Sister Marian Powers, OSU: Bringing Jesus home to the rest of us

“It was a lot of fun,” Sister Rose Jean said. “Marian loves to have fun, loves to laugh.”

The six remaining members of the 1952 novice class, celebrating their 50th jubilee in 2002. From left are Sister Marian, Sister Michael Ann Monaghan, Sister Mary Diane Taylor, Sister Eva Boone, Sister Ruth Gehres, and Sister Helen Leo Ebelhar.

In 1962, Sister Marian transferred to St. Edward School in Jeffersontown, Ky., a suburb of Louisville, where she taught the eighth grade. “One year I had 54 students, and 35 of them were boys,” she said. “They had to be good kids or I couldn’t have done that.”

From 1965-67, she taught seventh and eighth grades at a public school in Flaherty, Ky. That age group was her favorite to teach.

“I could treat them as adults,” she said.

In 1967, she became principal and half-time teacher at St. Brigid School in Vine Grove, Ky., where she stayed until 1973. She learned later the students called her “warden,” but not because the school was like a prison.

If she was teaching and the phone rang in the principal’s office, she would leave to answer it. “They told me they posted a student at the door to watch for my return, and if they said ‘sister’ to alert the class, I could hear it, but ‘warden’ I couldn’t.”

In September 1973, she began teaching at St. Paul School in Leitchfield, Ky., then in 1975, she went to St. Bernard School in Louisville for four years. She became principal and teacher at St. Joseph School in Mayfield from 1979-85, then finished her teaching career in 1987 at St. Mary Magdalene School in Sorgho, Ky., not far from the Mount.

Beth Salyers, a rural route carrier, delivers the mail for Sister Marian to sort on June 26.

Change in ministry

In 1987, she applied for an open teaching position, but the decision was taking a long time. Fr. Pete Hughes asked her to do pastoral ministry at St. Mary of the Woods in McQuady, Ky., and at her home parish, St. Rose of Lima in Cloverport. She didn’t take long to answer yes.

“I loved pastoral work,” she said. She handled CCD and RCIA at both parishes. “I loved working with adults, discussing religion with someone who could discuss it with you,” she said. “The adults were getting so excited about Jesus and the church, it really helped my faith a lot.”

It was special getting to work in her home parish, with people she knew, or who knew her family. She delivered Communion to a woman who said, “We knew it was time for Mass to start when Everett and Eva Mae came in with all those children.”

Sister Marian lived alone in McQuady and the people there said they’d feel better if she had a dog in the house for protection, so they gave her a puppy. Since she was an inside dog, Sister Marian named her Inny, who would be her companion for many years.

In 1991, a new priest at St. Mary’s decided he did not need a religion teacher. Fr. Tony Stevenson, who was the pastor at St. Anthony Parish in nearby Axtel, told Sister Marian whenever she left McQuady, he wanted her for pastoral ministry, so she went to work at St. Anthony’s for the next three years.

In 1994, Sister Mary Matthias Ward, the major superior, asked Sister Marian to become the local coordinator for the Motherhouse. She told Sister Mary Matthias she had a dog, and she wouldn’t feel right about turning her over to a new owner. She had a meeting with the sisters at the Motherhouse and told them of her desire to bring her dog along, and none of them ever said a bad word to her about Inny, who eventually died at age 14.

Sister Marian was responsible for everything on campus other than automobiles and scheduling the sister’s doctor’s appointments, she said. Sister Eva said Sister Marian was very kind and concerned about the sisters at the Motherhouse.

“The sisters’ needs always came first with Marian, I was impressed with that,” Sister Eva said. “Whatever Marian does, she does wholeheartedly.”

In 1999, Sister Marian returned to pastoral ministry at St. Rose of Lima, and also at Holy Guardian Angels Parish in Irvington, which was 30 miles away and required a lot of night driving. In 2003, she told the pastor she could no longer be responsible for Irvington, so she began working in outreach in Cloverport, taking Communion to the sick. In 2005, she took on her ministry at the post office.

“She’s adventurous, she’ll tackle anything,” Sister Rose Jean said. “She was offered the opportunity to visit our sister in India and she took it. She likes to try things that are new and go places that are new.”

Whatever new adventure life holds for Sister Marian next, it’s likely she’ll embrace it, with no questions asked.

By Dan Heckel