Nearly 30 years ago, Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS, an award-winning artist, found himself in a hospital room as his father battled colon cancer. One afternoon he came across a magazine and in it was the last interview with Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman — an African American woman who challenged the Church in the 20th century to confront its history of racial exclusion and to embrace Black Catholics through her work as a scholar, teacher, and speaker.
“I had never heard of the woman in my life, but I read this article right there on the spot and I thought, ‘Wow, she was something. How did I miss her all this time,’” McGrath told EWTN News.
“Music was at the very heart of her whole ministry,” he added. “And so, that struck me too as an artist, that she was using her artistic gifts to advance her spirit.”
One year later, McGrath welcomed a couple of brothers into his home who were preparing to take their final vows. Together they watched a video on Bowman that left him “energized and inspired.”
“The next morning, I got up and started painting and I didn’t stop for two weeks,” he said. “And in two weeks’ time I had nine paintings in a style very different from anything I had ever done before … It was like I was touching things that were already deep in me, you know, spiritually, but I didn’t have access to.”
A sketch done by Brother Mickey McGrath, OSFS, is displayed during the Mass for Sister Thea Bowman’s cause for canonization in St. Peter’s Cathedral in Jackson, Mississippi, on Feb. 9, 2026. | Credit: Courtesy of Brother Mickey McGrath
Now McGrath has 47 paintings inspired by Bowman that have been packaged into boxes and sent to Rome for review to advance her cause for canonization.
The diocesan phase of Bowman’s cause for canonization was officially closed by the Diocese of Jackson, Mississippi, on Feb. 9. McGrath attended the Mass for this occasion, which was celebrated by Bishop Joseph Kopacz and held in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Jackson.
He called it a “truly wonderful event.”
Notable figures in attendance included three sisters from Bowman’s community; Meg Paulino, their community archivist; and Emanuele Spedicato, the postulator for her cause for canonization.
Reflecting on his paintings, McGrath said one stands out among the rest: a painting titled “This Little Light of Mine.” A painting from his first nine paintings inspired by Bowman — which he calls “the spirituals” — this painting depicts Bowman in a green habit holding a monstrance up in the air. He explained that it connects the classic song with “the light of Christ.”
McGrath shared that Bowman continues to provide Catholics with an important message today: “We’re all made in the image and likeness of God, and that’s got to be preeminent.”
Bowman, born Bertha Bowman in 1937 in Mississippi, was a trailblazing Catholic sister, educator, and evangelist. A member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, she converted to Catholicism as a child and later became one of the most compelling advocates for Black Catholic spirituality in the United States.
With a doctorate in English literature and a gift for storytelling, Bowman traveled the country speaking, singing, and teaching — urging the Church to embrace the cultural gifts of African American Catholics.
In 1989, despite battling cancer, Bowman addressed the U.S. bishops with a now-famous speech that blended gospel song, humor, and a prophetic call for unity. Her witness left a lasting impression, and in 2018 her cause for canonization was formally opened by the Diocese of Jackson, giving her the title “servant of God.”
