Ep. 37: What Does She Know That I Don't? A Scientist's Yes to Christ (Sr. Mary Andre, O.P.)

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (0:00)

I kind of call that my proposal moment, right? We're brides of Christ. And so this was Jesus' moment of saying, I want to invite you to this beautiful life to give your whole self to me.

And I just had the grace in that moment. I actually think I still have those journal pages somewhere of just responding like, yes, yes. It's an invitation calls for a response. I like to trash talk. I got that from my dad.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (0:29)

So is there your idea of trash talk is okay. But it's pretty mild.

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (0:35)

But here's the thing. Here's the thing. You have to know who likes trash talk and who does it. Because I think it's fun, but not everybody likes it. And because some people really care when they're losing.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (0:44)

It's pretty mild, sister, no matter what it is.

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (0:48)

Thanks.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (1:05)

Hi and welcome to Dominican Sisters Open Mic. My name is Sister Miriam and I'm one of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. We're based out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Each week, we're sitting down with members of our own community of sisters, and we're talking all things Dominican. And today, I have as a very special guest, a dear friend of mine, Sister Mary Andre, and I've asked her to share a little bit about her own story of how she encountered God in her life and how she ended up as a sister in our community. Sister, thank you for coming. I've been looking forward to this.

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (1:44)

You're so welcome, Sister. I was honored that you asked me to tell my story. You know, I was a little hesitant.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (1:50)

Yes.

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (1:50)

But I think when you asked me to tell my story, I just really trusted that God has something he wants to say to our listeners. So I'm excited about it.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (1:59)

Sister, thank you. And I like to give a little bit of biographical details about you. So you entered in 2012, and you are from right here in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where our mother house is located.

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (2:13)

They call me a local yokel.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (2:15)

Really?

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (2:17)

No, but I call myself that.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (2:18)

Okay. And you actually went to high school just down the street of where our mother house is located. Which some of our sisters are now teaching at that school.

You are certified to teach a bunch of different stuff, biology, chemistry, as well as English, and to top it all off, you have your Admin degree. I do. And so tell us what you're doing now.

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (2:48)

I've done a lot of different things, a lot of them with you, Sister Miriam. But currently, I'm the principal of a Catholic school in Peoria, Illinois called St. Jude Catholic School. It's a beautiful school, about 300 kids.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (3:00)

Shout out to St. Jude, right?

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (3:02)

Thank you for doing that. Yes. Shout out to all my people from St. Jude. They would be sad if I didn't do that.

It's a wonderful place to be. So I've loved teaching, but I also, I really do enjoy the administration and it's such a great school in Parish, beautiful diocese. It's great to be there.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (3:18)

Now, sister, I thought we could reminisce a little bit about some of the things we've done together over the years.

So where do we start? So we went to Catholic University of America together, and you were part of our band. I was. I was there. Known as Force of Habit, and you were our trumpet player.

Sr. Mary Andre, O.P. (3:44)

So when I first found out you wanted to start a band, I was like, yes, sister, I play the trumpet, but I play the trumpet in seventh and eighth grade. And that was a lot of years ago. And you were like, you got this. And so I said, okay, I can do this for you to do this. And I've actually said this to many people over the years. I don't get stage fright anymore. And it's like largely because what's the grace of God, but also because you, Sister Miriam, crushed it out of me.

I don't get stage fright anymore.

Sr. Miriam, O.P. (4:14)

I think I have that effect on people because I'll say when they're on mission with me somewhere and I have these ideas, I'll say, how do you feel about singing in front of 1,200 people? You know, and that is kind of nerve wracking. And I, it's nerve wracking to me too.