Incarnate Word Sister Cathy Vetter celebrates golden jubilee

Jefferson City native and graduate of Immaculate Conception School

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In the parlance of religious life, Sister Cathy Vetter is known as a “lifer.”

That is, a sister is the only thing she has ever wanted to be for as long as she’s been alive.

She dates her calling to religious life back to more than six decades ago when she was a first-grader at Immaculate Conception School in Jefferson City.

“I fell in love with my teacher who was an Incarnate Word Sister,” Sr. Cathy said with a smile.

“I wanted to be like her, and God gave me the grace to follow through with that,” she said. “I was blessed with a family who was very supportive of my call, as I had an aunt who was a nun.”

Earlier this year, Sr. Cathy marked her golden jubilee as a Sister of Charity of the Incarnate Word (CCVI), the community in which she professed her first vows in 1969.

Her family ties to Immaculate Conception parish and the diocese here are still strong.

“Two of my siblings — Louis Vetter and my sister, Carolyn Bruemmer — are still very active there,” she noted. “As well, I had many nieces and nephews who went to Helias (Catholic) High School.”

Today, Sr. Cathy lives in the Archdiocese of St. Louis, where she serves as a novice director for her community.

Through the years, she has served as an educator, a vocation director for the Jefferson City diocese in the 1980s, vocation director for her own community’s North American Province, co-vicar for religious for the St. Louis Archdiocese, and on the leadership team for the CCVI U.S. Province in San Antonio, among many other assignments.

She told The Catholic Missourian that she has most enjoyed her ministry in the realm of spiritual direction and retreat work.

“I feel that studying spirituality is where my gifts lie,” she said. “I have enjoyed giving retreats and encouraging people to go deeper in the walk with God.”

She said it’s hard to believe that it’s been a half-century since she made her first profession.

Religious life, she noted, has changed quite a bit since then.

“Women are entering communities later in their lives after having experienced secular life for a number of years,” she explained.

“As well, religious communities are combining forces these days,” she said. “More and more we are coming together with other communities, with classes and activities together. I think that is where the future of the Church and the world lies.”

There are currently five sisters from all over the globe at the Incarnate Word Novitiate House in South St. Louis. Two from Latin America are studying English, while the others hail from the United States.

Sr. Cathy is the director of a second-year novice from Texas.

“I really enjoy journeying with women in their call and encouraging them to respond to God’s call for them,” she said.

She shared that in her free time, she enjoys visiting over dinner, reading, and swimming at the local YMCA.

She loves to get outdoors, especially on rivers and lakes, and tend to her garden when the season arrives.

As for the road ahead, her prayer is for peace in our world.

“My hope is that each of us would show greater respect for the dignity of every person and for our planet,” she said. “Sadly, there is so much fear and anger in our world that we do not know how to be persons of peace and love.” 

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