Sister Fidelity Grace, who took her final vows Aug. 5 with the Sisters of Life in New York, was a Center for Catholic Studies undergraduate student at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul from 2008 to 2012.

“I still stand in shock that the Lord allowed this gift,” Sister Fidelity Grace said of her vocation. “This is a tremendous testimony to the personal spiritual formation that accompanies the intellectual formation of Catholic Studies.”

While in high school, Sister Fidelity Grace, who grew up a member of St. Peter in North St. Paul, first heard about a weekend campus visit called “Faith at UST” that highlighted Catholic Studies and the campus ministry opportunities at St. Thomas. She stayed with a Catholic Studies student in a dorm and attended Mass, classes and a concert.

“Seeing the faith lived so vibrantly by these students and hearing about the Rome study abroad opportunity really captured my attention,” said Sister Fidelity Grace, the daughter of Ken and Mary Ann Thelen, also of St. Peter. “I loved the interdisciplinary approach to learning about Catholicism as it relates to art, history, literature, philosophy, theology and science. I had come to fall in love with Jesus through camps and youth events in high school and was eager to learn more about the faith that I loved and to teach it to others one day.”

Catholic Studies forms a unique Catholic culture among students at St. Thomas — a culture where daily Mass and regular confession is common, Friday nights are often spent together in adoration, and vocational discernment is normative.

“The Catholic living communities I experienced in the dorm, (in) a campus household, and at the Rome campus were excellent preparation for the communal aspect of religious life,” Sister Fidelity Grace said. “Through my Catholic Studies courses I was introduced to a Christian anthropology and came to understand the significance of the Church’s contributions to the world. Catholicism is infinitely more than a set of rules or program for life. It is a lens through which to see the world. Everything is different when viewed through the eyes of faith. In the sacramental worldview, the invisible becomes visible through the physical. This way of looking at life is not unlike the ‘contemplative outlook’ Pope St. John Paul II describes in ‘Evangelium Vitae’ — that we as Sisters of Life strive to practice as we encounter each human being.”

Sister Fidelity Grace is one of three Catholic Studies graduates who entered the Sisters of Life in the same month and year (September 2015) and professed final vows Aug. 5. The others are Sister Zélie Maria Louis, who was raised in Waterloo, Iowa, and Sister Ann Immaculée of Sacred Heart in Owatonna. As Sisters of Life, they are consecrated for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of human life.

Derrick Diedrich attended St. Thomas as an undergraduate from 2017 to 2021, majoring in business leadership and management with a minor in Catholic Studies. Now, Diedrich is a graduate student in the Catholic Studies Master of Arts program who attests to the strength of the center.

“Catholic Studies provides students with a way of looking at the world and contextualizing their other areas of study with the thinking of the Church,” Diedrich said. “It is a lens that has helped me view the world, and especially the business world, in a new light; compelling me to integrate principles of my faith into my personal and professional life.

“Coming into college, I knew I wanted to get a degree, to get a job and have fun,” he said. “This thinking was transformed by Catholic Studies. I now see the value of education and the way in which it changes me, allows me to think more clearly and make good decisions to positively impact the world around me, and relate and integrate my faith better in a variety of settings. After seeing this change in myself, I knew I had to take advantage of more than just a minor.”

Diedrich has been part of the masters’ program since last year, alongside his work as a self-employed consultant working in strategic project management and program development at NET Ministries in West St. Paul. Before that, Diedrich worked in consulting as a project manager at Cargill in Wayzata.

“Being in the program has allowed the thinking of the Church to continue to take root in my heart and mind, and has been a constant means of integrating my life as a young professional,” Diedrich said. “Catholic Studies created a better way for me to conceptualize my work and see the responsibilities the Lord has bestowed upon me to support the common good.

“This thinking has pushed me to do better work and take on more responsibility when I am able,” Diedrich said. “By working diligently and supplying good work to society, I can participate in the creative nature of God and respond to genuine human needs. This not only gives me a deep sense of purpose in the work I do but inspires me to promote good work to those around me as a means of building up ourselves and the human community.”