When a Catholic Gets a Lutheran Pregnant

About the Book

“I love the cover. Your book is truly a saga—powerful and deeply moving. I was struck by the trauma woven throughout the story and, as in my own family, the warmth, love, and resilience that shine through. This is a remarkable and unforgettable journey.” - Meg Kissinger When a Catholic Gets a Lutheran Pregnant is a heartfelt memoir about family, love, and the quiet strength that carries us through life’s most difficult seasons. Growing up in the 1970s and 1980s, Jennifer and her siblings knew the simplicities of small-town life—barefoot summers, homemade meals, and the kind of freedom that only childhood can hold. Yet beneath that simplicity ran deeper struggles: poverty, dysfunction, addiction, and the painful repetition of family patterns that seemed impossible to break. Several years before Jennifer was born, her eldest brother Todd, was placed in a state hospital in the early 1960s at just two and a half years old. Labeled “mentally retarded” in an era that misunderstood difference, Todd spent too many years of his life institutionalized—yet he remained the heart and light of their family. As his sister, advocate, and later legal guardian, Jennifer witnessed both the heartbreak and the beauty of his journey. Through Todd, she learned profound lessons about love, loss, and what it means to fight for dignity in a world that often looks away. Spanning decades of hardship, healing, and hard-won grace, When a Catholic Gets a Lutheran Pregnant is a story of perseverance and redemption. It honors a brother whose life defied limitation and a sister who found purpose in the unlikeliest places—proving that even in the shadows of dysfunction, love has the power to illuminate everything.

About the Author

Jennifer Radtke was born and raised in a small South Dakota community as one of seven children. Her upbringing was shaped by the deep bonds of a large family, the challenges of financial hardship, and the realities of dysfunction that often come with both. At the center of her life and inspiration was her eldest sibling, born with intellectual disabilities. His presence and resilience became a guiding force in her personal and professional journeys. When she lost him, the grief was profound—a grief that reshaped her understanding of love, loss, and legacy. Moving through that sorrow became part of her story, deepening her compassion and sharpening her sense of purpose. In honoring his life, she found renewed commitment to supporting individuals with exceptionalities. Her work with children and adults with disabilities is both a vocation and a tribute—a way to carry forward the lessons of empathy, strength, and hope he embodied. This memoir is a reflection of that journey—through family, through service, and through grief—told with heart, honesty, and unwavering love.