Pro Ecclesia Sancta Sister Julieta Del Carpio is a convert to Catholicism.
In fact, when she was younger, she said she was an atheist. But God was “so merciful that he instilled in me this great, deep desire to be happy — not only a little, but always, infinitely,” she said.
After friends invited her to a retreat, she said she “met God’s love.” She started praying, going to Mass, learning about the faith and, ultimately, converted. But she felt her heart was not yet “completely filled” and wondered what was missing.
“At some point, I felt like he (God) was telling me, ‘I don’t want only part of your life. I want to be the center of your life,’” she said. So, she believed God wanted her to join religious life.
Sister Julieta, born in Peru, said at first she was afraid; she planned her life to include getting married, having children and studying abroad. And her parents weren’t practicing the faith back then. But God gave her “the courage to know,” she said.
“If he’s asking (for) my whole life, he’s going to make me completely happy,” she said. “I decided to say ‘yes’ and I’ve never, ever regretted it.”
Sister Julieta and PES Sister Maddy Elking recently joined “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley on Relevant Radio 1330 AM to discuss their vocation stories and the work and spirituality of the Pro Ecclesia Sancta community for an episode that airs at 9 p.m. Nov. 3 and repeats at 1 p.m. Nov. 4 and 2 p.m. Nov. 5.
Sister Maddy, 27, said her life as a Pro Ecclesia Sancta sister is “totally God’s mercy.” While in college considering what she’d do after graduation, an application to be a missionary popped up in her news feed on Facebook. Shortly after, an acquaintance sent her the same application, thinking it could be a fit. She submitted the application, was interviewed and “felt like maybe the Lord was asking this from me,” she said, “even though it didn’t have anything to do with what I studied.”
Sister Maddy’s parents reminded her of her student loan debt, which they said would be difficult to pay off as a missionary. But Sister Maddy said, “I really felt like the Lord was tugging at my heart and asking this of me.”
When she met the PES sisters, she “saw their joy and … how they loved the Sacred Heart.”
“There was something in me that wanted what they had, … this thing that I didn’t have that I saw in them,” Sister Maddy said.
Eight Pro Ecclesia Sancta sisters live in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Convent in Bloomington. Seven do ministry in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and one is in formation.
PES sisters serve four parishes in the archdiocese, Sister Maddy said. She leads family faith formation and youth ministry at St. Mark in St. Paul. Sister Julieta leads middle school youth ministry at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, where she also coordinates the confirmation program. Some sisters work in the order’s communications office, which produces “tools that families can use to help catechize their kids, teach them about the faith, holiness and the Sacred Heart (of Jesus),” Sister Maddy said. One video series is called “Holy Kids.”
The basis of the sisters’ life is their relationship with the Lord, Sister Maddy said. Mass and prayer keep them spiritually nourished and, through their ministries, help others encounter the Lord as well, she said.
Sister Maddy had some misconceptions about religious life when she was discerning, including that it would be “boring or monotonous.” But her experience has been the opposite. “Our life is an adventure, and there’s a beautiful freedom when we’re open to the Holy Spirit and letting him be the one who guides us,” she said.
No day is exactly like another, Sister Julieta said. “If we see things with the eyes of God, it’s not about the routine or what we do, but who we are, that we are giving our lives to God every day, every encounter with someone, every hour of prayer is going to be new,” she said. Every day brings a new encounter with God, she said, “full of excitement of what he might bring for us in that day.”
To learn more about the sisters, priests and brothers of Pro Ecclesia Sancta, visit sacredheartofjesusconvent.org.
