RELIGIOUS LIFE
THROUGH THE vow of chastity, Sister Julia Walsh, F.S.P.A. is able to love in a different way than do married or single people, extending herself to community members and to those she meets in ministry. Here, she chaperones students on a field trip.
Celibacy leads me to limitless love
by Sister Julia Walsh,
Sister Julia Walsh, F.S.P.A. (Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration) teaches theology at Aquinas High School in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Find her online at messyjesusbusiness.com and @juliafspa on Twitter.
F.S.P.A.
Being boy-crazy as a teenager actually helped this Franciscan sister experience the call to Catholic sisterhood.
H
ow can you be a nun? You’re the most boy-crazy girl I know!” My good friend first jokingly teased me with this question when we were both still teenagers. I was in the earliest stages of my discernment at the time, and I couldn’t give her a good answer to her question. That was nearly two decades ago. I like to think that I’ve matured a lot since I was a teenager and that I’ve come to understand how the complex parts of my personality can all enrich my relationship with God. I’m convinced that God used my teenage feelings to steer me toward my vocation. In fact, being boycrazy actually influenced my very first sense of vocation to sisterhood.
42 | VISION 2017 | VocationNetwork.org
