Being taught only by Ursuline Sisters all through elementary, middle school, high school and college made a big impression on Sister Rose Marita O’Bryan. The influence of the sisters on her life was so great that not only did she enter the Ursuline community at age 18 (she took her final vows at 26), but she also became a teacher, congregational leader and role model for many other sisters and students.

Sister Rose Marita O'Bryan, center, is shown with her former student, Sister Mary McDermott, left, and her first grade teacher, Sister Naomi Aull.

     “The Ursulines were my whole educational experience,” Sister Rose Marita said. “I just think that is significant.”
      Despite the fact that classes might consist of up to 60 students, the Ursulines were able to bestow individual attention on each child. “I was astounded,” Sister Rose Marita said. “They were the women who were my heroines.”
      She was “deeply impressed with the spirit that she found among the sisters.” She later came to realize that the spirit of Saint Angela Merici was alive in their midst, even though the sisters at that time did very little research or contemplation concerning their founder. It wasn’t until after Vatican II in the 1960s that communities started concentrating more on their heritage.
      "Saint Angela was there in the hospitality and warmth and genuine concern shown for the students, even if we didn’t know it,” Sister Rose Marita said. “That’s very comforting to me.”
      An Owensboro native, Sister Rose Marita says she absolutely loved school. Once when she had tonsillitis, she slipped out the door and began her mile-long walk to school before her mother caught up with her and brought her back home.

Sister Rose Marita served two four-year terms as Councilor for the Ursuline Sisters beginning in 1976.

     Her father, Marion Albin, who died at age 64, was a machine salesman, electrician, and television repairman. Her mother, Elizabeth, now 90, was a loving homemaker who looked after three sons and a daughter.
     “My Mom and Dad and brothers have been supportive of the choices I made. I had backing from the beginning,” Sister Rose Marita said. “They valued my vocation and respected it. They let me be who I was and who I am."
   Sister Rose Marita’s education began at Blessed Mother Elementary School, followed by Mount Saint Joseph Academy at Maple Mount, and then Brescia College, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in German. It wasn’t until she was earning her master’s degree in theology and religious education from Saint John College in Cleveland that she encountered lay people as educators.
     Her first position was teaching Head Start in New Haven, Kentucky, for one summer. Then she moved to Affton, Missouri, to teach seventh and eighth grade religion and science at Seven Holy Founders School.
     Sister Agnes Catherine Williams was also teaching at Seven Holy Founders, and she likes to tell a story about a little boy who had a crush on Sister Rose Marita. He wrote her a poem in which he called her a lollipop, so Sister Agnes Catherine, now 102, sometimes uses this nickname for Sister Rose Marita.
     Sister Mary McDermott was in Sister Rose Marita’s seventh-grade class at Seven Holy Founders. Sister Mary would usually stay after school because her mother worked at the school. “I spent my time talking to Sister Rose Marita while waiting to go home,” Sister Mary said. “During these talks, I learned she was a wonderful listener. I also learned she had a bright outlook on life.

During her two terms as Councilor, Sister Rose Marita grew close to then Mother Superior Annalita Lancaster. They remain close friends today.

     Sister Rose Marita made her “keeper of the keys” and let her lock and unlock classrooms on Monday nights for religious education, Sister Mary recalled.
     When the pastor of Seven Holy Founders parish found out Sister Rose Marita was pursuing a master’s degree in theology, he asked her to become director of religious education for the 2,000-plus members of the parish. She accepted the position and was there four years before being elected leadership councilor and returning to Maple Mount.
     Sister Rose Marita served two four-year terms as a councilor. During her first term, which began in 1976, she grew closer to Sister Annalita Lancaster, who was mother superior. “The community was so large at that time that I didn’t know everyone yet,” she said.
     “Sister Rose Marita was very young, full of life, endearing, kind, direct and most passionate about moving forward on the path to renewal of religious life as directed by the Second Vatican Council,” Sister Annalita said. “After the closing of the community’s renewal chapters, she became the principal writer of The Ursuline Way of Life, the Constitutions and Book of Directives for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. Approval of the document was given at Rome on the Feast of Saint Angela, January 27, 1988.”

Sister Helena Fischer, registrar at Brescia University, was a classmate of Sister Rose Marita at Mount Saint Joseph Academy. They are pictured in front of the fountain and chapel at Brescia.

    After her terms ended, Sister Rose Marita was named vocation director, director of postulants, and contact program coordinator. She served in this combo position for six years until 1990 before taking a sabbatical year of studies at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
     "It was a wonderful year of postgraduate work,” said Sister Rose Marita, smiling. “They had a mild winter in Cambridge, and the faculty and staff said I brought the South with me.”
     When her year ended, she was sent to far western Kentucky to the town of Hickman near the Mississippi River. She was pastoral associate for Sacred Heart Parish for five years, and the parishioners became “just like my family. I knew them so well.” She lived in the church annex and performed such duties as helping to welcome the newborn and bury the dead. She was also music director.
     Sister Rose Marita, who had seven years of voice lessons as a child, called singing a “wonderful outlet.” Her other hobbies include reading a variety of books and writing poetry. “Poetry is part of the way I pray,” she said.
     She says a few of her favorite things are starry nights and roses.

Sister Rose Marita conducts an orientation for new Saint Joseph Villa employees Sheena Gibson, center, and Bethany Powell.

     After being elected and faithfully serving as mother superior for eight years (her title became congregational leader in 2003), Sister Rose Marita enjoyed six weeks of starry nights on sabbatical at a hermitage in Newfoundland. The tiny cabin was located on a large island in the North Atlantic off the east coast of North America. She drove 2,000 miles by herself and took a six-hour ferry ride to reach it.
     "I had to find out if I still knew who I was,” Sister Rose Marita said. “Time for myself was exactly what I needed. The time away helped me keep my heart and eyes open.”
     During the sabbatical, Sister Rose Marita read spiritual books, took walks on the river when the tide was out, watched wildlife (which included moose), wrote in a journal, and lived without electricity. “One time I was singing, and I looked up and saw a double rainbow,” she said. “I couldn’t speak.”
      Sister Rose Marita was trying to discern her next ministry when she got a sign from God. Because she had been asked by Sister Marita Greenwell to take over the Contemporary Woman Program at Brescia, and she had also been asked to do pastoral ministry, she was unsure what to do next.

Sister Rose Marita talks with employees (left to right) Teresa Lynn Crump, Donna Smith, Trish Durham, and Joyce Vance during a "Coffee Break" retreat in the Madonna Room at Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center. They were telling each other something about themselves.

     While attending an interfaith seminar called Dialogue among Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Women, she saw five books on a shelf. One of them was The Eternal Woman, which happened to be the original name of the Contemporary Woman Program. This incident made her realize what God was calling her to do.
      The Contemporary Woman program was one of the first women’s studies programs in the nation when it was created in 1963 by Sister Francesca Hazel, OSU, and Dr. Philip Law, a Chicago surgeon who wanted to strengthen women’s health by raising their self esteem. For 44 years, the program has reached out to women through credit and continuing education seminars and courses.
      Sister Rose Marita is a firm believer in the motivation for the Contemporary Woman program. “I’m convinced that until we have gender equality, the world will never be at peace,” she said.
     Along with leading this program, Sister Rose Marita was also asked to serve as a part-time director of Mission Effectiveness. She helps the president of Brescia University, the director of Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center, and the Motherhouse staff administrator maintain and integrate the Ursuline philosophy, mission, and vision in all aspects of the organizational life of each institution.
     “I love telling the story of Angela and seeing the connections all around us,” Sister Rose Marita said. “She’ll never be out of style or a fad. Her values are timeless.”
     One of her most blessed moments was spending time alone in an Italian church with the body of Saint Angela in 2001. She sat for 30 minutes with her Ursuline directory and prayed for each of the sisters.
      In her role with mission effectiveness, Sister Rose Marita conducts employee orientations and retreats. She serves on the board at the Center. Because she spends a majority of her time at Brescia, she is often asked to lead prayer experiences and to serve on committees at the university. She also gave the keynote address at a faculty and staff assembly in 2006.

Sister Rose Marita is shown in her Contemporary Woman classroom at Brescia. Her classes can range from 1-25 people.

     She sees a “hand in glove” fit between her two current positions.
     “Because I’m an Ursuline, these things flow out of me without much effort. My prayer is that others are being enriched by these ministries as much as I am.”
     Her concentration with the Contemporary Woman Program has been ongoing formation, offering affordable noncredit classes, and increasing the endowment fund.
     She leads a Canticle Group that studies spirituality, peace and justice. She also facilitates a partnership group, now in its 19th year, which chooses a book each year for discussion. Other classes she has offered are “Soul Gardening” and “The Best Catholic Writing.”
      “You will find her classroom has a very welcoming atmosphere,” said Glenmary novice and Kenya native Crispine Adongo. Sister Rose Marita was his spiritual advisor during a year of studies at Maple Mount. “The smile and her approach really made me know she is someone who cares. She is a lady with deep spirituality. She loves the Catholic Church. She has a very strong hope and faith that the church will keep going and that it will flourish.”
      Crispine also said that Sister Rose Marita has a sincere appreciation for the women doctors of the church and for Saint Angela Merici, women who are known for “doing simple things with love."
     Sister Rose Marita’s characteristic qualities, according to her good friend Sister Annalita, are her “gentleness, respect for the individual, sense of awe and wonder at the marvels of creation, confident relationship with God, ability to write and speak lyrically and engagingly with all persons, thirst for knowledge, grasp of theological findings, and perpetual smile.”
     “It is safe to say that for her students, coworkers, friends, and Ursuline sisters, Sister Rose Marita is a contemporary role model and lively, inspiring friend.”
      One of Sister Rose Marita’s favorite quotes, from T.S. Eliot, is a good summation of her life. “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

-Written by Jennifer Kaminski

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