Join Fr. Peter Teresa McConnel, FHS on Pilgrimage

I was born and raised in New Jersey. I grew up Catholic but didn’t really have a personal relationship with Jesus.

 

While in college, I was challenged by a non-denominational Christian as to why I was Catholic. I soon realized that I didn’t know, and so I began to read the Bible and study the Faith for myself. This led me to an encounter with Jesus through the scriptures and teachings of the Church. The truths of the Church placed a deep longing for God in my heart. I began to pray more and to cultivate my own relationship with Jesus.

 

By the end of college, I began to hear a call to the priesthood, so I went to Franciscan University
to study the faith and discern my vocation. While at Franciscan, I began to feel a call to religious
life.

After graduation, I continued to discern God’s call for me while working as a campus minister at
Louisiana State University. At the end of my time there, I felt the Lord call me to join the
Franciscan Friars of the Holy Spirit. I entered with the friars on August 11, 2017, on the feast of
St. Clare and I have been with them ever since. I was ordained a Deacon in 2023 and am
preparing for ordination to the Priesthood this coming June.