Young mom, actress urges children to follow ultimate director

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

Sister Mary Button-Drawers, an affectionate name Barbara “Barbie” Ory gave to her niece Zetta Marie Buras as a child, became the main character in a children’s book of the same name published in December 2020.

The book mixes Buras’ love for theatrics and her faith.

“She had a personality like me – very theatrical,” said Buras, 32, a parishioner of St. Peter Church in Covington.

Buras’ inspiration for this sing-songy, rhyming Catholic book –  which tells the tale of a highly spirited little girl dressed in her Sunday best clothes for Mass – came four years ago during adoration when she was pregnant with her daughter Zuri. She felt God putting on her heart a desire to write a book about a positive role model for Catholic girls.

“In the world today, everyone wants to follow everyone else and be famous on Instagram and Facebook,” she said. “When Zuri was in my belly, I was thinking I had that same craving when I was growing up. I wanted my little daughter to have a role model like Sister Mary Button-Drawers to show you can have fun, but you can use your talents for God, even if you become well-known. The Catholic faith can be fun, stylish, theatrical and you can show off for Jesus.”

Buras envisioned the book while spending three hours a day in adoration, “giving up to God” the pain she had endured from a knee dislocation. She said she knew God was talking to her when she found a medal of the Holy Face of Jesus while she was praying and meditating on “The 24 Glory Be’s Novena to St. Theresa and the Holy Face of Jesus.’”

While there, Jesus told me, “they had dislocated his knees (while crucified),” she said. “God’s voice was a whisper, like a guardian angel, in the back of my head.”

The first line of her book – “Sister Mary Button-Drawers, Sunday morning she adores” –  was written shortly after her namesake grandmother (Zetta Althea Ory) died and she was sitting around mourning her loss. Zuri was born soon after, leaving little time to revisit the book idea until three years later.

“At the end of 2019, I sat down and looked at that paper,” she said. “My prayer life was deepening, and I was getting heavier into my faith. I thought, ‘I am going to write this book and change lives.’ I stayed up until 2 a.m. and finished the book that night.”

Catholic saints inspired her

Buras is a fourth-grade CCD teacher. She attended both St. Angela Merici School and Ursuline Academy and then graduated from St. Scholastica Academy once her family moved to the northshore after Hurricane Katrina.

Acting initially called her, and she attended the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts summer session. She returned home when Hollywood South was ramping up in New Orleans and joined two improv troupes and performed stand-up and sketch comedy in a girl group called “Pretty Witty.” While she won best supporting actress in an independent comedy at a local film festival, she was disillusioned by the film roles she secured, “feeling too holy for Hollywood and ‘too Hollywood’ for church.

“I hid my faith – I didn’t wear my cross,” she said. “The last film that I did was a comedy. It was funny, but I dressed like a stripper. I remember putting on the clothes and thinking, ‘Gosh, I am not too proud of this. If I have a daughter, I am going to blush if she sees it.’”

Another bad experience had her reaching for God and giving up acting. “I then felt the peace and calm presence of God.” She went to college and eventually met her husband.

“God picked the vocation of wife and mother for me, which has strengthened me so much spiritually,” Buras said. “He showed me how to use my creative energies to spread the faith and to remind children to turn their attention to Jesus and give him glory in all our talents, even if they are called to being on a stage.’”

A portion of the book’s proceeds will go to the nonprofit Children’s Advocacy Center – Hope House in Covington and Meghan’s Mission in Luling, which allows children to travel to faith-based pilgrimages. The book is illustrated by Louisiana-based Kathern Peal.

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What: Book signing for a children’s book, “Sister Mary Button-Drawers” written by Zetta Buras of Covington

When: March 27 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Where: The Mandeville Trailhead Farmers’ Market, 675 Lafitte St. at Lake Pontchartrain, Mandeville. Find on social media: https://www.facebook.com/ButtonDrawersBooks/