Passionate rock climber finds passion for Christ

Joseph Catama summits life obstacles to find his vocation with Verbum Spei

Brother John Jospeh Catama receives the habit he will wear as a Brother of the Verbum Spei Fraternity. He is kneeling before Father Wandrille Sverin, the Fraternity’s international superior, while Father Dominique Fauré, Prior of the Boise monastery, and Father Johannes Kamphuis assist during the Jan. 18 rite. (ICR Photo/Emily Woodham)

By Emily Woodham

Staff Writer

When Brother John Joseph, baptized “Joseph Catama,” moved to Boise from Thousand Oaks, Calif. at the end of 2020, he was not taking his Catholic faith seriously.

However, the change of location assisted his spiritual transformation.

“I was 20 and had been working a lot in California. I loved rock climbing and competed in it. Climbing was like my “god” at the time. I took college classes off and on. In Boise, I had a lot more time while I looked for a job.”

He relocated to Boise with his parents and three brothers. His devout family became parishioners at St. Mark’s Parish in Boise, but it was a few months before Brother John Joseph had a change of heart. “It was the Holy Spirit. All of a sudden, I just really wanted to go to Confession after a long time of not going,” he said.

He examined his conscience for three days to prepare for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. “Father Vitalis was the confessor,” he explained. (Father Vitalis Onyeama was the parochial vicar at St. Mark’s at that time and is now pastor at Holy Apostles.) “After Confession, all the weight of sin was off my shoulders. That was really the beginning of returning to the faith and choosing it for myself.”

He decided to go on a wilderness retreat led by Father Nathan Dail, vocations director for the Diocese of Boise and chaplain at St. Paul’s Student Center at Boise State University.

The retreat was in the Sawtooth Mountains. The experience was his first acquaintance with what Religious life might be like, Brother John Joseph explained. The retreat included Holy Hours (Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament) each day, daily Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. “Father Nathan is a great father and friend. I came back from that on fire,” he said.

As he delved into the Faith, Brother John Joseph stopped climbing for a time, but eventually started again at a climbing gym. “I became head coach, and I loved it, especially helping the teenagers in competitive climbing.”

He also began taking classes at Boise State in the fall of 2021 and decided to pursue a degree in creative writing. “That semester, I began volunteering at St. Paul’s Student Center. I organized events. I became in charge of OCIA all while being a head coach and traveling with my team.” He also frequently visited the Verbum Spei Monastery of Our Lady of Ephesus in Boise, where he received spiritual direction from Father Dominique Fauré, the monastery’s prior.

During finals in December of 2022, another shift came in Brother John Joseph’s life. Just as he needed to complete projects for his classes, a teenager on his team became suicidal. Although the teenager was able to get the help he needed, the stress of concern for the teen was overwhelming. “At that point, I had been going to the monastery daily. I told Father Dom about the situation and how I was going to flunk all of my classes. He said, ‘You stay here until you finish the finals.’ So I did. And then I never left.”

Brother John Joseph lived with the Brothers while continuing to work, volunteer and attend classes. “I didn’t have plans of a Religious vocation at that time. They just gave me a place where I could live and have time to pray in the mornings, go to Adoration and Mass every day. It was a gratuitous love they shared with me.” However, over time, he began to discern his call to become a Brother.

After graduating with his B.A. in Creative Writing in May of 2024, he wrapped up his work as head coach. “My team holds a special place in my heart. Although not all of them are Catholic, I taught them about Blessed Pier Frassati, who also loved to climb; so they all love him. They had a big competition in July, and it would have been a huge lack of charity to abandon them just before that event.”

Father Dominique Fauré embraces Brother John Joseph after the Rite of Investiture at Our Lady of Ephesus Monastery in Boise. (ICR Photo/Emily Woodham)

On July 25, 2024, he entered the novitiate. Six months later, on Jan. 18, 2025, he received the habit at the Rite of Investiture. “With an investiture, there’s the physical thing that’s happening, and then there’s the deep intimacy that it’s representing. Like a rosary or like a scapular— the clothing we wear is a sacramental. It’s a visible sign of something much deeper,” he said.

For Verbum Spei, which means “Word of Hope,” the habit is a sign of hope. “It’s a sacramental of hope in that we have something greater to live for now; it’s not a hope that’s just in the future, in the next life.”

Receiving the habit is also the time when Verbum Spei Brothers receive the Blessed Virgin Mary as their mother. Brother John Joseph explained that just as Mary dressed Jesus in swaddling clothes, so she clothes those who are consecrated to Religious life. She is the model of our consecration because she is the one who gave her fiat.”

The novitiate typically lasts another six months following investiture, which marks the first public sign of living a consecrated life. His parents, Jerry and Mary Catama, and brothers, Jacob, Jeremy and Jimmy, attended the investiture with a chapel full of friends and members of the climbing gym. The Mass was concelebrated by Father Wandrille Sevin, superior of the international fraternity of Verbum Spei, with Father Dominique Fauré, Father Johannes Kamphuis, V.S., Father Nathan Dail, and retired Father Roger LaChance of the Diocese of Boise.

Following the period of novitiate, first vows are made. If it is discerned that he should continue in the Verbum Spei Religious fraternity, he will then make final vows.

More important than discerning a vocation, Brother John Joseph said, is fostering a relationship with God through Christ. “The vocation is important, but it’s secondary to relationship. My discernment to Verbum Spei was quite clear, but I had three good people who were leading me through it: Father Dominique, Father Nathan and Father Nelson Cintra (parochial vicar at Pope St. John Paul II Parish in Idaho Falls). But living a life with Christ—truly the Christian life—is what’s most important.”