SEEK and find: Suenram discovers call to religious life

First, Annie Suenram found herself seeking the idea of a possible call to religious life.

Then SEEK sealed it.

Suenram is entering the convent of the Sisters of Saint Joseph the Worker in Walton, Ky., where she will study and continue to discern on a potential path of making her vows and becoming a full-fledged nun.

It’s a journey that developed over several years, finally gaining clarity at SEEK 23 in St. Louis, where she encountered the sisters from Kentucky.

A pharmacy student at Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, she found a fit discovering the Sisters of Saint Joseph the Worker, where the service to others includes education of the youth and assisting the elderly through illness.

“She fell in love with the sisters when she met them, their joy for showing Christ to the world by their service and prayer,” said Father Kelly Edwards, a parish priest in western Oklahoma and chaplin for SWOSU Catholic, an organization Suenram was involved in.

“We are sad to lose her, but we are very joyful, as she is very joyful to begin in earnest to answer God’s call for her vocation.”

On Jan. 12, her home parish of Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Edmond celebrated Suenram with a reception. Now she’s in Kentucky, finally with some clarity.

“In high school, I had this inkling that maybe religious life is a possibility,” Suenram said. “But I didn’t really know what to do.”

At Southwestern, Suenram studied in the school’s noted pharmacy program and jumped into campus ministry as an active member of SWOSU Catholic, where she most recently served as liturgical chair.

It was in 2023 at SEEK, a five-day conference inviting students to encounter Jesus Christ and draw deeper into relationship with him and his Church, that Suenram visited with several groups of sisters and was inspired by the Sisters of Saint Joseph the Worker.

“I went to college and by learning through my faith, joining campus ministry, getting all of the good community around me, I was able to meet the sisters at SEEK,” she said, “and find that, ‘Oh, I should start the process and figure out more.’”

Immediately, Father Edwards recognized a spark in Suenram.

“We had coffee later, and there was this kind of energy about it,” he said. “She said, ‘I think I’ve figured it out, Father. It’s this.’ And she was kind of saying, ‘That was kind of easy. Is that OK?’

“And I said, ‘Yeah, seems like the Holy Spirit led you there.’”

John Helsley is editor of the Sooner Catholic.


Photo: Annie Suenram with Fr. Kelly Edwards and sisters from Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker. Photo provided.