As friends and family look on, Sr. Bethany Marie, CP, smiles during her first profession of vows as a Passionist Nun at St. Joseph Monastery in Whitesville in the afternoon of May 31. RILEY GREIF | WKC
A day for vocations: Two young people unite lives to Christ in ‘supernatural’ callings
BY ELIZABETH WONG BARNSTEAD, THE WESTERN KENTUCKY CATHOLIC
May 31, 2025, marked a momentous day for the Diocese of Owensboro as two young people united their lives to Christ in their individual vocations.
That morning, Fr. Conrad Jaconette was ordained the diocese’s newest priest at St. Stephen Cathedral in Owensboro. And in the afternoon, Sr. Bethany Marie, CP, formerly Hannah Bland, made her first profession of vows as a Passionist Nun of St. Joseph Monastery in Whitesville.
Fr. Jaconette was co-sponsored by both the Owensboro diocese and the Archdiocese for the Military Services, U.S.A. This agreement means that he will served for several years in parishes of the Diocese of Owensboro, followed by a period of time on loan to the military archdiocese to serve as a military chaplain for the U.S. Air Force.
The young priest grew up in Alexandria, Ky., and joined the Catholic Church while a student at Western Kentucky University, where he became involved with the campus ministry at St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center.
In a January 2025 interview with The Western Kentucky Catholic, following his transitional diaconate ordination, the future Fr. Jaconette explained that a big question for his family was “’Will the Diocese of Owensboro be able to love and support Conrad as much as we do?’ And being there at my ordination that day, I think they were able to see that,” he said.
Sr. Bethany Marie, who grew up attending St. Mary of the Woods Parish and School in Whitesville, and graduated from Trinity High School in Whitesville and Brescia University in Owensboro, discerned her call to religious life for several years before realizing that the answer was close to home.
It was, quite literally, just up the road at the Passionist monastery.
“It wasn’t something I’d naturally do. It was supernatural,” said Sr. Bethany Marie in an Aug. 7, 2023 interview with The Western Kentucky Catholic.
After visiting the Passionists for a weekend in March 2021, “It’s been explained that I became smitten after that,” she said in that interview, and mentioned the “peace” that comes when one recognizes their true calling.
“Once you actually find it, you realize this is that peace they talk about when finding your vocation,” she said.
Newly-ordained Fr. Conrad Jaconette closes his eyes and smiles through tears during the Eucharistic Prayer at his May 31 Mass of Ordination to the Sacred Order of the Priesthood at St. Stephen Cathedral. RILEY GREIF | WKC
Originally printed in the August 2025 issue of The Western Kentucky Catholic.
