The Eucharist Led Raven Educator to Give Everything

The mission to prepare educators as Builders of Community has a new exemplar.

Benedictine College alumna Sister Mary Chiara will bring her vocation as a School Sister of Christ the King into the classroom this fall, team teaching second grade at St. Teresa School in Lincoln, Nebraska.

The School Sisters of Christ the King in Lincoln, Nebraska, celebrated Sister Mary Chiara’s profession of perpetual vows during a Mass celebrated by Bishop James D. Conley on Sunday, August 2, at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ.  Sister Mary Chiara is the daughter of Mike and Mary Middendorf of St. Charles Borromeo Parish in Gretna, Nebraska.

Her new assignment continues a journey shaped by family, Eucharistic adoration, and her education at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

President Stephen D. Minnis recognized Sister Mary Chiara at Benedictine College’s 2025 Commencement among the students who were considering or had chosen religious life.

The daughter of Michael and Mary Middendorf, Sister Mary Chiara is one of 10 children. Born in Illinois, she lived in Ohio before her family moved to Nebraska in 2009. She was homeschooled, attended Columbus High School for two years and graduated from Scotus Central Catholic High School in 2016.

Sister Mary Chiara credits her large family with helping prepare her for her vocation.

“My vocation is from the Lord, but he uses the environment that he places us into to form us to belong to him,” she said.

Religious vocations were discussed openly in the Middendorf home. Beginning when she was 6 or 7, Sister Mary Chiara accompanied her father to early-morning Eucharistic adoration. At first, she admitted, she went because he woke her with leftover dessert for breakfast.

“But I know from that experience of being with my dad and being with Jesus, the attraction grew from just wanting a brownie or a cookie to finding this sweetness, this satisfaction and fulfillment in being with Jesus in the Eucharist,” she said.

During another period of adoration, Sister Mary Chiara felt overwhelmed by Christ’s personal love for her. When she asked what she could give him, she heard an answer in her heart: “Give me yourself.”

Over time, with help from her spiritual director and members of the community, she came to believe that Christ was calling her to become a School Sister of Christ the King.

Sister Mary Chiara entered the community in August 2018 at age 20. During her formation, she studied part-time for three semesters at Benedictine College while living with the School Sisters in St. Joseph, Missouri, and Lincoln. At Benedictine, she pursued her calling to education through studies in teaching and theology.

Her superior, Mother Margaret Mary, said Sister Mary Chiara brings “freshness, vitality and sense of humor” to the community, along with a desire “to belong totally to Christ the King.”

Now, as a Benedictine College alumna beginning a new chapter at St. Teresa School, Sister Mary Chiara will share that joyful commitment to Christ with a classroom of second-graders.

Photo courtesy the School Sisters of Christ the King.

By Editorial Staff