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Happening ... in the Local Church
 Sister
Julitta Biegel shares her vocation story. Two of her aunts were Sisters
of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration. “I would look at them and think,
‘I want to be one of them,’” she said. (Photos by Kevin Cullen) |
 Rosa
Beyer became a postulant in September 2007, starting the eight-year
discernment process. |
 Sister
Lois DeLee is vocation director for the Sisters of St. Francis of
Perpetual Adoration. |
Thirteen girls share ‘An Evening with the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration.’
By Kevin Cullen
The Catholic Moment
LAFAYETTE — Sofia Stout is 16 years old. She doesn’t know if she wants to be a nun, but her heart is open to it, and she’s willing to listen for God’s call.
“I’ve gone on many retreats with nuns. It’s always in the back of my mind,” she said at “An Evening with the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration,” held at St. Boniface Church on March 6. “I love to hear vocations stories. It’s extremely inspiring.”
Thirteen girls, most of high school age, attended the session. There was a dinner and prayer, plus plenty of time for four professed sisters, two novices and two postulants to tell of their vocations, talk about their daily lives, and answer questions.
The Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration arrived in Lafayette from Germany in 1875. The order combines the contemplative and the active life. The sisters teach in Catholic schools, work in Catholic hospitals and serve the poor.
Margaret Antonio, a home-schooled 13-year-old, said she wants to be “whatever God wants me to be … the goal is to give God the first chance to be heard and be around positive people.”
The Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration are, indeed, positive people.
“A lot of girls have never thought about religious life,” said Sister Lois DeLee, vocations director and former principal at St. Boniface School. “God wants them to find happiness.”
The word “vocation” comes from the Latin word that means “to call,” she said.
God blessed every person with the gift of life. It is up to each individual to know God well enough to hear his call and realize his true vocation, Sister Lois said.
“This is not a dress rehearsal,” she said before she told her vocations story. “We don’t have two shots at life. We have one shot.”
She was one of five children, and a tomboy. Her father was a “very strong Catholic man” she said, and her parents stressed the importance of God in their lives. The family often prayed the rosary together, even when Lois didn’t want to.
“Dad said, ‘Mom and I want you to be happy. If one of you wants to be a priest or a sister, that would be a great blessing to us,’” Sister Lois recalled.
The children attended Catholic schools, where they saw women religious every day.
Over time, she started thinking about joining them. She resisted at first, but by her senior year of high school, “the thought didn’t go away,” she said.
She entered the convent, sure that she wouldn’t stay. The formation process took eight years, but she stayed.
“I taught junior high for years,” Sister Lois told the girls. “Now I’m trying to help young women hear God’s call. It’s a beautiful thing.”
Sister Veronica Lopez, a novice, worked for the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration in a hospital laboratory near Chicago. She volunteered to help the poor and homeless before deciding to become a sister in 2005.
“I knew this was what God was calling me to do,” she said.
Sister Lissetta Gettinger, also a novice, said she wasn’t religious as a college student. She went to church mainly to find peace amid a demanding schedule of volleyball games and pre-med studies.
While attending graduate school, she was introduced to St. Boniface Church and the sisters there.
“I prayed for God’s will in my life,” Sister Lissetta said. “I talked to the sisters and fell in love with their devotion to the Eucharist and Our Lady.”
A long bus ride with 60 sisters “was the most fun I ever had,” she said. “They have a joy that encompasses everything.” She entered the convent in 2005.
“I heard the knock. It was irresistible.”
Jenny Collison, a postulant from Holy Spirit Parish, Fishers, began thinking about religious life at age 14. She didn’t know any nuns, and used the Internet to learn about various congregations.
“I saw all these happy young women doing what God called them to do,” she said.
She visited the Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration because they were close to her home. Over time, she felt that her heart was being drawn to them.
“I heard the knock. It was irresistible. I decided not to run from God anymore,” Collison said. “I decided to live my faith and love God.”
She became a postulant in September 2007, starting the eight-year discernment process.
So did Rosa Beyer. Even as a child in Nebraska, she said, she was interested in the lives of nuns who had been canonized. Starting in junior high, she became involved in sports, drama, choir, speech, band and other extracurricular interests.
“Activities became my God,” Beyer said, but she found that they brought her no peace.
A serious illness during her senior year of high school, she said, made her see the fragility of life. As she started to focus on the divine, she found contentment, fulfillment and a sense of purpose.
After visiting the sisters’ motherhouse in Mishawaka, she said, “I felt like it was the community that God was calling me to.”
Sister Jane Anthrop said that as a girl she took religious education classes at St. Ann Church, Lafayette. She was deeply moved by her first Communion, she said, and by being chosen in eighth grade to crown a statue of the Blessed Mother.
By high school, she said, “I was being called. I really fell in love with Jesus … it grew on me.”
She entered the convent, and taught for 29 years. Now she works with the sick and dying.
“The elderly and sick I work with now want Jesus; they want his blessing,” she said.
Sister Julitta Biegel, the oldest of 13 children, grew up on a farm in Alberta, Canada. Two of her aunts were Sisters of St. Francis of Perpetual Adoration.
“I would look at them and think, ‘I want to be one of them,’” she said.
She became a worldly teenager, poring over catalogues and dreaming of the many things pictured inside.
“Mother said, ‘If you spent half as much time on the Bible as on that dumb catalog, you’d probably be a saint,’” she said.
Over time, her priorities changed. She wanted more than material goods. Sister Julitta entered the convent in 1946. Eventually, she became a sister, a registered nurse, an obstetrics supervisor and an instructor in maternity nursing. She ran nursing schools in Memphis and Lafayette. Now she works in spiritual care at Home Hospital, Lafayette, but still helps out in the maternity department.
Sister Julitta shared a bit of advice that she received from another sister, long ago. When a young woman is unsure about her vocation, she only needs to open her heart and listen to God.
“God will tell you,” she said.