Called to be a Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity Postulant, a young woman shares her vocation story.
Hello, All! My name is Karol Rose Pearson, also known just as Rose. Hailing from deep in the Ozarks (Arkansas, that is…), I am a true southern girl on the inside! I come from a family of 9 kids, 6 of us adopted! My parents, Bob and Kathy Pearson, 
spent the majority of their lives in the pro-life ministry, traveling and living all over the country from Hawaii to Michigan. Through this work, they continuously stumbled upon babies needing adopting, myself included.
After high school, I moved to the western corner of Arkansas to attend the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. I am a hard-core Razorbacks fan through thick and thin (WOOO PIG SOOIE!!)! I majored in and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education.
I have been so blessed over the years to do so many things I enjoy. Beginning in college, I really discovered a love of travel. In my last year, I went with a group of twenty college students to Honduras for 10 days. Immediately after college, unable to decide if I wanted to teach, I joined NET Ministries (National Evangelization Teams) for 10 months. I spent the year driving around the country putting on retreats for junior high and high school students What an amazing experience! Upon the end of my term with NET, I volunteered with another similar youth ministry program in Hawaii and was on Oahu for a year. When I returned to the contiguous states, I was offered a job as a restaurant manager in Iowa and was there for three years until I moved to the Motherhouse in August.
My first contact with the Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity was through my friend, Michelle, who was in her own process of discernment, and had met Sister Mary Ann Spanjers and Sister Julie Ann Sheahan She and I came to one of the discernment retreats in Manitowoc. For 3 years previous until I met the Sisters, the thought of religious life was in the back of my mind and heart but I was not ready to accept it as a possible vocation. After the retreat my friend abandoned the idea of religious life and I was able to embrace it! The hardest part of the discernment process was how much I fought it and was unwilling to do what was on my heart. I am so glad and grateful that God is faithful and persistent!
I know many of you have prayed long and hard for me and I thank you so much! I don’t know if I would be here without your prayers. I look forward to meeting and thanking you all in person someday. God bless!
