VIDEO: Brother McGrath’s Art Brings Sister Thea Bowman’s Legacy to Life
CAMDEN — Brother Mickey McGrath has spent much of his life using art to share stories of faith, hope and inspiration. But one person has had a particularly profound impact on his work: Sister Thea Bowman.
Brother Mickey, an artist and member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales, says drawing has been a passion since he was 5 years old.
“My earliest memories of that, knowing that drawing was my thing,” he said.
Brother Mickey considers his artistic ability a God-given gift. Decades after discovering his passion for art, he found a new muse while his father was sick.
Brother Mickey came across a magazine interview with Sister Thea Bowman, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration who died in 1990 from breast cancer.
“I had never heard of the woman in my life, but there was a beautiful picture of her there,” Brother Mickey said. “And I thought, I’ll read this. And the more I read, I thought, who was this person? She just opened my eyes to so many things.”
About a year later, in 1991, Brother Mickey watched a video of Sister Thea addressing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1989 about being Black and Catholic in the United States.
He described her speech as “very powerful.”
The experience affected him so deeply that he could not sleep that night.
“So many images were going through my head, and I got up the next morning and just started painting and just flowing out of me,” Brother Mickey said. “And two weeks later I had nine paintings and a style very different from anything that I had ever done before.”
“I know that was Sister Thea coming to me,” he said.
That first painting became the beginning of a much larger body of work. Over the years, Brother Mickey has created 47 paintings featuring Sister Thea, her words and her legacy.
“She’s just become a big, big part of my life. And, as I say, one of my BFFs in heaven,” he said.
In January, Brother Mickey received a call from Sister Thea’s religious order asking him to help with her cause for canonization.
RELATED: Sister Thea Bowman’s Sainthood Moving Forward to Vatican Review
His response was immediate.
“No sooner we hung up, an hour and a half later, I had a whole program together,” he said.
For Brother Mickey, being involved in the process has been deeply meaningful as a member of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales.
“It’s beyond,” he said, becoming emotional. “It just made me realize the impact.”
Sister Thea’s teachings, particularly her work in Catholic social teaching, continue to influence Brother Mickey’s life and ministry.
For him, art is more than a profession. It is a way to communicate a message of hope.
“Art and beauty are the things that bring people hope,” Brother Mickey said. “So that’s how I’m defining my ministry.”