Julie Christensen, novice

(Published Sept. 19, 2008) Julie Christensen, 26, daughter of Jane and Keith Christensen of Concordia entered the novitiate of the Sisters of St. Joseph on August 10, 2008.

“I grew up around the Sisters,” says Julie. “I used to help Sister Ann Glatter with the garden and orchard. Our home was hit by the storm in 1992 and was uninhabitable. Sister Margaret Schreck helped our family a lot during that time. I knew Sister Barbara Ellen Apaceller from youth groups.

“I was drawn to the Sisters of St. Joseph because this is my home. The community goes out and does wonderful things, but they always come home. I am also drawn to their charism of active and inclusive love.”

Julie spent her postulancy living with sisters in El Paso, TX. She volunteered at a community center for children with special needs in Juarez, Mexico and substitute taught at Loretto Academy in El Paso.

“I feel what calls me to enter the novitiate,” says Julie, “is the Christ-focused deepening that is happening within me, and the comfort that I have not being able to express the experience. The simplicity being lived out by this community also guides my wondering heart and gives me hope for the future generations. I enjoy and am strengthened by the ability to engage in discussions and actions for a more conscientious world. And I am drawn most of all by the ability to devote my whole being to the Living and Loving God that dwells within each of us. “

Her mother, Jane Christensen, says, “When Julie was eight years old she sat at the kitchen table one day that fall and asked me about Jesus. What I remember most was the look on her face and I wondered. Now 17 years later she is answering the call to labor in his harvest. She has always been an enthusiastic and gentle caregiver, and I know she will serve our Lord well.”

Julie is fluent in Spanish and plays the flute and piano. She likes hiking, skiing and reading. She enjoys travel and has been to Europe and South America through study programs or service projects.

Julie is in Orange, CA participating in the Sisters of St. Joseph Federation Novitiate Experience. There are eight women in the program, most of whom are under thirty years of age. Sister Betty Suther will accompany Julie during the next two years as her novice director.