Thoughts from our Head of School, Joseph Vorbach:
When I was young and my father was leading prayer before dinner, he would often add in something to the effect of "Lord, if it be your will, let someone from around this table serve you in a religious vocation."
Since returning to O'Connell more than eight years ago, my father's prayer has come back to me frequently as we routinely pray for those in our community who have entered religious life and for those in our student body who are feeling called to that possibility.
Today, we welcomed religious sisters from four different communities (Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Daughters of Saint Paul, Sisters of Life and Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist) for a Knight Time visit with the young women of our school. The Sisters then stayed for the lunch periods and visited with our students.
Also visiting was Allison Gliot (DJO 2012), who will soon enter the postulancy for the Daughters of Saint Paul. Allison will join Katie Moore of the class of 2002 (Poor Clare Sisters), and diocesan seminarians Will Nyce (DJO 2008), Jeff Petroski (DJO 2009), Peter St. George (DJO 2012) and Robbie Renner (DJO 2012) as another alum currently pursuing a religious vocation. We pray for all of them as their commitment to their Faith and their God is remarkable and they are preparing to live lives that will help others grow in Faith. Their vocations are gifts to our Faith community.
It happens that on this day of the visits from the Sisters, we also had a working lunch with Father Paolo Sottopietra, FSCB, who is our Father Benetti's superior who was visiting from Rome. His visit was another reminder of the way that those who answer the call to serve God in a religious vocation respond to many challenges in the service of the Faith. Father Sottopietra's responsibilities stretch across the globe to communities in North, Central, and South America as well as Europe. His community prepares young men to go far away from home and serve others trying to grow closer to God. We are blessed that he sent Father Benetti to us.
When you pray this week, please pray for those pursuing a vocation in religious life.