A Blog About Being a Catholic Nun in Today’s World

People are always asking good questions here at A Nun’s Life. Here’s a question from Harrison that I thought I’d share with you all …

I am not a catholic, but I love your blog. It’s very refreshing in the midst of excessive online trash. I was just wondering you’ve ever seen the episode of The Golden Girls where Sophia becomes a nun. It’s hilarious. Do nuns get silly when they live together or is it all serious all the time? What do you ladies do for fun?

Hi Harrison! Thanks for hanging out on my blog. I don’t remember seeing that episode of Golden Girls, but I’m sure it was a hoot. I loved watching Estelle Getty!

As to your other questions, I can assure you that we are not serious all the time! We all have our moments of silliness that we share with one another and with others. Most people see the “professional” side of us which might include humor but usually not so much silliness. But, as my friends can attest, we do have fun and we can be pretty silly at times (I write this as I laugh at The Simpsons episode which ends with God, Buddha and the Colonel enjoying KFC popcorn chicken in heaven).

What do we do for fun? Oh, it’s pretty random. I personally am amused at the oddest of things. I’m laughing hysterically at dorky jokes by friends on Plurk while I watch The Simpsons (I multitask). My nuns are also some of the funniest people I know. There are a few of them that tell THE BEST stories. Seriously, you can’t make some of that stuff up! I’m going home next month for meetings at our IHM Motherhouse. Since it’s a multi-day event, they’ve scheduled a “Pub Night” with games, yummies and beverages. If you’ve never seen a group of nuns rumble over Wii or a game of no-holds-barred euchre, then you haven’t lived.

Really, though, nuns have fun in many of the ordinary ways that you have fun in. We like to joke, have fun, be silly and quirky and enjoy people’s company.

Now back to The Simpsons …

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Jesuit writer and film critic Richard Leonard, SJ, told me a wonderful story about being taught by Catholic nuns when he was growing up. The story is about his primary grade teacher Sister Mary Consuelo, an Australian Sister of Mercy, and the holy water font.

Here is my short interview with Richard in which he tells the story.

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In June of this year I had the great fortune of meeting the popular film critic and writer Father Richard Leonard, SJ. Richard is an author and friend of ours at Loyola Press. His book Movies That Matter: Reading Film through the Lens of Faith was published by Loyola Press.

Richard has and international presence, having written and spoken about cinema, culture, and faith on four continents. He is an Australian Jesuit and the director of the Australian Catholic Film Office.

On one of his trips to the States, Richard came to Loyola Press to talk about his work. Richard graciously agreed to allow me to film him for A Nun’s Life. I’ve got some great clips of him addressing his vocation as a Jesuit, being taught by nuns, and also his take on the best films that address the deeper, spiritual side of human beings and longing for God. Stay tuned the rest of this week!

Here’s the first part of my interview with Richard Leonard, SJ, on the Jesuit vocation and charism.

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Nun costumes. Good, bad, or ugly? I’ve received a few emails from people wondering if it is respectful to wear a nun costume for Halloween. As always, the answer is “it depends.”

First I’d like to just mention a little bit about Halloween itself. Though Halloween is “a mixture of pagan, Christian, civic, and cultural influences” it does hold opportunities to celebrate one’s faith and Christian values. See “Celebrating Your Values on Halloween” at FindingGod.org for more info and practical suggestions. Halloween (”hallow” as in “blessed” or “holy”) is also the eve of All Saints Day, a great day in the Church because we celebrate all of those saints of God, living or dead, who are part of our big family of faith through Jesus Christ. Traditionally children have dressed up as their favorite saint and today many continue this tradition. Today of course, we extend this tradition to children’s favorite heroes too.

So, in this context, it is perfectly acceptable for a child to wear a nun or monk costume because she or he is living the best of the tradition of Halloween. It is a chance for children to emulate the people around them (nuns that teach them at daycare or a friar helping out at the soup kitchen) or the saints they read about. This is also a great opportunity for parents to teach their children about these ways of life and explain the respect that the should have when dressed up as a nun, sister, monk, priest or saint. For example, be sure that rosaries aren’t slung at fellow trick-or-treaters. Parents could also teach their children how to say a prayer of blessing so that the children have concrete ways to really get into their character. As a Catholic nun, I personally would be honored to see children respectfully and joyfully wearing nun costumes!

Now, here’s the other side of nun costumes: adults wearing nun costumes. Pretty much all of the above information applies to adults. If you are going to a costume party and the wearing of a nun (or other religious) costume is done out of genuine respect, than I don’t think there is a problem with that.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of adults wearing religious costumes at Halloween are purely for pranks, shock value, and laughs. This is indeed offensive and unacceptable. Rarely are such costumes created or worn respectfully. Do a quick Internet search for “nun costume” and you’ll see that most of the image results are of nun costumes that look like lingerie and come with descriptors such as sexy or naughty. In addition, some pranksters wear nun costumes and pretend to be pregnant or they partner up with guys in priest costumes so as to look like a romantic couple. Others wield rulers or don boxing gloves. There is NOTHING respectful about these costumes. They participate in the worst of nun stereotypes and are offensive to Catholic nuns and the Church. I’d like to tell these people to “grow up” but even children have better sense and than these folks.

Now, for those of you whose children are dressing up in nun costumes or other religious or saintly garb, I’d LOVE to see pictures and post them on my blog for All Saints Day, November 1. Send them to me via email at “post(at)anunslife(dot)org” (no quotes).

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Happy Nunday! I hope this is a beautiful day to start your work week. Today’s Nunday nun photos come from my friend and colleague Michelle.

Michelle writes, “I saw that Monday is nun day & I wanted to submit my nuns. They are both Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. [Their] Motherhouse is in La Crosse Wisconsin & they have the most AMAZING adoration chapel.”

This first picture is of Sister Silvana last winter on a trip to Niagara Falls.

The second picture is of Sister Kathleen “Katie”.

Michelle explains the importance of these Catholic sisters in her life:

The reason I love these nuns is that they really posses the spirit of joy, peace, & hospitality. These sisters make holiness attainable because they really believe that holiness comes from you being “just as you are” (as Merton would say) because you are already holy just by being loved by God. Their arms are always open welcoming me to their home & sharing in their friendship (actually I haven’t meet a nun in their order who isn’t accepting & joyful). They have accepted me through my ups and downs of life and they are so normal & down to earth. For me Silvana & Katie are a symbol of God’s unconditional love & acceptance of me. I’m so thankful that they are in my life!

Thank you, Michelle and Sisters Silvana and Katie!

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Slate.com, the online news magazine, has an interesting but highly questionable assessment of consecrated and monastic life in the article A Monastic Kind of Life: How Catholic religious communities are trying to attract young people again. Have you read it? If not, it’s a must read. I’d love to hear your thoughts on it.

As for me, I found the article not only questionable but just plain wrong. Here are my thoughts.

1. The terminology is totally off. Monasticism is one form of consecrated life. Not all nuns, sisters, brothers, friars or priests live a monastic life.

2. Even though folks are quick to note the decline in numbers for consecrated life, they fail to note that the comparison is always to the early- to mid-1900s when there were 50+ people entering mainstream communities a year. But that time period is not characteristic of consecrated life throughout the history of Christianity. In fact that time period is more of an aberration because the history of consecrated life has never seen that kind of influx before nor possibly again.

3. Consecrated life was never meant to be a life for the masses. The viability of consecrated life is not dependent on numbers. True, some communities do end up disbanding but that too is under the guidance of the Holy Spirit just like the community’s founding was. We are not here to create a legacy but to do the work of God and live the Gospel in this particular vocation.

4. The article says, “The mission of many orders has become simply caring for their aging populations as they sell properties and consolidate with others.” I beg to differ. We always have and always will live our mission AND care for our sisters. There is nothing new about caring for aging populations, selling property, collaborating, and combining congregations. What is new is that we have such large numbers right now because of the major influx from the early- to mid-1900s. We have to be a bit more creative perhaps in how we care for our sisters and deal with our assets, but other than that, we remain vibrant.

5. What the heck is this?

For a time, the life of Catholic religious orders became about social justice issues, psychological issues, peace studies, interreligious dialogue, the ecology movement—everything and anything, seemingly, except the central proposition: that one can know a loving God and be transformed.

I am deeply offended by this statement. It reveals the author’s lack of understanding about consecrated life and about this period of history in the Catholic Church. Read the Vatican II Church Documents, spend time with religious who lived through this time period, and then perhaps you will understand that religious have been and will continue to be centered around a life and mission based on being in relationship with a loving God and working towards the transformation of ourselves and the world.

6. The jump from discussing consecrated life through Vatican II to the recent foundation of Clear Creek Monastery suggests that only newer communities are faithful to the Church and attractive to young people. While the growth in the monastery is great, the newer communities have not stood the test of time to see if young people stay, how new communities will grow and change as all religious communities before them have. It is exciting to see newer communities and the ways the Holy Spirit continues to inspire people. But make no mistake, the Holy Spirit is alive and well in established religious communities who continue to live out their charism according to what Vatican II called the “signs of the times”.

Well, that’s my two cents (or three) on the article.

Your thoughts?

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