Catholic College ‘Shaped Who I Am,’ Says Nashville Dominican

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Sister Scholastica Niemann of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Tenn., is one of many religious sisters whose vocation was nurtured by faithful Catholic education.

Affectionately known as the “Nashville Dominicans,” her order was founded more than 150 years ago and has grown to nearly 300 sisters, with approximately 50 sisters in their initial four years of formation. The sisters, who wear the traditional Dominican habit, teach in 33 schools in the United States and several more abroad.

The Newman Society is grateful to Sister Scholastica for sharing her story and testifying to the influence of the faithful Catholic education that she received.

Newman Society: Sister Scholastica Niemann, can you tell us about yourself? Where are you from? What was the role of Catholic education in your life growing up? 

Sister Scholastica Niemann:I grew up in a small town in East Tennessee and first met the Sisters at the grade school I attended, St. Mary’s School in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

Prior to living in Tennessee, though, my family moved around the country a lot because my dad was in the Air Force. One constant in the midst of all those changes was our Catholic faith. We knew the faith was important, because we saw the sacrifices my parents made to send us all to Catholic schools. I am the youngest of eight children, so that was quite a sacrifice.

So much of our life revolved around the parish and school, we were always involved in youth groups, in after-school activities and clubs, not to mention all the parish functions… the faith was so much at the heart of our family. The only Catholic high school in the area was about 50 minutes away, but there was never any question about whether we would go there or not. We just knew.

Catholic education was a priority in our house. Though it was never said aloud, I always understood how important the intellectual part of the faith was in our family.

Newman Society: Why did you choose to attend a faithful Catholic college? What was its impact on your life and your vocation?

Sister Scholastica Niemann:As a senior in high school I had just experienced a renewal of my own faith, a deeper conviction that friendship with the Lord was not only possible, but desirable. I had always loved learning, and now I was realizing that faith, and truth, and learning, and prayer all go hand in hand. And although I couldn’t have articulated it in these words, it is because the human person is made for the Truth who is Jesus Christ.

All I knew at that time was that I wanted to study the liberal arts in a faithful, Catholic environment. At the University of Dallas [a Newman Guide-recommended institution in Irving, Tex.] I got that… and a whole lot more than I bargained for. From my first English class, to the theology and philosophy courses, to Western Civ., I was receiving a vast treasure of an education that truly shaped who I am.

I would say the professors and classes had the most impact on me. They were challenging and rigorous, to be sure, but also immensely rewarding in a way that I had not anticipated. Very often after class, my friends and I would discuss the lecture or the reading, and we would just marvel at the inherent value of what we were learning. It was not useful, in a worldly sense, it was not job training or marketable—but it was true, and good… and eminently useful for us as human beings. We were learning how to succeed at being good people.

And then, on top of all that, to spend a semester in Rome, in the heart of the Church, to see where early Christians were martyred and buried in the catacombs, to walk the streets where St. Peter and St. Paul traveled, to pray in the magnificent churches, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. 

All that time, Christ was drawing me closer to Himself.

Newman Society: How did you discern your vocation?

Sister Scholastica Niemann:As I neared graduation, I began to feel an interior tug, a nudge, a quiet invitation to consider Religious Life. I had taken a really beautiful course on Christian marriage, and part of that course examined the vows of consecrated religious life. It was there that a seed was planted—it took several years before I could respond to that call, but it was definitely a turning point.

Dominican Sisters of Mary

College Years ‘Uniquely Formative,’ Says Dominican Sister

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Sister Albert Marie of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.
Sister Albert Marie of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

Editor’s Note: Over the next several weeks, the Newman Society will be featuring profiles of graduates of faithful Catholic schools and Newman Guide colleges who are leading the renewal of the Church. The Newman Society is grateful to Sister Albert Marie and the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, for allowing us to share this story.

Sister Albert Marie of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, attended Ave Maria University in Michigan before it moved to its permanent location in Ave Maria, Fla. She believes that she would have kept her faith at a secular college, but she wanted more out of her college experience.

“I wanted a place where I could study Catholic theology and philosophy. I wanted to be in a place where I could be deepening my understanding of God’s role in reality, rather than merely defendingmy high school-level understanding,” she said.

“One of the huge advantages of a Catholic university is the chance to mature your intellectual understanding of God at the same time that you are maturing other parts of your mind,” Sr. Albert Marie explained. “At Ave Maria, I came to see that reality itself was Catholic. I might not know all the answers, but I knew that I did not need to be afraid to ask any question. God is the source of all reality.”

During college, Sr. Albert Marie built strong friendships and made time for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. She credits her studies at Ave Maria with drawing her toward the Dominican order and has since taught at two Newman Guide colleges: Ave Maria and the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Tex.

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, is a vibrant, growing order in Michigan that recently opened its second convent in Texas. The community has more than 140 sisters with an average age of 32, and their next discernment retreat for young women is being held this November. They are devoted to Eucharistic adoration and Marian devotion, and they wear long white habits. The community, whose apostolate is Catholic education, even started its own publishing company to teach the Truth. 

Sr. Albert Marie offers advice for students on how to choose a college, whether or not they are discerning a religious vocation:

“Definitely choose a school which offers the professional formation that you need, but also consider choosing one that will offer you deeper spiritual and intellectual formation. You are more than a future employee,” she says. “Choose a school that will also help you become a better human, a better spouse, more able to appreciate of art and literature, more able to contemplate the face of God. Expanding your heart and mind in this way expands your capacity for joy and for friendship with others and with God.”

Sister echoes what many graduates of Newman Guide colleges have said: “The years in university are a uniquely formative moment in life.”

Founder of Catholic Magazines Reflects on Faithful Catholic Education

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Graduates of Newman Guide colleges are making a difference for the Church and the world, and Rose Rea is no exception!  A graduate of Franciscan University in Ohio, Rose is the founder of Radiant and Valiant magazines for young Catholic women and men, respectively.  Readers can subscribe to Radiant and Valiant magazines, which are owned by Our Sunday Visitor, at this link.  We thank Rose for taking the time to share with us about how her Catholic education prepared her to share the Faith through these magazines.

Photo of Rose Rea by Lisa Wahl.

Rose, how did Franciscan University of Steubenville prepare you to serve the Church and achieve professional success?

Franciscan has a way of bringing people to campus who are not afraid to live out their faith in a beautiful and vibrant way. I had never seen anything like it in my high school years, so when I visited my older sister attending Steubenville, I knew immediately that this was the place I wanted to be. I made life-long friends there, studied abroad and traveled all over Europe learning about the history of our Catholic Church and most importantly, I was educated and formed in a Catholic environment by people who wanted me to succeed in whatever I felt called to do. Having Fr. Michael Scanlan as a spiritual advisor was also the biggest blessing. What a holy man he was!

How has your Catholic college education helped you communicate with young men and women in Radiant and Valiant magazines?

It sounds cliché, but to be around people who were cool and Catholic resonated deeply within my heart. So many adolescents and young adults feel very alone in their faith, because most of their peers around them are not living out a faith-filled life. At Franciscan University, we connected with people from all walks of life who were very great examples of people living in the world doing very normal things, but who were not “of the world”. That definitely motivated me to want to bring that mentality to young women and men everywhere. I felt that if I could just inspire one young lady to save herself for marriage because she is worth it or one young man to step up to make a decision God wanted him to make, even if it was difficult and hard, it would be valuable! The world is in desperate need of courageous men and women who are ready to answer God’s often difficult calling in their lives and we want them to understand that a small yes to God can lead to making a huge difference in the world! Every fire starts with a spark, right?!

What kind of articles can readers, including college students and graduates, find in these magazines?

Readers will find so many different topics covered! For the ladies, we cover topics like dating and relationships, include modest fashion in each issue, and highlight in-depth interviews and personal stories from well-known speakers and authors. We feature artists and photographers, as well as fantastic organizations, who are making a difference in their respective vocations. Overall, women will find all kinds of stories that will uplift and inspire them to grow deeper in their faith and allow them to connect with women just like them.

For the men, we share stories of courage, conviction and determination by guys just like our readers who were not afraid to answer God’s call in their own lives. We feature authors, bloggers, musicians, priests, military men and national speakers who are making a difference. It is so incredibly fun and rewarding to work with these talented young, Catholic men and women. Their stories are phenomenal!

This October, the Vatican will host a Synod on Young People. Some have suggested that the Church needs to back away from certain teachings and traditions to appeal to young people, but to the contrary, your readers and the students at Newman Guide colleges are attracted to the Church. How can the Church communicate Truth, Goodness and Beauty to today’s young people?

I completely agree with the latter; the doctrine and teachings of our Catholic Faith do not need to be updated or changed for our modern times. The teachings only need to be communicated in a more appealing and effective way to reach today’s young in the modern language that they speak. God’s gift to us, the teachings of the Catholic Church and the beautiful examples of the Saints and the martyrs need to be reheard and retaught to the new generation; so many of them are already responding in a positive way! There is much more work to be done, but I see the fruits of the sacrifices our parents and those before us have made. This is a difficult but special time to be Catholic, and our own happiness and the salvation of many souls depend on our complete abandonment to God. When that happens, then we’ll find peace! That is the goal of Radiant and Valiant magazines—to bring our readers to this peace—which we strive to do, led by our most blessed mother, the Virgin Mary.