‘I have to be the example’: Oblate Sister of Providence is inspiration to students

Oblate Sister of Providence Mary-Pauline Tamakloe likes to joke that her students know “you don’t mess with Sister Mary-Pauline.”

With a reputation as a strict disciplinarian, the educator at Cardinal Shehan School in Baltimore requires students to write out the Ten Commandments multiple times if they get into trouble. She’s also quick to put youngsters on the straight-and-narrow if they show any disrespect to one another.

At the same time, Sister Mary-Pauline is also a trusted mentor. Students regularly come to her to share challenges and ask for her prayers. Recently, one youngster confided that she wanted to be a teacher – not just any teacher, she said, but a religious one.

“I do challenge them,” said Sister Mary-Pauline, a teacher at Cardinal Shehan since 2018 who last year became the first woman from Ghana to profess final vows as an Oblate Sister of Providence. “I’m tough on them. But they know I love them. I give them a listening ear.”

Sister Mary-Pauline’s journey into religious life came about as she was helping others discern vocations in Africa. Serving as the coordinator of a vocations club in her home parish in Ghana, she researched religious communities for a girl who wanted to become a religious sister.

Sister Mary-Pauline came across the Baltimore-based Oblate Sisters of Providence in her research and was impressed by the order’s long history. Founded by Venerable Mother Mary Lange in 1829, the Oblate Sisters of Providence is the world’s first sustained religious community for Black women.

“I think Mother Lange’s inspiration has really pushed me,” Sister Mary-Pauline said. “She never gave up. I never give up.” 

One month after coming to the United States in 2016, she wrestled deeply with the decision about where and how she should best serve God. The pull to return to Ghana was strong. She went to the tabernacle to pray – not asking God for anything, but listening. She sought confirmation that she belonged with the Oblates.

Sister Mary-Pauline said she had a kind of mystical experience, feeling a hand on her shoulder and an inner joy. She discerned the message, “It will be well,” ultimately professing her first vows with the Oblate Sisters of Providence in 2019.

“I must tell you,” she said, “it has been well with me.”

Sister Mary-Pauline is grateful to the priests of The Society of the Divine Word, who were a strong presence in her family and community.

While her biological family is in Ghana, they remain close. She is a triplet, and every day one of her brothers – Peter or Paul – sends her a text message to check in.

Sister Mary-Pauline currently teaches religious education to pre-K to fifth-grade students. She is pursuing a master’s degree in religious education at Loyola University New Orleans.

In addition to teaching, she has helped donors in the United States support the distribution of thousands of rosaries in Ghana as well as the drilling of two boreholes for fresh water and the provision of other aid. Built near schools, one borehole reaches more than 2,000 young people.

Sister Rita Michelle Proctor, superior general of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, said Sister Mary-Pauline brings her “whole self” – her culture and spirituality – to the children and the adults with whom she interacts. She is helping to lay a spiritual foundation for children, Sister Rita Michelle said.

“I have to be the example,” Sister Mary-Pauline said. “If I say it’s important to be a prayerful person, I have to lead by prayer. When I challenge the children to be role models for future generations, I’m also challenging myself.”

Sister Mary-Pauline said she became a religious sister to show gratitude for what God has done in her life.

“I have seen the greatness of God in my life,” she said, “and I want to give it back to society.”

Kevin J. Parks contributed to this story.

2023 Survey

U.S. vocations to men’s and women’s religious communities

• A total of 508 major superiors (87 percent of respondents) report that they had no one professing perpetual vows in 2023.

• One in 10 institutes (9 percent) had one perpetual profession. Another 23 major superiors (4 percent) report from two to 15 members professing perpetual vows in 2023.

• In total, the religious institutes report 144 newly perpetually professed members (68 women and 76 men) in 2023.

Source: Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

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