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IGF003 In Good Faith with Sister Bernie Lynch, MM
IGF003 In Good Faith with Sister Bernie Lynch, MM, recorded live on November 5, 2010. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Our hosts talk with the Maryknoll missioner about her life, the book Bernie Becomes a Nun, and being a missioner in everyday life.
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Guest: Sister Bernie Lynch, MM
Sister Bernadette Lynch is a Maryknoll Sister and was the subject of the book, Bernie Becomes a Nun (1956). She has served as a missioner for many years in Peru, El Salvador and Guatemala and also has worked with families affected by HIV/AIDS. Sister Bernie has been worked with the Maryknoll Sisters mission awareness team visiting U.S. schools and parishes to help educate people about the missions.
Topic: The sisters talk with Sister Bernie about her life as a missioner, including her unique mission around the book about her journey to becoming a sister, and her insight into how each of us is called to be a missioner.
We welcome your questions for our guest. Please submit them using the comment box below or you can type them in the chat room during the live broadcast.
Show Notes:
- the path to discovering her call to become a Maryknoll sister
- the supportive role of her parents and parish in helping her choose religious life
- being missioned to Peru and then Central America
- the adventure of being a missioner
- facing danger and unpredictability and the unexpected in mission
- spiritual grounding during the tough times
- new learnings about God
- being a missioner means being able to receive as well as to give
- the effects of the Second Vatican Council on religious life
- Sister Bernie’s “mission” with the popular book Bernie Becomes a Nun
- how she was chosen for the Cosmo article and why Cosmopolitan was interested in a story about a nun
- working with photographer George Barris who would later photograph celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor
- on recreating the process of becoming a sister with help from the book’s author Sister Maria del Rey Danforth, MM
- advice to someone discerning their vocation to religious life
- Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, the Maryknoll sisters who were killed in El Salvador
- stories of the people Sister Bernie ministered to/with
- culture shock after coming back to the US after almost 40 years in Peru, El Salvador, and Guatemala
- everyone is called to be a missioner in a way unique to each person
In Good Faith is a conversation exploring God’s call in everyday life hosted by A Nun’s Life Sisters Maxine and Julie. Our monthly program features guests who are nationally known for their ministry in spirituality, religious life, and discernment. We’ll look at how our guests understand their own life as a calling and discuss a variety of perspectives on living faith and call in everyday life. The program is broadcast live every first Thursday of the month from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. Central Time. Tune in at www.aNunsLife.org/LIVE.
For more information, including upcoming guests on In Good Faith, please visit the program page of In Good Faith.
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Let us know if you have any questions or topics that you’d like us to discuss with Sister Bernie.
I’m a senior in high school in Louisiana and we’re reading the Canterbury Tales. I have to write a comparison and contrast paper on present day Nuns from the nuns back in the mid thirteen hundreds to fourteen hundreds. I’m wondering if you could tell me what its like to be a nun today, the everyday roles you have to fulfill, what’s daily life is like, and your religious obligations. Could you tell me how that compares with the duties of nuns seven hundred years ago? PS: I would appreciate a quick replay because my paper is due in a few days.
Hi Paul, Thanks for writing. I’m not all that familiar with the lifestyle of nuns back then. This article may help you: Daily Life of a Nun in the Middle Ages. I don’t know how accurate it is, but it’s a start at least. You might research some of the older religious communities such as the Benedictines who would have been around then.
Check out an article written last year by my IHM sister and theologian Sister Sandra Schneiders on ministerial religious life which gives a glimpse of how religious life has changed over time. You might glean some stuff from the Catholic Encyclopedia on the history of religious life.
As to present day, there are many different ways to live as a nun (most are active in the world and there are some that are cloistered), and each religious community (there are over 400 in the US alone) has a unique way of being in the world even though we all live a life according to the evangelical counsels of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. Everyday life consists in three pillars of religious life: spirituality/prayer, community, and ministry. Each sister’s day is going to look a bit different because while we have many things in common, we also have our unique relationship with God and our unique ministries which of course participate in the overall mission of the community. There’s a ton of info on this website to help you get to know what we are like and how we live our life. Use the search box (upper right) or the search page. Also listen to Ask Sister podcast #26 where we talked about what a day in the life of a nun is like. This should give you a good start, Paul. Blessings!
dear sr. julie,
thanks so much for this interview with sr. bernie. I am sure she has inspired so many people who have listened. may God continue to bless her as she lovingly works in His vineyard. and may God continue to bless you and sr. maxine for your tireless efforts to help people discover their God-given vocations!