Sr. Alejandra, on guitar, and Sr. Leann, religious of the Pro Ecclesia Sancta order, sang songs with children at a family potluck hosted at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Dobie on July 18. (Catholic Herald photo by Jenny Snarski)
Jenny Snarski
Catholic Herald staff
After a number of years offering opportunities for young men and their parents to gather with diocesan priests for fellowship and witness, the Diocese of Superior hosted their first Bethany Brunch for young women on July 18-19.
Coordinated by Emily Wald, a diocesan employee who dedicated time discerning a religious vocation, the periodic gatherings have the goal of normalizing encounters with women religious, building awareness of the various paths of consecrated life for women and for all Catholics to engage with sisters outside of a discernment setting.
Women’s discernment falls under the diocesan Vocations Ministry but is closely linked with the diocesan Office for Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship. Wald emphasized that “All the vocations are complementary. They flourish with one another,” and we all need guidance and encouragement to come into closer contact with the Lord to discern his will.
With an ongoing love and appreciation for religious vocations, Wald feels privileged to have this way “to continue supporting and encouraging others to have the openness, generosity and courage to take steps of formal discernment” if that is on their heart. She added that, above all, having the disposition of following God’s will, whatever that may be, is what needs to be cultivated.
“As the number of seminarians for our diocese continues to trend upwards – praise God!” stated Christopher Hurtubise, director of the Office of Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship, “a key factor in my mind has been the frequent and rich opportunities young men in the diocese have to encounter younger priests and imagine themselves living that vocation. A goal of these brunches and other opportunities coming together is to provide the same opportunities for young women to encounter sisters younger than what we have seen in recent years.”
The Bethany Brunch is a Saturday morning event. On July 19, it was hosted at St. Joseph in Rice Lake, including Mass, fellowship, a spiritual reflection presented by one of the sisters and Eucharistic adoration. Discernment resources are made available, and there are one-on-one conversations with the sisters and information about various women’s religious orders.
This first gathering brought together 24 women from the Rice Lake area and as far as Hudson, River Falls, Superior and Medford. The majority were post-high school age and single, but married women of various ages were also invited and present.
Pro Ecclesia Sancta and the call to holiness
The morning featured the Pro Ecclesia Sancta sisters from their Twin Cities community. They form part of an ecclesial family of consecrated life dedicated to living and promoting the universal call to holiness in the church through the spirituality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Founded in Peru in 1992 by a Spanish Jesuit, Fr. Pablo Menor, Pro Ecclesia Sancta has communities in Peru, Ecuador, Spain and the United States. The mother houses for both male and female branches are located in Peru.
In addition to serving in parishes, schools and universities, the order runs beholykids.org with children’s item for purchase, resources for Catholic kids and a summer camp to be released in 2026.
To introduce her meditation, Sr. Leann said, “We are all called to lived heroically virtuous lives.” Raised in Iowa, she met the sisters in Minnesota while she attended college. One of two children, her biological sister also felt called to the order and are known as the “sister sisters” in their community.
Addressing her all-female audience she asked, “Who doesn’t love a good chick flick?” and answered, “We love them because they promise happy endings” and touch on the universal longing for love. “In the Bible,” she continued, “we have true chick flicks,” and they often happen at a well. She then read and reflected on the Gospel of John’s passage of Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.
Sr. Leann commented that the Samaritan woman is a lot like us, with a restless and longing heart. “Sometimes we go looking in places that aren’t going to satisfy it … God placed this longing in our heart so that he himself could fill it.” She noted how the story says Jesus “had” to pass through Samaria. He was compelled by the desire to encounter this woman, even being wearied by the journey and likely questioned by his disciples why he wasn’t avoiding the town that all Jews went around.
The Lord always pursues, she said, even when we try to close the door. Sr. Leann shared examples from the lives of St. Faustina and St. Ignatius of Loyola. “The crazy thing is that God longs for us even more than we could imagine.” Jesus’ longing for the Samaritan woman is shown by the great lengths he went to.
She quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the first paragraphs from the final section on Christian Prayer where it references the story of Jesus and the Samaritan. In paragraph 2560, “Beside the well where we come seeking water; there, Christ comes to meet every human being. It is he who first seeks us and ask us for a drink. Jesus thirsts; his asking arises from the depths of God’s desire for us. Whether we realize it or not, prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours. God thirsts that we may thirst for him.”
She also shared the experience of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in one of her visions seeing Jesus’ heart pierced for love of us. He told her, “Behold this heart which has so loved men that it has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming itself, to testify its love.” She added that we see his testimony on the cross and how his love is shown in deeds, without sparing anything to show us that love.
Contemplating the scene of the crucifixion, she highlighted the role that women are called to play consoling his heart, in particular through their presence. As Pope St. John Paul II recognized in his teachings on the feminine genius, Sr. Leann said that the gift women have received from God to give back to him is love. Quoting his encyclical on the dignity of women, she continued, “When the author of the Letter to the Ephesians calls Christ the Bridegroom and the church the bride, he indirectly confirms through this analogy the truth about women as bride. The bridegroom is the one who loves and the bride is loved. It is she who receives love in order to love in return.” It is women’s gift not to fix problems and serve, but to let themselves be loved in order to overflow with that love to share it with others.
Sr. Leann acknowledged that one call to love made to each one in their personal and individualized vocations and callings. She added that, like Mary, her first “fiat” was renewed daily before each challenge and cross culminating in her accompaniment of Jesus at the foot of his cross.
She shared her own growth in relationship with the Lord being drawn little by little closer to him, one step at a time. “This was how God brought me to the moment that he asked me to say yes to a vocation to religious life … there are many details the Lord works, but it’s beautiful to see his work in each of our lives.”
Leaving a challenge as the group moved towards Eucharistic adoration to end the morning, Sr. Leann offered, “One, open our eyes to see the ways God is loving us … how he has loved you at each moment and shown you his heart sparing nothing to show it. Second, to contemplate the heart of Jesus, realizing he is a real person.” She ended inviting again to reflect on where each encounters Christ and responds to his thirst and assured each one present of their continued prayers.
“It’s a beautiful journey when you follow the Lord, so don’t be afraid,” she concluded.
Bethany Brunch background
Last year, Hurtubise was approached by Fr. John Burns of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. Together with Sr. Miriam James Heidland, SOLT, he founded a new apostolate called “Friends of the Bridegroom” with the mission of renewing the church through the renewal of women’s religious life. Hurtubise was invited to participate in their pilot cohort along with a parish in Michigan, a women’s ministry in Tennessee and some individuals in two other states.
That team met monthly throughout the year to learn about the vision, and Hurtubise began forming a team within the Superior diocese. “During the 2024-2025 school year, a group of priests, catechetical leaders, campus ministers and lay people met monthly to receive formation on women’s religious life and the apostolate’s vision for renewal,” he shared. “This spring, Emily Wald, our diocesan insurance benefits coordinator, was given permission to help me coordinate our team.” He called Wald “a godsend” who has brought “a ton of wisdom and passion to this work.”
He explained that Friends of the Bridegroom have three pillars: creating a culture of awareness, poignant opportunities of encounter and readily available accompaniment. The diocesan team being coordinated by Wald under Hurtubise’s leadership consists of active leaders with ties to youth and young adult ministry. Hurtubise said they are working “to sketch out ways of building those pillars here,” which includes hosting Bethany Brunches and when possible, hosting additional opportunities for families, Catholic school students and teens to spend time with the invited sisters.
“When the Pro Ecclesia Sancta sisters came, they arrived the day before and spent the evening with families in the area at a parish potluck. My young children fell in love with them instantly and loved playing games together, singing songs and just being around them,” he shared.
St. Patrick Church in Hudson will host another Bethany Brunch on Saturday, Nov. 8 with the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus.
For more information about the Pro Ecclesia Sancta women religious, visit pes-usa.org/sisters. They are hosting a retreat on Friday, Nov. 14-16, at their Sacred Heart of Jesus Convent in Minneapolis.
For general information about discerning a religious vocation, including videos with Christopher Hurtubise, Emily Wald and Fr. Isaiah Schick, visit catholicdos.org/womens-discernment.
