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NUN — What’s the first thing that comes to mind?
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “nun”? Risk-takers? Innovators? Entrepreneurs?
The Oblate Sisters of Providence -- Mother Mary Lange, the founder of this religious community, is another foremother you should know! www.oblatesisters.com
The more I study the history of sisters, the more I see the truth of those images. A number of scholars are helping bring those images to light. One is Margaret Susan Thompson, a historian at Syracuse University. In her work, she shows how risk taking and innovation, as well as lots of persistence, are part of the very nature of religious life.
Sister Julie and I often talk about religious life as an adventure, and history helps us see that it always has been!
Here are some examples that Prof. Thompson uses in her discussion about religious life in her article “Discovering Foremothers.” (To listen to a 25-min based on this article, click here.)
What examples come to mind for you?
Mary Ward, [a] seventeenth-century Englishwoman … founded the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a society she envisioned as a female counterpart to the Jesuits: without habits, convents, or fealty to local bishops. [She] was imprisoned by one Pope and who walked hundreds of miles to Rome to win the patronage of another and whose descendants did not … [gain] permission to acknowledge her as their founder until the 1800.
Katharine Drexel, an American … used the millions of dollars left to her use by her banker father (a partner of J. P. Morgan) to found and fund the works of a community dedicated solely to “Indians and Colored People” and who, because her father authorized that only she receive the income from his estate and only for the duration of her natural life, managed to survive until the age of 97 so as to get as much of that income as possible.
Sister Julie and I are delighted to have Prof. Thompson as our guest on “In Good Faith” tomorrow, Thursday, at 7 p.m. Central Time (your time zone). Hope you can join us!
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my response is simpler, though i can see all of those things and more. the first thing that comes to mind when i hear the word “nun” is safety–thank you, sister margaret. the most common thing i settle on when i hear the word “nun,” though, is love. example: i was at a protest and soldiers had thrown a bucket of blood on actor martin sheen and two of my very good friends. what is always a very peaceful protest got momentarily scary. people were angry, screaming. and in the midst of it stood my closest nun friend, sister mary dennis lentsch, pbvm, herself a victim of the soldiers’ demonstration, with a sign that said, simply, “love.” the others who had been sprayed were calm, as well, but there were hundreds and hundreds of nuns there (a whinsec protest in about 2002) and every one of them was serene, peaceful, not getting caught up in the anger the dousing had created. they radiated love in a hard time, and i really believe the very quick return to our peaceful state as a crowd of 17,000 was because of their influence. god’s love cannot be ignored when a nun is in action.
Safety and love — two great descriptors, Marla! Thanks for sharing.
My nun words are strong, brave, and hard-working. The sisters I’ve met all work themselves tirelessly for great causes, and of course, out of love for the people, animals, and places they help.
My nun words: service, love, generousity, faith, trust, virture, example, and compassion.