Priest, religious sister, married couple speak on vocations 
to students

BY BILL DOYLE | CFP CORRESPONDENT

SHREWSBURY – Father Juan D. Escudero, pastor at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Northborough, grew up in Colombia in a parish that had a seminary. His mother worked there and there were six priests and 18 seminarians.
Father Escudero grew to know them well and he came to realize that although the priests weren’t married, they served as a different kind of father figure to the parish.
One day he heard a calling to become a priest as well. He said it wasn’t a call on a cell phone – he didn’t even own a cell phone – but a call from God. He kept hearing it, so he entered the seminary.     
Recruited by the Diocese of Worcester, he attended Clark University to study English and then he graduated from St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore. After he served as an associate pastor at St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury and as a pastor at St. Denis in Douglas, he became pastor of St. Rose of Lima in 2021.
He was one of four speakers invited to St. Mary Elementary School this week for a Catholic Schools Week assembly on vocations. Other speakers were also familiar with, and familiar to, the St. Mary’s community.
Venerini Sister Rosemarie Borzi, a religion and handwriting teacher at St. Mary Elementary School, grew up in a very religious family. In the kitchen was a huge St. Anthony statue and a large, framed photo of the Trinity. Crucifixes were everywhere. Sister Rosemarie even had a holy water font in her bedroom, but she admits she was a bit of a wild child.
When she attended a midnight Mass at age 15, she felt the calling to become a nun.
“It was like, ‘boom,’ like I got hit in the head,” she recalled.
When she told her mother that she wanted to become a nun, her mother responded, “Go to bed. You’re crazy.” 
Nevertheless, she entered a convent at age 16 and she’s been a religious sister for 63 years, including the last 30 teaching at St. Mary’s. Sister Rosemarie said she has no plans to retire any time soon and that her students keep her young.
Religion was always important to Sarah Beltran and she briefly considered entering religious life. She felt more drawn to marriage and family but said she had trouble finding the right partner. Searching for guidance, she and her mother got down on their knees to pray to St. Joseph, the patron saint of spouses and families, to help her find a husband. The next day, she met her future husband, Gabriel Beltran, on the Catholic dating website, catholicmatch.com.
They’ve been married for 13 years and have four children who attend St. Mary’s: Benedict in kindergarten, Lucy in first grade, Mateo in fifth grade and Phoebe in sixth grade. Mrs. Beltran teaches music at St. Mary’s. Mr. Beltran used to be technology director there and currently serves the same role at Abby Kelley Foster Charter School in Worcester.
Father Escudero, Sister Rosemarie and the Beltrans spoke about their callings at the vocation assembly attended by about 50 students in grades 5-8 Tuesday morning at the St. Mary church hall.
Melissa Lesieur, a religion teacher at St. Mary’s, planned the assembly.
“It’s important as Catholics and as kids, especially as they get older,” Ms. Lesieur said, “that they’re thinking about what they want to do when they grow up and to show them examples in our community [of people] who live out their vocations, their states of lives, so well. It can give them a chance to ask questions and to think about where God is calling them.”
Such a calling can mean different things to different people, but the calling is always from God.
“It doesn’t mean that you don’t have a vocation unless you become a priest or a nun,” Sister Rosemarie said. “That’s not the case. All of us have a vocation. It’s just different.”
“We’re hoping to show the children that marriage is a very special vocation from God,” Mrs. Beltran said, “as special as priesthood and religious life. It’s a sign in the world of God’s love for us and through our marriage.”
In an interview after the assembly Father Escudero pointed out that in addition to vocations for priesthood, religious life and marriage, it was also important to note that there is a vocation to single life.
Mr. Beltran grew up in Mexico and for a few years he couldn’t decide whether to become a priest or start a family. Becoming godfather to his cousin’s child and then moving to Texas and witnessing the loving family life of another cousin made him long to start one of his own.
After he and his future wife met on catholicmatch.com, they continued their relationship online for months before he traveled to Massachusetts, and she visited Mexico. He eventually moved to Massachusetts, and they married in 2010. They continue to do God’s work.
“Spouses have to help each other get to heaven,” Mrs. Beltran told the students.
“We need families to spread the Gospel of God,” Mr. Beltran told them.    
When Mr. Beltran asked the 50 or so students in attendance if they knew what their vocation was, Madeline Carlson, an 11-year-old fifth grader from Shrewsbury, was one of three who raised a hand. She said she wants to get married when she grows up but enjoyed listening to the speakers.
“I learned a lot about different vocations and what it feels like to be in each of them and what you experience,” she said.
St. Mary’s principal, Liam Wintroath, attended the assembly while wearing an Angels jersey, not the angels from above, but the L.A. baseball team that he, his father and grandfather have cheered on for decades. He was impressed with the assembly.
“I think it’s incredible,” Mr. Wintroath said. “The opportunity for people to come in and talk about their own lives and how faith plays a role in it and how faith has guided them is an invaluable experience for our students.”