Siblings who chose religious life credit parents' faith, support

Published: 2004-01-21

MILWAUKEE (CNS) -- To their family, Peter and Marion Etzel are brother and sister. To others, they're father and sister. A Sister of the Divine Savior and president and provincial of her religious community, Sister Etzel, 61, answered the call to her vocation when her brother Peter was only 3. She entered the community after eighth grade in 1956. She lived with the sisters, also known as Salvatorians, during high school and would go home for the summers. She took her final vows in 1972 in Milwaukee. Father Etzel, 50, answered the call to the Jesuit priesthood at age 25, and was ordained five years later. He now is the pastor of Gesu Parish in downtown Milwaukee. In the Etzel family, the importance of faith made it seem less remarkable that two siblings would choose religious life. "Faith was important," said Sister Etzel, who lives in the residence on the Divine Savior Holy Angels High School campus in Milwaukee. "My dad used to do lots and lots of things to help out in the parish, so did my mom. They both held leadership roles in the parish, the church was very important to them."

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