In Memory of Sister Mary John Paul Bobak SND

 

On August 19, 2023, God called one of his saints home.

She was born September 30 1939 and given the name of Mary Bobak. She would be the first of six children born to John and Pauline Bobak. She grew up in a devout Catholic household and at the age of 16 entered the convent to begin her journey to become Sister Mary John Paul SND. During her 60 plus years as a Sister of Notre Dame, she had many jobs, teacher, principle, health coordinator, whatever the sisters needed Mary John Paul would do. But all of these facts only tell us what she was not who she was. And that is what I want to talk about.

I met Mary John Paul in the spring of 1972. I had taken Monica Bobak home to Cleveland at the end of her freshman year of college and to meet Monica's family. I was going to ask John's permission to marry his daughter. After I had permission to marry Monica, we began the pleasant task of meeting her family. Among those I met was Sister Mary John Paul SND. Not being Catholic and having never met a nun before I asked her questions about being a nun. She answered my questions with wit and wisdom and I quickly learned Mary was serious about her faith and her calling and not too much else. Oh, what a satirist she would have made. But her path lead elsewhere. From day one of our relationship she taught me. This was before I was a Catholic, while I was still a non-denominational Christian. She taught me about faith and service, never waving her faith like a flag or beating me with it like a nun in a catholic school  joke. On her it was natural like the cloud that forms around a light on a foggy night. Down through the fifty years I knew her, a smile and a hug every time we met. A constant cheering section as I learned my faith, became Catholic and became involved in my church. Roughly every year, Monica's family would meet together in Chardon Ohio, at the mother house during their annual Barbecue. Sister Mary John Paul would reserve the onsite retreat center for a family reunion. Monica and Mary John Paul's brothers and cousins all meeting together as an extended family with all of the children. Mary John Paul listening to everyone's story, smiling at the joys and comforting the grieving. For their fiftieth wedding anniversary, Monica and her brothers paid  for John and Pauline to visit Hawaii. One of the few times I saw Mary John Paul unhappy. Having taken a vow of poverty, she had no money to contribute and felt she was not holding up her end. I took her aside and told her, "You have spent your life enriching the lives of people, families, students and mine. Let us do this for you as a small token of our love and appreciation." Monica and her brothers covered the cost for all of the siblings. And there again was the smile. She received as graciously as she had given. Monica and I were there that last day. She was in a coma, we had come too late to say good bye. So Monica sat on one side of her bed, holding her hand. I sat on the other side, holding her other hand and we sang to her; Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art. In her coma she heard us. We saw a smile flicker across her face. Mary went home to God later that evening.

I will miss you Mary John Paul but as a person of faith I know we will meet again and we will hug and there will be that smile.