West Bend a Vocational Hotbed

Many communities would be overjoyed to have just one man preparing to become a priest.

With a population of about 32,000, West Bend has four.

The Washington County community has been very generous in delivering men and women religious to the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

Fr. Jacob Strand, pastor of St. Frances Cabrini and Immaculate Conception/St. Mary parishes, gives the credit to devout parishioners and perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.

“Our parishioners gather daily for the holy sacrifice of the Mass, a daily Rosary, and Eucharistic Adoration,” Fr. Strand said. “They are praying for vocations to the religious life, which is a gift from God and a divine calling.”

Fr. Strand is in his 15th month at the parishes and gives credit for the boon in vocations to Fr. Nathan Reesman, who served as the pastor for 13 ½ years and is now the Vicar for Clergy for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

“He cultivated a great spirit of devotion, reverence and respect for vocations and religious life,” Fr. Strand said of his predecessor. “He encouraged parishioners to pray for vocations, and he served as an example by the way he led, through teaching and the fruit of sacrifices of prayers for vocations.”

In May, nine men were ordained to the priesthood, which was one of the largest classes in the country and the largest in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee since 1992. Currently, 41 men are studying to become priests for the archdiocese at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary.

Joel Kolb, Josh Braun and Matthew Rosenheimer are seminarians from St. Frances Cabrini, and seminarian Max Rettler’s home parish is Holy Angels in West Bend. Fr. Zachary Galante is from St. Frances Cabrini and was ordained in May. Fr. Dominic Lazzaroni served St. Francis Cabrini as his teaching parish and now serves as an associate pastor of the Catholic Community of Waukesha.

Additionally, seminarians Nicholas Waddell, Matthew Kehoe and Michael Milam are assigned to St. Frances Cabrini and St. Mary as their teaching parishes.

Four West Bend women are members of religious orders: Sr. Christina (Rachel Kruepke), a member of St. Frances Cabrini Parish, is with the Dominican Sisters of Nashville; Sr. Katie (Krantz) from St. Frances Cabrini is with the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament; Sr. Maria Benedicta (Eva Luba) and Sr. Kelsey Nowak, both from Holy Angels, are with the Handmaids of the Heart of Jesus in Minnesota.

Sr. Katie (Krantz), 28, graduated from West Bend West High School and lives in the order’s formation house in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In her second year of the novitiate, she hopes to profess her first vows in August. Final vows in her institute are professed three to six years after professing first vows.

“I chose to enter with the Mercedarian Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament because I was attracted to the charism of ‘being consumed by the fire of Eucharistic love,’” Sr. Katie said. “In looking at orders, I had also noticed the beautiful mission of the sisters to ‘Evangelize with Mary in the light of the Eucharist.’ The Marian and Eucharistic pillars of the Mercedarian lifestyle attracted me, and after visiting and living the life for a week, I felt very at home with the prayer life, horarium and fraternal life of the community. Now that I’m discerning from within the institute, I get to choose this community each day as the place where I am consumed in Jesus’ Eucharistic love for me.”

Sr. Katie said she is grateful to know of the many souls responding to the Lord’s call and she attributes prayer to this increase.

“The people of West Bend must be praying for vocations,” she said. “Also, I’ve noticed the increased number of priests who promote discernment of religious life and priesthood. I am sure that Jesus is overjoyed with the encouragement that so many give to those who desire to respond to God’s will for them. I was impacted by the joy that our parish priests always seemed to maintain. I particularly remember Fr. Enrique Hernandez and Bishop Jeff Haines, who were great role models for me during my formative years. I think they showcased for me the joy one is gifted by Jesus through a life fully dedicated to him.”

In his Configuration III year, Joel Kolb graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in mechanical engineering and was subsequently commissioned as a Naval officer.

While on deployment to the Arabian Gulf in the summer of 2016, he recalled saying aloud to a friend for the first time that he might want to be a priest.

“It came about in the middle of my deployment to the Arabian Gulf, a 7 1/2-month deployment,” Kolb said. “I noticed that many sailors tried to fill the God-sized hole in their hearts in fleeting ways, and I started to feel emerge within me a desire to bring Christ to these men and women.”

Already a lay leader in the Navy, Kolb led a Liturgy of the Word service on deployment. At the end of one of the services, which concluded with a Rosary and discussion, he told his Catholic friend onboard that he felt the call to the priesthood.

“For the next year or so this thought came and went, but eventually it became more present. At the beginning of my next assignment, I reached out to then-vocation director, Fr. Luke Strand,” Kolb said. “He gave me resources and prayerful support, and would check in with me every few months to see how I was doing. I feel deeply called to this particular diocese and plot of land in God’s creation.”

Kolb credits Fr. Reesman for his faithful witness and steady joy, which pervaded the parishes he served.

“My first interaction with him was in high school Confirmation class. He aptly answered a difficult question of a student,” Kolb said. “I sensed that his faith and knowledge of the Catholic faith was deep.”

In his propaedeutic year, Max Rettler, 25, graduated from West Bend West High School and attended St. Joseph College Seminary at Loyola University for the archdiocese. After 18 months, he discerned out and transferred to UW-Madison, where he double majored in philosophy and community and nonprofit leadership in 2021.

Crediting the priests at St. Frances Cabrini, such as Bishop Haines and Fr. Reesman, for good and holy examples, Rettler said he believes the Lord is inviting him into this sacred call, and through this, he will get to heaven.

“That’s what it is all about, getting to heaven, and he has the best path for us, and I believe that priesthood is what my path is,” Rettler said. “Regarding Holy Angels, Fr. Jerry Brittain was there for many years, and at one point was the oldest serving pastor in the archdiocese before retiring in his 80s. He inspired so many, including myself.”

Rettler also recalled former teachers, including his former director of religious education, Fr. Joseph Heit, as instrumental in planting and nourishing the seeds that led him to his vocation.

“It took a village of people who have been instrumental in my vocation,” Rettler said.