Sister Mary Michael Brandt, OSB: Executive Director
Benedictine Sisters

Sister Mary Michael Brandt, OSB was born and raised in San Antonio and lived with her family there until becoming a member of the Benedictine Sisters in the early 1960's. She is the oldest child of four, with three younger brothers. In the 1970's her family relocated to New Braunfels, Texas where they still reside.
Sr. Michael completed college and got her teaching certification at age 22. She also has a mid-management cert-ification from the University of Texas, San Antonio, a masters in Biology and a Math certification from Incarnate Word University. She fulfilled her student teaching obligations at Jefferson High School in San Antonio.

Her first teaching job after graduation was at Alamo Heights High School where she taught Science. Later that same year, she felt God's call to religious life and joined the Benedictine Sisters in Boerne.

Once a member of the congregation, Sr. Michael taught Math and Science to the younger Sisters in Formation. She alternated between teaching in Boerne, (later on at St. Albert's) and at St. Benedict's in San Antonio for several years. In 1982, the boarding school portion of St. Albert's closed. This resulted in Sister Michael and a few of the other Sisters seeking new jobs. Sister Michael began searching and heard about an opening to be the principal at St.
John's in San Antonio. She pursued the vacancy and was hired. She was shortly afterwards able to help Sister Thecla Goertz secure a position there as the school's secretary/bookkeeper.

In 1995, Sister Michael became treasurer for the Sisters and settled into that job, staying in Boerne. She enjoyed learning computerized methods for keeping the books. She continued as treasurer for 2 years until 1997 when the Benedictine Ministries Corporation came into existence. The Sisters decided to incorporate their ministries under one umbrella thus creating "BMC". Sister Michael was appointed to be the Executive Director.

The Benedictine Ministries Corporation consisted of the Benedictine Resource Center - which housed the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative, Corporate Responsibility and Hispanic Outreach programs. The Omega Retreat Center, Health & Wholeness Center, St. Albert's Early Learning Center and Hilltop Treasures Book and Gifts are the other Ministries that are part of BMC. Even though not all of those programs are still in operation, Sister Michael stays very busy with all of her duties.

For many years, Sister Michael has been asked to be involved in many side projects. She mentioned that at one time for a few years she was procurator for the Monastery. She was in charge of making all purchases. She bought groceries, appliances and was in charge of making sure that things were maintained.

At one point, the Sisters discovered that Sister Michael has artistic/drawing talent, and she has been asked throughout the years to undertake various side projects. For several years, she was in charge of creating a Christmas calendar featuring the Sisters, that was sent out to friends and family.

Sister Michael was asked to work with James Avery Craftsman, on the design of a Benedictine combination pendant/pin medal for the Sisters' on the occasion of their 75th anniversary.

Other artistic assignments for her included being asked to design a symbol for the Sisters 90th anniversary celebration in 2001. Sister Michael has also been asked for the last 2-3 years to come up with an idea for the symbols used on the binder cover for the Sisters' Chapter Meetings. Another creative project that she took on was putting together the internal newsletter for BMC employees. She has also designed holy cards for Sisters that have passed away and for Sisters' jubilee celebrations.

Today, Sister Michael continues to work as the BMC Executive Director. She is also very involved in the prayer life of the Monastery. She attends prayer three times a day five days a week and often on the weekends. She takes her turn in helping with the music and in leading the liturgy.

On holidays, Sister Michael sometimes pitches in and helps with cooking and preparations for holiday gatherings. She enjoys cooking, collecting recipes, reading and spending time with her three dogs and one cat.