Deep in the basement of the Marywood motherhouse, tucked among water pipes and storage rooms, Sister Phyllis Mrozinski 
patiently chips away at a chunk of pink New Mexico alabaster.
“This is a wonderful mallet,” Mrozinski says as she gently pounds a chisel, kicking up flying chips of stone and sprays of dust. “Even the tap of the chisel is so nice.”
Ping, ping, ping: The sound echoes through her cement-floored studio. To the gentle-spirited nun, it’s like music.
She files the stone, then brushes off the dust with her father’s old shaving brush.
Sister Phyllis works down here each day, her delicate hands creating graceful sculptures from hunks of stone. She works alone but feels a divine presence with each chisel-tap.
“I’m never by myself when I do these things,” the Grand Rapids Dominican sister says cheerfully. “In my studio, I have a lot of company.
“I call it my sanctuary, where I meet God,” she says, laughing lightly.
