By Barbara LeBlanc

It is shortly before 11:30 a.m. and Sr. Maureen Sullivan, O.P., associate professor of theology, is entertaining her assembling class with a monologue.

“I could have gone in any direction, theatre, tap, dance…,” she says with mock sincerity and a rapid delivery. “I was voted most Mary-like in high school, and you wonder why I had no dates.” Then she adds wryly, “That was the Middle Ages, when it wasn’t impossible to be like Mary…. Are you getting this all down, girlfriend?”

When 11:30 a.m. strikes, the Approaches to God class begins promptly. Soon a discussion of suffering replaces the laughing banter.

“What is the central symbol of the Catholic religion? It’s not a smiley face,” she says. “It’s the crucifix, the symbol of suffering. Somehow, some way, suffering is a redemptive exercise.”

Sr. Maureen, a member of the Dominican Sisters of Hope, has startling blue eyes, a broad smile, and a disarming way of presenting challenging material. Her engaging approach to religious and theological education has won her a wide audience both on and off campus.

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