Doubt comes to A Nun’s Life

I haven’t seen this film yet but do plan on going with my husband in a few weeks when my daughter is gone on a ski trip. I don’t know Meryll Streep personally but she is related to some friends of the family. She is also from northern New Jersey – historically a stronghold for the Sisters of Charity of Convent Station (very close to New York). Meryll is at least part Irish. I’m not sure whether or not she is or was Catholic but her relatives I know are. I’m wondering if she herself had Sisters of Charity as school teachers. Anyway, I digress.

I understand this film is about some rather unsavory situations within Catholic life. As we know, these situations have and do exist. It is a part of our history whether we like it or not. There is no denying it. Admittedly, this type of theme often makes for a healthy profit. But here is the real question: Is there a specifically anti-Catholic agenda in this film or is it just pure entertainment designed to make money?

Also, a side question, how true to the times is the portrayal of that fictional situation in the early 1960s? Also did the SC wear those bonnets back then? I thought they had those “flying nun” type of veils.

First; an excellent, realistic portrayal of the boy, the sister(s) and the suspect priest. Anti-Catholic agenda: no. And a commercial film is allowed to make money on its investment AND portray serious matter. This is entertainment, yes, based on admittedly large numbers of cases where clergy are in, or seek, situations where potential targets exist, e.g. schools.

Question about the sisters habits. There are many branches of Sisters of Charity including those depicted, with varied habits. The starched white headgear rerferred to gave rise to the name ” God’s Geese.” These were known for their hospital work but I believe they were also school sisters. The 1960s were a time of changing habits and “habits” in the convent. The bonnets were not anacronistic for that time.

Good discussion points: 1. the Mother’s take on the situation: very realistic and even willing to overlook if her boy could get a chance in an antagonistic world. How she walked with the principal and let out her feelings was most striking and not to be overlooked. 2. the priest saying point blank to the principal: We are in charge in the church; you are not, so bug off. 3. The all too typical conclusion for the clergy; well we’ll transfer father to another parish and that will take care of things. Right. The transfer solution was practiced innumerable times. Until the dam broke finally. And of course, the doubt, after all, generated in everyone in the film in the end.

It was the Daughters of Charity that wore the coronets that got them the nickname “God’s Geese.” The Sisters of Chrity wore the same black bonnet that St. Eliabeth Ann Seaton wore, which was the garb of the widows of the Lombardy region of Italy where she was living when her husband died. Some of the SCs still wore a modified bonnet last time I saw some in the early 1990s.

I saw the play when it opened in Boston (you can imagine how interested folks here were, since we were the “epicenter” of the clergy sex-abuse scandals). I saw the movie this week and was very impressed with the acting; however, I thought the actor who played Sr. Aloysius in the play was better than Streep at the end. In that last scene, I thought Meryl Streep “overacted.” It just didn’t work for me. I noticed in the credits that a real-live Sr. of Charity had been a consultant and the film was also dedicated to her–could she have been the real live “Sr. Aloysius”? Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Violet (can’t recall her surname) were excellent. So, too, was Streep–except for that last scene (IMHO).

I will be at work during your discussion so I won’t be able to drop in on the live talk. I look forward to reading it later. I felt the movie was well done, well cast, and well named — yes, I still felt doubt at the conclusion. I think Amy Adams is adorable in her role. I loved the pivotal scene where she did use the glass of the Pope’s picture frame to see the class while she was writing on the chalk board. Everyone in the theater laughed when Sr. Aloysious said it didn’t matter if it was the current Pope or not. There are so many themes that can be brought out of that film.

Sr. Helena Burns did a review of the movie, and I am encouraging her to join the conversation if her schedule permits on the 8th.

Were the sisters worried how the film directors/editors would portray their order? Did Meryll Streep shadow the nuns for research? What was their favorite line or scene from the movie? What do you do when you’re not sure?