Vocation

 

 

It took Jeanne McNulty many years to understand her vocation. It was confusing and frustrating at times. She began with great enthusiasm, completing formation training in a Franciscan convent. But as the day for her first profession of vows approached she knew that something wasn’t right. She remained faithful to the call of God and soon left the convent.

Jeanne would later serve with a community of Franciscan Friars, Nuns and laypeople, living and working among the poor in the inner city of Chicago. That was closer to her vision of “being poor among the poor” but she needed more time and space for solitude and prayer. To fully live into her vocation she would have to find a place to do both.

The journey ultimately led to the mountains of rural West Virginia where she founded a Franciscan hermitage. Jeanne devotes much of her time to prayer and solitude but also faithfully ministers to her neighbors, giving special attention to the poor. It’s a unique vocation and one that doesn’t readily fit into traditional categories. Perhaps Orville, one of her neighbors, described it best. He once told her, “Jeanne many folks around here do not know why you are living all alone down there on Colt Run [Road], but I do.” When she asked him “why?” he responded “You are down there for us”.

 

Voice for the Hollers chronicles Jeanne McNulty’s incredible journey. More information at Outskirts Press

 

For more information about the contemplative retreat ministry visit the Franciscan Appalachian Hermitage site