The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated Nov. 3-9 as National Vocation Awareness Week. This week-long celebration of the Catholic Church is dedicated to promoting vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life through prayer and education, and to renew our prayers and support for those who are considering one of these particular vocations.
For Jerry and Cheryl Keller, parenting, like their work as farmers, started with planting a seed, nourishing it well and leaving the rest to God.
As parents, the love and respect they have for their children is barely containable. Their three children include Chelsea, who is now Sister of Mary Morning Star Marie Johannah; Emily, wife and mother of eight children; and Father Brady, pastor of St, Michael Parish in St. Cloud and St. Joseph Parish in Waite Park, part of Together as One Area Catholic Community.
“We have always been strong in our faith, but each of our children’s vocations have made us stronger still,” Cheryl said.
Cheryl grew up in Sauk Centre and Jerry in Tintah. A friend of Cheryl’s invited her to a community play in Nashua, Minnesota, where Jerry was one of the actors. They later married and made their home on the outskirts of Nashua. Together, they farmed and started a family, making St. Gall Parish in Tintah their home parish.
Jerry began to read books on the lives of saints as his children grew. Through this, he learned the importance of talking to his children about their vocational options. As he had done thousands of times in his fields and gardens, he planted a seed — this time, a seed for vocation in his children.
“When I was a freshman, my dad asked me if I had ever considered becoming a sister,” Sister Marie Johannah said. “I told him very simply that I hadn’t, not because I was against it, but because I really had never thought of it. That was the little vocational seed that was planted in me, which was to grow and become clearer. I really kept my dad’s question in my heart.”
Jerry and Cheryl nourished these seeds together by taking Sister Marie Johannah on visits to various convents.
“Discerning a vocation is not something abstract, that we can figure out like a math problem. It’s by experiencing religious life and different religious orders that we can come to discern,” Sister Marie Johannah said. “Just as Jesus said in the Gospel, ‘Come and see.’
Father Brady remembers a similar seed planted through a genuine conversation about entering the seminary and the priesthood and shared how his discernment process was impacted by the prayers and rituals occurring regularly in his childhood home —attending Mass as a family, praying the rosary, partaking in shared meals and always prioritizing a relationship with God.
Through these rituals, he experienced the beauty of family and married life and initially questioned if that was what God intended for his future before determining God was calling him to the priesthood.
“I realized that there’s a ‘no’ to marriage [by choosing the priesthood], and yet there’s a ‘yes’ to spiritual fatherhood and being able to pass on not just a family name, but to pass on the faith in a deeper way, and to pass on the sacraments, which gives spiritual life,” Father Brady said.
Each of the Keller children found their own paths to glorify God through their vocation and Jerry and Cheryl have joyfully seen them bloom.
“Watching each of our children grow up to be respectable adults: a nun, a married mother of eight children and a priest — all of them very happy living out their vocations — has brought us joy,” Cheryl said.
That joy continues to pour forth from Jerry and Cheryl, as they find themselves supporting the individual vocation of each child.
They work together on maintenance projects while visiting Sister Marie Johannah’s convent, can goods from their garden and fill Emily’s freezer with meat to help feed her family, and attend parish festivals, Masses and special events at Father Brady’s parishes.
With every grace also comes a sacrifice and the Kellers said planning holiday celebrations together has been a challenge.
“It’s one of those things where the first time is the hardest,” Cheryl said. “Then you remember, this is what God has called our children to, these are their vocations and that’s OK.”
“How dare we get in the way of that?” Jerry added.