Franciscan University Welcomes More Than 750 to 31st Annual Religious Vocations Fair

More than 750 students and community members attended Franciscan University of Steubenville’s 31st annual Religious Vocations Fair on October 9, where representatives from 45 religious communities, dioceses, and vocation organizations gathered to share their experiences of answering God’s call.

Among the visiting priests and religious brothers and sisters were 12 Franciscan alumni who returned to campus to share their own vocational journeys with students discerning God’s call in their lives.

Organized by Franciscan University’s Office for Personal Vocation and Koinonia, the University’s priestly discernment household, the fair offered students and Catholics throughout the Ohio Valley an opportunity to encounter men and women living out a wide range of religious vocations.

“Everybody has a vocation,” said Lucia Bortz, a personal vocation coach and program coordinator for the Office of Personal Vocation. “The Religious Vocations Fair is an opportunity for students to come and see people who are fulfilled in their personal vocations because they have listened and been led by the Lord to where they are now.”

For some returning alumni, the fair was an opportunity to reflect on the experiences at Franciscan that helped lead them to their own religious vocations.

Brother Joseph Pio Young, CFR, participated in Franciscan’s Priestly Discernment Program before graduating in 2020 and entering the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. He recalled how household life, visits to the Portiuncula Chapel, and mission trips helped him recognize his calling to serve the poor.

“I did a lot of mission trips while at Franciscan, and while falling in love with serving the poor, I realized I wanted to dedicate my life to them,” Brother Young said.

Today, as a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, he serves at soup kitchens, preaches in churches and schools, and ministers to those in need through his community’s charisms of evangelization and service to the poor.

Father Toan Cao, FSSP, another Franciscan alumnus, came to the University seeking a community that would strengthen his Catholic faith and support his discernment of the priesthood. Having converted to Catholicism at age 16, he found that the friendships, prayer, and spiritual formation he experienced at Franciscan helped deepen his vocation.

“Being at Franciscan made habits that I was starting to form, like Mass and Holy Hour, more solidified, and I was able to find other people who were doing it with me,” Father Cao said. “The friends I made here, the professors who helped form me in small ways, and everything I experienced here made me who I am today.”

Father Cao entered the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter in 2018 and was ordained to the priesthood in October 2025. The fraternity is dedicated to the celebration of the traditional Latin liturgy.

For current Franciscan students, the fair provided an opportunity to ask questions, learn about different religious charisms, and speak personally with those who have embraced consecrated life or the priesthood.

Sophomore theology major Asher Breuninger, who is discerning religious life, said the experience renewed his desire to continue seeking God’s will.

“The Religious Vocations Fair rejuvenated my ongoing discernment of religious life,” he said. “It showed me that all these holy people are supporting me and allowed me to see the many joys and blessings that God brings to the religious life.”