Dressed in modest habits, the four Felician sisters spend their days working diligently at St. Joseph Hospital. But when Tuesday night rolls around, Sisters Mary Thomas, Mary John, Mary Edmund, and Barbara Theresa put on their bowling shoes and head for the bright lights and polished floors at Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes.

That’s where their five-woman team — “Sister Act” — holds the top spot in the eight-team, candlepin bowling Hospital League.

“When we started out, we started out a couple of weeks behind everybody else,” said Ellen Lawlor, the team’s sole non-sister. “And when the second half of the bowling league started up [in January], we started getting more points and more points, and all of a sudden, we were in first place.”

“We went from eighth place to first place, and we’ve held first place for four or five weeks now,” said Lawlor, whose husband Joe dubbed the team “Four Nuns and a Wannabe.”

The act took to the lanes this fall when Sister Edith, St. Joseph’s Director of Development, and Charlie Milan III, the bowling lanes owner, talked about holding a bowl-a-thon for the Bangor hospital’s building fund.

“It started as `we’ll have a bowl-a-thon in April,’ and I said if you’ve got to bowl in April, you’ve got to warm up, and so we joined the league,” said Sister Edith, who put herself on the disabled list after bowling three games by herself on the very first night.

“I told them that if we’re going to sponsor this, then we should be a part of it,” she said. “Barb was all excited because she had bowled before, and Sister Thomas is athletic.”

The league hasn’t been the same since the sisters, who prefer to wear their habits rather than their “play clothes” when bowling, stormed the building.

“The atmosphere changed when Sister Act started bowling,” league coordinator Susie King said. “I can’t explain it, but every team couldn’t wait to bowl them.

“It’s hard to explain the atmosphere, but it’s almost like bowling in a church. It’s funny because I remember when I used to go to St. Joe’s Hospital, and I would see the sisters and be like `oh, gosh,’ but now I go into their office and stand there and chit-chat.”

These are not the stern-faced, humorless nuns of your grammar school days.

“I think some of the guys kind of looked at us strangely when we first came in,” Sister Barbara said. “There were a couple of teams that didn’t really want to talk to us much because they didn’t know us.

“I think they were afraid of us. They remembered the nuns they had in school.”

But that attitude changed quickly. The sisters now enjoy a reputation for enthusiastic cheering and laughter — and an occasional dance of glee after a good roll.

The four, who range in age from 36 to 70, have allegedly cleaned up some league members’ acts with their presence, but Sister Edith doubts that particular belief.

“If they want to cuss, they’re going to cuss because nobody’s stopping them,” she said.

The sisters have fallen easily into the groove of lane life.

“They come up and get greasy hamburgers. Sister Thomas and Sister John can’t wait to come up and get hot dogs and hamburgers,” King said. “Like [Sister Mary Edith] said: `You ought to see us at home on the weekends. We’re normal people.’ It’s just that we don’t consider them normal because we put them on this pedestal.”

Feeling their way through the season’s first half, Sister Act built up a 61-27 won-loss record through March 19, putting them four games ahead of second-place The Other Team.

The team also sports a huge handicap of 221 pins. The league’s other seven teams have an average handicap of 151.

“We have to give them a lot of pins to make it fair for everyone,” King said. “You figure most teams have to give them 60-80 pins a night.”

“I knew you had to have a handicap … the first night I think I scored 33, and I thought that was great,” Sister Edith said.

“In our community, we have a provincial superior who has to come once a year for a regular visit to the house,” Sister Barbara said. “Her visit started on a Saturday, and it was going to finish Tuesday or Wednesday. She didn’t know because we are a large house.

“I didn’t want to be rude and say, `When are you leaving?”‘ she said. “So I went to her and said, `Any of us would be happy to oblige with your schedule at any time except Tuesday night. There are four of us who need time out between 6 [p.m.] and 8 [p.m.].’ And she said, `What do you mean?’

“`Well, we joined a bowling league, we bowl every Tuesday, and we don’t miss it,”‘ Sister Barbara said with a sly grin. “She said, `We’ll see about that,’ and I said, `Well, we’re in first place and we’re not losing the title.”‘

It’s hard to argue with that kind of nun’s sense.

Bowl for St. Joe’s will take place April 20-21 at Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes. For more information, call St. Joseph Hospital at 262-1289, or pick up pledge sheets at Bangor-Brewer Bowling Lanes.