You will find the latest updates from our little adventure into Austria here!
Towle Family News!!!
Christ Is Risen! Glorify Him!
April 27, 2026
Dearest Friends & Family,
As many of you have heard, our family is preparing for a big transition as we move away from the community we love so much.
For those who may have only heard some details, I wanted to share a more personal update on where the Lord is leading us: Nicholas has been invited into the Catholic Byzantine Married Priesthood, and after much prayer, our family has joyfully said “yes!”
While we are so excited for this calling, it is bittersweet to leave all of you.
Our hearts overflow with gratitude for the gift all of you have been to us. The friendship, the shared joys and grief, and the constant encouragement you’ve given us have been such a beautiful reflection of God’s mercy. We truly view each of you as a treasure from His hands. As we step out in faith, we are placing this beloved community back into His care, trusting that He will continue to bless you all as much as you have blessed us—and MORE!
We carry you in our hearts!
+Lorena Towle & Family
I share the beautiful letter my husband wrote to the St Augustine Academy Community, but is really addressed to each of you:
____________________________________________________
+
JMJ
Lord, I ask your help and blessing in doing this work. Give me love and give me words, prudence, and wisdom, and simplicity
Dearest Friends, Families, and Beloved Students,
It is with great joy, however bittersweet it be, to announce that after several years of private discernment, I have applied and been accepted as a candidate to the presbyterate in our local Byzantine Eparchy. In simple terms, I will be studying to be a married priest. Although this may be unique and foreign to our western ears, it is a normal vocation in the Byzantine Catholic tradition. Mrs. Towle and I have felt Jesus’s call for our family very clearly, and we have decided to follow Him wholeheartedly in this path.
The bitter part is that it will require our leaving St. Augustine Academy in order to focus fully on study and priestly formation. Of course, the sweetness is in the answering of a prayer that our family makes regularly to Jesus: Bring us closer to you, O Lord—to You and to your Church. Although this calling has been latent in my heart for a long time, I suppose it is in God’s good providence that it has been nurtured, reformed, and grown in my love and service to all of you, my students and friends.
“Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another” (Rom 13:8). Well, if that be the case, then I certainly owe this community a staggering return on love. St. Augustine’s has from the very beginning heaped and lavished upon me nothing but the best of friends, associates, benefactors, and a continual swarm of youth, all of which to warm my heart, sharpen my mind, support my strength, and stretch my soul. The past nine years that my family has been a part of this community have been the happiest of all.
It could only be a call that we perceive to be for us a “further up, and further in” to the heart of Christ that would draw us from this intimate community of friends and families that are so centered on Him. We will be travelling to live in Austria, at the International Theological Institute in Trumau. It will likely be a 6-year process. There are many unknowns, but the most essential parts, such as a clear call and the right wife to accompany me, are not lacking. We ask your prayers for us. We have always benefited from them (as many of you know all too well!), and we may need them now more than ever.
Pray we may find and continue to raise our children in a loving, faith-filled community such as we have had and thrived in with all of you. (Bonus points: if you pray we can come back after all this to be near you again!) God’s will be done. Thank you.
Mrs. Towle, the Towle children, and I, love you dearly. You are all in our hearts and prayers.
In Christ and the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
+ Nick Towle
Until the next update!
