Photo by Julianna Leopold

Editor’s Note: “Sent to Serve: Profiles of religious life in Atlanta” is a regular series of The Georgia Bulletin and looks at the charisms and work of the religious order priests and sisters serving in the archdiocese.  

KENNESAW—Sister Maria Fidelis Gray, OP, was in second grade when she knew she wanted to be like her teacher, Sister Mary Immaculate. Now, she’s living her calling to be a Catholic sister and teacher with her own second-grade students at St. Catherine of Siena School in Kennesaw. 

Sister Maria Fidelis is one of three sisters from the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation who teach at St. Catherine of Siena, bringing a joyful enthusiasm for learning and Jesus to the young students and parish school community. 

“We can educate the whole child,” said middle school religion teacher Sister Mary Martin. “We are forming our students not just academically but as a whole person so that in the end, they can get to heaven and be the saints that God has called them to be.” 

Sister Maria Fidelis Gray, OP, teaches her second-grade class the main events of the Resurrection story during the Easter season at St. Catherine of Siena School. She is one of three sisters from the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation who teach there. Photo by Julianna Leopold

The Dominican Sisters, a teaching order of about 300 sisters from Nashville, Tennessee, were founded in 1860 and currently teach more than 15,000 students from preschool through college. They have missions, usually of three to four sisters each, in the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. St. Catherine is the only Georgia school where they teach. 

“As Dominicans, study is a really important part of our life—not just studying to be smart but studying deeply the Scriptures and truths of the faith so that we can really know the Lord,” said Sister Mary Martin. “That overflows into our apostolic work that we share the joy of the Gospel with those we encounter in the school and classroom every day.”

Sister Mary Martin encountered Dominican friars while a college student at Catholic University which furthered her discernment to religious life. St. Dominic founded the Dominican order that was both contemplative and had monastic practices like praying the Divine Office, and apostolic like going out into the world to preach and teach, she said.  

The order’s history in Atlanta 

Former Atlanta Archbishop John F. Donoghue and Father Jim Harrison, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Church from 1997 to 2005, were instrumental in bringing the Nashville Dominicans there in 2004. The following year, Sister Maria Fidelis was one of the first teachers when a new school building opened to house the growing school. She left after three years and returned in 2021. 

“I am very pleased to learn that the Dominican Sisters of Nashville, a very respected and admired community of teaching sisters, are coming to the Archdiocese of Atlanta. We were hoping and praying for many years they would come,” Archbishop Donoghue said in April 2004 when it was announced that the sisters would join St. Catherine of Siena. 

The parish and school community has always had a great openness to the witness and teaching of the sisters, said Sister Maria Fidelis, who prepares second graders for the sacraments of reconciliation and first holy Communion. 

“The school families love religious and having the sisters at their school,” she said, adding that Father Neil Dhabliwala, pastor of St. Catherine of Siena Church, is highly supportive of their mission, too.  

“They are always so welcoming and happy to see us,” she said about the community members. 

Sister Mary Martin, one of three Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia serving at St. Catherine of Siena School in Kennesaw, holds a poster of St. John Paul ll with the words, “Live Wojtytan.” She said that the presence of the Nashville Dominicans at the school helps foster discernment of religious vocations in the students. Photo by Julianna Leopold

The sisters live in a house near St. Catherine that was converted by the archdiocese to a convent with a chapel. They wear white habits and follow a daily schedule of prayer, study, eating in silence, and community time like gardening or taking walks. They wake up at 5 a.m. for meditation and praying the Divine Office and attend Mass at 6:45 a.m. before the school day begins. There is time for prayer in the afternoon hours as well. 

While teaching and living at St. Catherine, the sisters stay connected to the motherhouse in Nashville by making periodic visits including Christmas, community days in August and the profession of vows for new sisters. They also share prayer intentions through a newsletter. 

Sister Mary Martin said that the presence of the Nashville Dominicans at the Cobb school helps foster discernment of religious vocations in the students. There are a few students who have considered consecrated life, she said. 

“As we’re inviting them to follow Christ, they know that it’s possible to give your life to God and that’s one way that it could look,” she said. “They also see that we’re human. We tie our shoes, we make mistakes, and we go to the grocery store. They see that holiness is possible for everyone.” 

Sister Evelyn Rose, a third-grade teacher at St. Catherine’s, wanted to be an Army officer when she was in a college ROTC program. Through prayer, she heard God calling her not to serve an earthly kingdom, but his heavenly kingdom. Some friends encouraged her to meet the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia who at the time had a mission house in her hometown of Phoenix. She had not considered teaching before discovering the Nashville Dominicans. 

“I was very struck by how each sister was themselves. We may wear the same thing, but we have different gifts. I felt a freedom in that,” she said.  

The students in Sister Evelyn Rose’s class walk through the door “on fire for their faith,” she said. Her students have received their sacraments in second grade, and she gets the privilege of nurturing them as they continue living a sacramental life, she said.