OK, I wrote a blog entry last week about twin brothers who were priests. Now, Our Sunday Visitor has an article about siblings who are priests and/or religious. It seems to be the tip of the iceberg of interesting family vocation stories.
Father Bill Wack and Father Neil Wack, Congregation of Holy Cross. Their great-uncle was a Holy Cross priest at the University of Notre Dame.
Sister Mary Catherine Titus, Sister Martha Ann Titus, and Sister Mary Rita Titus are all members of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. Their mother thought that their older brother Mark would be a priest, but he married and has 11 children.
Father Terrence Coonan and Father Matthew Coonan, from the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. A priest once told them that a family of 4 brothers should have one vocation. Each brother said, ” My brother will do it.”
In the Hopkins family, there is one religious sister and three priests. Father John said, “Our parents taught us at a very young age that the only important thing was to do God’s will. “They didn’t talk a lot about vocations, but they did talk about how we had to use our gifts not selfishly, but for others.”
For the complete story, visit the OSV website.
In the Upstate NY diocese where I live, there have been several priests and religious who were siblings. To begin with, the priest who baptized me and my two sisters (who is still living, though retired) has a brother who is a priest, and three sisters who are religious (Franciscan Sisters of Alleghany). And in very recent times, I met a seminarian (who ordained a priest as of last year) who has two brothers in the seminary and one sister who is a Nashville Dominican! She made her final vows last year just before her brother’s priestly ordination!
I think it’s very cool that there ‘sibling vocations’ in this day and age!
A priest visited us today at the IRL and he was a sibling priest too!