All in
Follow Karson’s story:
I am grateful for the childhood gifted to me by my parents. Most of all I am grateful for the way my parents gave me Jesus. My relationship with scripture today would not be what it is without seeing my father seated in the living room every morning, as he still does, with his cup of coffee and his Bible, silently spending time with his Creator. Likewise, my wonder and awe for the Roman Catholic faith was sparked in many ways by my
mother, who out of the blue, insisted we go through RCIA together as I prepared for Confirmation, instead of taking the typical high school class. While in RCIA, not only did our faith bloom alongside the newest budding Catholics coming into the Church, but we also witnessed each other’s Catholic “aha” moments in real time and connected over the depth and mystery of the faith. Particularly as a son, watching my mother continue to approach with wonder the faith she had grown up with, I learned that there is truly no end to the intellectual and spiritual wellspring of the Church.
My creative personality, led me to find theatre in high school. Theatre is very communal, high sacrifice, and high reward—a great remedy to the lonely, awkward youngest-child syndrome I was experiencing. Theatre requires one to go ALL IN, and I loved that. So much so that I continued pursuing drama at James Madison University. During my junior year at JMU, I encountered Jonathan, a FOCUS missionary on campus. Jonathan was a tremendous father figure in my life and showed me how being Catholic also meant going ALL IN. Through that friendship, I encountered a new revelation of Jesus that was more personal and intimate than what I had known before. I came to understand that the drama and gravity of the Father’s love was my identity—that I am a beloved son with a Good Father who desires my true good, not merely what I perceive as good. As this identity began to take root, I found myself asking how I could allow anything less than my whole life to be oriented toward that truth and help others believe the same.
Upon graduation and a career shift to property management, I realized the luxury of time suspended in the Catholic community at JMU was going to come to an end. That meant I would need to put my deeper college conversion into action. As I leaned into the hospitality-oriented way I naturally connect with others, I became committed to integrating with my local parish. This included ushering at Mass, volunteering to help facilitate and mentor high school students during youth group and Confirmation class, building up the young adult ministry, developing a friendship with my parish priest, and being intentional about fellowship with holy families at Blessed Sacrament. These are actions that, to this day, accurately depict my involvement within the Church alongside personal prayer and living a sacramental life.
During this time after college, as I settled into the ordinary rhythm of work and parish life, I began to notice a growing moral obligation in my heart to discern what so many prayers are offered for each day—a priestly or religious vocation. It was within this stability that I attended a ‘Come and See’ in Loretto with the TORs.
But why Franciscan? To tell the truth, the TORs were the closest religious order to my home in Virginia toward which I felt drawn, and I was attracted to the dynamic work of ministry present within the Order. Beyond that, I grew up surrounded by the life and story of St. Francis of Assisi, the namesake of my home parish, and I have heard his story many times throughout my life. He is the saint I most commonly recognize as someone who wanted to go ALL IN—one who embodied the life of Christ through radical poverty, chastity, and obedience, so much so that he has been called “the most Christ-like man since Christ.” His example gives me permission to strive to become the saint Christ is calling me to be.
I desire to grow in holiness within fraternity, where the communal and sacrificial life that first drew me to theatre finds a deeper fulfillment in Christ. I hope to serve the Church in the Franciscan TOR by living out the charism of hospitality and joy that God has placed in me, helping the brothers and the poor around me feel at home and encouraged in daily life. I hope to be a TOR who helps others recognize what is possible through the grace already present before them, especially when discouragement is one of the greatest burdens in this earthly life that keeps us from remembering Jesus and His reigning kingdom. While I do not yet know exactly what my path will look like in religious life, I am open in obedience to wherever the Lord and the community may call me.
Can you help men and women like Karson pursue a vocation to the religious life?
