For nearly four decades, Sister Miriam Francis Perlewitz has lived a quiet but extraordinary missionary life in Bangladesh, a Muslim-majority nation where Catholics represent a tiny minority.
An American missionary sister, Scripture scholar, and educator, she has shaped generations of Catholic priests while also transforming grassroots education for children of all faiths. Today, she stands as one of the last American nuns still serving in the country — and as her advanced age signals an imminent departure, her story emerges as a rare testimony to missionary perseverance, women’s leadership, and faith lived from the margins.
Sister Miriam arrived in Bangladesh in 1985, initially to teach sacred Scripture part time at Holy Spirit Major Seminary in Dhaka. At the time, Bangladesh faced daunting challenges: widespread poverty, limited access to education, and pervasive illiteracy. The idea of a woman teaching future priests — let alone in South Asia — was uncommon and controversial.
Yet what she encountered immediately disarmed hesitation. “The friendliness and welcoming attitude of the students, as well as the questions I had about applying the message of Scripture in a Muslim environment, deeply touched me,” she told EWTN News.
For several years, she divided her time between Maryknoll’s major seminary and Bangladesh. When Maryknoll closed its school of theology in 1992, she made a decisive choice: She would remain full time in Bangladesh. That decision would shape the Church in the country in lasting ways.
For more than two decades, Sister Miriam taught sacred Scripture at Holy Spirit Major Seminary, forming generations of priests — including men who would later become bishops and archbishops. Her presence itself was a quiet challenge to convention.
“First of all, the fact that I was a woman, involved in a ministry that was considered to be a man’s field, was questioned,” she recalled. Initially, some Church authorities hesitated. But the seminarians themselves defended her role. “When the students supported and spoke in my favour, the ‘powers that be’ decided to allow me to continue.”
What followed was a deeply collaborative ministry. Sister Miriam describes her seminary years not simply as academic formation but as a shared spiritual journey. “We became ‘one’ in the endeavour,” she said, united by the goal of passing on the Gospel — “the good news that God became man so that man may become one again with God.” For her, the word “man” was always inclusive, embracing all humanity.
