Fr. John Van Wiel, CSV, may be retired from the chemistry department at Saint Viator High School, where he taught for nearly 20 years, but he stays busy.
Each summer, Fr. Van Wiel returns to visit family in Colorado, where he loves to climb into his waders and go fly fishing for rainbow trout. Looks like this summer, he hit the jackpot!
For the last six months, Fr. Van Wiel has served as novice director for Br. Peter Lamick, and the two have found common ground beyond the Province Center and its chapel.
They find solitude and the glory of God’s creation — while fishing. This summer, they traveled out to the Villa Desiderata Retreat Center in suburban McHenry — run by Br. Patrick Drohan, CSV — to fish on Pistakee Bay.
Their fishing adventures conjure up Matthew’s gospel, 4:19, when Jesus said to Peter and his brother, Andrew, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”