A Day in the Life of a Sister

In the fourth article in “A Day in the Life of a Sister” series, Sr. Mary Joseph Campbell shares her role in starting the new public association known as the St. Mary Sisters. The sisters serve the Church in the apostolate of Catholic education as teachers, and in the spirit of St. Dominic.

Sister Mary Joseph, a native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, teaches religious education at St. Mary’s Academy in Bismarck and advocates for the new religious community throughout the Bismarck Diocese. She is actively seeking young women to join and grow the community.

Sister describes her youth as typical—playing instruments with her musical family, pitching in softball, horseback riding and working at her father’s small neighborhood grocery store. Two religious orders influenced her early on—the Servants of God’s Love and the Benedictine sisters—in the seventh and eighth grade. Their welcoming her to visit, pray or eat with them seeded her prayer life and gave her a glimpse of what religious life was like.

Sister Mary Joseph has taught in 14 schools and North Dakota is her seventh state. She said she likes teaching students around the seventh or eighth grade when they might find an interest in a vocation, possibly to religious life.

How did you begin to hear the call to religious life?
I really did kind of know from seventh grade, but I wouldn’t tell anybody because I was afraid. It wasn’t the cool thing to do. It was not what girls were talking about. I did a lot of babysitting. I thought maybe I am supposed to be a mom and have kids. Yet, I couldn’t shake this feeling that He was asking me to give all of myself to Him.

I just knew. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was all signed up to study accounting at the University of Michigan, but I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was supposed to do something else.

I happened to be at a little retreat, helping the sisters that had taught me when I was young. I just knew deep down this is what He is asking me to do.

Then, the Dominicans arrived from Nashville, Tenn. They moved to Ann Arbor and were learning about formation. One came up and asked me to change her guitar strings. When I went over there, it was: this is where I am supposed to live.

When did you make your final vows?

I entered in 1997 at the Ann Arbor mother house. I made my first profession in 2000. You are under temporary vows for five years. I made my final vows in 2005.

Why were you so comfortable with the Dominican Sisters?

Religious sisters weren’t foreign to me. But when I saw the Dominicans, there was an extra sense of thinking that I’m supposed to be on their team.

Every time I was with them, it was almost like I fit in with the family. Once I entered, there were many times when it was: this is what I was made for.

Especially, when I started student teaching. I was already in the convent for five years. It felt like a glove—what I was made to do. I came to realize I had a love for teaching.

What is your typical day like?

It is very ordered because education is that way, especially when I do elementary education. I get up early. I do a holy hour. Then, I go to the Cathedral for Mass. I eat a quick breakfast and head immediately to school. A school day begins at 7:30. I teach all morning. I have 100 little sixth graders and I teach them all religion. I have four classes. I come home, have lunch and then prayer. 
I pretty much get all over the diocese to spread the word that Bishop Kagan is trying to start a house of formation. I also set up events for girls to come and visit or dinners and I am also focused on trying to get the legal and financial part of the convent all properly arranged.

Then, I have vespers, rosary, dinner and study, more prayer before I go to bed, and usually try to get to bed by 9:30 because I start the day pretty early.

When there are sisters, we play games every evening and chat. It is very ordered, but I like that. I like having a routine. I like having times that are set aside for prayer, times set aside for studying.

Why do you describe the life as ordered? 

It’s a lot like the military. You rise at a specific time, you’re in the chapel, you have silence at specific times of the day—more silence than most communities. When we are teaching, we are talking. We have monastic practices of fasting—no meat on Wednesdays and Fridays and three hours of praying every day. The schedule is very routine and if you’re someone who needs to be free and sleep when you want to, it’s not the place.

For me to say I got up early to pray. I really like that. If this is what you are supposed to be doing, you love it.

Do you wear a habit?
I do! It’s a black and white habit with a large white scapular in the front with a large flap. Then, a large 15-decade rosary on the left side. It’s supposed to represent our “sword.” The swords were typically on their left side in the 1200s. We didn’t first have a rosary when we started the order, but then Our Lady appeared to St. Dominic, and she taught him how to pray the rosary that’s how he spread it. The Dominicans are called the champions of the rosary. We teach and spread the devotions. That’s our job in the Church.
I am a math and science teacher, but at St. Mary’s Academy what they need now is a religion teacher. Since I can only teach in the morning so I can do all this vocation work in the afternoon, I teach religion there. This is nice because at least I get to every sixth grader. We usually, as Dominicans, have a theology degree, but we also have degrees in other subjects.

What is the application process like for candidates of the community?
There seems to be a tremendous need for women to get introduced to the idea of religious life. They don’t realize how much prayer life is involved. They pray for three hours a day. So typically, they’ll come for a dinner visit. Then, they’ll come for vespers, and then I have weekends where the girls can come. They get a flavor for what the life is like.

Once they go through the application process with lots of detailed questions, they enter the order in the fall because everything we do revolves around the academic year. Then, they start their postulancy which is all at the mother house or house of formation.

In your first year, you wear a blue outfit, so you are in a uniform, but it’s not the habit yet. You take classes in the morning, you learn how to sew, you learn how to cook for large groups of people, small groups of people, you learn how to clean. You learn things that make living with other people work well. You take classes on Catechism, you take theology classes, you take philosophy classes. Saint Dominic was convinced that if we understood philosophy and theology, we would be able to teach well. I think it is very true.

In your second year, you receive a habit and a new name. You continue your studies, but you also have a little bit more prayer time because it’s your canonical year. You don’t take courses that would be so demanding that you couldn’t have extra time for prayer. It’s a very quiet year.

Then, you go into your year as a novice. You go out and start helping in the schools and getting an idea of what your apostolate is going to be like.

The first vows are taken after three years. Then, you start working on your secular degree. Usually, you just do schooling. You aren’t at home cooking as much or doing as many other tasks at the mother home. You are given the time to get your studies done quickly.

You have been taking classes all along, but not for credits. It’s for formation.

What is the apostolate of the St. Mary Sisters?

Bishop Kagan was specifically asking for sisters that teach. In the Third Order of Dominicans, that is pretty much all we do. Our lives are devoted to the formation of the mind so that people are brought to salvation. So, I am here and starting this house of formation. It takes a little bit to get it going, but once it does, it starts to flower.

I don’t think we should just have sisters in the schools. Married people, single people and parents all bring their examples of faith and education to St. Mary’s Academy; the staff is really faithful. It is not complete without both sisters, brothers, married couples and priests. When you have all of these vocations, you have a very healthy diocese. 

Has there been interest from candidates?

I have had lots of interest. I have had four that have come and then they returned home because that is what formation is about—discernment. I have had several now that are visiting. I don’t know when a young lady is going to enter and then stay, but it is so new, and this is how it works. A lot of people are curious. As more visit, the word spreads.

This is going to grow. Right now, laying the groundwork is super important.

How would you describe religious life for you?
Every day I am working towards getting to heaven in a very concrete and thought-out process. Lots of people get to do many things. I get to spend my life forming souls and getting them ready to live their lives.
The priests bring us the sacraments. I get to be the one who sets the stage, so the children understand what is really taking place in the sacrament or how their life is being transformed.

What do you do for fun?
I love board games and card games. Here, people love pinochle and I love pinochle. So, I definitely came to the right place. I like being with people and chatting, getting to know families. I get invited, about once a week, to a family. Usually, they are my students’ families, or they see me at Church. I also am a music fan, so I love playing the piano. If I can play the organ, I like to play the organ. I also have this book I am working on—a resource book for saints and symbols—so, I am always doing something.

You can find more information about the St. Mary Sisters on their website at www.stmarysisters.org.