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Jena Thurow-Mountin (’19) is passionate about exploring answers for questions about faith and church practices. Asking questions about the meaning behind church practices and symbols of her parents, priests, and parish staff members since childhood, it is not surprising she is answering God’s call to educate herself and others on answers she’s found through her theological education and research. Jena does not accept just any answer – she makes it her mission to seek sound theological explanations.
During her undergrad studies, she came across Virgil Michel, a Benedictine monk of Saint John’s Abbey. This sparked Jena’s intrigue for Saint John’s, its community, the School of Theology and Seminary, and writing - another passion of Jena’s. She shares the answers she’s found to her theological questions and provides clear explanation through her published reflections about the liturgy and the Word of God she creates for ‘everyday Catholics’. Jena credits Saint John’s for stretching her beyond just exegetical academic writing and into the fascinating niche of these pieces ‘that will help people make and find meaning in their lives”. Still today, the vibrant community at Saint John’s enthralls her as she writes.
Saint John’s instills such a respect and love for community that Jena couldn’t help herself from taking up the mission to provide direct support for the variety of individuals who are a part of a parish and are looking for a way to make sense of what they are experiencing in the liturgy. Her various publications and full-time position as teacher and campus minister at Divine Savior Holy Angels High School in Milwaukee, WI, both provide her with the opportunity to “be the ear of God” and support other members of the Church in a unique variety of ways. She finds walking this path God’s set before her truly fulfilling.
You can deepen liturgical enjoyment for the younger church by proving understanding of complex theological questions. With your gift of financial support for students like Jena at Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary, you can spark theological intrigue anywhere.
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