In addition to a vow of celibacy, those who choose religious life will be taking vows of poverty and obedience to their superiors. They may be able to request certain assignments within their respective orders but, in many cases, they must be willing to accept anything.
A sacrifice
After spending nine years as a student at Holy Name of Jesus School during the 1980s, Julie Winkeljohn said she gave some thought to becoming a nun. But it wasn't until years later, while attending Mississippi State University, that she seriously considered turning her life over to God.
"That's when I really started growing into my faith," said Winkeljohn, who entered the novitiate for the Daughters of St. Paul after spending two years studying in the convent. "I got involved with the Catholic Student Association. I went on retreats and then went on a mission trip to Mexico and just started really owning my own faith."
The 32-year-old Satellite High graduate thought long and hard about giving up the prospects of a husband and children to enter service.
"It is a sacrifice, but the way I look at it is not so much what I am giving up but rather what I have," she said.
'It was his calling'
Richardson, the only Brevard County high school graduate from this past May to enter the seminary, said he started thinking seriously about the priesthood while in the 10th grade at Satellite High.
Reading a biography of St. Ignatius of Loyola cemented his decision.
"It really touched me how this man could change with such heroic charity for the people and for God," Richardson said from the St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami.
Richardson's mother, Alina, said she wasn't surprised by her son's choice.
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"He was a very serious child. I told him he was born old," she said. "He used to say he wanted to be president. So for one of his birthdays we took him to the White House. Now, it's like, 'Wow! We're going to have a priest in the family.' It was his calling."
Richardson hopes to one day be ordained a parish priest in the diocese where he was raised.
Vibrant ministry
Page credits God with calling five of his parishioners to service, but also gives kudos to a fervent youth ministry, as well as a prayerful community.
"We have a chapel for adoration that's open 24 hours a day, and there's always at least two people praying in the chapel," he said. "A lot of people believe that adoration of the Lord leads to vocations."
Winklejohn agreed, saying God deserves the credit.