Men with Fall River, New Bedford, Cape Cod, New Jersey ties to become priest, deacon, in diocese

The Diocese of Fall River will welcome a new priest and a new deacon as Holy Orders are conferred by Bishop Edgar M. da Cunha, S.D.V., in an 11 a.m. Mass on Saturday, June 1, in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Fall River.

Through the sacred rites of the Church, the bishop will ordain Deacon Bryan R. Bangs of Barnstable to the priesthood and seminarian Lucas D. daCosta of Acushnet to the transitional diaconate.

The ordination will be livestreamed on the on the St. Mary’s Cathedral/Our Lady of Fall River website at www.olfallriver.com/watch

Deacon Bangs, 27, is the son of Robert and Joanne Bangs and the oldest of four siblings, having two brothers and a sister. He grew up on Cape Cod and is a parishioner of Corpus Christi Parish in East Sandwich. As a teenager, for service to his parish he received the Pope St. Pius X Youth Award from the Diocese of Fall River.

He was homeschooled for his elementary and secondary education through the accredited program of Seton Home Study School in Virginia. He earned an associate’s degree from Cape Cod Community College after which he decided to discern a calling to religious life and briefly entered a community of Carmelite Monks in Wyoming. Upon his return home, he worked for a year and in 2018 entered the Immaculate Conception Seminary in South Orange, New Jersey. The seminary serves as both a house of formation for men preparing for the priesthood and the School of Theology of Seton Hall University and from the latter, Bangs earned a bachelor’s degree.

During summers away from the seminary, he served at different parishes, Santo Christo, Fall River; St. Thomas More, Somerset; St. Francis Xavier, Acushnet; and Holy Family, East Taunton.

He was ordained a transitional deacon by Bishop da Cunha last May in St. Mary’s Cathedral.

Bangs will celebrate his first Mass on Sunday, June 2, in Corpus Christi Church.

The ordination of daCosta as a transitional deacon will begin the final leg of his journey towards the priesthood. He recently finished his third year of theology studies at St. John’s Seminary in Brighton and will return there in the fall for a final year.

He is 26 years old and the son of Daniel and Fatima daCosta. He has one older sister. Raised in New Bedford, his family later moved to Acushnet and his home parish is St. Francis Xavier in that town. He is a graduate of New Beford Vocational Technical High School.

After high school he spent a year in Portugal where he was able to become proficient in the Porgtuguese language. He entered Our Lady of Providence Seminary upon his return and began studies at Providence College from which he earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2021. He has since continued his formation at St. John’s Seminary.

While on summer breaks, he has assisted at Santo Christo Parish in Fall River; St. John Neumann Parish in East Freetown; and St. Joseph, Guardian of the Holy Family Parish in Falmouth.

After ministry as a deacon over the next year and the completion of his academic requirements, it is anticipated that he will be ordained a priest in the spring of 2025.