Vocations

When Hamilton Okeke stepped into his room at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park for the first time, the enormity of what he was doing seemed to hit him in the gut. He was alone, literally and figuratively, as he was about to hand his life over to God. No one in his inner circle supported his desire to become a priest.

It’s no accident that St. Peter the Apostle in Libertytown has five men in formation to become archdiocesan priests and one woman preparing to take her vows as a Daughter of St. Paul.

Sister Maria del Fiat Miola was studying abroad in Italy during her junior year at Columbia University when she encountered a group of women at St. Peter’s Square who would change her life.

The Sept. 19-21 reunion, sponsored by Mega Millions winner Bernadette Gietka, was the first time many of the graduates had seen each other in decades, and brought back memories of their long-closed school.

Wearing hooded grey robes cinched at the waist with ropes, nearly a dozen Franciscan Friars of the Renewal marched through the streets of downtown Baltimore Aug. 9 carrying a large crucifix, an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and a papal flag.