ROCKFORD—What do you want to be when you grow up?
It’s a question that everyone has considered at one time or another and a favorite question for parents and relatives to ask young children.
For Catholics, the question is not so much ‘what do you want to be’ as it is ‘what are you called to be’. Our faith challenges us to look beyond occupation and marital status to see the true calling or vocation of each individual. Catholics understand that a person’s vocation extends past a career choice to encompass how an individual’s life can serve God and others.
For the parents of Sister Jeana Visel, OSB, and seminarian Nick Sentovich, discovering that their children had a calling to the religious life did not come as a huge surprise.
Gerry and Gloria Visel of St. Anthony Parish in Rockford say that their daughter Jeana’s vocation had its roots in her childhood.
About Sister Jeana Visel, OSB
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“As a young child her religion teachers would always remark on her answers. In junior high, she was very service oriented and cared a lot about group activities,” Jeana’s mother, Gloria said. “At the age of 16, she walked through the living room where I was having a meeting with some friends. One of them remarked that she thought Jeana would become a nun. When I mentioned this to Jeana she just smiled.”
“I guess I should have had an inkling when Jeana chose religious studies to major in at college,” said her father, Gerry, “even though she did not go to a Catholic high school or college.
Additionally, Jeana’s commitment to serving the poor in Chicago with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, something she did while discerning her vocation, also foreshadowed her future, according to her father.
“I was still somewhat surprised when she announced her decision. She was very much at peace with it though, and I knew the Lord was working through her,” Gerry said. “Her choice of the Benedictines was a very good fit for her personality, and she is enjoying the challenges and the growth she finds there.”
Gerry and Gloria said that they always placed a great importance on going to Sunday Mass, prayer and Bible study in their home while all five of their children were growing up.
Faith formation, an emphasis on academics and loving family support in the Visel home helped shaped Jeana’s religious journey.
Sister Jeana’s upbringing has served her well as she made her first profession to the Sisters of St. Benedict in 2006 and her perpetual profession in 2010.
Still, Gloria recalls putting her personal feelings aside to support Jeana’s decision to join the Benedictines.
“I felt that she was following her deepest desire and I was excited even though I did not know where this decision would ultimately lead her,” Gloria said. “At the same time, by saying yes to God I knew that she would not be getting married and having a family, but she had the courage to follow her heart and that made me glad.”
John and Paula Sentovich, parishioners at Holy Family Parish in Rockford, began to notice their son’s interest in the priesthood while Nick was attending Boylan Central Catholic High School.
“Since high school, Nick has been interested in the work of the Church starting with the Kyrios retreats at Holy Family and then the Kairos retreats at Boylan,” John said. “He became a leader with both retreats and not only personally experienced conversion, but witnessed how the retreats affected his friends’ and classmates’ lives.”
A conversation with Nick during his freshman year of college did deliver some unexpected news to his parents.
“We were a bit surprised to hear that he wanted to enter the seminary after his freshman year at Loras College,” John said. “We assumed he would want to get his undergraduate degree first. But it has turned out to be a good decision.”
This May, Nick will receive his bachelor’s degree from St. John Vianney Seminary.
Growing up in the Sentovich household meant that Nick had many opportunities to attend weekly Mass, participate in family prayer and engage his parents and three siblings in conversations about the Catholic faith. These experiences strongly affected his decision to pursue the priesthood.
“I suppose if we did anything to encourage Nick’s vocation, it was to try to live out our faith with everything in our own little power,” recalled Paula.
“Nick knows that I love the good Lord more than anything else, period. He knows that even though his father and I have fallen short in so many ways we try to make our home a place to learn the way of love through family life,” Paula said.
“It’s the foundation for becoming a heroic father or priest,” she continued, “a heroic mother or religious, a heroic human being. Our lives in Christ are to be lived for others. I think Nick get that in a big way — I think all our kids grasp that in their own way.”
As John and Paula look forward to Nick’s future priestly ordination; any apprehensions they once had have grown into peace-of-mind about their son’s choice.
“We are thrilled and very proud of Nick and we know what a profound impact good priests have on people’s spiritual lives, especially young people who are searching for truth,” Jon said. “So, the fact that Nick is choosing to dedicate his life to serving the people of God in this intentional way is very humbling.”
“We are happy to speak with any parents who have sons interested in the priesthood,” Paula added, saying they have formed a parent support group in the diocese “to get to know other mothers and fathers on this journey with their sons.”
Father Keith Romke, diocesan director of Vocations, often hears from parents who have concerns about their child’s decision to pursue the religious life.
“Sometimes parents expect their child to follow a religious vocation, other times the announcement is a complete surprise,” he said. “Either way the important thing that should be recognized is that their child wants to have God in their life and this is always a good thing.
“Quite frequently,” he continued, “I hear parents say that they don’t want their child to pursue a religious vocation because they fear (the child) would not be happy.
“I begin by smiling and saying that I’m very happy doing what I’m doing. At the same time I know that this fear is motivated out of love, so I try to get the parents to understand that God … loves their child even more than they do, and as such, He wants them to be happy,” he said.