No sister act: Nuns’ album tops charts in time for Christmas
ANN ARBOR TOWNSHIP, Mich.—The members of Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, silently filed into the chapel. Within minutes, they were singing— first in unison, then in a transfixing, layered harmony that reverberated off the marble floors, wood-paneled walls and cathedral ceiling.
The evening prayer service was intended for no audience but the Lord they have taken vows to serve. Still, The Chapel at the Motherhouse on the rolling grounds of the Catholic order’s campus outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, is also the place where the members record music that has been heard by millions. Their third and latest album, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring: Christmas with the Dominican Sisters of Mary,” has gracefully muscled its way to the top of Billboard’s classical chart and climbed nearly as high on the holiday chart.
They may be sisters, but this is no act.
“It’s such a part of our prayer life that when we make a CD, we’re just praying,” said Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, a founder of the community who has overseen the production of three CDs. “It’s what we do, it’s who we are.”
The album’s 16 songs span from the 5th century to present day and represent the music of 10 countries. The collection includes the well-known (“We Wish You a Merry Christmas,”) obscure (“Sleep, Little Jesus,” based on a Polish carol) and original (“Snowflakes,” composed by Bogdanowicz). Some songs are a cappella, others contain light instrumentation— all supplied by the sisters.
For them, the music is a gift to God, but also to people who can’t see the sisters perform live. They don’t tour, and only on rare occasions do they sing in public or on national broadcasts. Their evening services at the Motherhouse are open to visitors on Sundays, but space is limited and those are structured prayers, not performances.
“We want them to have this beauty, and that’s the only way we can do it,” Bogdanowicz said. “It can even be in another country or part of the world or somebody who doesn’t even have a clue who we are but if they’re quietly listening to this and it’s elevating them towards God, then God’s done everything we wanted him to do.”
The unconventional recording artists got their start in the music business a few years ago, when the sisters were approached by Monica and Kevin Fitzgibbons, music industry veterans who founded DeMontfort Music and attended the sisters’ service known as “Vespers.”
While the sisters live a structured, contemplative life, they recognize the importance of engaging with culture. Their primary mission is that of education—they teach preschool through college at private schools across the United States—and making and sharing their music is a natural extension of that.
“If (people) only hear bad music or see ugly art, how are they ever going to know the beauty of music or the beauty of art or the beauty of the universe?” asked Mother Mary Assumpta Long, mother superior of the Dominican Sisters of Mary. “It’s all in education—you have to expose them to beauty and goodness.”