Fr. John Peeters, CSV, grew up on Chicago’s Northwest side, where he attended St. Viator School and later St. Patrick High School, staffed by the Christian Brothers. By the time he finished high school, he sensed a calling to religious life.
“I felt this vocation was something I’d like to pursue,” Fr. John says. “I had no idea where it would go, but I felt it was one way of serving the Lord in my own way.”
He professed his first vows in 1960 and over the last six decades he has served the Viatorian Community on three continents, with his ability to speak several languages — from Rome to Colombia to Belize and all before serving in pastoral ministry back home in his native state of Illinois. Here, he reflects on the opportunities in religious life: