Next month, it will be 20 years since Fr. Jason Nesbit, CSV, professed his first vows as a Viatorian, and oh, the lives he has touched since then.
Fr. Jason Nesbit leads Maternity BVM with the help of these Viatorians, Fr. Moses Mesh and Br. John Eustice.
Fr. Nesbit recently celebrated another anniversary: 12 years as a priest, with nearly all of those years spent at Maternity BVM Parish, including seven as parochial vicar and five as pastor.
“Thanks be to God for 12 years of priesthood,” he said on the anniversary of his ordination. “I’m grateful to be a witness to God’s grace at work in people’s lives.”
When Fr. Nesbit was installed as pastor in 2018, he became the 29th Viatorian to lead the parish over the last 150 years. Since that time, he has guided the congregation through its 150th anniversary celebration and just last year launched an ambitious capital campaign to update the historic church and its grounds.
But that’s not all. He is a valued member of the Viatorian Community and now serves on two of its leadership teams: the Viatorian Community Council and the Provincial Chapter.
Fr. Jason Nesbit has been a constant presence at the Viatorian Youth Congress each summer.
Fr. Nesbit has led vocation ministry efforts in the Bourbonnais/Kankakee region and in his first year as pastor, he organized a community-wide prayer service that drew 10 religious communities and affirmed their ministries during the Year of Consecrated Life.
“As a Catholic community, we are called to thank the men and women religious for saying yes each day,” Fr. Jason said, “to a vocation of consecrated life and service to the Lord.”