome has been a special experience for him, as he learned alongside and became friends with seminarians from across the United States, and also experienced the universal Church through meeting fellow Catholics from around the world. He said it has also been inspiring to be “in the presence of the saints… who are truly interceding for us at all times.” Noting the witness of the martyrs who kept the faith in the catacombs and lived and died for the faith, he said their example offers an inspiration to today’s Catholics, “that we give our lives over entirely to Christ in all the things that we do, especially in uniting our sufferings to His holy cross.”
In his first year as a seminarian in Rome, he had the chance to meet Pope Francis. “He had an incredible warmth about him, and a desire to be present to whoever came in front of him,” Deacon Parlett said, adding, “I admire his deep love for the poor. That’s something I share.”
In April 2025, he attended Pope Francis’s Funeral Mass. “It was an incredibly moving and solemn occasion,” he said, remember the beautiful liturgy and the large number of people there. “It was a moment that really united the Church.”
That spring, he was also in St. Peter’s Square when Cardinal Robert Prevost, an American from Chicago, was announced as the new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV.
“We knew who he was. We were very excited and proud,” Deacon Parlett said, adding, “The joy and excitement in the square was something I will never forget,” as the crowd chanted “Leone! Leone!” when the new pope stepped out onto the balcony.
The seminarian from the Archdiocese of Washington helped distribute Communion at Pope Leo’s inauguration Mass. “I admire him greatly. When he stepped out and said, ‘Peace be with you,’ he really meant it, and that has been supported by his actions since.”
Deacon Parlett’s interests include being a fan of the University of Maryland Terrapins and Baltimore Orioles, reading spiritual works and novels, watching movies, playing the guitar and running. Past injuries have curtailed his soccer playing, but he is excited that the World Cup is coming to the United States.
As his ordination day approached, he said, “I’m incredibly excited to see how the Lord will use me as His instrument, His priest. It’s His priesthood.”
After his ordination to the priesthood, Father Brendan Parlett will celebrate his first Mass at his home parish, Sacred Heart Church in Bowie, on Sunday June 21 at 10 a.m.
Father Parlett will serve as a parochial vicar, pro-tempore, at St. Aloysius Parish in Leonardtown, Maryland, starting on July 8, before resuming his studies in Rome.
