Associates Susan and David Surprenant
Associate David Surprenant cannot remember a time when Viatorians were not a part of his life.
David was born and raised in St. George Parish in Bourbonnais, Illinois, a parish that has had Viatorian pastors for most of its 150-plus-year history. There, David and his wife, Associate Susan Surprenant, raised their two sons and were longtime parishioners. The couple lives just north of there, where they run a family farm. They manage 450 acres in all, including raising 150 black angus beef cows in a cow-calf operation that produces calves twice a year. At the same time, the couple plants and harvests their crops of corn, beans, wheat, alfalfa, and sorghum and uses cover crops to minimize runoff and erosion and sustain the land.
Over the years at St. George, David led the youth group, taught confirmation classes, directed its religious education program, served as a lector, and sat on the parish council, including some time as its president. He took a break for a few years to concentrate on his farming, but he later returned to teaching after making his initial commitment as an associate in 2006.
David Surprenant teaches confirmation classes at St. George Parish
He now leads the RCIA program at St. Patrick Church in Momence, IL, where he works with the diocesan pastor but often invites in Viatorians to assist with Sacraments and ministries there.
“I’ve seen over the decades the Viatorian charism and what that feeling can instill in a community,” David said. “The Viatorians promote education and God’s mission here among us. So many people have been touched by Viatorians in special ways that this cannot be lost.”
From ministry in his parishes to sitting on community councils and teams to his daily work with Creation, David exemplifies a CatViatorian faith alive in a rich variety of ways.
More on David from Viatorians.com:
-
In 2022, the Viatorian Provincial Assembly was right there in Bourbonnais, and the Surprenants enjoyed everyone coming to their town, including then-Provincial Superior Fr. Dan Hall, CSV.
Agricultural Stewardship with Associate David Surprenant (Viatorian Voices podcast appearance – 2022): David takes us for a drive around his farm, where he explains the way that sustainable practices are good for the land, good for his animals, and good for his pocketbook in earning a good living.
- Conversation Drives this Associate and Farmer (2022): We picked up the links to the Kankakee Daily Journal’s coverage of David, as he shared with them what family farming means to him and how it drives conversation and connection.
- Advent Reflections with a Vocations Twist (2021): When he belonged to St. George Church, David joined with fellow Viatorians in offering Advent reflections geared toward the spirituality of the season nd building a culture of vocations.
- St. George Parish Gets Serious about Vocations (2021): Before that Advent campaign, David took part in a group that sought to identify ways to strengthen vocation awareness and prayer at St. George.
- Viatorians Find Renewal in Summer Gathering (2021): As the world moved through the peaks of the COVID pandemic, social gatherings came back stronger, and David was part of a big gathering in summer 2021 that recharged everyone’s batteries.
- Stations of the Cross from a Viatorian Perspective (2021): As St. George built out its technological capabilities, Viatorians in the area, including David, came together to prepare a virtual Stations of the Cross using new camera, backdrops, and editing.
- Excitement is Building for VYC 2020 (2020): Before COVID hit, St. George and area Viatorians, including David, had everything ready to host the teen delegates, young adult leaders, and chaperones that summer. Two years’ of cancellations delayed things, but their hard work set the table for the program to take place there in 2022.
Updated by Associate Dan Masterton on August 12, 2025.