by Patricia McGeever

Newly ordained Father Jonathan Jergens’ road to the priesthood wound through two war zones during a 13-year military career. As a teen in Miamisburg, he strongly desired to enlist in the Army after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

“Initially, I planned on serving four years and getting out, but once I got in … I deployed and served, I found I enjoyed it quite a bit, so I decided to stay in,” he said.

A paratrooper, Jergens completed roughly 50 jumps before becoming a jumpmaster. Stationed at Fort Bragg, NC, he first deployed to Iraq in 2004, where he served for 13 months. “My day-to-day job in the Army was as an information technology expert [ensuring] that all the IT infrastructure … was operational,” he said. “I worked on all of those networks.”

After Iraq, Jergens was stationed in South Korea for year, returned to Iraq twice, and deployed three times to Afghanistan. Then he made the choice that would change his life. Having initially considered the priesthood when he was in middle and high school, Jergens said he pushed it aside after he enlisted in the Army.

“The thought of the priesthood kept popping up, kept interrupting my peace, and it was something I just couldn’t get rid of. When it would flare up, I would avoid it. I didn’t want to hear it. Kind of a protracted argument with God,” he said. “Eventually, I wasn’t able to find the same happiness that I [previously] found in my career.”

That’s when Sgt. First Class Jergens looked more closely at a future as a civilian and seminarian. It took a lot of adjustment. He left the Army in July 2016 and began studies at the seminary one month later. “My late aunt used to say I was either going to be a soldier or a priest. I ended up being both,” he said.

Ordained this past May, Father Jergens’ role as parochial vicar begins this July at St. Susanna parish in Mason. “I think the time in the military made me a better man and also prepared me to be an even better priest.”

Father Jason Williams’ military service sent him deep under the sea. Stationed in Groton, CT, during his six years in the Navy, he was in charge of the nuclear reactor on a nuclear powered fast-attack submarine.

Growing up in Massillon, OH, Williams attended weekly Mass with his family and continued the practice while in the Navy. His peers often asked him questions about the Church. “It caused me to start looking into more things,” said Williams. “The more I learned, the more I just got deeper involved in everything else with the faith. Eventually, chaplains at the bases said, ‘Did you ever think about the seminary or priesthood?’ No, I hadn’t,” he said.

It wasn’t until his peers asked the same question that he gave it serious thought. When back in Connecticut, he began researching and discerning. “I was trying to sort all this out,” he said. “I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Through the internet I was looking for retreats or spiritual direction, something. Then I discovered the Legionaries of Christ have their novitiate in Connecticut, which was an hour away from the Navy base.”

Williams studied with the order for five years before moving to Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology. His family supported his decision to enter the seminary. “My mom said, ‘We thought it would be your brother because he’s nicer.’”

Ordained in 2016, Father Williams worked in a parish for two years. He is now the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and Master of Ceremonies to Archbishop Dennis
M. Schnurr.

“I think God has provided me with what I’ve needed at the various times in my life,” said Father Williams. “Whether it was the military or the Legionaries or seminary, it all kind of worked for what I needed to get me where God wanted me to be.”

Sister Eileen Connelly, OSU, was a student at Saint Ursula Academy when she first considered religious life. “But then I put it aside because I had all these plans and religious life wasn’t going to fit in,” she said.

She entered the Army Reserve while attending Wilmington College, partly as a challenge from her roommate, but also because she had a desire to serve. And, the enlistment bonus helped pay her tuition. As her friends searched for jobs and put together resumes before graduation, Connelly decided to go on active duty.

Her military career took her first to Carlisle, PA, to work in communications at the U.S. Army War College, and later to Belgium for counterintelligence. Her faith remained important, and she was active in parishes. After five years of active duty, she decided not to reenlist.

“I loved the experience [of ] being in the military and the opportunities it provided, but I missed Cincinnati. I missed my family, and I decided I wanted to come home,” said Connelly. “I remember going out in my little backyard one day in Belgium and saying a prayer and the prayer was basically, ‘Please God tell me what you want me to do.’”

She says she didn’t expect anything dramatic, but she asked, and God answered. “I went back inside, through the house and out the front door, and I ran into a nun walking down the street. She was wearing a habit. I had never seen any sisters [there]. I lived in a very small Belgian town a couple miles from post. I don’t know where she came from, but she said good morning in French, and I said good morning, and she moved on.”

Returning home without a job, Connelly had no idea what she wanted to do. The answer was obvious, but she wasn’t ready. It would be a few more years before she answered that call. Seeing an article about religious women in a newspaper, she called the Ursuline Sisters at her alma mater, and after eight years of formal preparation, Sister Connelly took her final vows in 2004.

Although her military career took her thousands of miles from home, God knew where to find her. “You can’t outrun God,” she said.

This article appeared in the July 2023 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.