By Katie Mahon, Communications Manager
For a young person, spending their time in their late teens and early twenties will often provide them with a path to a blossoming career and desired adult life.
For Maria Bohan, a graduate of Pearl River High School and Bryn Mawr College, choosing to spend her “pivotal years” working at the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Blauvelt, New York, helped her “development as a young professional.”
During a recent episode of the Hearts Afire Podcast, Maria discussed her experience working at the Motherhouse.
“It’s been an amazing experience. I am glad I took the step to reach out to the sisters, and I’m glad they took me on because I have had so many great opportunities working here in a lot of departments. I have gotten to see the congregation from so many angles, which has been really interesting. It’s also a great working environment. Everyone here, from the Sisters to the lay staff, have been so nice to me, and it’s really a fun place to work, a positive place to work.”
Before coming to first intern at the Motherhouse in 2018, Maria was a bit nervous because of certain stereotypes regarding Women Religious of them being “very cold or strict” as well as “cloistered and don’t do anything.”
Luckily for her, those myths were busted after she started working here.
For Maria, the first busted myth was “about women religious being strict and cold because it’s totally not my experience encountering the sisters every day as I go into my office. They are such warm and caring people that want to know what is going on in my life.”
In regards to sisters being cloistered, Maria shared, “there are sisters like the Sisters of Saint Dominic who go out into the community and really get involved and are making change.”
Along with these busted myths, another meaningful aspect of her time at the Motherhouse for Maria has been seeing the Sisters “working together to make big changes via small actions.”
“There are the sisters here who dedicate their whole lives to pushing for change, to fight against poverty and food insecurity, to try to find a solution to the border crisis and climate change.”
She went on to add, “Even though each of them are in their own individual ministries, not always doing the same thing, their actions combined add up to this effect of bringing more positivity to our world and fighting for change for those who deserve it most.”
Along with that inspiration to take into her blossoming career, Maria also shared valuable advice for people her age.
“We are at this stage of our lives where we are trying to figure out what we want to do with the rest of our lives and trying to discern what our values are. The Sisters have definitely been a great example for me; working here at this pivotal stage in my development, they can also be a great example for other people my age about the power of dedicating your life to something that you are passionate about or finding something that you are passionate about and pursuing that as best as you can because your life is really more fulfilling that way and you feel like you have a purpose and that you are doing good works.”