Oblate Artist Awarded National Honor
With the NFL draft just four days away, most people would expect images of the nation’s best college football players to be scrolling on the TV monitors throughout the Steeler’s Heinz Field. Instead, colorful prints of a Catholic nun burst through the high-definition screens on the club level near the 20-yard line.
The life of Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA, as captured by artist Bro. Michael O’Neill McGrath, OSFS, inspired an evening of song, story, and prayer as the Sister Thea Bowman Educational Foundation presented its Legacy Award to the Oblate of St. Francis de Sales artist on Wednesday, April 23. The foundation works to provide scholarships for African-American students to attend Catholic colleges and universities.
“There’s this little Black nun inside of me,” Bro. Mickey, as he is known, said among the laughter of close to 200 of the foundation’s benefactors at the dinner where he accepted the award named after the African American sister famous for advancing opportunities for poor people in the Church. He has traveled to almost all of the 50 states to inspire countless people at retreats, conventions, and parish missions with Sr. Thea’s zesty wisdom and his colorful renditions of important moments in her life.
Bro. Mickey shared a 20-minute reflection on how the life of the Sr. Thea has inspired him. “From Sr. Thea, I have learned how we can only discover the light when we walk into the darkness,” he said, paraphrasing some of her reflections on her life that experienced much adversity. A convert to Catholicism, Sr. Thea joined the Church after she watched a small Catholic parish, Holy Child of Jesus, being built in her hometown, Canton, Mississippi. “The priests and sisters there were the first white people who were nice to me,” she said of those early days that led her to want to learn more about them.
While great light came from the lively colors of Br. Mickey’s paintings and the engaging wisdom of Sr. Thea’s story, the brightest lights sparkled from the many students and now-graduates who have benefited from the foundation’s scholarships. “I am so grateful for the generosity of the Sr. Thea Foundation. It has made my college life possible,” Los Angeles native Jona Ezel, a 2003 graduate of Duquesne University sophomore, said in his address. “My life is brighter because of the light that comes from friends of Sr. Thea,” he added.
Since it was begun in 1989 before the death of Sr. Thea, the foundation has provided more than 100 students with the tuition and support resources necessary to complete their college education at some of the nation’s top Catholic colleges and universities.
The Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, Bro. Mickey’s religious community, is a congregation of priests and brothers who serve to connect the Gospel with the lives of people in the gentle and humble example of their patron, St. Francis de Sales. The Eastern Province works in schools, parishes, and other ministries—including art--from Boston to Southwest Florida.
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