How One Woman Responds to God’s Call to Beauty through Art: GIVEN Mentor Dr. Sarah Maple

“None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands.”

– Saint John Paul II

T​hrough his love of theatre and literature, Saint John Paul II understood the connection between art and the dignity of the human person. Another person who followed in his footsteps is GIVEN mentor, Dr. Sarah Maple. She is also co-contributor to the book, God is Beauty: A Retreat on the Gospel and Art, the first-ever English translation of Saint John Paul II’s (Karol Wojtyla) retreat that he gave to artists in 1962 when he was bishop of Krakow. In the book, Dr. Maple reflects:

“Beauty calls to us. It is a universal experience to yearn for beauty and when we behold it, we want to enter into it. And somehow, we desire for it to enter into us. We want to move from an encounter with beauty to a sustained experience and dwelling with it. Ultimately, we desire an indwelling with beauty – a reciprocated giving and receiving ourselves with God himself, the Beautiful One.”

Dr. Maple defines herself first and foremost as an artist. She says, “Being a painter is my ability to respond to God’s invitation.” She adds, “art is an answer to a call to first, create and be attracted to beautiful things. Particularly within creation, the beauty of the Church, and of God himself.” With this deeply rooted identity as an artist, Dr. Maple has searched for beauty in every aspect of her vocation as a painter and a scholar.

Dr. Maple studied for four years at an arts academy but felt unsatisfied with the school’s approach. She felt the tension between the secular ideas her arts school promoted versus Catholic theological teachings on human nature and on creativity. Dr. Maple began to dip deeper and ask herself what it meant to be a person, to be Catholic, to be a woman, to be an artist. These questions resulted in a lifelong academic pursuit, all bound in personal sacrifice. Dr. Maple shares:

“I offered God my gift of being an artist and I heard Him say that He would give it back to me when it was time. And that was really heartbreaking. But, it led me to several courses of study to find a language in order to do what I do now – which is to create while preserving the interior life of the artist and their external output.”

For her undergraduate degree, Dr. Maple earned a joint degree in Ethics and Comparative Religious Studies from Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. During that time, she also studied with Christopher West at the Theology of the Body Institute and would go into New York City to volunteer as an Associate with the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal. This blend of ethics in her studies at Drew University, pastoral application with the Theology of the Body Institute, and corporal works of mercy with the Franciscan Friars gave Dr. Maple the framework to understand the dignity of the human person within the Catholic tradition.

Afterward, she graduated with her Masters of Theological Studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Marriage & Family Studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. To take a break from her rigorous coursework, Dr. Maple would refresh her spirit at the National Gallery of Art where she says that she would “think through color.” Throughout these years of study, Dr. Maple gained the knowledge she needed in metaphysics and sought an institution that would support the intersection of her professional life in both the visual arts and theology. She continues:

“I was daydreaming about the arts and I was looking for a doctoral program where I could ask my questions in terms of metaphysics and creativity in the visual arts since I am a visual artist.”

To her surprise, a small yet historically and academically renowned university in Scotland was the solution – the University of St Andrews. There, Dr. Maple wrote her Ph.D. dissertation at the Institute for Theology, Imagination & the Arts with joint supervision from the University of Oxford, Blackfriars Hall.

Throughout these pursuits, the GIVEN Institute intertwined with Dr. Maple’s large heart for supporting women. Dr. Maple has served as a GIVEN Mentor to seven alumnae over three cycles of the GIVEN Leadership Program, including Forums in 2021, 2022, and 2024. One of these alumnae includes Elisa Torres (GIVEN ’22), whose Action Plan was the creation of “From the Gardens,” an online platform to showcase her artwork and an e-shop of her artwork and prayer devotionals.

When asked about her approach to mentoring GIVEN alumnae, Dr. Maple explains:

“My philosophy is to know who they are and to deeply know what they felt called to but also what their natural gifts are. I love spending those first few meetings learning what their life is at present. […]Accompaniment to me is taking the time and sacrificing the time to get to know the person on the other side of this journey.”

Dr. Maple’s advice to young women at the Forum is to not worry too much about the Action Plan. While it is certainly an important objective of participating in GIVEN’s Catholic Young Women’s Leadership Program, Dr. Maple also recognizes that the Action Plan might take various turns and revisions, “The point of the Action Plan is to be open and docile to it changing.” Mentors, like Dr. Maple, help young women in the Leadership Program unlock their dreams and more importantly, experience the benefits of spiritual motherhood from another woman. She says:

“This is such a unique opportunity to learn and enter into a woman’s life and cheer her on in a way that will change her for the rest of her life because she is validated at the level of her own given gifts that God has given her.”

To learn more about Dr. Maple’s life as a professor and researcher in Theology and Art, and to read her forthcoming book, you can follow her @dr.sarahmaple and at sarahelizabethmaple.academia.edu. Her book, The Resurrection of Beauty, comes out with St. Augustine’s Press this Fall. This publication is based on the work from Dr. Maple’s Ph.D. dissertation at the University of St Andrews and her continued research and teaching on beauty, creativity, and the interior life of artists. The Resurrection of Beauty: The Imperishable Aesthetic of Personhood in William Congdon & John Paul II comes out on October 22, 2026 – the feast of Saint John Paul the Second. Find your pre-order information at lagiardina.org.