Perhaps it was growing up in Pine Bluffs, Wyoming or coming from a family with five brothers and four sisters that contributed to Brother Augustine Rohde's easy-going manner. Or maybe it's the confidence that comes from answering God's call.
Brother Augustine describes how events kept falling into place as he was trying to decide what to do with his life, the notion that "God was trying to tell me something." When Augustine announced at age 26 that he would be joining the Capuchins as a brother, no one who knew him seemed very surprised. Continued prayer and reflection led to a ministry of nursing for the Province of Mid-America.
"Health care runs in my family, as I like to say. My maternal grandmother was a country doctor for half a century, and my mother was a medical records librarian. One sister is a nurse and another an inspector of medical laboratories." Still, entering nursing school at Fort Hayes State in Kansas the age of 33 made him "a little nervous. As I studied for a nursing degree, I was reminded that the spiritual side of a person is so important in their overall well being...by helping others, the poor and the sick, I am helping Jesus, and/or being Jesus to them." After 12 years of service to the people of Hays and Victoria, Kansas, Brother Augustine arrived in Denver in 2007 to care for the medical needs of friars, and to assist Catholic Charities and the needy of Sacred Heart as a nurse. His joyful demeanor, as well as his nursing skills, are a great gift to the needy people of Denver.
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