Written by Bella Sletteland Photos provided by the Sisters
S
isters have been teaching in schools for centuries, all over the world. But our very own St. Mary’s High School hasn’t had sisters teaching in it for a long time. Thankfully, that is changing very soon. I am sure that some of you have heard of the new religion classes coming to St. Mary’s next year. These classes will be taught by Sister Scholastica of the St. Mary’s Sisters. I had the privilege of talking with the St. Mary’s Sisters of Bismarck near the end of February. So far, there are three great ladies living in the temporary convent near the Cathedral. I was able to interview Sister Mary Joseph and Sister Scholastica. The St. Mary’s Sisters is a community of the Dominican Order. The purpose of Dominican Sisters is to teach and to prepare other young ladies to become teachers as sisters. At first they plan to stay in Bismarck schools to teach, but eventually will spread out to wherever they will be needed.
Sister Mary Joseph “As Dominican Sisters, the charism is teaching. In order to do that well, we study, and we study a lot. And we find that that is actually how we are able to grow closer to God. When you are close to God, you want to share that with everyone....” -Sister Scholastica
Meet the Sisters
S
ister Mary Joseph is the current Superior of the convent and was the first sister in this new community. She came from the Dominican convent in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which currently houses over 150 sisters. Sr. Mary Joseph came to Bismarck in order to prepare for a trip to Australia to start a House of Formation there, but God had a different plan for her. As she stayed in Bismarck and met with Bishop Kagan to talk about her plan, Bishop informed her that the Bismarck diocese was in desperate need of more sisters and a House of Formation for women to enter into an order. So, on June 1, 2020, the St. Mary’s Sisters of the Bismarck Diocese was founded. Sr. Mary Joseph officially became a member on July 22, 2020 after transferring over from Ann Arbor and Sister Scholastica will make her final vows this summer. Currently, the sisters live in a house near the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, but for the future they have bigger plans. Sr. Mary Joseph said that there discussion for a convent to be built in Bismarck. The house will be able to accommodate 180 sisters. It will be a motherhouse, meaning that there will always be sisters in Bismarck after it is built. Women in this region who want to enter the religious life of the
Sister Scholastica Dominicans wouldn’t have to go to the Nashville or Ann Arbor convents, they would be able to enter from here. At this point of this huge process, they are building up funds to start this project.
In LOC Schools
A
fter getting the community started this summer, Sr. Mary Joseph began teaching 6th grade Religion classes at the St. Mary’s Academy. She loves working with the students there and being part of the Light of Christ family. She said there will be at least 40 more students next year than during this year, so Sr. Scolastica will work part time at the Academy to help out. Sr. Scholastica will be teaching at our school next year as well. She will be teaching two senior religion classes: Prayer and Spirituality and Introduction to Philosophy. In her course about prayer, she will be teaching how to pray the Divine Office and prayers, including chants. She uses the analogy that the Mass is 4
