Sister Maxine and I attended a screening yesterday for the film “Band of Sisters,” a documentary by independent filmmaker Mary Fishman. Mary’s project took her to our IHM Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan, a few times and since she’s based here in Chicago, we’ve had the pleasure of getting to know her.

Filmmaker Mary Fishman (l) with friend Prof. Avis Clendenen (r)

The screening was attended by a great crowd of people, including many Catholic sisters. We saw Benedictines, Sisters of Mercy, Dominicans, Presentation Sisters, and of course, Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters! Among the folks were “stars” of the film, Mercy Sisters JoAnn Persch and Pat Murphy, and Sister Nancy Sylvester, IHM. Also there was cinematographer Ines Sommers who filmed many parts in the documentary (including a certain convent studio that we all know and love).

Band of Sisters, a work-in-progress due to be finished within a year, is a stunning portrait of Catholic nuns in the United States tracing their journey through the renewal period of the Second Vatican Council up to the present including the current investigation by the Vatican into the lives of these same sisters. The film’s tag line says it all: “Called by Vatican II to renewal and a return to their roots, they shed the outdated rules separating them from the world, put their lives on the line to stand with the poor, and are now in a pivotal conflict with the church hierarchy over who they have become.”

As a woman religious, I am profoundly grateful to Mary for her work and her great care for this project. It is a very real and personal story that allows sisters to speak in their own voice about their lives, their history, and their lived vision now and into the future. Mary herself was educated by nuns in Catholic grammar and high schools. She is also an architect and urban planner with a passion for social justice and filmmaking.

I believe that this is an important time for this film to come out because there has been so much interest and speculation about Catholic sisters in the United States. Underlying some of that speculation has been a confusion about how exactly sisters went from exclusively habited and cloistered and in teaching or nursing apostolates to being a diverse group representing many was to live faithfully the call to religious life. Mary’s film gives viewers a unique lens through which to see how these changes unfolded. Read more about the film.

What can you do? Check out Mary’s website Band of Sisters, sign up for her eNewsletter, donate to help Mary finish the film, and stay tuned for movie clips coming to an Internet near you!

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

Today we celebrate one of Detroit’s own, Rev. Joseph Tobin, CSsR, a Redemptorist priest, who will become Archbishop Tobin tomorrow at a ceremony in Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. I am delighted for Father Tobin and for the Redemptorist community for whom we IHM Sisters have great affection as we were co-founded by a Redemptorist priest and carry the spirit of Saint Alphonsus (founder of the Redemptorists) with us always.

Father Tobin will become the secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic.

The Detroit Free Press has a nice article on our dear Redemptorist brother, Former Detroit pastor set to become archbishop by Patricia Montemurri (October 7, 2010). Here are a few quotes:

The papal appointment makes Tobin, 58, the second-ranking official in a Vatican department overseeing 750,000 religious sisters and 150,000 religious order priests. Tobin will manage a department that has come under recent criticism for an investigation into the lives of American nuns. Tobin has said the controversial inquiry, known as an Apostolic Visitation, has been poorly handled by the church.

“All I can say is that I’m the product of American women religious, not only as my educators in schools, but also as partners in ministry. I can’t betray what I know,” said Tobin, during a recent Free Press interview. “What I have is a very positive experience of working with women religious in Detroit and other parts of the country.”

Montemurri notes that Father Tobin was the leader of the 5,500-member Redemptorist order worldwide from 1997-2009, and hen traveled the globe to visit Redemptorists working in 77 countries.

When asked about the appointment of her sibling to the Vatican, Therese Tobin says, ““No matter what position he has, he treats people very well…. He’s very respectful. He doesn’t do a rush to judgment. I think it’s a great opportunity for him, and I think it’s great for the Vatican to put him in that position.”

Be sure to read the full article which includes the story of the phone call from the Vatican announcing the good news to Tobin and his family!

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The nuns had a wildly fantastic time with our guest Dr. Margaret Susan Thompson on last night’s In Good Faith program. Dr. Thompson, a historian, talked about the history of Catholic sisters and nuns in the U.S. She’s a great storyteller and left us all wanting to hear more! Thanks to our sponsors, you can listen to and download the recording for free! Be sure to join us next week for Digital Ministry, another free and valuable offering from A Nun’s Life Ministry.

Also, the nuns are on the road this evening and will not be having the weekly Ask Sister live show. We look forward to seeing you on Monday for prayer.

In her recent essay “When good (bad) things happen: Religious life in the wake of the investigation“, Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, hits a very key point about how we understand God and God’s relationship to us and the world. She also well articulates many of the positive effects of both the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (an organization representing 95% of women religious in the United States).

Read the article and let’s have a conversation here about our questions, concerns, observations and hopes. To start, here are just a few of the lines that struck me …

The “attribution of direct causality for mundane happenings to God can be a spontaneous reaction to bewilderment in the face of inexplicable evil and suffering, but it reflects bad theology and encourages worse spirituality.”

“God is not manipulating by some giant computer in the sky …”

“God is supporting us, urging us to the best responses to reality of which we are capable and even beyond what we think we are capable of, consoling us in suffering, sharing and affirming our joy, strengthening us in conflict, and enabling us to learn and grow through everything we experience no matter how tragic or overwhelming it may be. But this does not make God the direct and immediate cause of each event that happens in the universe.”

“In short, bad causes, whether natural disasters or accidents or stupidity or human evil, do not produce good results, but human beings dealing courageously and creatively with natural or moral evil can cause great good to emerge for themselves and others.”

“Many people … are beginning to realize that two Vatican investigations of U.S. women religious and their leaders … have nevertheless been the context for some very positive developments. These developments were clearly not intended by the investigations and certainly not caused by them. But God is not limited by human intentions …”

“Perhaps the most important development is the impetus … to articulate much more clearly the theology and spirituality that has developed in and energized the last 40 years of ministerial religious life in this country.”

“Are we taking time to interact with younger women who, as they were growing up, may not have known personally any sisters and perhaps thought of them as timid and domesticated “good little nuns” or “father’s little helpers” but who now are hearing and reading about educated and powerful women religious committed to a Vatican II church and a redeemed world?”

“Adversity often calls out of people conviction, strength and commitment that they were not conscious of possessing. That does not make adversity, especially gratuitous adversity caused by human beings, a blessing, even a “blessing in disguise.””

For more on Sister Sandra Schneiders, check out our recent interview with her on our monthly series In Good Faith as well as other articles we’ve written.

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Join A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today via our live podcast “Praying with the Sisters” and chat room. Just before 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) join us at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE … more info on that page.

Since the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. Women Religious was announced, U.S. Catholic magazine has been researching, writing about, and publishing articles and blog posts about the inquiry itself and the responses of women religious themselves as well as from the Catholic community.

U.S. Catholic has pulled together a collection of all these materials on their website at http://www.uscatholic.org/womenreligious.

We’ve also done some blog posts on the topic of the Apostolic Visitation.

Though there hasn’t been much in the news lately about the inquiry into our life as women religious in the U.S., the process is still underway. I’m not certain but I think the process is now at the point of beginning to select which communities will receive an on-site visit. More later as info is made public. For now, please continue to keep U.S. women religious in your prayers as well as Mother Clare Millea, ASCJ, and Cardinal Rodé and all who are part of the inquiry.

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Please join us at 6:00 p.m. CST (your time zone) for Praying with the Sisters podcast, a ministry of A Nun’s Life. Visit aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

The magazine U.S. Catholic has just published three articles on U.S. Catholic Sisters. Each of them is a “must read”. I encourage you to take the time to read each one and then come on back here to offer your thoughts: what struck you? what do you have more questions about?

1) Entered into Evidence: Women religious respond to the Vatican investigation by Heather Grennan Gary, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 12-17).

This article represents a final report compiled from U.S. Catholic‘s recent survey of Catholic sisters. The survey, though acknowledge to be U.S. Catholic conducted its own “visitation” of sorts, and this final report compiles our findings. The “completely optional, unscientific online survey provided a forum for American women religious to assess the quality of their own lives, raise their concerns about the present and future religious life, and share their thoughts on the visitation process itself.”

Our sisters Angela Hibbard, IHM, and Mildred Baker, IHM, are quoted in the article.

2) Character Witnesses by Heidi Schlumpf, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 20-23).

This article offers the results of “an online survey of U.S. Catholic subscribers and website visitors about the Vatican visitation and doctrinal assessment of U.S. women religious elicited a record 1,700 responses and passionate, lengthy comments. Visitors came from all over the Internet-from both liberal church organizations and conservative Catholic blogs-to take the survey.”

3) The Sisters of Mercy aren’t McDonald’s by Sandra Schneiders, IHM, posted online November 24, 2009 and in the January 2010 issue ( (Vol. 75. No. 1, pp. 18-19)

If you read no other article explaining why Catholic sisters are responding the way they are, read this one. Sister Sandra Schneiders, whose sister I am proud to be, addresses two of the most oft-asked questions about the investigation of U.S. women religious:

• If religious have nothing to hide, why would they object to being investigated by the Vatican?
• Why should religious congregations be any more immune to surprise checks by the Vatican on their quality of life than a fast-food franchise is to a surprise check by the main office on the quality of its operations and products?

Sister Sandra offers analogies of our situation as women religious to ordinary situations that most people are familiar with. Again, a must read.

We look forward to your thoughts on these articles. What struck you? What do you have more questions about?

Amidst all the discussion on and reality of the Apostolic Visitation of U.S. Catholic Sisters and of the doctrinal assessment, there are some really cool things out there that affirm the beauty and adventure of religious life and the women who living this life here in the United States. Here are a couple of examples:

• Women and Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America – “a traveling exhibit sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with Cincinnati Museum Center. It reveals the mystery behind a small group of innovative American women who helped shape the nation’s social and cultural landscape.”
• Thank You, Sister – a letter-writing campaign by “those of us who have been served by or served with women religious to stand in support and express our gratitude for these women who have given us so much.”

A Nun’s Life Ministry is in full support of Catholic sisters and nuns. Our ministry is devoted to connecting with people, to helping folks discern their vocation, and to presenting accurate and authentic information and images of Catholic sisters and nuns in today’s world.

Sister Maxine and I were recently at a Catholic conference in Chicago and gave out “I support Sisters and Nuns” buttons. We still have some left and are offering them now for a small donation of $3 a piece. Donations above and beyond that goes 100% into our ministry. Our goal is to get these buttons circulating across the country and beyond. Supplies are limited but if we have any $ left over, we’ll print another round.

How do you get your button? Send us your name and address, # of buttons, and donation via PayPal with a click of the donate button. It’s not necessary to have a PayPal account to use PayPal. There’s an option to donate via credit card or bank account. (Sorry in advance for the huge donate link … can’t seem to get it any smaller):

Thanks in advance for your support of Catholic Sisters and Nuns.

Sister Maxine and I got home late last night and are getting today’s podcast together. Since being on the road all week, we’ve not had too much time to prepare so this podcast will be a fun one! As mentioned yesterday, we’ll talk about our mission out west this week plus some of the nun news stories from the week. We now have an “ask sister” portion of the podcast where we’ll take your questions and comments on the air (via chat room or call in).

Here’s what we’ve got today:

• Cardinal O’Malley’s letter of affirmation for the Leadership Council of Women Religious — also mentioned is the Thank You, Sister Campaign which you are invited to participate in
• Mother Angelica of EWTN receives the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award  — also mentioned is the book Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles
• National Communicators Network of Women Religious conference in San Francisco — Sister Julie presented on blogging and social media (FYI A Nun’s Life is on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube)
• a visit to Muir Woods and the redwoods and with our friend Sister Pat Farrell, OP, of the San Rafael Dominicans
• The article Confessions of a Modern Nun in America magazine by Sister Ilia Delio
• a discussion on the Apostolic Visitation and LCWR doctrinal assessment
• Ask Sister – a visitor in the Talkshoe chat room asks why there are age limits for entering a religious community

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
Today
12 p.m. Central Time / UTC-5

Join in on the conversation during the live broadcast by listening and chatting in our chat room.

POST SHOW UPDATE: Here’s the link to today’s podcast which was broadcast earlier today.

The investigation of women religious (aka Catholic sisters or Catholic nuns) in the United States has raised many questions and concerns since it was first announced earlier this year. Here at A Nun’s Life Ministry, we’ve received a number of questions about the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization representing 95% of women religious in the United States. Because of the concern that so many people have shared, we’d like to open the door to your questions so that we can begin to address them with the help of experts in the field of religious life and the Catholic Church.

We would like to begin gathering your questions about the investigations. Some of the questions we’ve already received touch on the following concerns:

• why are sisters being investigated? And why only in the United States?
• is this Apostolic Visitation like the Visitation of the Legionaries of Christ?
• why are sisters upset if they have nothing to hide?
• who are Cardinal Rodé and Mother Mary Clare Millea?
• is this a friendly visit?
• why aren’t contemplative nuns and religious brothers and priests being investigated?
• should this be of concern to me as a lay person? as someone who is ordained? as a religious who is not being investigated?

In the next few weeks, A Nun’s Life Ministry will be collecting your questions as well as creating a resource page with information on the Apostolic Visitation and the doctrinal assessment. We welcome all respectful questions. Please use the comment box below or email us at with your questions. We’ll keep you updated as we go along.

This has been the week of new podcasts for A Nun’s Life. Today we are launching a half-hour show called Nun News Roundup which will be broadcast at noon Central Time (time zone converter).

Nun News Roundup features news stories about Catholic sisters and nuns from this past week. Sister Maxine and I talk about the stories and welcome your comments via our Chat Room at http://anunslife.org/live.

This week’s topics include:

A Nun’s Life Podcast Debut - featuring Praying with the Sisters, NunNews Roundup, and special broadcasts (e.g., Vocation Study)

Widespread Interest in Religious Life Generated by Vatican Inquiries – See the recent essay by Sister Sandra Schneiders in NCR

Franciscan Nuns win Rural Preservation Award – check out the Chicago Tribune article and the Sisters of Saint Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana

Mystery Solving Nuns – New York Times writer Patricia Cohen reviews Sister Pelagia and the Red Rooster by Boris Akunin (Random House) sparking Sister Julie’s wonderment at the size of this genre of books

Catholic nuns boost their brain power through meditation and prayer – Now we know why nuns are such good detectives and mystery-solvers! Check out the article about nun’s extraordinary brain power!

And as an extra incentive (as if spending quality time with two nuns is not incentive enough), we’ll have a free giveaway for one lucky listener. So join us at noon Central Time today!

Give us your feedback about the A Nun’s Life podcasts you’ve heard or suggestions for future shows or topics!

POST-SHOW UPDATE: Listen to the recording of this show by clicking the “play” button below.

Sister Sandra Schneiders’ essay on U.S. Women Religious and the Apostolic Visitation is a must-read essay for all Catholics, all people interested in Catholic sisters and nuns and/or in U.S. history, and definitely all those discerning religious life.

The National Catholic Reporter has just published an essay by Sister Sandra Sandra Schneiders, IHM, called Why They Stay(ed) (NCR, August 17, 2009). The essay addresses two sets of questions concerning U.S. women religious that are “roiling the waters” in and outside the church today:

1. Why are religious disturbed about the apostolic visitation?
2. What is the real motivation for this investigation?

What follows is the most lucid discussions on the topic of the Visitation that I’ve encountered. Not only does Sister Sandra address how the Apostolic Visitation is being received by many U.S. sisters and nuns as well as many priests, men religious, and lay people and why it’s disturbing, but she explains what the situation of women religious is and has been since around the Second Vatican Council.

I have to re-read the essay and will offer more thoughts. For now just want to make sure you have seen it. Please bring your questions, comments, and thoughts about this to the comment section below.

Just got word that Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, will be a panelist on the NPR “On Point” program today, Wednesday, July 8. The topic is “U.S. Catholic Nuns and the Vatican” which will probably include discussion about the Apostolic Visitation. One of the other panelists will be Mother Mary Quentin Sheridan, RSM (Religious Sister of Mercy), who currently leads the Conference of Major Superiors of Women Religious, one of two women’s religious leadership groups in the United States (the other is the Leadership Council of Women Religious).

Also on the panel is Sister Mary Traupman, CDP (Sisters of Divine Providence), an attorney who helps senior citizens with legal work, and Laurie Goodstein, national religion correspondent for The New York Times. Goodstein wrote a recent article “U.S. Nuns Facing Vatican Scrutiny” (July 1, 2009) which included a misquote of Sister Sandra when it stated she “urged fellow nuns not to participate/cooperate in the study” — Sister Sandra has requested a correction.

Check your local station for the broadcast time of “On Point” is aired. You can also listen live on the “On Point” website 10am – Noon, 7 – 9pm (ET). The program will likely be available on the website after the broadcast too.

Since the news of the Apostolic Visitation to U.S. Communities of Women Religious, there has been much discussion and speculation about the Visitation and about the Catholic sisters leading the Visitation. One of those sisters is Sister Eva-Maria Ackerman, FSGM. Sister Ackerman is the spokesperson for Mother Mary Clare Millea, ASCJ, who was appointed Apostolic Visitator by the Vatican.

Sister Ackerman was recently profiled in the St. Louis Review, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis where Sister Ackerman has been director of the Office of Consecrated Life.

Sister Ackerman discusses her new role as spokesperson for the Apostolic Visitation.

“I’m grateful for having 12-plus years here to prepare me to understand how important the visitation is,” Sister Eva-Maria said. “I’ve learned a lot from religious, and I’ve been inspired by the generosity and dedication of so many and their witness. I’ve seen how even more important religious life is for the Church, and therefore an initiative like the one that is going to be taking place, with its intended goal of renewing the life of women religious, will only strengthen the Church. Religious life is really a gift in the heart of the Church, and the stronger, the more vibrant religious life is, the more vibrant the life of the Church.”

“I am in awe of what women religious have been able to do despite declining numbers and a higher median age. The communities are still vibrant in a lot of ways, but all of us can grow and renew with great energy. Nothing is impossible with God in this regard.”

I look forward to getting to know Sister Ackerman and Mother Millea as they begin this significant endeavor. Let us pray for both sisters and their work and for all communities of women religious in the U.S.

The Vatican has just announced an Apostolic Visitation “in order to look into the quality of the life” of women religious in the United States. The announcement was made public in a news conference at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, on January 30.

At the news conference, Sister Eva-Maria Ackerman, FSGM, of the Alton Franciscans (Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George) announced that Cardinal Franc Rodé (the Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), appointed Mother Mary Clare Millea, ASCJ, superior general of the Apostles of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, as Apostolic Visitator. In this role, Mother Millea will oversee the process of visiting and studying apostolic women religious communities (not cloistered or contemplative communities) and then submit a report to the Cardinal on “women’s apostolic religious life in the United States and on each of the congregations assessed.” Although there is no deadline for completing the Visitation and submitting a report, Mother Millea hopes to complete the task by 2011.

Sister Ackerman, who is Mother Millea’s spokesperson, outlined the process of the Apostolic Visitation: “First, Mother Clare will solicit voluntary input from the superiors general through inviting them to make personal visits with her in Rome or in the United States,” she said. “During the second stage, the major superiors in the United States will be asked for information such as statistics, activities and community practices. Selected on-site visits will be made during the third stage.” (Catholic News Service)

Says Mother Mary Clare Millea of the task ahead:

“I know that the object of this Visitation is to encourage and strengthen apostolic communities of women religious, for the simple reason that these communities are integral to the entire life of the Catholic Church, in the United States and beyond.”

The website of Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in the United States has more information about the Visitation including the following:

• approach and goals of the Apostolic Visitation
• reference materials and news
• frequently asked questions

As I learn more about the Apostolic Visitation, I’ll be sure to let you know.