St. Peter Canisius Apostolate

My name is Jeff Vehige (vay-ghee), and here’s a brief history of myself:

I was born in Missouri, lived in southern California, and grew up in Texas. Like most cradle Catholics, I drifted away from the faith as a teenager. I hated school with a deep passion, so upon graduation in May 1992, with hair down to the middle of my back and a pack of cigarettes in my shirt pocket, I moved back to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a professional guitarist. I had a conversion experience on Superbowl Sunday in 1993 at a non-denominational church in West Hollywood. A few months later I moved back to Texas — just in time to watch on television the fiery climax of the Waco fiasco.

Seeing my newfound interest in the Bible and religion, my mother encouraged me to attend a Bible study at my parish. And my father, seeing I had no direction, gave me an ultimatum: get a full-time job or go to college. Within a few months of moving back to Texas, I’d cut my hair, was attending a Bible study, and was enrolled in a junior college. Except for the cigarettes, which I still smoked, I was literally going in the opposite direction than I had been a year earlier.

The following year — this would have been 1994 — my Bible study started reading Theology for Beginners by Frank Sheed, and I signed up for an Introduction to Philosophy class. The convergence of these was akin to an intellectual Big Bang. For the first time in my life I was excited about study and learning. For the past twenty years, however, I had neglected to use my mind in any strenuous way, so before I could go on to serious theological study, I would need some kind of intellectual makeover.

The makeover came in 1996, the year I lived in a monastery discerning the priesthood. Away from the inanity of pop music, talk radio, television, and bad movies, and living primarily in silence or the beauty of Gregorian chant (on CD; we didn’t sing it), I was able, with God’s grace, to become intellectually fit for advanced theological studies.

Though it’s not my intention to brag, it’s important to know that when God calls us to himself, he calls us to his service. It’s not just about being a good Catholic; rather, it’s about being an apostle. Christ calls us in order to send us into the world. He does not send us unequipped, either. He gives us what we need to accomplish the task he has assigned us. Christ called me to serve him with my mind — through study, teaching, and writing — and though, through my own fault, I was ill-equipped, he provided for my needs. Therefore, there is no need to worry about giving ourselves entirely to God, for his love and grace are sufficient.

By the beginning of 1997, I was out of the monastery, back in the world, dating my future wife, and pursuing a degree in theology at the University of Dallas; and by May of 2001, I was married, had a five-month-old son, and had earned an M.A. in theology. After taking a year off from academic work, I began preparing applications to various Ph.D. programs; but by the time the results were coming in, my wife and I had learned that she was pregnant, and after much prayer and discernment I decided to forgo a Ph.D. in theology so my kids could know their grandparents.

Today, I’m an at-home dad who is homeschooling his kids. When I’m not doing the dishes, folding underwear, or teaching my kids the finer points of scholastic theology, I’m either reading, writing, teaching some catechism class at my parish, or working on this blog/apostolate.

Thanks for reading, and God bless.

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