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October 16, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – Every day is a gift from God and an opportunity to find new, creative ways to reach out to God in prayer.

That is the message that Sister Maryetta Churches, OP, hopes the users of her 2026 calendar take with them every day of the approaching year.

“The message for people who use this calendar would be to try to find the Lord in new ways this year – through art, through prayer, through journaling, through expanding your horizons – and find a new relationship with the Lord,” Sister Maryetta said.

Sister Maryetta ministered for 25 years at St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Brighton, Michigan, teaching groups to pray with art and creating All Souls Day posters featuring photos of parishioners who had died in the past year. When she left the parish in 2020 and moved to the Motherhouse in Adrian, she created a calendar based on her artwork to help parishioners remember her. She continues to create calendars, now reaching a wider audience. 

She hopes members of her larger audience will draw inspiration from the calendar – featuring artwork she created during her own journaling and prayer time in recent months. Each month also includes prompts to help people deepen their prayer life and their relationship with God.

Sister Maryetta hopes that the calendar will help people find new ways to pray. “Do whatever fits your style,” such as journaling or drawing, she said. “I’m trying to get people to do something different and make it a prayer. Communicate with God – speak and listen and use different techniques that speak to you.” 
Sister Maryetta herself is responding to a new call in her life. “It’s a call to the newness of me,” she said. “But I have no idea where it’s leading me. The call is exciting and unnerving, and I want to focus on becoming more.”

She encourages others to experience God’s call in their own lives. “He’s calling you,” she said. “You are precious in his eyes and he loves you, and I hope you can say back, ‘You are precious in my life, Lord, and I love you.’”

The calendars sell for $15 and will be available at the Weber Center Shop on the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse Campus. The Shop is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday to Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday; it is closed for lunch from noon to 12:45 p.m. Visit the Weber Center Shop in person or reserve a copy by calling 517-266-4035.

Sister Maryetta also hopes to receive feedback from those who purchase and use her calendar. She can be reached at [email protected]. 
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Maryetta Churches, OP, displays a painting of the Holy Spirit, one of her works of art featured in her 2026 calendar.

October 21, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Many people and organizations publish and sell calendars to help people keep track of the tasks and events of each day. Sister Maryetta Churches, OP, has for the past five years created calendars that help people make the most of each day through prayer and reflection.

“We all have different ways of praying,” Sister Maryetta said. “I journal every day, and each day I do something different – whatever helps me to enhance my prayer, my listening to God.” She often enhances her reflections with artwork, using creative tools such as clay, markers, or yarn. Her calendars are based on selected artwork from the previous year. 

Sister Maryetta used her creativity during her 25 years of ministry at St. Mary Magdalen Parish in Brighton, Michigan, teaching groups to pray with art and creating All Souls Day posters depicting the parishioners who had died the previous year. When she left that ministry in 2020 – amid the COVID-19 pandemic – and returned to Adrian, she created a calendar based on her artwork as a way to help the parishioners remember her. Now, her calendars are available to a wider audience. 

This year, Sister Maryetta said, she decided to make a change as she created the 2025 calendar. “I wanted to go deeper,” she said. “I wanted to go deeper into my own life, so the questions I asked myself I share with you.” She included reflection questions on the back page of the calendar, numbered to correspond to the relevant month.

Sister Maryetta hopes that people who buy her calendar will use it to help them deepen their prayer lives and their relationship with God. “I invite you to pray with the artwork for each month,” she said. Contemplating the artwork and how it speaks to you can be another prompt for your prayer. What is the artwork telling you, and can you speak to God about it?” She believes the calendar could also be a useful tool for parishes.

Noting that each day of the year is a gift from God, Sister Maryetta said, “My hope is that this calendar can help you to appreciate that gift and claim it for yourself, and that it can help you to deepen your prayer life.”

The 2025 calendar sells for $15 and is available through the Weber Shop at the Weber Retreat and Conference Center. Visit or call the shop at 517-266-4035 to reserve a copy for yourself or purchase in bulk. 
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Maryetta Churches, OP, finds many outlets for her creativity. Along with her artwork and her creation of calendars, she enjoys knitting prayer shawls.