Building the faith

The St. Mary Sisters, a religious community based in Bismarck modeled after the Dominican way of life, broke ground on their new convent on July 19. The ceremony was marked with an outdoor Mass celebrated by Bishop Kagan and a blessing of the grounds where the new convent will be constructed near the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit.
 
The first member of this institute, Mother Mary Joseph, is training the sisters in the way and spirit of St. Dominic. She offered an update on the next steps ahead for the small, but growing religious community.
 
The next steps

Following the groundbreaking ceremony and property blessing, the St. Mary Sisters are working to raise the rest of the necessary funds to complete the St. Joseph Convent—a new convent for the sisters which will be situated near the Cathedral in Bismarck. The present two-bedroom convent is not large enough to house more sisters and has long-term issues with the foundation and plumbing, therefore the sisters want to build this new convent with the hope of providing a permanent home for more women to join them in their mission of prayer and teaching.

The first mode of business in the construction of the new convent is for the St. Mary Sisters to get (at the cost of $2 million) the precast walls made and put into place on the corner of West Rosser Ave and North Raymond Street. Precast walls are concrete exterior walls which are made in a facility offsite, weather tested, then brought in and placed with a crane on the land. These walls are built to endure the test of time because they are 12 inches thick including four inches of insulation, resulting in less waste from the heating and cooling systems in the convent throughout the year. Due to the need for concrete walls, the convent is designed to look like an 800-year-old castle, representing the stability of the Dominican monastic form of life and mimicking the old European Universities, which are a classic symbol for education. This is designed to call to mind the sisters’ roles as educators in the Bismarck Diocese. 

After the exterior precast walls are erected, the structure of the convent will grow under the skillful hands of laborers and subcontractors, who have offered their time as a gift to the sisters, eager to help create a new home for them. Their time and resources are a blessing to the sisters and will make the convent a source of spiritual unity in the diocese. A tentative start date for the construction of the St. Joseph Convent is March 2026. 

Not only are the sisters working to build a permanent home but also are developing their skills as educators and preparing to enter the Catholic school system in this diocese. Sister Mary Elizabeth and Sister Maria Bernadette made their vows as St. Mary Sisters this past July and are eager to start their coursework at the University of Mary. This coming semester, the sisters will be taking a rigorous course load to prepare them to be licensed teachers. Following their studies they will begin teaching full-time in the schools in the next 18 months. Since both sisters have degrees, they will be certified to teach grades 5-12 in the State of North Dakota.

This is an exciting time for the St. Mary Sisters and the diocese. The sisters are moving to the next level of formation to serve more fully in the life of the diocese. The past three years were spent focused on the spiritual formation of the sisters, and now they will be formed professionally enabling them to serve their future students successfully as they begin their work as teachers.

How you can help

Buy a brick. The St. Mary Sisters’ Brick Fundraiser is one way to support the building of the convent. By buying a brick, your name will be engraved on a brick and placed in the grotto at the front entrance of the convent for all to easily access from North Raymond Street. These bricks will not only speak of the genuine support for the sisters but will also be a daily reminder to the sisters to pray for the names on the bricks. Buying a brick is also a loving way to remember your deceased relatives and friends as well as anyone else you may desire to honor. Please go to www.stmarysisters.org to access the order form.

Contribute to the GoFundMe online. This fundraiser is focused on raising the funds needed to decorate the convent chapel with appropriate furniture, sacred vessels, lights, an organ and so much more. The sisters spend over three hours a day praying in the chapel and for this reason, the chapel will be the throne room for Christ and most beautiful room in the St. Joseph Convent. Due to the importance of the space, the sisters elected to have a separate fundraising effort just for the chapel so that people can make a specific contribution to help create a prayerful space for the sisters. The chapel will also be one of the spaces that the local community will be invited to share with the sisters on Sunday evenings for Vespers following the construction of the new convent, so it is of importance not only to the sisters but all of Bismarck. To donate go to www.gofundme.com/help-the-st-mary-sisters-build-st-joseph-convent.

However, one of the best ways that you can help the sisters is to spread the word about their need to your friends either through conversation or social media. They are here to bring the Bismarck Diocese together and remind everyone that they are all pilgrims on a journey to heaven. Religious unite people in a way that no one else can, but they need a new home to make that possible and currently do not have the funds to build it. Every prayer, donation, and conversation matters in this effort, and in the meantime, they will await the day when you can pray with them in their new chapel and gaze on the stunning stained-glass windows, hand-carved altars and hand-crafted sacred vessels which you helped procure.