Cover story

The habit of joy

Sr. Mary Bethany is one of four Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist who live in Findlay at the parish convent established in 2020. The four sisters teach at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School and provide a joyful witness of consecrated religious life to everyone they meet.

BY ANNIE LUST

If you meet Sr. Mary Bethany, chances are she will be smiling. When she talks about her family in Northern California, she grins. Chatting about playing Ultimate Frisbee with her Dominican sisters, she laughs. Discussing Dietsch chocolate pretzels, she smirks. The topic of her Kindergarten class has her beaming. But she is radiant when she talks about Jesus.

Sr. Mary Bethany was in middle school when her mother started attending Eucharistic Adoration at their parish in Stockton, Calif. The household was busy with six children, all homeschooled. “I realize, looking back, that she was just going to get a quiet night out,” Sr. Mary Bethany said. As a young teenager, Sr. Mary Bethany decided to join her mother on those Tuesday evenings. To begin with, Eucharistic Adoration was something she felt do rather than something wanted to do. She remembers her logic: “If I believe that God is real and He is in the Eucharist, I should go see Him. If the Pope were coming to my parish, I would go see him even if I didn’t feel like it.” Those visits were not immediately easy or comfortable. Spending the hours in Eucharistic Adoration was work. Until suddenly, it wasn’t.

I MET HIS GAZE

One of those evenings, a young Sr. Mary Bethany was reading the Act of Faith in a dark church when she looked up at the monstrance, the only space illuminated. “I met His gaze,” she recalled. There was a seismic shift that happened in that instant. Suddenly she recognized God, the creator of the universe. “He was there on the altar. And He was there for me.” From that day, Eucharistic Adoration was a joy rather than a duty. “I would count down the days,” she said, anticipating her next visit to the Lord.

TRUST HIM WITH MY HAPPINESS

The joy-filled Dominican Sisters love keeping mind and body active, from playing board games to Ultimate Frisbee.

PHOTO BY SCOTT W. GRAU/SPECIAL TO THE DIOCESE OF TOLEDO

“Looking back, that’s where my love for Adoration was born but also my religious vocation,” Sr. Mary Bethany shared. But that’s not to say she immediately recognized her calling to religious life. In fact, Sr. Mary Bethany did not even fully understand religious life. She rarely encountered religious sisters during her childhood. Her plan was marriage and having her own large Catholic family. Still, her dad, a high school theology teacher, reminded her that “Your path to heaven is your vocation. Whatever your vocation is will make you happiest.” As a sophomore in high school, Sr. Mary Bethany attended a Profession Mass for the Missionaries of Charity in San Francisco. “That’s the first time I realized that to be a consecrated religious is to be the spouse of Christ,” she said. “It awoke the desire to respond to His love [through religious life].”

And that terrified her. Initially, Sr. Mary Bethany tried to run away from that calling. She was finishing high school and planning for college, plagued with anxiety and restlessness about her plans. Then, in prayer, she realized, “[God] loves me more than I could possibly know, and I could trust Him with my happiness, even though it seemed really scary to surrender my plans.”

COMING HOME

Sr. Mary Bethany put her faith and future in God’s hands, flying across the country to a discernment retreat with the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Mich. “It felt like coming home,” she recalled with a contented sigh. That retreat helped Sr. Mary Bethany realize there was nothing to fear by surrendering her plans to God. “I didn’t need to see the whole plan. He desired my good.” She entered the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist after high school.

It’s been 10 years since becoming a postulant. In that time, one of the great blessings has been the opportunity to grow even deeper in love for Jesus in the Eucharist, Sr. Mary Bethany said. She and the other sisters in her order spend an hour each morning in front of the Blessed Sacrament. “Just by being close to Christ and being filled with His love, I can share His love,” she explained.

AN UNEXPECTED JOY

There is plenty of opportunity to share Christ’s love in her classroom, a place she never expected to be. “One of the surprises of embracing this vocation was the unexpected joy I found in teaching,” Sr. Mary Bethany said. Like many Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, she lives out their charism by teaching. After her final vows in 2021, Sr. Mary Bethany was sent to the newly established convent in Findlay. She and three fellow sisters teach at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School. The Kindergarten classroom is Sr. Mary Bethany’s domain, much to her delight. “Kindergartners especially have such pure hearts, open to receive the Word with living faith, hungry for Jesus, and eager to respond generously to His love,” she shared.

ON THE ROAD TO HEAVEN TOGETHER

The beautiful chapel in their parish convent.

PHOTO COURTESY BISHOP DANIEL E. THOMAS

Community life — living together with Sisters Mary Dominic, Fulton Marie and Cora Rose — is one of Sr. Mary Bethany’s favorite parts of religious life. Whether that’s cooking dinner together, playing board games or Ultimate Frisbee — and, of course, praying. “We’re on the road to Heaven together,” she said with a smile.

Within their convent is a chapel, where the sisters spend plenty of time with Jesus, present in the Tabernacle. They visit Him at least five times daily: upon waking, after returning from teaching, then before and after dinner as well as before bedtime. “We can’t bear being apart from [Jesus] for more than a few hours,” the Superior Sr. Mary Dominic adds. Sr. Mary Bethany explains, "One of the Dominican mottos is to contemplate and to share with others the fruit of your contemplation.” So, that’s what these Dominican Sisters do. They spend time with Jesus and then share the joy of what they’ve received with the students they teach, with St. Michael the Archangel Parish and with the entire Diocese of Toledo.

The Dominican sisters who live and work with Mary Bethany are, from left: Sr. Fulton Marie from Peoria, Ill., who teaches first grade, Sr. Cora Rose from Burns, Ore., who teaches fifth grade and Sr. Mary Dominic from New Ulm, Minn., who teaches fourth grade.

PHOTO BY SCOTT W. GRAU/SPECIAL TO THE DIOCESE OF TOLEDO