By Amy White
The Texas Catholic
In a decades-old family photo, an infant Julie Elizabeth Martin — now Sister Juliana Guadalupe, S.V. — is bundled in pink and tucked snuggly into a stroller. Then one month old, the young Martin is pictured alongside her parents and brother during a pro-life rally at the Rhode Island State House.
Although her parents, Paul and Gloria Martin, now look at this photo as a sort of foreshadowing of their daughter’s eventual call to join the Sisters of Life, the couple initially had a very different vision of how that small, sleeping child’s life would unfold. Reflecting on their daughter’s journey from bundled infant to religious sister, the two St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church parishioners shared a vulnerable account of their experience as parents of a child called to religious life.
Born in 1994, Sister Guadalupe grew up alongside her older brother, Kevin, and younger sister, Stephanie, in Rhode Island. As she matured into her teenage years, she proved to be a smart, happy, and accomplished adolescent, as well as a natural leader. She was captain of the varsity cheerleading team, treasurer of her class, and a “Rock for God” bandmember.
As parents, Paul and Gloria did their best to encourage a vibrant faith in their three children. They blessed them before bed, sat near the altar at Mass, and explained Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. The Martin parents especially encouraged a commitment to the pro-life cause, Gloria said.
“The pro-life thing was very strong in our life,” she shared, recalling many Saturdays spent praying the rosary together outside a nearby abortion clinic.
Despite the Martin family’s commitment to the Catholic faith, vocations were not a dinner table topic. In fact, Gloria shared, “We never had discussions about vocations; and at church when we would pray for more vocations, I never dreamed it would happen in my family.”
Instead, Paul and Gloria imagined a more traditional vision for Sister Guadalupe: one where she got a job, found a husband, and raised their grandchildren. So, when their daughter returned home after her first semester at Southern Methodist University and announced that she felt called to discern religious life, they were shocked.
“It hits you as a big surprise,” Paul said. “When you have a baby girl, you don’t necessarily picture them growing up and becoming a religious sister.”
Gloria recalled her own “complete and utter disbelief” at her daughter’s announcement. In the moment, she thought this call might be a “phase,” something that would pass; but Sister Guadalupe remained intent throughout her years at SMU; and in 2016, she entered the community of the Sisters of Life as a postulant.
Paul recalled having several conversations with his wife as they both wrestling with the reality of their daughter’s call.
“We talked a lot about it,” he said. “It was just, you know: This is her calling. This is where she’s going, where God wants her to be.”
For her part, Gloria said she spent years surrendering her previously held vision of her daughter’s life. She experienced her daughter’s vocation, in those early years, as a period of mourning the alternate life Sister Guadalupe could have lived. When Gloria took to Facebook to express this sense of grief, she received more than a dozen private messages from other mothers of religious sisters who could relate to these same feelings of loss.
“I’ve often said there needs to be a support group for moms of daughters and sons who are going into vocation,” Gloria said. “It’s a very big change. You grieve the presence of your child.”
After struggling for years to fully accept her daughter’s calling, Gloria experienced a change in her heart about a year prior to Sister Guadalupe’s profession of perpetual vows.
“God spoke to me and said, ‘My plans for your daughter are better than any plans you would have had for her,’” she said.
In August of 2024, Sister Guadalupe professed her perpetual vows at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City. Her parents both recalled the day fondly.
“I remember thinking, ‘This is the biggest moment of her life,’” Paul said.
Expressing heartfelt gratitude for her daughter’s call to religious life, Gloria shared that she now helps other mothers who are experiencing the same feelings of loss that she first felt when her daughter joined the order.
“I’m offering: Can you give your mom my phone number? Because I know what it feels like,” she said. “I had this whole vision for how her life was going to go; but this was my vision, not God’s.”
“Honestly,” she added, “my daughter is exactly where she was made to be.”
Editor’s note: This article is the first in a three-part series sharing stories of religious and priestly vocations from the perspective of the parents.
Cutline for featured image: Gloria and Paul Martin, center, are pictured with their son, Kevin Martin, and daughter Sister Juliana Guadalupe, S.V., at a 1995 pro-life rally at the Rhode Island State House in Providence, Rhode Island. Sister Guadalupe was one month old at the time the photo was taken. (Courtesy photo)
