Today Wednesday is Nunday! Unorthodox, true, but these are unorthodox times, my friends! What with a new website design and new ideas in the works for A Nun’s Life Ministry, we thought we’d shake it up a bit!

And who better to feature today than Sister Rose Ann Fleming, SNDDeN, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, who was recently profiled in The New York Times.

Photo Credit: Barbara Johnson for The New York Times

In the article At Xavier, Nun Works Out Players’ Academic Side by John Branch (March 15, 2010) we meet Sister Rose Ann who is the academic adviser for Xavier athletics .

She was dressed not in a habit, but in gray Nike sweats with Xavier’s Musketeer logo and white tennis shoes. Her hair, nearly all white, is cropped above the ears. She wears a heavy gold cross on a chain around her neck, representing her order, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She cannot help smiling when she talks.

“She’s not that nun you had in first grade that hits you across the hand with the ruler,” said [Xavier Coach Chris] Mack….

She rises at 4 a.m. for an hour of prayer and meditation. Then she usually spends an hour or more at the computer, often researching law cases that she takes on for Volunteer Lawyers for the Poor. (A law degree is one of several she holds, including Master’s degrees in English, business administration and theology, and a doctorate in education administration.) She exercises on an elliptical trainer, lifts weights and swims. Daily Mass is at 8.

By 8:30, she is usually in her office, overseeing two other full-time advisers and two volunteers who help her track Xavier’s 271 athletes in 17 sports.

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Join us for prayer tonight at 6:00 p.m. Central Time on this feast of Saint Patrick!
http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE

AS017 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on March 12, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: discernment, vocation confusion, the Sr. prefix, how we felt when we first realized we were called to be sisters, gifts for nuns, and more.

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• What does the prefix “Sr.” stand for and the initials after a nun’s name?
• I’ve always thought about getting married and having kids, but I’m kind of drawn to becoming a nun. Help! I’m really confused!
• Who helped you as you thought about becoming a sister?
• May I give a gift to a nun for her diamond jubilee?
• How long before you felt at home in the convent?
• How long did it take you between your initial ‘discernment’ and your actual first vows?
• Do you have advice for a young woman who is discerning a vocation to be a Sister?

Do you have a question for us? Call our toll-free Voicemail Hotline at 888-703-4732 and leave a voicemail for us with your question. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast. You can also send us an email or comment below.

“Hello Sister. I am a fifteen year old catholic girl and attending a catholic school. I feel that God is calling me to become a nun. I am planning on finishing high school and then taking to a religious life. The problem is I do not know where to go now that I know God is calling me. Can you tell me where I need to go to become a sister? Alyssa”

Hi Alyssa, Thanks for writing. Here are a few resources to check out on A Nun’s Life website:

• How to Become a Catholic Sister or Nun: a general idea of where to start, what the general logistics are, and some helpful hints from someone who’s been there and is now a Catholic sister
• Vocation Forum: a place to explore vocations to religious life

The age requirements for each community varies some. Some communities encourage you to get a college degree first. They may encourage you to “experience life” since you’ll be just out of high school. But it also depends on where you are at with your discernment, how long you’ve know the community (or other communities), etc. Even if you choose to go to college first, I’d highly encourage you to stay in touch with the community. Visit them during spring break or on weekends or whenever you have time.

Basically the first steps start with you and your discernment with God. What do you feel God is calling you to? What are you attracted to in terms of a lifestyle? How will you grow in your relationship with God and others?

In terms of the more practical “next steps” kind of thing, it is important to get to know some nuns. Have a chat with one, and see what she is like. Go to a talk by a nun. Go to mass at their motherhouse. Check out a vocation day at one of the communities. Spend some time just getting to know a community. It’s just like developing a friendship. In the meantime know that you are doing God’s will. You don’t have to wait until you decide on a particular calling. Live now how God is calling you to live. Develop (if you’ve not already) a regular rhythm of prayer, do some spiritual reading (scripture, writings of the saints, etc.), involve yourself in a ministry. Be faithful to your vocation now as a student. Remember, that too is a calling from God. If you don’t know a community of sisters, ask one of your parish leaders. Also, every diocese has a vocation office so you can check with them too and let them know what you are thinking. There are also some online vocation resources to help you along. Here are a couple:

• Vision Vocation Network
• Catholics On Call

As you get to know sisters and their communities, pay attention to how you feel, and how attracted you are to the community. Do you feel at home? Do you feel like you are growing in your relationship with God? Can you see yourself flourishing as a human being with these sisters? Keep bringing all of this to God in prayer.

There are no right or wrong steps in this journey. And they may not happen in any particular order. But this is sort of the gist of it. Let me know if you’ve got further questions or more particular ones. God bless you, Alyssa.

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Join the sisters for evening prayer tonight at 6 p.m. CST and every Monday through Thursday at http://anunslife.org/live

AS016 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on March 5, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include: novenas, scapulars, nunly traits and characteristics, waiting to enter religious life, discerning a call from God, and more.

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• What is a novena? What is a scapular?
• How do I know what God wants me to do?
• What can I do to prepare as I wait to enter religious life?
• What traits or skills do you need to possess to be a sister or nun?

Do you have a question for us? Call our toll-free Voicemail Hotline at 888-703-4732 and leave a voicemail for us with your question. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast.

Check out this article Heeding founders’ call, women religious combat racism by Kate Childs Graham in National Catholic Reporter (Feb. 27, 2010). Here are some selections (links mine) …

In 1945, when Mary Paul heard God’s call to religious life, she could not enter any community of women religious in her hometown of Philadelphia, including the Sisters of Mercy. Not because her vocation was untrue, but because she was a person of color. At the time, women of color in the city were referred to three orders: the Oblate Sisters of Providence in Baltimore, the Franciscan Handmaids of Mary in Harlem, N.Y., or the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans — communities comprised mostly of women of color. Paul entered the Baltimore order. Her story is the story of many other women of color who were refused entrance to so-called “white” communities.

…

The Sisters of Providence engaged an organization called Crossroads. Founded in 1986, Crossroads provides ways to understand and combat institutional racism, while establishing structures of accountability to people of color. The organization offers a series of trainings that “provide a framework for institutions that are striving to achieve antiracist and anti-oppressive transformation.” They also help institutions analyze any internal policies and procedures that maintain white privilege, and create antiracism teams that “build an intervention strategy to dismantle these oppressive systems.”

The Sinsinawa Dominicans and Sisters of Mercy have also turned to Crossroads. For all three communities, the journey with the organization began with a two-and-a-half day training, “Analyzing and Understanding Systemic Racism,” which explores the history of racism in the United States, how racism still exists in institutions today, and how this affects people of color and white people.

This first training for the Sisters of Providence was in 1997. “We weren’t just addressing personal prejudice,” said Sr. Jenny Howard. “We all have prejudice about something. What made it different for us was that the definition was: Personal prejudice plus misuse of power by systems and institutions equals racism.”

…

However, the work goes much deeper than providing trainings. It is also about looking at power and privilege and the structures that keep white privilege in place.

“As a white person, I am so accustomed to access,” Howard explained. “Any motel, any restaurant, any neighborhood. Yet I know that experience is not the same for some of the other members of the antiracism team. I will never forget the day, when one of our persons of color from our team said to me, ‘Jenny, you can think about racism whenever you want to. I have to think about racism every day of my life.’

“I haven’t done anything to earn these opportunities, these rights, these freedoms, this access,” Howard said. “So, how can we use this power of privilege in a positive way to work together for racial justice?”

Read the whole article Catholic Sisters Combat Racism.

What are you thoughts this?

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

Happy Nunday! Here at A Nun’s Life Ministry we celebrate some Mondays in a special way — Mondays become Nundays when we have photos of Catholic sisters and nuns to share with you. We invite you to submit your own photos of sisters and nuns that you know along with a little description. For more info see our post about Nunday.

Today’s Nunday photo is of Sister Barbara Valuckas, SSND, a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame since 1958.

As you might guess from the photo, Sister Barbara has a bit of broadcasting in her background. She worked as an educational television teacher and producer and later received degrees in Radio, TV, and Film, and in Instructional Technology and Communications. In addition to these ministries, Sister Barbara has also worked as a facilitator and a consultant and as a leader in her congregation. Sister Barbara now works with Pilgrim Ministries, Inc., a facilitation ministry she began for the School Sisters of Notre Dame.

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To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story (how you know Sister) of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

PS029 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 24, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 51:1-13 and Jonah 3:1-10. Feast day: Saint Adela. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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My dear friend and IHM Sister Margaret Brennan recently published her memoir, What Was There for Me Once (2009 Novalis) and last week National Catholic Reporter published a review of the book called “A life of change and renewal” (February 19, 2010).

In Sister Margaret’s book, we find not just a memoir but a compelling and insightful story. Kilian McDonnell, OSB, remarks, “Here is a story of a young girl, sister, novice mistress, elementary and high school teacher, president of the congregation, and university professor in the midst of rapid social change.” Sister Margaret “had a major part to play in developing women’s religious, academic, and spiritual lives in the second half of the 20th century.”

Here are a few quotes from NCR’s review of the book:

This preconciliar church experience was fulfilling and made sense to her — and she embraced it. Of religious life as it approached Vatican II, she writes: “While I was entirely happy in the traditional model of religious life as it had been lived for hundreds of years, I was open to the coming changes.”

The Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary were among those religious who were quick to internalize the Vatican documents and the new theologians appearing on the scene. “To use the framework of [Jesuit theologian] Bernard Lonergan, I would say that for me the change from the traditional model of religious life to the Vatican II model was a process of conversion. In involved a real change in worldview, in horizon.”

“To keep the question of God — and God’s questions — high on the horizon of the world is worth the gifts of our lives,” Brennan says. And, without a doubt, her memoir attests to this purpose.

There are many things I love about this book — most especially to hear the voice of one of my sisters, one who was instrumental in my own vocation and religious life. I also love the way she writes with grace and a confidence in the providence of God. Sister Margaret also fills a huge gap in the Catholic and popular imagination about nuns and sisters. Kilian McDonnell notes this well writing that the book takes us through “the passage typical of many women’s religious apostolic communities from monastic models to religious forms more in keeping with their original active charism.”

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Join us for prayer this evening during our live Praying with the Sisters podcast at 6 p.m. CST at http://aNunsLife.org/live .

PS026 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 18, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 1 and Deuteronomy 30:15-20. Feast day: Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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A group of us were chatting on Facebook that it would have been great if Oprah had shared the story of other ways of living religious life on her February 9th show. So, we decided to draft an Open Letter to Oprah from younger women religious.

An Open Letter to Oprah Winfrey

February 16, 2010

Dear Oprah,

We are younger Catholic Sisters and members of Giving Voice, an organization made up of Sisters in their 20s-40s from all over the United States. We would like to thank you for highlighting the lives of Catholic Sisters on your Tuesday, February 9, 2010 episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. No doubt, this was the first exposure of many of your estimated 7.4 million viewers to the lives of Catholic Sisters.

We are pleased that you were able to share the story of the Dominican Sisters of Mary. It is clear that they are very happy in their religious lives. For this we rejoice! We too are happy in our religious lives. Like the Sisters featured on your show, we joyfully live out our vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. We are women who find numerous ways to follow Jesus’ call to serve others while fully engaged in the world. For example here is a sampling of what some of us Sisters were doing on Tuesday during your show:

• Working as an instructional consultant with teachers of children with special needs in Harlem, NY
• Collaborating with other Sisters on how to serve people who are poor in San Antonio, TX
• Joining 200+ Catholics at the State Capitol to lobby for social service programs in Olympia, WA
• Preparing to teach a class on human dignity to teenagers involved in gangs in Tyler, TX
• Reading applications for a volunteer program with underserved populations in Baltimore, MD
• Wrapping up after teaching school all day in cities around the country

Our lives of ministry and service are grounded in our experiences as members of our religious communities. Prayer is also an essential component of our way of life. The very nature of our lives is communal, not independent. For this reason, we were disappointed and concerned by how we, as Sisters who are engaged in active ministry in the community, were presented on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on your website:

“Some sisters choose an independent path, which means they live alone, go to college, pursue careers and don’t wear a habit.”

We live in community with our Sisters, often in small groupings close to where we minister. We go to college to develop the skills needed to be effective agents of loving service to God’s people. We do not pursue careers, but seek to educate and transform the world as Jesus would. Our clothing is the least significant part of our lives, yet receives so much attention. However, most of our religious communities choose to dress simply rather than wear habits. We are called to be prophetic, giving voice to God’s love in the world.

We would love the opportunity to share more about our lives of prayer, community and ministry on a future episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. We would gladly speak with you, invite you to experience our daily service, or help broaden your viewers’ understanding of religious life in any way we can.

Visit the Giving Voice website to see the 40 signatures. I am glad to have had the opportunity to sign such a well articulated letter.

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Happy Feast of Ash Wednesday! Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer this evening during our live Praying with the Sisters podcast at 6 p.m. CST at http://anunslife.org/live .

PS025 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 17, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 51:3-6,12-17 and Matthew 6:1-6,16-18. Feast day: Ash Wednesday. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a season of penance, reflection, and fasting which prepares us for Christ’s Resurrection on Easter Sunday.

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PS024 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 16, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 94:1-17 and Mark 8:14-21. Feast day: Saint Onesimus. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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PS023 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 15, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 119:65-77 and Mark 8:11-13. Feast day: Saints Faustinus and Jovita. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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AS014 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on February 12, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include finding one’s calling, the liturgy of the hours, jury duty, age limits for becoming a Catholic Sister, immigration, and more.

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• how do I know what my real calling in life is?
• do congregations have problems taking young people because of fear of an age gap?
• what do Catholics think about the issue of illegal immigration?
• can you explain more about the Divine Office — The Liturgy of the Hours?
• do nuns have to go to jury duty?
• what’s going on with the Roman Missal?

If you have a question, please email us at sister@anunslife.org or leave a message at our voicemail feedback line: 1-888-703-4732. Messages may be played on the air!

PS022 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 11, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 106:3-6, 40-48 and Mark 7:24-30. Feast day: Our Lady of Lourdes. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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PS021 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 9, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 84 and 1 Kings 8:22-30. Feast day: Saint Apollonia. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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Tune in this morning for the Oprah Show which features Oprah Winfrey chatting with some of the Dominican Sisters of Mary of Ann Arbor, Michigan and Lisa Ling’s experience visiting their “real-life nunnery”. It airs at 9 a.m. CST on ABC.

I am both delighted and a bit concerned about how this show will go. On the one hand I am delighted for the Sisters of Mary. This is an excellent opportunity for them to raise awareness about their particular way of living religious life. I am excited that Oprah is profiling the work of Catholic sisters and nuns, even if just one congregation, because it helps raise awareness about religious life and maybe even sparks the imagination of someone who is open to a vocation to religious life.

On the other hand, I am concerned about a few things. One is how the sisters will be portrayed. The promo for the show reads: “They’re young and have given up sex, careers and having children to become nuns! Lisa Ling spends the night in a real-life convent.” Now I’m all for a good sound bite to catch people’s attention, but I worry about this one. Sure it does grab attention, but it also conveys the messages (reinforced by the promo photos and video) such as you have to be very young to join, religious life is about “giving up” stuff, and nuns and sisters are not allowed to have a profession. I think this is the danger in profiling only one congregation because there is a huge diversity of ways of living as a Catholic sister or nun, and viewers might get the impression that that particular way is the only way. Now, I’ve only seen the promo stuff so maybe this will be addressed on the show.

A second concern. Already the show has paired two stories — nuns and geishas. A geisha is, according to Merriam-Webster, “a Japanese girl or woman who is trained to provide entertaining and lighthearted company especially for a man or a group of men”. It is difficult to miss the comparison to the image of nuns portrayed by the show. Both nuns and geishas have a particular “stance” in regard to men — nuns “give up sex” and geishas entertain men. Kind of a “good girl / bad girl” thing. Both nuns and geishas have a particular form of dress — geishas wear a kimono and nuns (in this case) a habit. While it is indeed a fascinating comparison simply by positing the two stories next to one another with no commentary, again there are messages being conveyed here.

Well the show is on soon! More later!

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

Happy Nunday! We had a great podcast last night on consecrated life and now we’ve got Nunday! God is good.

Today’s picture and story comes from Sister Catharine Mary Perry, OP, a Dominican Nun of the Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary in Summit, New Jersy. She writes, “Here is a photo for Nunday! It’s not a Dominican but a Sister, Slave of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.”

“This is Sister Christopher Margaret, and I’ve known her for 33 years! I was a little kid when she entered the convent and she and the other sisters of the community have always inspired me by their love for God and our Lady, their dedication and their love for joy and fun! They were my teachers in school.”

“This picture was taken last year at their fall YARD SALE and BAZZAR which raises funds for the school. Sister CM is one heck of a corn dog maker and as you can see by the photo was more than happy to show ‘em off! It was DELICIOUS!”

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To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story (how you know Sister) of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

FP004 Feature Podcast on Consecrated Life with IHM Sisters recorded live on February 7, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include World Day for Consecrated Life, vocations, discernment, Catholic sisters and nuns, prayer, and more.

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Today we celebrated World Day for Consecrated Life by partnering with the IHM Vocations team to offer this hour-long podcast on vocations, discernment, and the lives of Catholic sisters today. We were delighted to be joined by IHM Sisters Carol Quigley, Michele Denton, Joyce Durosko, and Mary Bea Keeley.

PS019 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 4, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Special guest Sister Nancy Lee Smith, IHM. Scripture readings: 1 Chronicles 29:10-13, Mark 6:7-13. Feast day: Saint Jane of Valoi. M – Th 6 p.m.

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PS018 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 2, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 24 and Luke 2:22-40. Feast day: Presentation of Jesus in the temple. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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Sister Mary Daniel was a scholar, teacher and a woman of vision. She championed human dignity and justice for all; she was a strong advocate for those living in poverty. She confronted tirelessly the inequality of women in the Church and in the world. Her life and leadership demonstrate the power and influence of one person. Her prophetic message impacts religious and social change not only for this but for future generations. (from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur)

Sister Mary Daniel Turner, 84, dies; led American nuns

By Patricia Sullivan
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, February 1, 2010

Sister Mary Daniel Turner, 84, the former superior general of the international Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and a national leader among Catholic religious women, died Jan. 27 at Holy Cross Sanctuary in Burtonsville. She had breast cancer that metastasized into bone cancer.

Sister Turner co-wrote an influential 1992 book, “The Transformation of American Catholic Sisters,” and was “a driving force for justice and church renewal before and after the Second Vatican Council,” which modernized the Catholic Church worldwide in the 1960s, the National Catholic Reporter said in its story about her death. In an interview last August with the paper’s editor, “the gentle but frequently provocative Turner lamented that Vatican clerics cannot accept women religious as moral agents.”

“I think the issues are wider than women religious,” she said. “It’s really a difference in values between the church of Rome and the U.S. church.”

Sister Turner appears in a video at the exhibit of “Women in Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America,” which opened Jan. 15 at the Smithsonian’s Ripley Center. Too sick to attend, she learned from another nun that the Vatican’s emissary to investigate American nuns had come to the opening ceremony. Sister Turner “simply suggested that her presence at the Smithsonian might be another opportunity for bridge building,” Sister Camille D’Arienzo wrote in an online memorial. “For decades, she had put her intellectual and spiritual gifts at the service of numerous religious communities. She was a visionary rooted in reality.”

She had ventured boldly into controversy before. In 1985, she was among religious leaders who, when asked their advice, urged a committee of bishops not to write a pastoral letter on women in church and society. The all-male, celibate hierarchy should not write about women without more extensive study, she and others said, noting that the bishops wrote a pastoral on economic justice, not poor people, and about racism, not black people.

While Sister Turner worked for female equality, she also “championed human dignity and justice for all; she was a strong advocate for those living in poverty,” the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur said in a news release.

Margaret Turner was born Nov. 21, 1925, in Baltimore and moved to Washington as a child. She attended Catholic elementary school and graduated from the now-closed Academy of Notre Dame, operated by the order she joined in 1943. She took her final vows in 1951 and graduated from what is now Trinity University in 1959. She also received a master’s degree in philosophy from Catholic University in 1962 and a master’s degree in theology from the University of Toronto in 1972.

She taught elementary school and was principal of St. James School in Mount Rainier in the 1950s, then was put in charge of newly professed nuns who were in college. In 1962, she became provincial superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, a province which at the time reached from New York to Georgia. Ten years later, she was made executive director of what is now called the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a group of about 1,500 top-level nuns who represent most of the 68,000 Catholic women religious.

Sister Turner was elected in 1978 to a six-year term as superior general in the Congregation of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, an international group with provinces in North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia.

After she completed her term, she worked with Lora Ann Quiñonez to write “The Transformation of American Catholic Sisters,” which reviewers described as “an important work that will enlighten and challenge.”

A prolific writer and lecturer, she gave commencement addresses in 1981 and 1989 at the Washington Theological Union. When Trinity gave her an honorary doctorate in 1984, it was because “in her unflinching search for truth she has empowered women to believe in the possibility of a transformed world that is inclusive, collaborative and pluralistic.”

In the 1990s, she was the administrator for Joseph’s House, a home for chronically ill homeless men. After her retirement in 1994, Sister Turner lived in a multi-generational, multiracial household where poor children who had attended the order’s schools came to live or to call a second home. She continued to consult with religious organizations until her death. (article source)

More on Sister Mary Daniel Turner in the National Catholic Reporter.

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

PS017 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on February 1, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 3 and Mark 5:1-20. Feast day: Saint Brigid of Ireland. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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It is Monday which means NUNDAY! Yup, we’re back with photos of Catholic sisters and nuns in our never-ending campaign to help folks get to know real sisters and nuns and to change the face of nun imagery on the web (which, if you haven’t noticed, is heavily populated by nun caricatures and erotica).

Sisters and nuns and lay folks from across the world have been sending us photos and wonderful stories. Today we are featuring a photo from our friend Sister Lovina Pammitt, OSF, a Franciscan Sister of the Sacred Heart.

The photo is of Sister Mary Barbara Hassler and Sister Patricia Ann Murray and was taken during an outreach ministry week in Danville, Illinois.

Sister Mary Barbara works as the Religious Formation Coordinator at Saint Joseph School in Libertyville, Illinois and is the Novice Minister for the community.

Sister Pat has been the Director of Religious Education at Saint Charles Borromeo Church in Fort Wayne, and recently moved to West Virginia to work in social service ministry.

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story (how you know Sister) of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

AS012 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on January 29, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Topics include how to tell someone you have a vocation, calling a nun sweetheart, how to trust God, and more! Special guest Sister Camille Brouillard, IHM.

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

You can learn more about Sister Camille Brouillard on our IHM website.

Here are some of the questions we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• what to say: I’m thinking about becoming a religious sister, but I don’t have anyone to talk to. I have already approached my pastor about it, but honestly, I didn’t know what to say.
• what not to say: Is it disrespectful to say “Hello sweetheart” to a nun?
• relating with God: How do I trust and love God? How do I know that I’m doing it correctly?

If you have a question, please email us at sister@anunslife.org.

PS016 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on January 28, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 132 and Mark 4:21-25. Feast day: Saint Thomas Aquinas. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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PS015 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on January 27, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 89 and Mark 4:1-20. Feast day: Saint Angela Merici. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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Listen to PS013 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on January 26, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 96 and 2 Timothy 1:1-8. Feast day: Saints Paula, Timothy, and Titus. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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Listen to PS013 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on January 25, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 117 and Acts 22:3-16. Feast day: Conversion of Saint Paul. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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Listen to AS011 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on January 22, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry with guest iconographer Sister Nancy Lee Smith, IHM. Topics include non-Catholics becoming nuns, realizing you may have a calling, and relationships.

Sister Nancy Lee Smith, IHM, is an iconographer and spoke with us about her ministry as well as her own calling to religious life. You can find out more about Sister Nancy and her ministry at Saint Joseph Studio.

Questions from listeners included:

• How important is having past relationships to discerning a call to religious life?
• How did you feel when you first started to have thoughts about becoming a nun? How did you react?
• What if you long to find love still, but still think that religious life an option?
• Is it possible to become a nun if I haven’t been Catholic my whole life?
• Are there specific rules for writing icons? What is it like to be an iconographer’s apprentice?

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Listen to PS012 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on January 21, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 56:1-13 and Mark 3:7-12. Feast day: Saint Agnes. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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Listen to PS011 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on January 20, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 144:1-10 and Mark 3:1-6. Feast day: Saint Eustochium Calafato. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

Special guests include Sister Joyce Durosko, IHM, and Sister Terry Milne, IHM.

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Listen to PS010 Praying with the Sisters podcast recorded live on January 19, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Scripture readings: Psalm 89:20-28, Mark 2:23-28. Feast day: Saint Fillan. Monday – Thursday 6 p.m. CST.

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Join us today for the Ask Sister podcast, a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Ask Sister Podcast – Episode 009
Visit ANunsLife.org/live
Today
6 p.m. Central Time (your timezone)

We’ve received a few questions already which I have cleverly categorized with d-words :

• decision: Is being a nun the hardest part decision you ever made in your entire life?
• deportment: What is religious deportment?
• distance: Would living as a sister prevent me from seeing my friends, relatives, or parents? Are catholic nuns or sisters required relocate?

You can offer your questions in any number of ways:

• comment below
• email us any time before the podcast
• comment in the chat room during a live show

In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

The turn of the new year often fills us with ideas and inspirations to try something new, to set out on a new path for the new year. To those of you who have entertained (however briefly or maybe for a long time!) with the idea of becoming a sister or nun, I invite you to consider the following:

Do you long for something more, a something that just can’t seem to be filled by your current work, relationships, endeavors, etc. even though you experience these as good?

Are you interested in deepening your life of faith through prayer, ministry, and community with others who share similar values, vision, and mission?

Are you open to the Spirit and the often surprising ways the Spirit leads?

Are you attracted to the life of Jesus the Christ and to lives of saints and holy people who strove to follow Jesus and live the Gospel?

Do you wish to live and think and “be” in a way that places the common good ahead of other goods such as personal wants?

Are you able to let go of preconceived images of what religious life is or should be?

Can you accept the humanity of yourself and of sisters and nuns and at the same time trust that the Spirit is alive and well in and through our humanity?

Do you feel both attracted to and terrified of the though of religious life, wondering perhaps, why God would call you of all people?

Are you willing to use your gifts, talents, experience, energy, and passion for God’s purposes and for a common mission and life in God?

Are you up for the greatest adventure of your life?

This is your invitation, your opportunity to take a step toward responding to this call. You don’t have to have it all figured out, or rationalize it, or be without doubt or fear. That’s all part of the package. Yo are invited to take a leap of faith, trusting that though you do not know where it will lead, that God is right here with you and will lead you to good.

What do you do now? Start reading and doing any of the suggestions on our page How to Become a Nun. Say something to that sister you admire but were afraid to say anything to about your desire. If you’ve felt attracted to the mission and life of Sister Maxine, myself, or other sisters here at A Nun’s Life, then take a chance and contact us. Check out Catholics on Call. Call the vocation director of the community you’ve been thinking about. Attend a retreat or day of prayer where you can explore how your desires and attractions are part of God’s call to you.

There is only one thing left to say.

Begin.

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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.

Listen to our last Praying with the Sisters podcast from December 31, 2009. Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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.

Tis the season for gift-giving. We’ve received a number of emails about what to give Catholic sisters and nuns for Christmas or as a thank-you gift at the end of the year. Last year we compiled a list of ideas on giving gifts to nuns which we hope you’ll find helpful this year too.

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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Today is our weekly live Ask Sister podcast. This podcast is for you and is an opportunity to ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between! During the live podcast we’ll respond to your questions and comments.

Questions already in the queue for today:

• How do you know if God is calling you to be a nun?
• When did nuns stop wearing the habit? After Vatican II?
• I am baptized a Baptist but I feel a strong pull toward becoming Catholic. Any advice?

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
Today
6 p.m. Central Time (your timezone)

We welcome your questions.You can send them in any number of ways:

• comment below
• email us any time before the podcast
• comment in the chat room during a live show
• calling in during a live show

In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential. So what’s on your mind?

Listen to other Ask Sister podcasts.

It is heart-warming to hear of and receive so many words of support for U.S. sisters from lay people, bishops, priests, and religious from across the globe. Most recently leaders of communities of Catholic women religious in Europe offered their support and encouragement. See the article European women religious send warm support to U.S. sisters in National Catholic Reporter (December 15, 2009). There have also been messages of support from sisters in Rome and in Asia and Oceania. Another powerful show of support is the Thank You, Sister campaign which received over 300 letters of support which will be sent to Mother Mary Clare Millea, Cardinal Franc Rodé, Cardinal Francis George, and Pope Benedict XVI as well as leadership teams of communities of women religious in the US.

The encouragement and support of so many people reminds me of stepping up and simply being present and in solidarity with another who is engaged in a tough experience. There are all sorts of ways that we can show our support, that we can stand up for another and stand beside another. How will we choose to do that today? Who will come across our path who needs a kind word, a breath of fresh air, a helping hand, or just a warm presence?

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

Subscribe to the A Nun’s Life Podcast:

Join us today for the Ask Sister podcast, a place where you have an opportunity to ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between! During the live podcast we’ll respond to your questions.

You can offer your questions in any number of ways:

• comment below
• email us any time before the podcast
• comment in the chat room during a live show
• calling in during a live show

In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

Questions already in the queue for today:

• What are the big differences between nuns and sisters?
• Can nuns wear a light fragrance?
• How do I tell my parents that I want to be a nun?

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
Today
6 p.m. Central Time (your timezone)

So what’s on your mind?

Listen to other Ask Sister podcasts.

This past weekend, Sister Maxine and I stayed with the Benedictine Women of Madison at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Madison, Wisconsin. It was a delight to be with the sisters and with the wonderful community of oblates, retreatants, coworkers, and members of the Sunday assembly. The monastery grounds held so much beauty too — trees, trails, hills, and critters!

Benedictine Women of Madison is an ecumenical religious community in the monastic tradition of Saint Benedict. The sisters community is for single women of any Christian tradition. There is also an oblate community, that is, “an intentional community of women and men who find a practical spirituality in the Rule of Benedict.”

Sisters Lynn, Joanne, and Mary David

Because this is an ecumenical community, women from any Christian tradition are welcome to become a Benedictine sister. So if you are a Christian woman who is drawn to monastic life within an ecumenical context, I invite you to get to know the Benedictine Women of Madison. You can remain as a Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, or part of another Christian tradition and become a sister! To learn more, check out the Benedictine Women of Madison website.

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Join A Nun’s Life community for prayer today at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone).

Happy NUNDAY! Nundays are Monday blog posts that feature photos of real Catholic sisters and nuns. Today we have a lovely tribute from Shannon Spicciati about her nun, Sister Joan Sobala, SSJ.

Last summer I had the opportunity to re-connect with a very special nun, Joan Sobala, SSJ. Her community is Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester, NY.

I met Sister Joan when I was a student at the Eastman School of Music, and attending St. Mary’s parish in downtown Rochester. She was the pastoral associate of the parish at that time. She came into my life at a fragile time for me, spiritually speaking. I had grown dissatisfied with my Catholic faith, and was ready to search for something different. I knew faith was important in my life, but I hadn’t felt connected to the parish my family attended. But, several girls from my dorm hall were going to Mass the first week I spent in Rochester, so I went along.

It was an entirely new experience for me – wonderful music, a community that immediately embraced us newcomers, and a woman (Sister Joan) giving the scriptural reflection! I felt as though she was speaking directly to me, and with such wisdom. I became involved at St. Mary’s in music, and it really was my home away from home during the 4 years I spent in Rochester.

Sister Joan and Helen Halligan (the music minister at St. Mary’s) traveled to Hillsboro, OR, when my husband and I got married in 1995, and both took part in our wedding. This past summer of 2009 was the first time I had seen Sister Joan since our wedding, and it was wonderful to get together in person. She will always be my example of “living faith”.

The photo attached shows L-R, Sister Joan, Helen Halligan, Shannon and her husband Alan at Highland Park, Rochester, NY.

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story (how you know Sister) of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

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?

It has been a while since I’ve offered my thoughts on news items related to Catholic sisters and nuns. The story itself is unfortunate — Sister Mary Gabriel De Leon, a Franciscan sister, had her purse stolen while packing groceries in her car. Thankfully, Sister is okay, though understandably shaken up.

Beyond the story itself, there is much in the reporting of the story that fills me with a variety of emotions, from amused to perplexed. Here we go:

Headlines

Man Robs Nun, Earns Free Trip to Hell

I am rather fond of this headline even though it is theologically suspect.

Thief stole nun’s purse but not her faith

Not so fond of this one though nice attempt.

Quotable Quotes

“It’s worse than stealing candy from a baby.” – bystander

I’m not sure exactly what the parallel is here … nuns as helpless babies?

“Hal joins us live with reactions from the Sisters of the Convent.” – Fox

Granted, most folks don’t really know how to refer to us, our “religious garb”, or our dwelling places. Kudos to those who do try. This one was kind of a mash-up between how to name the sisters and how to identify their dwelling place.

“A Nun is robbed while fully dressed …” – KTLA TV

I’m sorry but this one just kills me. He of course finishes the sentence with “in a religious habit” but by then it’s just too late!

What I really like about this story is the story within the story. After the sister was robbed and later interviewed by the police for details, the officers decided to chip in to purchase Sister Mary a new purse, a scarf, and a gift card.

That earns them a free trip to heaven in my book.

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone). We’ll be keeping Sister Mary, her sisters, and the officers in our prayers. Right after prayer we’ll have our very first ever Food Podcast on the topic of Thanksgiving food, meal prayers, recipes, music, and more!

Who are the most influential vocation promoters of today? YOU! That’s right, I mean you. Parents, teachers, catechists, mentors, and anyone who is in a position to encourage young people are our most treasured vocation promoters because you are in a position to mentor others and to help them see all the possibilities for their life. I would not be where I am today — educationally, spiritually, or vocationally — if it were not for the women and men in my life who expanded my horizons and helped me envision and imagine my life.

To help you help others, we pulled together the popular post How to Become a Catholic Nun into a printable format so that you can make this available to others and also to educate yourself on ways to encourage people in their attraction to religious life specifically or in their desire to discern how God is calling them. Though the post is about becoming a Catholic sister or nun, the message applies to becoming a Catholic brother or monk, and many of the suggestions are helpful for anyone discerning a calling. In the future we hope to create a similar post that is geared toward discerning a call in general.

Here is a link to How to Become a Catholic Nun PDF. (format PDF, 1.4 MB)

There are also many vocation websites out there, places that can help you discern how God is calling you. If there are other resources that we can provide you with, please let us know. If you are a “discerning individual” let us know the ways that mentors have encouraged you!

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Join the A Nun’s Life community for prayer at 6 p.m. today (your time zone). All are welcome.

We are back after an extraordinary time home at our IHM Motherhouse in Monroe, Michigan. In the midst of congregational meetings, liturgy and prayer, and socializing (we did occasionally get sleep too!), Sister Maxine and I were podcasting live from the motherhouse! Each day we had sisters join us on the air with the finale being Saturday night with Special Podcast – IHM Sisters Unplugged! We invited four brave sisters to join us on the air for a live podcast and interaction with you our online audience. In addition, we invited sisters to be present as our very first live audience! We packed the place and were so delighted to share the experience with our nuns!

So it is fitting on this Monday to celebrate our nuns with some Nunday photos courtesy of Sister Joyce Durosko, IHM, our dear friend and ministry partner!

Sister Julie (left) explains to the live audience how podcasting live works while Sister Maxine (right) briefs Sisters Marge Polys and Susan Mahalik (Go Phillies!) on what they’ll be doing.

Just a few of the many nuns who came to be part of the live “convent studio” audience! Sisters Theresa Koernke and Anne Crane are in the audience and took part in the second part of the podcast. The warm setting is the community room of the IHM Sisters who live on second floor, A wing. We are grateful for their hospitality and encouragement!

Be sure to listen to the podcast. Here’s a recording:

We talked about life as Catholic sisters, ministry, how each sister discovered and responded to her vocation, prayer, nuns swimming, dealing with doubt in the spiritual life, anchorites and the eremitical life, IHM charism and mission, entering a religious community, and lots of other things!

Sister Maxine and I are back in our own convent studio and will join you tonight for prayer at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone).

And we’ll be back with more NUNDAY photos and stories coming soon!

November is a month that U.S. Americans traditionally express our gratitude through the celebration of Thanksgiving. This year is special because the month also honors Catholic sisters and nuns. For the past few months, people have been sending in letters to thankyousister.com expressing their gratitude and support of women religious. Now in the month of November, those letters are being published on the same website and also sent to various leaders in the Catholic Church.

Here’s part of one of the letters posted yesterday:

“Over the past seven years, I have had regular contact with Sisters of Mercy. Before I met them, I had never before met a Sister and I’d had almost no contact with Catholics. I’d had a lot of prejudices against Catholics, and I’d expected them to be mean, narrow, simple-minded, and incredibly rigid.

I was delighted to see all of the prejudices of my early years quickly dispelled by the Sisters of Mercy I’ve met and worked with over these many years. The women I have met have been genuinely warm, hospitable, intelligent, well-spoken, deeply religious and spiritual, and they live out the tenets of their faith in such a way that gives me great hope for Christianity. They do not ask what one’s faith is before they give healing or love; they offer their help to all who come to them, regardless of denomination or religion.”

It is a delight to read these letters and to celebrate the lives of so many women who have given their lives to the quest for God and to living the Gospel of Jesus. And it is inspiring to see how people have been transformed through their encounter with sisters — and how sisters have been transformed through their encounter with those whom they seek to serve!

Who (anyone, not just a sister!) has had a transformative influence in your life? What gift have they given you?

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Join us this evening for Praying with the Sisters podcast — 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) at http://anunslife.org/live. We’ll pray with today’s readings from the Bible and take time for prayer requests.

Any remember, Friday is now dedicated to your questions about a nun’s life, prayer, ministry, and everything but the convent sink! Ask your questions through the week and we’ll respond to them during the Ask Sister podcast on Friday at 6 p.m. Central Time

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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Today is Ask Sister Day! Sister Maxine and I receive lots of questions each week about our life as Catholic sisters as well as many other nun-related questions. We take questions about community, prayer, and ministry, and pretty much everything except the convent sink! Let us know what’s on your mind! You can do so in any number of ways:

• comment below on the day of the Ask Sister podcast
• email us at “sister AT anunslife DOT org” any time before an Ask Sister podcast
• comment in the chat room during a live show
• calling in during a live show

In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

Visit ANunsLife.org/live
Today
12 p.m. Central Time (your timezone)

Here are a few of the questions we already have for today:

• Do most nuns have a college degree? Do communities recommend getting a degree first then entering the convent?
• A lot of orders only have old people left in them? How would a young sister deal with that, especially if patience for the elderly wasn’t her best trait!

I am pleased to have Sister Joyce Durosko, IHM, join me today as my guest co-host. Sister Maxine has a meeting but will try to pop in sometime during the broadcast.

We look forward to talking with you. And check out our previously recorded Ask Sister podcasts.

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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We have a special edition of today’s Nun News Roundup podcast at http://anunslife.org/live. The whole show is devote to YOUR questions about nuns, God, faith, prayer, and religious life.

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

We’ve got a number of questions already, for example:

• What do Catholic nuns have to give up to become a nun, other then marriage or sex? Do nuns give up jewelry and music and many things like that?
• Is true forgiveness “unconditional”? Should our forgiveness of someone require the offender to be “worthy”?
• Why it is so hard to have enough courage to follow your heart?

We’ll take your questions and comments throughout today’s show. You can share them in the comment box below or join us for the live podcast today! It’s easy to listen to the podcast. Visit the link above for info. Don’t miss this show!

Listen to other Ask Sister podcasts.

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.

This is the final in a series of three posts on Saint Teresa of Avila. The whole piece was originally published in VISION, the Catholic Religious Discernment Guide.

Read the first part My BFF is a 16th century nun, Teresa of Avila and the second part Teresa of Avila’s desire to give her life to God.

A leap of faith

Teresa spent a year and a half living with the nuns. Still, she resisted becoming a nun, saying, “I could not be persuaded to be one” (Life 3.2). Though obviously attracted to the life, Teresa needed time to adjust to the possibility of God calling her to religious life. Like Teresa we are often given the same challenge of imagining our life in a different way. Teresa says little about how or even if she resolved her questions, but we do know that she decided to become a nun anyway. She was able to set aside her doubts and fears and respond to God’s call.

This didn’t mean that Teresa’s life was easy once she made the decision to become a nun. Explaining her call to family and friends proved to be a challenge. Her father so loved her that he couldn’t imagine letting her leave for the convent until after he died. Nothing Teresa said or did could change his mind. But Teresa wished to remain true to the call from God. She knew herself well enough to know that if she didn’t pursue God’s call now, she might never do it. So early one morning, Teresa quietly left her father’s house for the convent: “I remember, clearly and truly, that when I left my father’s house I felt that separation so keenly that the feeling will not be greater, I think, when I die. For it seemed that every bone in my body was being sundered” (Life 4.1).

The pain which Teresa wrote about here is real. Whether it be family or friends, careers or possessions that we want to hold onto, God’s call is all-encompassing. It is a call to be open to radical change in our lives, if that’s what God asks of us.

Filled with a new joy

Teresa entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in 1533, took the habit, and eventually professed solemn vows as a Carmelite nun. Her initial struggle gave way to a lasting joy: “[God] gave me such great happiness at being in the religious state of life that it never left me up to this day, and God changed the dryness my soul experienced into the greatest tenderness. All the things of religious life delighted me, and it is true that sometimes while sweeping, during the hours I used to spend in self-indulgence and self-adornment, I realized that I was free of all that and experienced a new joy that amazed me.” (Life 4.2)

When I first began considering religious life, I never would have imagined I’d experience this “new joy” of which Teresa wrote. But the experience of responding to God’s call and eventually professing my vows as an IHM Sister was a joy that I’d never felt before. I felt like a new person, yet more myself than ever.

Trusting in God Always

All along the way, it helped to have Teresa by my side. Today she is still very much a companion. Sometimes I turn to her writings for encouragement, other times for help in a pastoral or theological quandary. Whenever I have questions about prayer or don’t quite understand how the Spirit is moving in my life, I pray and seek guidance from Teresa. Even Teresa’s own tangles with God (once, when complaining of her suffering, Teresa heard Jesus respond, “This is how I treat my friends” to which Teresa rejoined, “No wonder you have so few!”) give me assurance that my struggles are not out of the ordinary and that there is a way through the darkness.

Although I have known Teresa for many years now, I continue to discover new things about her. Recently, I read a book of her letters. The letters reveal a woman who was deeply committed to a contemplative life but who was, of necessity, engaged in what one commentator calls “a maelstrom of activities.” Sometimes this maelstrom got the best of her. Wrote Teresa, “With so many duties and troubles … I wonder how I’m able to bear them all” (Letter 39 in The Collected Letters of St. Teresa of Avila).

As a religious I can identify with this constant balancing of prayer, ministry, and community life. It is both a joy and a challenge to live this life. Religious life calls us to our best selves and often summons strengths and gifts that we didn’t even know we had. I’m sure on more than one occasion Teresa was surprised to see how things worked out or what paths opened up that she could have hardly imagined. Perhaps some of the best advice that Teresa has ever given to me is to trust always in God, even when things are tough or unclear. She reminds me that determination is indeed a virtue and a necessity in the life of faith.

“Have great confidence,” Teresa wrote, “for it is necessary not to hold back one’s desires, but to believe in God that if we try we shall little by little, even though it may not be soon, reach the state the saints did with his help. For if they had never determined to desire and seek this state little by little in practice they would never have mounted so high.” (Life 13.2)

* * *

What struck you about Teresa’s life and her desire to trust always in God? If you could ask Teresa anything, what would it be?

* * *

Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer today at noon Central Time at http://anunslife.org/live.

The feast of Saint Teresa of Avila is just around the corner on October 15. I am delighted because Teresa is such an important person in my life. I never had any idea that someone who lived in the 16th century could become a close companion in my own life today. It underscores the power and presence of the Communion of Saints.

In honor of Saint Teresa, I am devoting this week’s posts to her. What follows is a piece I wrote last year for VISION, the Catholic Religious Discernment Guide sponsored by the National Religious Vocation Conference and published by TrueQuest Communications.

Introduction

As a 21st century nun ministering in the digital world, I try to stay on top of the latest technology so that I can best serve the people who visit my website, aNunsLife.org. But when it comes to living religious life, I’m old-school. One of my greatest mentors is Teresa of Avila, a 16th century Carmelite nun from a small town in Spain. Teresa is best known for her writings on prayer and reforming the Carmelite order. She is venerated today as a great saint and Doctor of the Church.

Personal Connection to Teresa

My first encounter with Teresa was in grade school, when I needed to take a saint’s name for Confirmation. Teresa seemed as good a saint as any. I chose her name and then pretty much forgot about her.

But Teresa did not forget about me. Over the years Teresa remained with me, waiting, it seemed, for me to come by her convent cell and chat awhile.

That day came one Fall morning in a graduate theology class in which I was introduced to Teresa’s writing. I took an immediate liking to Teresa. She wrote of ordinary, everyday stuff and of profound theological truths. I discovered that Teresa was a wise woman from whom I could learn much about the spiritual life. At that time, I had no idea how important Teresa would be for me in the months and years ahead, when my world would be turned upside down by the possibility that maybe, just maybe, God was calling me.

I first read Teresa’s classics, Interior Castle and Way of Perfection, because I needed to write a paper for a class. But soon I began to realize that Teresa’s words were there not just for me to study. I felt a personal connection. Through her writing Teresa was alive to me. She gave me insights not only into our shared Catholic faith but into my own self and how I was living the Gospel.

Later in my studies, when I began considering religious life, I returned to Teresa. I wanted not to study her writings, but to see what she was like as a nun. I wondered if Teresa had any of the same questions as I now had. Did she know for certain that God was calling her to religious life? Did she resist or doubt or panic at the thought? Hoping to get a glimpse into how Teresa realized her call from God, I turned to her more autobiographical work, The Book of My Life.

To be continued tomorrow … Teresa of Avila’s desire to give her life to God

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How is Teresa of Avila present in your own life? What would you like to know about Teresa?

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Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer today at noon Central Time at http://anunslife.org/live.

Happy Nunday! Hot of the press is a photo and article about Sister Anne Higgins, DC, a Daughter of Charity. Sister Anne is a Catholic sister and a poet! Check out her blog of poetry at Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky. A link to her blog can also be found in our director of Blogs by Catholic Nuns.

Sister Anne was recently featured in The Frederick News-Post in the article Mount teacher’s poetry writing talent is a gift, not a compulsion by Marge Neal (October 04, 2009). Here’s a clip from the article and, of course, a photo of Sister Anne:

The Mount St. Mary’s University teacher leads classes in English, theology and poetry. As a member of the Daughters of Charity, she lives her faith on a daily basis. As a teacher at a Catholic university, she gets to share that faith with her students while getting them excited about the written word, another passion of hers.

“I’ve been writing my whole life,” Higgins said Thursday. “I probably started writing poems in fourth grade, just regular little rhyming poems.”

Sister Anne Higgins, DC; photo by Graham Cullen

Sister Anne’s fourth book of poetry, “How the Hand Behaves,” is set to be published Nov. 8 [Note: Correction to article: publish date = Nov. 30; also, hyperlinks mine].

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This week, the Praying with the Sisters podcasts are prerecorded because Sister Maxine and I are out and about on mission this week. So each morning we’ll have a link to the day’s prayer. We invite you to email your prayer requests to us so we can keep you in prayer. We’ll be back live on Friday at noon Central Time (UTC-5) for Nun News Roundup at http://anunslife.org/live. Here’s today’s prayer:

We’ve got an exciting day here at A Nun’s Life Ministry as we prepare for today’s Nun News Roundup podcast. As mentioned in a post earlier this morning, the US House of Representatives has passed a resolution honoring Catholic Sisters in the US. Wow! I didn’t know they could do things like that!

Sister Maxine and I are going to chat about the House Resolution on today’s podcast as well as other news on the nunfront. Here’s a peak:

• London’s Oldest Nun parties at Sister Act??? – a story about Sister Josephine Deviney of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Bordeaux
• a new initiative highlighting the work of women religious around the world
• the House Resolution honoring the work of women religious in the United States
• big news for the Little Sisters of the Poor – a Nun Run to support their ministry and preparing for the canonization of their founder Jeanne Jugan!
• Sister Julie’s visit with the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the IHMs from Immaculata, Scranton and Monroe — see an earlier post on her OSPIHM visit
• a Shoutout to CAVA
• an opportunity to ask the sisters any question about life as a nun

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. We’ll include your questions and comments from the chat room on air. We’ll also have links here to all the stories and the podcast itself after the broadcast.

I am delighted to announce that my community, the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters of Monroe, Michigan — are offering a Come & See Weekend for women who are attracted to our way of life and want to learn more about becoming an IHM Sister.

The weekend is October 23-25 and it will be hosted by Sister Mary Bea, IHM Vocation Director, and myself. All the info is below. If you have any questions or wonderings, feel free to contact Sister Mary Bea or to email me (be sure to add in the @ and . symbols of my email).

This weekend might be for you or someone you know if …

• you are a woman around 18-55 years of age who is attracted to religious life and wants to learn more about IHM Sisters
• you feel a longing to deepen your relationship with God and want to express this in a life-long commitment
• you’ve met an IHM Sister and thought, Hey, she’s pretty cool. I’d like my life to also have that same sense of joy, prayerfulness, and desire to serve others.
• you know someone who seems to have a calling to religious life and would be at home with the IHM Sisters life and mission

IHM Come and See
October 23-25, 2009
Friday 7 p.m. to Sunday 12:30 p.m.

Come to:

• Join in formal and reflective prayer with the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters
• Learn important tools and dimensions of a fruitful discernment
• Discover our IHM history, passion for justice, and our mission to care for creation
• Spend time in our “green” Motherhouse
• Share your stories with our wisdom figures and newly vowed sisters

Register now:

• Contact Sister Mary Bea, IHM Vocation Director, at 734-240-9820 or via email
• We can welcome up to 10 women for the Come & See Weekend
• Please register by October 16, 2009

Location:

IHM Motherhouse
610 West Elm Avenue
Monroe, Michigan 48162
www.ihmsisters.org

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Join Sister Maxine and me for prayer today
at 12:00 p.m. noon Central Time (UTC-5)
at anunslife.org/live

This past weekend I was home in Monroe at our IHM Motherhouse for a gathering of sisters from the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the 3 Immaculate Heart of Mary communities (Immaculata, Scranton, and my community of Monroe). This is the fourth year that I have been part of this group. I’ve written in the past about what the group is like (see posts from 2006 and 2007) so today on Nunday I thought I’d share some photos of our weekend gathering in Monroe, Michigan, at our IHM Motherhouse. Many thanks to Sister Fran Fasolka, IHM (Scranton) for the beautiful photos.

Sister Mary Anne Bolger, IHM (Immaculata) enjoying desert in the Ice Cream Room. Independent Dairy ice cream is a big-time local favorite!

The OSP IHM Sisters of the Round Table

Sister Jill Kress, IHM (Monroe) Novice, Sister Clarice Proctor, OSP, Sister Fran Fasolka, IHM (Scranton) visiting "the Barn", the IHM House of Prayer

OSP IHM Board of Directors 2009 at the IHM Motherhouse, Monroe, Michigan

Be sure to check out our new OSP IHM Website created by Sister Fran Fasolka, IHM (Scranton), and Sister Kathy Burns, IHM (Scranton).

And don’t forget to join Sister Maxine and I today — and every weekday — at anunslife.org/live for a live podcast. There’s a link in the top menu labeled LIVE SHOWS.

I have been meditating on the Vow of Poverty this morning after reading comments on the Nun News Roundup podcast we did on Friday.

Jean raises some very good questions about discerning a call to religious life and encountering the question of privilege. Here’s what she wrote in part:

I am struggling mightily with a concern that 21st century American religious life may place many of its new or younger entrants (post-1990s, say, and I did just pull that out of my hat) in a tremendously privileged life and socioeconomic/cultural class in this society. That the matter of who legally owns the resources can be, in real terms, very much “semantics”, placing many religious and communities well and even deep within the ranks of the “non-poor” in terms of both concrete resources and the stew of privilege (or not) that is “class”, a powerful possibility in this society.

Jean, poverty and the vow of poverty are not easy realities to get one’s head around! But it is good to tangle with them as you are considering your calling in life and exploring religious life. I pulled your comments to the fore because I know I thought about them when I was discerning religious life (still do!) and I know others are as well. So I think this conversation will be helpful to many. All are welcome (as always) to participate in the conversation.

Although not all sisters and nuns profess a vow of poverty, one of three evangelical counsels (the other 2 are chastity and obedience … Jesus’ advice to those who wish to dedicate their lives to God), all religious strive to live this virtue in their personal and communal life.

Here are a couple of my thoughts on the vow of poverty … one comes from my reading of Pope Benedict XVI’s book on Jesus of Nazareth and the other comes from a visitor’s question a while back about the different dimensions of poverty. It’s important to note that poverty in the sense of the vow, the evangelical counsel, is not the same as poverty in the sense of destitution or lack of subsistence or means of supporting oneself or one’s family.

I would like to hear more from you about the topic of living poverty as a religious. If you are a sister or nun, what does this mean for you? If you are discerning like Jean, what concerns do you have? And for all visitors, do you find echoes of the evangelical counsel of poverty in your own life?

P.S. Join us for prayer at midday today — live at noon Central Time.

Today’s post continues a conversation from the last few days about Sister Sandra Schneiders’ writing. Sister Sandra has written and presented much on Religious Life. To each endeavor she brings herself and the variety of “coordinates” from which she speaks: a Catholic woman, an IHM Sister, an internationally recognized scholar in Scripture and in Religious Life, Professor Emerita at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley.

When addressing topic it’s not always easy (or desirable) for an author to speak only from one “coordinate”. In this context we’re talking about the specific issue of Religious Life, which is my lived experience and also the lived experience of my IHM Sister Sandra. It’s not always easy or even possible to separate oneself from the subject of inquiry.

Dr. Margaret Susan Thompson, known as “Peggy” here at A Nun’s Life, has graciously given us permission to post an essay she wrote on this topic. Click on the link below to view a PDF of her essay.

Concentric Circles of Sisterhood

Introduction to Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Monroe, Michigan (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997)

by Margaret Susan Thompson, PhD

Associate Professor of History and Political Science at Maxwell School of Syracuse University

A note about the use of “feminist” in Building Sisterhood: A Feminist History of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary … The IHM congregation has a long history of what today we would call “feminism.” The word has many different meanings. It’s rooted in the belief that all people deserve respect, equality, and justice. Many women around the world lack these things and suffer as a result. In this regard, feminists are women and men who desire a world where the fullness of life is available to all people. “Feminism” also refers to a perspective. For much of recorded history, the experience of women was articulated by men. Feminists are women who articulate their own experience as women, and this can yield a perspective on events, such as the birth of a child or the decision to enter religious life, that may be very different from the perspective of men.

There’s more information about the feminist perspective in Dr. Thompson’s introduction to Building Sisterhood.

The National Catholic Reporter has a new article posted by Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM, called Discerning Ministerial Religious Life Today (September 11, 2009). In this article, Sister Sandra helps explain why it is that all nuns do not wear a habit, live in a cloister, or pray the horarium. Essentially Sister Sandra is filling a gap in people’s experience of women religious. Many people have had experience of or heard about sisters who live a monastic form of religious life and sisters who live an apostolic or ministerial form of religious life. But it’s not always easy to explain how we got the two or how the two are similar and how they are dissimilar.

This essay is also a kind of continuation of a discussion on religious life by Sister Sandra in recent publications: the essay Why they stay(ed), the personal email that NCR published, We’ve given birth to a new form of religious life, and the address she gave to the IHM Congregation, God So Loved the World … Ministerial Religious Life in 2009.

In this latest piece, Sister Sandra, a member of my own IHM community, responds to the question, What is ‘apostolic Religious Life’? which, as she notes, has been answered though often times with misinformation. The question appears in various forms, often around three main questions about lifestyle:

“Is culturally conspicuous, uniform garb (habit), fixed group dwelling from which members exit only by necessity and from which non-members are excluded (enclosure, cloister), and a daily schedule including shared meals, work, and especially the oral recitation of prescribed texts and vocal prayers, e.g., divine office, litanies, at several fixed times a day (horarium) essential to Catholic Religious Life as such?” The short answer is “no.”

The article goes on to provide a longer answer contextualized within history, scripture and theology.

This is a very important piece of writing and I recommend that you take a read, especially if you are considering religious life or know someone who is. Use it as a starting point to explore some of the issues and insights that Sister Sandra has raised. Whether or not you agree with what she has written, she has done a good job at naming the significant issues that can create confusion and misinformation.

Discerning Ministerial Religious Life Today
(National Catholic Reporter, September 11, 2009)

Please read the article and then join in the conversation below. (NB: The conversation actually got started on another post here so I moved those comment over here.)

Friday is here and that means it’s time for Nun News Roundup podcast day. One of the stories that we are going to talk about today is on the Eucharistic Congress which starts today in Washington, DC. As I was pulling together information about the Congress, I stumbled upon one of the presentations. It’s called “To Be Lovers of Life: The Legacy of My Mother, St. Gianna Beretta Molla”. Did I read that right? I wondered …. “my mother, Saint Gianna”? I don’t think I remember ever having encountered a saint whose still had a living child upon being canonized. Do you know of any? If so, let us know — comment below or join us during the live podcast in the chat room.

Here are the other stories we’ll be chatting about …

• a Catholic Sister who knows a thing or two about uranium — Who’s Who in Green: Dr. Rosalie Bertell, Anti-Nuclear Nun (September 5, 2009). Sister Rosalie Bertell is a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart, a nuclear science researcher, a human rights activist and author of The Impossible Will Take a Little While
• remembering Mother Teresa of Calcutta — Christians, Hindus and Muslims remember Mother Teresa, a woman of “Charity in Truth” (September 5, 2009)
• the Eucharistic Congress and Saint Gianna Beretta Molla
• a new book called Loreto in Australia (2009) about the Loreto Sisters of Australia who were founded by Mary Ward.
• how a nun figures into the creation of Hummel figurines — Hummels Regain Fragile Foothold on Life (New York Times, September 8, 2009) about Franciscan nun, Sister Maria Innocentia, born Berta Hummel
• an interesting coincidence for Sister Julie — meeting one of the nuns we reported on during last week’s Nun News Roundup at the meeting of Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants
• a nun birthday — Sister Maxine and Sister Julie celebrate the natal anniversary of their friend Sister Mary Jane of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

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

You can join in on the conversation during the live broadcast by listening and chatting in our chat room. We’ll include your questions and comments from the chat room on air.

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

Today we have a special guest post by our friend Moira Urich. If you like to travel and enjoy hanging with nuns and monks, this book may be for you!

Good Night and God Bless: A Guide to Convent & Monastery Accommodation in Europe: Austria, Czech Republic, Italy
By Trish Clark

If you’re expecting hair shirts and barren cells, this book will surprise you with entries describing modern guestrooms, occasional three-star-hotel-caliber amenities, and even thermal spring health spas run by sisters in Austria. Readers seeking solely spiritual sanctuary can limit themselves to the Spiritual Retreat entries. But the vast majority of lodgings are categorized as Open Houses, meaning open to tourists looking for simple but good quality accommodations at lower cost.

For those who want to see photos before booking, most if not all of the convents and monasteries either have their own web presence or are featured on travel sites. Good Night & God Bless is a good bet whether it’s your sole source of travel information or it’s a valuable starting point for those wanting to find out more online (for instance, more detailed maps). The book also offers information not easily found–or simply not found–on other websites.

The entries routinely provide information about:

• Contemplative or spiritual destinations in the vicinity, as well as pilgrimage sites
• Notable artworks in or near your lodging
• Off-the-beaten-path activities such as truffle-hunting excursions, outdoor markets, and day-long cooking classes
• Shops that feature hand-crafted goods
• Restaurants and cafes, in the Food and Drink section accompanying each entry

What other book about monastery lodgings would tell you where to find a great beer-bath spa in the Czech Republic? Or where to find an organic buffalo farm for tasting fresh Italian buffalo mozzarella? This book’s helpful tidbits of information, too numerable to categorize here, make it well worth your while.

Book review by Moira Urich

It’s Friday and that means it is Nun News Roundup podcast day. Today Sister Maxine and I review and comment on stories about nuns in the news this week. You can join in on the conversation during the live broadcast by listening and chatting in our chat room. We’ll include your questions and comments from the chat room on air.

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

Here are the stories we’ll talk about –

• Chicago nuns on a mission from God
• Catholic Sister Bests Biker Priest
• Ironman Nun
• Uma Thurman a Nun?
• The Top 5 Goofy Nun Movies
• Sister Maxine’s stunning visit to the Notre Dame archives

Michelle Jones from “Down Under” is the winner of A Taste of Heaven: A Guide to Food and Drink Made by Monks and Nuns by Madeline Scherb (Tarcher/Penguin, 2009). Michelle submitted her entry for the most compelling nun story: ‘Sooky’ Nun Helps Save Distressed Sailor in the Canberra Times (12/12/2005) about Sister Therese Mills of the Missionaries of God’s Love.

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.

It is Monday and today we celebrate another NUNDAY! It’s been a while but Nunday is still alive and kicking! I invite you to send in your photos and stories about the nun featured in the photo. For more info check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Today’s Nunday photo is of Sister John Catherine, OP, and Sarah Wooten at All Saints after the Baccalaureate Mass.

Sarah writes …

Sister John Catherine of the Nashville Dominicans taught me senior year of High School. She always taught with great passion and love. Class was always entertaining and special. She helped me regain my faith and God used her to convert me to Catholicism. She would do anything, she could to help a student who was having struggles in their lives. I enjoyed learning about religious vocations from her. She opened my eyes to think of what God wants me to do. Now I have religious life on my mind constantly. She was one of the many Angels God has sent me throughout my life. She has amazing zeal and love for Christ. Anyone who gets to experience her presence are truly blessed. She has many talents but one is playing sports in her habit.

Thanks, Sarah! And blessings to you.

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.

A new documentary about Catholic Sisters and Nuns has just been released. Interrupted Lives: Catholic Sisters Under European Communism is a one-hour documentary that “explores the experiences of Greek and Roman Catholic Sisters of Eastern and Central Europe sisters who at the end of World War II were trapped under Soviet domination as Josef Stalin seized control.” (source: USCCB press release)

The documentary will be released to ABC stations and affiliates later in September and hopefully we’ll have a copy soon so that we review it here on A Nun’s Life.

The executive producers are Sisters Margaret Nacke, CSJ, and Mary Savoie, CSJ, both Sisters of Saint Joseph of Concordia, Kansas.

The sisters realized the urgency (because of the age of sister survivors) of interviewing sisters who had “endured imprisonment, exile to Siberia, forced farm and factory labor, deportation, seizure of their schools and hospitals and expulsion from their convents.” (source: USCCB press release)

Preserving the stories of the extraordinary courage and unwavering commitment of these sisters is important historical data for the archives of the Catholic church.  Every effort was made by the Soviet communists and their satellite countries to suppress all activities of the sisters, depriving them of ministries that would in any way influence others and placing them in works that would negate any contact; therefore, whether on farms, in factories, caring for the elderly or incarcerated in prisons, sisters seemed undeterred in living their faith. (source: Sisters of Saint Joseph, Concordia, Kansas)

For more info on the making of the documentary, check out the Sisters of Saint Joseph link above and a 2003 article by Margot Patterson for the National Catholic Reporter “Preserving the gospel stories of today: Project seeks to record Catholic experience under communism” (September 19, 2003).

Celibacy is a way of life for Catholic sisters and nuns as well as for religious brothers and monks. But what is celibacy and how does one live celibacy, especially in a society that can be both sex-obsessed and a bit prudish about sex?

Before talking about celibacy, I think it’s important to point out that celibacy is not a condemnation or rejection of sex. And celibacy (as well as sex) relates to a lot more than the physical act of having sex. “Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul. It especially concerns affectivity, the capacity to love and to procreate, and in a more general way the aptitude for forming bonds of communion with others. (Catechism) Also important to note is that there is a difference between celibacy and chastity.

Okay, so celibacy. I’m responding in part from a reader’s email asking for a post on celibacy — not just an “academic” approach to what it is but sisters’ own personal witness to the celibate life.

As she noted, it’s not all that often that we celibate folks talk about it from a personal standpoint. I think mostly that’s because it is has to do with one’s sexuality and is indeed personal. Still, since celibacy isn’t mainstream, I think it’s important that we do talk about it with some degree of candor while also respecting personal boundaries. I was blessed to have a couple nuns whom I could ask any thing and it was through their own experience and witness to celibacy that I could find answers to my own questions and carve out a way of understanding what God’s particular call to me.

The only thing I knew about celibacy in religious life, prior to knowing my nuns, is that it meant NO SEX. It was something that was half-admired, but also half-mocked. Are nuns celibate because they “can’t get a guy” or because they are sexually repressed? Is it a special calling for only the holiest of holies? Does God give nuns a gift of not having sexual urges? None of those things particularly appealed to me or applied to me (I did not imagine myself to be particularly holy) so I never thought that lifelong celibacy would be my particular calling.

In grad school when I first began thinking about religious life (and resisted being attracted to it) I got to know more religious — women and men who were celibate. They didn’t strike me as repressed people and seemed to have a healthy sense of self and other. They were not “holier than thou” people, just ordinary women and men serving God.

Long story short, I became more open to the idea of celibacy and now I’m celibate for life.

My witness to celibacy is more than just not having sex, it’s about being free. An important “ah-ha!” moment was watching Dead Man Walking and the scene where Sister Helen Prejean talks about why she became a nun and chose not to be married. There was a sense that her not being attached to one single person or one single family allowed her to be free to go where the needs were. It made a huge impression on me. I began to realize that as big of a deal it was to commit to no sex it was a bigger deal to commit to the positive life stance of being free to serve wherever God called.

I know you probably have some questions so I’ll end here with this quote:

“Life is not all about sex.”

Samantha (Kim Cattrall) in a Sex in the City episode

Father Jim Martin’s article The New Yorker Has Its “Fun with Nuns” about Paul Rudnick’s article has generated a lot of interesting discussion. There’s one comment in particular that I’d like to highlight (thanks to Jean for alerting me to it).

The comment is from “RP”, a religious sister ministering in Los Angeles.

… Thank you for what you wrote about sisters and how The New Yorker article depicted us, mocked us. I have been a religious for 42 years. I have met my share of “interesting” sisters; some with very heavy burdens that came to bear on the community as well. What the writer Paul Rudnick  failed to note is that religious communities are microcosms of society; almost every group is. We are human, but we are trying to be our best selves for love of God and others.

What surprised me is that whatever mix-match of writers and film makers came up with the hodgepodge of “Sister Act,” they got some parts right. My favorite scene is when the nuns raid the ice cream after a day of working hard in the neighborhood. That was so real. Maybe he’s fixating on the pre-transformed Maggie Smith mother superior character. He is believing his own stereotypes. That sense of belonging and community is what energizes gives so many of us to keep going for the sake of the Gospel. Then there is the scene between Whoppi and the novice. How does a writer get some parts so right and then forget? Maybe he wrote all the inaccurate parts of the film.

… All I mean to say is, Rudnick can mock, but he cannot win. Maybe he’s trying to be another Christopher Hitchens. God help us. These people are so much work.

The person making a difference last night on NBC news was a nun from Boston … a beautiful profile.

Anyway, thanks for taking on The New Yorker. Although I am an educator I find that defending against bias can sap ones energy; I prefer to engage in the media in a positive way by educating future media makers to work from the premise of human dignity and the common good.

And you know what? We just keep going. If we were not living and ministering for the love of God and people, we would never have stayed. It is why we stay.

I don’t know who Sister “RP” is, but I sense that she has a lot of “ballast in the boat” … a grounded woman whose trust and faith in God and in Religious Life is far greater than anyone’s mockery or derision. I particularly like her line, “I prefer to engage in the media in a positive way by educating future media makers to work from the premise of human dignity and the common good.”

What are some ways that we can engage in a positive way? A) to present Catholic sisters and nuns on their own terms, not as caricatures or mystical creatures or objects of derision; and B) to encourage the media (and ourselves) to approach ALL persons “from the premise of human dignity and the common good.”

By the way, be sure to check out the NBC piece that Sister “RP” mentioned: Flying Nun’ Takes Good Works Around the World on NBC’s Making a Difference feature (NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams, July 14, 2009)

Father James Martin, SJ, has written a fine response to Paul Rudnick’s article “Fun with Nuns” in The New Yorker (July 20, 2009 issue). Rudnick’s article covers his efforts to get a screenplay (that would eventually end up as “Sister Act”) produced. But his attitude toward and descriptions of nuns is more than “slightly repellent” as Father Martin writes, it’s disparaging and insulting. It illustrates in bold relief negative stereotypes of Catholic nuns and sisters.

Pondering a possible screenplay using nuns, Rudnick muses that they can be “dictatorial, sexually repressed and scary.”  A grumpy elderly nun at a convent gift store looks like a “bat” or a “long fossilized chimp.”  “’I hate this!’ the chimp yipped,” he writes about the elderly woman who has taken vows of “silence, poverty and chastity” (fact checkers–you missed a vow: obedience) and has led what even she describes a “hard life.”  Rudnick admits that the prioress of Regina Laudis, which he visits to do a full two days’ research, is “kind and helpful,” but most of the article depicts the nuns—scratch that, all nuns–as at best cartoonish, at worst absurd.  “’Nuns,’ I declared,” writes Rudnick about his efforts to cajole studio execs into considering them attractive, “I’d do ‘em!”  (Later the same execs wonder which nuns in the upcoming movie are “f—able.”)

The nuns referred to are the sisters of the Regina Laudis monastery (read the A Nun’s Life post about Mother Delores Hart From Hollywood to Benedictine Monastery).

Do read Paul Rudnick’s piece Fun with Nuns (the link is to an abstract of the article — need to register for full article) and James Martin’s response The New Yorker Has Its “Fun with Nuns”.

Thanks to Father James Martin, SJ, for this article – “Pope Hopes Excommunicated Nun Might Become Saint (America, July 9, 2009).

Mother Mary McKillop, the foundress of the Australian-based Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart, was, in 1871, officially excommunicated by her local bishop, on the grounds that she “’she had incited the sisters to disobedience and defiance.”  That same church leader, Bishop Sheil, had earlier invited her to work in Adelaide, where she and her sisters would eventually set up schools, a women’s shelter and an orphanage, among their many works….

In April of this year, in an extraordinary gesture, Bishop’s Sheil’s successor, the current archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, made a public apology to the Sisters for their foundress’s excommunication.  Standing before her statue, said that he was “profoundly ashamed of the Bishop’s actions in driving the Sisters out onto the streets.”  McKillop was beatified (the next-to-last step for canonization) by Pope John Paul II in 1995.

This is an interesting article in its own right but also in light of the swirling news about the Apostolic Visitation to some U.S. women’s religious communities. There is a great variety of speculation, study, interpretation, experience, and plain old ignorance about the Visitation. Sadly, some in the Catholic blogosphere have used this opportunity to slander individual Catholic sisters and nuns and congregations with accusations that sound pretty much like the ones Mother Mary McKillop received. I am reminded of the words of Saint Augustine (which someone had posted elsewhere as a rebuke to slanderous comments) — “In essentials, unity, in non-essentials diversity, in all things charity.”

I’d love to hear your comments about Father Martin’s piece, Pope Hopes Excommunicated Nun Might Become Saint. The article goes a lot deeper than the headline suggests and includes the fabulous line “Musty stories of dead nuns?” How can you resist wanting to know how Father Martin slipped that line in??

Just came across a new-to-me blog by Catholic Sister — Sister Helen Prejean: Talking about life, death, New Orleans and social justice. You can now find this blog regularly in my listing of Blogs by Catholic Nuns. Sister Helen is a member of the Congregation of Saint Joseph and has done a lot of work around the injustice of the Death Penalty and has worked with many people on death row.

Any other blogs that you are aware of that I can add to the list of blogs by Catholic nuns? My basic criterion is as follows:

• blogs by women religious and those women who are formally in the process of formation AND
• blogs which are currently active and not anonymous

Any that are listed that are no longer updated? Any links that are wonky?

While we are on the topic of soliciting feedback, anything you’d like to see more of on A Nun’s Life? topics? media (e.g. video, podcast, etc.)? guests?

Would appreciate your input!

Sister Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, has made public an important paper on Ministerial Religious Life. In the paper God So Loved the World … Ministerial Religious Life in 2009 Sister Sandra describes what Apostolic Religious Life is and how it is evolving (or has evolved) into what she has called Ministerial Religious Life.

Here’s my very brief outline of the paper — any inaccuracies here are mine and not Sister Sandra’s. It’s meant only to give you a sense of the topics in the paper and to encourage you to read the full paper. You really don’t want to miss it if you are at all interested in Religious Life.

Sister Sandra looks at the origins of Apostolic Religious Life (which “has had official canonical recognition since 1900 and existed for centuries before that”) and situates it both canonically (what does Canon Law say about this form of consecrated life) and ecclesiastically (how does Apostolic Religious Life as a lifeform fit within the structure of the Church).

She shows how the Apostolic Religious Life that is being lived today is still authentically religious life and at the same time “involves some very significant discontinuities with earlier understandings of enough of the constitutive dimensions of that life that it is really a new form in relation to traditional apostolic Congregations.” Two important aspects of this evolution are what Sister Sandra calls “the end of Religious Life as Total Institution” and the simultaneous “ministerial turn”. She looks at how both of these have affected our understanding and living out of the vows, community life, ministry, and public witness.

Once Sister Sandra has set the context she goes on to asks, “What has brought about this development and how do we interpret, evaluate, and appropriate it?” What follows is an excellent piece on the impact of the Second Vatican Council on Religious Life. She notes how “most Religious Congregations of women, especially in the developed world, did not read Perfectae Caritatis in isolation, as a kind of self-sufficient magna carta for renewal. They read it through the lenses of Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes.” Note: Perfectae Caritatis is the document on the renewal of Religious Life; Lumen Gentium is the document on the Church affirming the universal call to holiness of all the baptized; and Guadium et Spes is the document on the Church in the modern world.

Sister Sandra then looks at the development of a new theology of world and the development of a new spirituality of world as a result of the shifts and the ongoing urgings of the Holy Spirit. Finally, she articulates some of the implications of these developments for vowed Religious Life.

Sister Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, is one of my nuns and a leader in the study of religious life and of biblical spirituality. This talk was originally presented at our IHM Motherhouse for the Sisters and Associates of my community.

Read God So Loved the World … Ministerial Religious Life in 2009 and let’s get a discussion going about this. It’s an excellent paper, a good read, and definitely worth reflecting on.

Happy Nunday! We are well into the summer now here in the midwest. It’s been hot and humid with the occasionally cool breeze wafting through. I thought this would be a perfect summer’s day nun photo — Niagara Falls! Courtesy of Patricia, this photo shows Sisters from the congregation The Servants of the Sacred Cross. The photo of the Sisters’ visit to Niagara Falls is from September 2007.

I am delighted to have this photo because it gave me an opportunity to learn more about these Sisters. And I realized that I had already bumped into one of the Sisters earlier on the A Nun’s Life page “Nun or Sister?” — Mother Wendy James, SSC, the foundress of the community.

The Sisters are “an international, ecumenical religious sisterhood of laywomen, married and single, living and working in their own homes and communities” who serve “within a traditional, conservative, Religious Community, committed to the historic Catholic Faith.”

On their website they describe their life further:

The Servants of the Sacred Cross are called to take up their cross and follow Christ in a life of prayer and service. Sisters are both married and single, living and working in their own homes and communities under Vows of Simplicity, Purity, and Obedience.

Some Sisters carry out a variety of active ministries in their parishes and local communities. Other Sisters are called to a more contemplative expression of service in a life of solitude and prayerful intercession. The prayer of each Sister must be, “Lord Jesus, as it would please you, bring me someone today whom I can serve.”

I don’t know any more about the community other than their website, but I am impressed with and curious about their exploration of and actual living of a new AND historic form of consecrated life. By new I mean that it is recently founded and has multiple forms of consecrated life (married, lay, contemplative, active) under the same roof (so to speak). It is also an ecumenical community — Anglican, Catholicm and Eastern Orthodox. By historic I mean that they profess a commitment to the “historic Catholic Faith”. Now to be honest, I’m not sure exactly what that phrase means, and hopefully someone with a better understanding of this will offer comments below. I think that it has to do more with the common tradition shared by Anglican, Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Christians but again, I’m not really sure.

Would love to hear your impressions and welcome the Sisters to offer their comments to help us get to know this community.

Happy NUNDAY! It’s a beautiful day here in the Illinois — the sun is shining, the breeze is cool, and I’ve got a full day of domestic and ministerial responsibilities! The new IHM house is up and running. Hoping to score a bed frame from Craigslist today and to get the moving boxes to the recycling center. Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes as we transitioned out of the Petri Dish convent to our new home.

We celebrate Nunday today with two beautiful photos from Amparo, a young woman from Argentina.

Writes Amparo (who is pictured on the left), “In the middle is Sister Ceci, from the congregation of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, and the picture was taken in a “Life’s Projects” camp they held at the beginning of this year. She chose not to wear the habit, though she usually wears a blue skirt. Ceci is a great friend of mine.”

“In this pictures all of the ladies, minus the one wearing pants are disciples. The one with the veil is Sister Gaby (she chose to wear the habit), the first disciple I met and also a great friend of mine. In the bottom the two are Luciana and Ceci in order. The one between the two men is Sister Luz and the other one is Sister Ana, the Superior of the Argentinian province.”

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story (how you know Sister) of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Prayers go out to the family and friends of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, two amazing iconic persons who died yesterday.

As I’ve been reading the news about both Farrah and Michael, I’ve learned a couple of interesting connections to each one and nuns.

Farrah Fawcett was in two episodes of my favorite nun sitcom The Flying Nun.

The first was “Marcello’s Idol” (airdate 10/15/69), in which a young boy leads the nuns to conclude he need a male influence in his life when he refers to the sisters as “guys”. Ms. Fawcett played “Lila” in this episode. The second was an appearance as “Miss Preem” in “Armando and the Pool Table” (airdate 1/23/70), in which the nun’s benefactor, Carlos Ramirez, donates a pool table to the convent.
(source: Examiner.com)

Michael Jackson appeared with a group of Catholic sisters at an orphanage in Tokyo, Japan.

After weaving through dozens of screaming adult fans outside the downtown orphanage, Jackson was ushered into a gymnasium where more than 160 children between the ages of 3 and 18 and nuns in gray uniforms waited.
(source: CBS News)

I will remember Farrah most for her Charlie’s Angels role as as private investigator Jill Munroe. And Michael, well, what can I say. The man was an awesome performer and transformed the world of pop music and dance. Two of my faves and absolute classics as both songs and videos: Billie Jean and Black or White.

Rest in Peace, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. You will be missed and remembered.

Catholic sisters and nuns live in community in a wide variety of ways. Often we only think of community as living under the same roof, that is in “the convent” or “the monastery” but community actually takes many forms. Simply living under the same roof does not make a community. Likewise, living singly does not mean you are living alone or without community.

Since I’ve been an IHM Sister, I’ve lived various configurations of physical proximity but in all of them have striven to live deeply our IHM community life. I’ve lived singly with few IHMs around me because of the demands of my ministry; I’ve lived with 5 other sisters; I’ve lived with one other sister; and I’ve lived on our Motherhouse campus with nuns everywhere! Each way of living calls forth different aspects of living community.

Because our community like many others is ministerial based, our choices for community life are necessarily diverse so that we can respond to people’s needs. I’ve been told stories about how our sisters years ago heard the news that babies in Korea were dying because there was no one to hold them in the orphanages. The infants needed human cuddling to live and to grow. Our mother superior immediately sent nuns to Korea to minister by “simply” holding the babies. Didn’t think about the fact that we had no convent there or that there were only a handful of nuns she could send. She saw the need and knew that we could help.

I’ve also been thinking about a friend of mine who is in the national guard. She is stationed hours away from her home and family. She lives singly on base and gets together with her family whenever possible. Though certainly a struggle, her marriage and family life is not any less real or authentic. It is now expressed in new and different ways.

Today’s world is full of so many ways to live community and family life. While some of us live this community through physical proximity, many of us also experience community and family in ways that go beyond this proximity. In what ways do you experience this kind of community or family life?

American fashion model and actress Heather Graham recently revealed that her parents threatened to send her to a convent when she was young.

The Hangover star has admitted that she almost became a nun and is relieved she became an actress instead.

Graham told the Daily Star: “When I was a child my parents threatened to send me to a convent. I’d have made a terrible nun.

“I’m a good Catholic girl in the way Madonna is in the sense that I’m not that good at all… I want to be vamping it up in short skirts and low-cut tops to the end.” (source: Digital Spy)

I always find these news items to be curious (e.g., Natalie Portman’s celibacy issues). It seems the contrast between the stereotypical docile/dour/suppressed Catholic nun and the rebellious/vivacious/sensual bad girl makes for great entertainment news.

Yeah, yeah, so readers get a few laughs at imagining a “bad girl” as a Catholic nun and the fantastic havoc and scandal she may have created within the holy confines of a convent. But please, must we play on bad stereotypes of Catholic sisters and nuns for a cheap laugh? Is it worth fueling a stereotype of nuns as docile/dour/suppressed in order to fuel an equally disturbing stereotype of women as “the bad girl”?

When I first read this news piece, I thought little of it. But it’s been weighing on my mind and heart because it seems so trivial but yet reinforces a negative message about Catholic sisters and nuns.

I want to tell Ms. Graham that if she only knew how many hell-raisers and “bad girls” have come to the convent — and stayed — that she would probably have seemed like a wall flower in comparison.

Nunday is back and to celebrate we have my own IHM Sister Sharon Holland. Sister Sharon is not only a legend, but a holy and gentle woman of God.

Sister Sharon, one of the first female lawyers to work at the Vatican, was recently presented with an award (a bronze statue created by sculptor Clay Enoch) from the Catholic Health Association (CHA) on April 23 in Rome. Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of CHA, presented the award, saying Sister Sharon was the association’s “greatest asset in Rome.”

The CHA Board of Trustees passed a resolution honoring Sister Sharon for her years of assistance to CHA and the U.S. health ministry at large. According to Ed Giganti, vice president of communications and marketing for the United States’ CHA, the board’s resolution proclaimed Sister Sharon “a champion of American religious congregations and their ministries” throughout her time in Rome.

Since 1988 Sister Sharon has worked as bureau chief of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life at the Vatican. In 2007 Sister Sharon was awarded the International Medal from St. John’s University in Rome. In the citation for that award , St. John’s called Sister Sharon one of the world’s leading canon lawyers and said she “models what is best about religious life.”

After getting word about Sister Sharon’s CHA award, journalist John L. Allen, a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and analyst for CNN and NPR, wrote, “Aside from being an accomplished canon lawyer and trailblazer for women at the Vatican, Holland is also a legend in religious life.” (source; hyperlinks mine)

Sister Sharon is retiring from her ministry in Rome and returning to Michigan this month.

Pictured: Lloyd H. Dean (CHA Board), Sister Carol Keehan, DC, and Sister Sharon Holland, IHM, holding the award.

I am happy to say that the Petri Dish Convent is no more. What we hoped was a fixable problem was really a massive mold problem that had made it’s way through cabinet wood, drywall, and wall studs. Not pretty. So on Saturday we moved into a new house that will serve us well and be a place of hospitality for visiting sisters and others. The last few weeks have been rather trying but there is light at the end of the tunnel (much better than mold), and we are looking forward to unpacking and getting back to our life and mission.

Regular A Nun’s Life posts (including Monday is Nunday posts) will return tomorrow!

In the meantime, here is today’s “mid-morning” reading (Terce) from the Liturgy of the Hours.

Sisters and brothers, be joyful. Try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
- 2 Corinthians 13:11

We have our first visiting nuns at the Petri Dish Convent. Both are our own IHM sisters — one came from Puerto Rico and the other from Monroe. They are on their way to the Giving Voice conference in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The conference is for women religious under 50 years of age. It’s a great opportunity to hang with young sisters from a variety of communities across the country. I was looking forward to going — especially to meeting Sister Susan Rose of Musings of a Discerning Woman — but given the petri dish situation, I need to stay back and figure out what our next steps are.

Even though Sister Maxine and I have had our hands full with realtors and rehabbers, Home Depot runs, sorting through boxes, etc., we LOVE having our sisters here with us. They are such a support to us, encouraging us as we work through these issues, praying with us, and eating and playing with us! We had the best time last night out at a pizzeria and then coming home to watch The Flying Nun on DVD (will write about that in future!!).

Their presence reminds me of the importance of “being with” others. It’s not “doing for” or “taking control of” but simply and powerfully “being with”.

Summer is here and that means bicycle riding for me. Having grown up with bikes, taken bike day trips with my family, commuted by bike, ridden mountain bike trails and long stretches of open road, I feel very much at home on a bike.

I got an inside view of the world of bikes when I worked at a bike shop early in my nun life. Yes, I worked at a bike shop as a Catholic sister! It’s an interesting story and the short version is that I had done my MA in theology on the theologian Karl Rahner, SJ, whose fundamental belief is that we can directly experience God at any time, any place. At the time, I was in need of a part-time ministry and so I reasoned that if God is in all things, then surely God is in a bike shop. Why not do ministry there? I loved bikes, and I loved working with mechanics (my dad and brother are engineers), and I wanted to interact with ordinary folks in ordinary moments. So after consulting with my nuns, I applied for a summer job and managed to beat out the competition (a handful of high school boys). It was one of my best experiences of formation — learning how to be with people, to minister with them outside the ordinary or obvious places of church ministry.

In the bike shop, you meet a lot — I mean a lot — of characters from every economic bracket, educational level, age, culture, etc. Each person has a story, and when you see them that way, you find there are so many opportunities for being present to them. And often, a bike marks a significant moment in their life. Why? Because ultimately, it’s not about the bike, as Lance Armstrong noted. A new bike or a repair to a bike is often loaded with meaning. One guy lost his job and couldn’t afford to drive so he needed a bike to get around. A mom and dad bought their child’s first bike. A woman’s husband was emotionally abusive (we saw it first hand in the store) and she wanted a bike to get out of the house more often. A young woman bought a road bike for her first triathlon marking her journey to feel better about herself.

My bike is also a marker of significant moments in my life. It is priceless because of the stories attached to it — both good times and bad. I am highly protective of it and take good care of it. When I first moved to Chicago I went through at least 4 different bike shops until I found On The Route Bicycles, bike guys whose expertise I trusted and who showed care about “the story” that people have with their bike or bike riding.

What significant moments does your bike (or similar thing) hold for you?

These days you can not only adopt children and animals but you can adopt highways, platoons, watersheds, and even microbes!

Now you can adopt candidates for religious life and ordained life! Thanks to an email from Jerri, I discovered that the Diocese of Joliet-in-Illinois as well as dioceses across the country have programs to encourage vocations to consecrated life and to support those who are in the process of becoming a religious or ordained. Jerri says that for the past couple weeks, there’s been an blurb about the program in the bulletin. It reads in part:

ADOPT A SEMINARIAN OR CANDIDATE PROGRAM: This program is an opportunity for the youth group, school, religious education class or parish to adopt a seminarian (a man who is studying to be a priest) or a candidate (a woman preparing to be a sister), and encourage them on their journey by writing letters. This type of encouragement would be greatly appreciated by the men and women in formation.

After receiving Jerri’s email I did some more searching around and found a recent article on the subject from Catholic News Service. “Programs to ‘adopt’ women in formation seen as vocations aid” by Jackie Taylor (March 23, 2009) has some more examples of how the program works and its benefits for both the adopters and the adoptees.

My only caveat to this wonderful program is that I wish it also encouraged vocations for men to religious life as well as other Church vocations like consecrated virginity and hermit life.

When vocations are promoted, we sometimes only focus on religious life for women and priesthood for men, as if two gender-based versions of the same calling. Not so. Ordained life is a distinct calling and can be to the priesthood or to become a deacon. Both forms of ordained life are restricted to men.

Religious life is a very different calling and it is open to both men and women. It includes sisters, nuns, friars, monks, brothers. In addition there are hermits and consecrated virgins — not sure if they technically fall in the “religious life” category but all of these are considered forms of “consecrated life.”

So in the ideal world, we’d have a parish bulletin with the headline “The Adopt-a-Sister-Friar-Priest-Hermit-Monk-Deacon-Nun-Virgin-Brother Program” but who would ever want to title something like that!!??

Hmmm … anyone interested in an Adopt-A-Nun’s-Life program?

Good morning and happy NUNDAY! Today’s Nunday features Catholic Sister Carla Kovack, OP, a San Rafael Dominican Sister.

Sister Carla is engaged in campus ministry at Dominican University in San Rafael. She believes it is a privilege to participate in the lives of students – especially the freshmen and new transfer students. During this important time of transition, growth and learning, students explore key questions of adulthood: who am I, who am I in relationship to God, self and others and how can I make a difference in others’ lives?

Photo Caption: Campus ministry is the ministry of feeding the students.

As other who are active in campus ministry, Sister Carla creates programs that empower students to explore these important issues. Retreats, small faith communities, service opportunities, study about issues of justice, and weekly Sunday liturgies, invite young adults to a journey. She says,

“Our journey is on sacred ground but I find that a good sense of humor and a deep respect for the freedom of the individual allows us to form community that bridges diverse faith traditions, age and life styles. Building the Dominican spirit, our theme this year in campus ministry, is both an individual and communal challenge. Our common commitment to study, reflection, community and service integrates and makes us one.”

Sister Carla on right

Thanks to Sister Pat Farrell, OP, for photos and text! Visit Sister Pat at her blog OPreach.

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story (how you know Sister) of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Happy Nunday! Today’s Nunday photo reminds me of the countless times I sprained my ankles playing basketball! “Fortunately” I had a coach that wouldn’t take some little sprained ankle as an excuse to not play. He’d load up a big bucket full of ice and snow and make me stick my leg in there until it was so numb that I couldn’t feel the pain (or my sneaker) and could get back out on the court. Ahhh, good times.

I hope and pray that Sister Mary Grace did not have to do that with her sprains. Sister Mary Grace, a member of the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, sprained both of her ankles and was unable to walk up the stairs to the church. “Thankfully,” writes Elizabeth (who submitted the picture), “we had a ride available to her.” Also in the picture is Sister Elizabeth Ann.

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, are located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Their mission is as follows:

“We are consecrated women first, and so our foremost model is Mary, the Mother of God. Inspired by the charism of St. Dominic, our prayer life comes first so that our apostolate overflows from a contemplation nourished before the Eucharist.”

Blessings to Sister Mary Grace — we hope you are back on your feet! (though it looks like the ride might have been fun!)

Kudos to Sister Mary Alternative (an Episcopalian woman considering religious life) for starting this post: “You may be a nun if …” Here are some of her responses that I love!

You may be a nun if …

• you see nuns everywhere you go
• you see nuns so often that now even your friends are seeing them in airports and stuff
• you have the book of common prayer online version saved to your favorites on the blackberry

Here’s a few more from personal experience:

• have vocation/nun material hidden where no one can find it
• you want nothing to do with the idea of being a nun, but yet you find it strangely compelling too
• you know what it’s like to fall in love with a person or a lifework yet it feels like all the pieces aren’t quite together yet … something is missing
• you regularly engage in “nun surveillance“

How would you finish this sentence? “You may be a nun if … “

Check out Psychology Today magazine this month for an interview with me about being a Catholic sister and about A Nun’s Life. It’s called “Mass Communication: God connects through a new medium” by Jessica Pilot in Psychology Today (May-June 2009).

While I’m not happy that my name is misspelled — VIEIRA, not VIERA — I am thrilled that they put the photo of me in full regalia on the front cover of the magazine.

Nah … I’m kidding, that’s not my habit although if it were, I’m pretty sure no one would mess with me or dare to suggest a nun stereotype in my presence.

Happy month of May! May is the month which we traditionally honor as Mary’s month. It’s only fitting that for our first Nunday of the month of May we have a photo of a Catholic sister who belongs to a religious congregation named for Mary — the School Sisters of Notre Dame (notre dame = “Our Lady”, a title for Mary).

Sister Anastasia is a School Sister of Notre Dame in Elm Grove, Wisconsin (near Milwaukee). The photo of her was sent in by Callie, a young “discerning” woman who had the good fortune of meeting Sister Anastasia.

Writes Callie …

In December of 2007 I spent time with the School Sisters of Notre Dame at their Motherhouse in Elm Grove. I met Sister Anastasia, SSND, and within a few days of us meeting we clicked. We started talking about Thomas Merton, prayer in complete silence of deep breathing, life, and her stories as a teacher in Guam (where she taught for 33 years). She is a bundle of joy and truly loves the Lord. She is one woman who has impacted so many people’s lives.

Our friendship has grown. We send letters to each other, and we also see each other every 2 or 3 months. During the summer I saw her quite often because I didn’t have college and lots of homework! No matter what route God puts on my path, I am blessed and joyful that God has put me with Sister Anastasia.

I love the picture because it captures to women 50 years apart in age, smiling all for the love and joy of God! “The joy of the Lord is our Strength.”

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story (how you know Sister) of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Greetings! Monday is Nunday here at A Nun’s Life because we feature photos of real Catholic sisters and nuns.

Today’s Nunday photo is from Susan, a Lutheran seminarian and oblate of the Sisters of Saint Scholastica in Chicago. (Yes, you can be an oblate or associate of a Catholic religious community and not be Catholic!)

Writes Susan, “Once a year the women of my church make a retreat with the Benedictine sisters at St. Mary Monastery in Rock Island, IL. Theirs is an interesting story.” Sister Charlotte Sonneville, OSB, is one of the nuns that Susan met at the monastery

Sister Charlotte Sonneville is in charge of Benet House, the retreat center.  She is, in the best sens,e a guest mistress. Her welcoming face is the one that greets us each year as we arrive in the February cold for our retreat.  She is efficient and thorough, friendly and conscientious. She relays the rules of the house with an explanation and a smile, making us all feel like beloved family members who have just been away for a time.  I look forward to seeing her each year.

Sister Charlotte is originally from Moline, IL, which is right next to Rock Island, so in a sense coming to St. Mary Monastery and Benet House has been a homecoming for her.  Sixty years ago, she chose to become a nun, she says, because she “wanted to share my faith with others.”  She taught at the school and held many jobs within the order, always striving to do just that. She now sees the running of Benet House as a part of her ministry of welcoming people as Christ, just as St. Benedict stated in his rule.

Her sweatshirt says, “Lord, thank you for letting me see all the colors.” This captures Sister Charlotte perfectly, as she is someone who not only sees all the colors of God’s creation, but loves them all deeply.

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo and story of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Question from Janelle …

Hi Sister Julie, I am considering becoming a nun because I think God might be calling me. Right now I am only in high school but I thought I should look in to the religious life. All my life I have thought about becoming a Chef and have loved to cook. I also love to help people but the problem is I can’t stand blood or needles and I don’t think I would like to be a teacher. I know being a nurse or a teacher is the most common things nuns do. I think by learning more about what nuns do and praying a lot I can decide whether or not God is calling me to that life. So I was wondering what other things do nuns do? – Janelle

Dear Janelle, Thank you for writing. Being in high school is a good time to see what religious life and being a nun are all about. It’s also a good time to explore your talents and your dreams of what you’d like to be and do in life.

In terms of religious life, you are already beginning to get to know about religious life and nuns just by visiting A Nun’s Life! I encourage you to also “run into” sisters or nuns in your parish or local community. See #2 of How to Become a Catholic Nun — Meet Nuns (includes how to do nun surveillance).

If you love to cook and want to learn to be a chef, I say go for it! Remember that the gifts and attractions that you have (such as loving to cook) are also God-given and are as much a part of your vocation as a choice of a life commitment.

Now, can you be a chef and a nun? Absolutely! I for one would volunteer immediately to live on mission with you! Traditionally teaching and nursing have been common ministries for Catholic sisters, and these are still two important ways we continue to serve God and God’s people. But we are also involved in many other kinds of work that span careers both within the Church and in non-Church spheres such as medicine, law, publishing, advocacy, social services, policy, etc.

It depends partly on the particular mission of a religious community. Sometimes the mission is focused on caring for children, for example. So all of the ministries of the sisters somehow will reflect that mission. But it could mean being a court advocate for orphans, or tutoring the children of migrant workers, or teaching children how to choose and prepare healthy meals! If you choose to become a chef, there will be many ways that your training will be invaluable as a form of ministry. If you are considering a cloistered community, a chef-nun might be invited to run the monastery kitchen or to work with the monastery’s “store” (e.g. monasteries that make bread, beer, cheese, etc. to sell). I’m not a cloistered nun so I’m not sure how exactly they would work this, but I’m sure that whatever gifts a woman comes with, there will be a way to use those gifts.

So the upshot is that nuns can pretty much do anything that serves the mission of their community. You may find that because of your gifts and attractions that a particular community resonates more with you. That’s why it’s good to explore a variety of religious communities. The Holy Spirit will be with you all the way, guiding you and helping you to embrace your call, whatever it may be.

Finally, I encourage you to check out the Vocation Forum here at A Nun’s Life. It’s a place to hang out with others who are considering religious life or thinking about their life’s vocation.

The January-March 2009 issue of Vocations and Prayer, the Catholic magazine on vocation ministry, features an article on people with hearing impairments pursuing a call to religious or priestly life. Many people have asked me about this and about having other disabilities or impairments. It’s an important issue which vocation ministers and other church leaders need to be aware of and to find ways to support and encourage.

The main article in Vocations and Prayer is “God Created Me a Deaf Person for His Glory: An interview with Fr. Tom Coughlin, OP Miss” by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, IWBS. In the interview, Father Tom tells of being turned down by several seminaries because of his hearing impairment. He eventually was accepted but faced a lot of opposition. He says,

Most people were not prepared to welcome a deaf person. I was all alone but the vocation director … told me “You have to open the door. You have to suffer so others won’t.”

Father Tom, with the encouragement of Father Timothy Radcliffe (former general master of the Dominicans), started a new Dominican community for people who are deaf. The community, called the Dominican Missionaries, has grown to 9 members.

While it’s not easy to pursue a religious vocation when you are deaf, there are resources out there. These are the ones listed in the magazine:

Religious Communities for Women

• Sisters of Saint Joseph of Carondelet, Saint Louis Province (interestingly, this community came from France to the US in order to teach persons who are deaf.)
• Sisters of the Lamb of God

Religious Communities for Men

• Dominican Missionaries
• Oblates of Saint Francis de Sales, Toledo-Detroit Province
• Redemptorists, Denver Province
• Redemptorists, Baltimore Province

Diocesan Seminaries

• Saint Patrick’s Seminary and University
• Saint Joseph Seminary College

If you know of any religious communities of sisters or nuns that can be a good resource for women who are deaf considering religious life, please let us know!

Sister Suzanne Jabro, CSJ, is a Sister of Saint Joseph of Carndelet (Los Angels Province) and the founder of Get on the Bus, a free transportation ministry that unites children and their caregivers with a parent who is in prison.

Not only does Get on the Bus offer free transportation, but they provide “travel bags for the children, comfort bags for the caregivers, a photo of each child with his or her parent, and meals for the day.” On the way home children receive “a teddy bear with a letter from their parent and post-event counseling.” All this is provided at no cost to the family.

This year Get on the Bus is celebrating its 10th anniversary. It started when Sister Suzanne and other members of an interfaith delegation visited a state prison to see how they could help female inmates. It came down to one thing: the women, some of whom had been separated from their children for 9 years, wanted to see their kids. Sister Suzanne knew that the effects of separation for both a parent and a child were traumatic and that reuniting them could bring not only some healing but also help with the imprisoned parent’s rehabilitation.

Sister Suzanne got her nuns on board and eventually they were able to get together a bus with children from nine families to visit their mothers on Mother’s Day. This Mother’s Day, reports Good Housekeeping, “48 buses, sponsored by churches, synagogues, and other agencies, will bring children from all over California for Mother’s Day visits.”

I encourage you to read the entire Good Housekeeping article, A Mother’s Day Gift by Nicole Gregory (May 2009) which tells the story of Sister Suzanne and Get on the Bus. Also, learn more about the program at the website Get on the Bus.

What I love about this story is that Sister Suzanne exemplifies nuns on mission — she saw a need and she did everything she could to meet that need, even when faced with obstacles such as lack of funding and a reluctance to help incarcerated parents.

… for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me … (Matthew 25:35-36)

Happy Nunday! Today’s nun photo is of Sister Aneesah McNamee, OP, an Adrian Dominican from Adrian, Michigan. Adrian is just down the river from Monroe and the IHM Motherhouse, and our sisters have worked together on many occasions.

Writes Sister Aneesah:

This photo was taken at our Motherhouse in Adrian, Michigan. I was the acolyte for a Final Profession. I don’t normally wear the habit, but this was special as I was participating in the Eucharist.

I am currently in school in Savannah, Georgia, for a MFA in Graphic Design. I am an artist — and a graphic designer — but my first profession was in health care, before i entered the Dominicans. My true love, and I believe my ministry, is in the visual arts.

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Women and the Catholic Church is always an intriguing and provocative topic. “Women of Faith: A Film about Women and the Catholic Church” is a new documentary by filmmaker Rebecca Alvin that explores this topic.

The one-hour film includes interviews with Maryknoll Sisters and Poor Clares and, among other things, looks at “the choice to lead a profoundly religious life in the Catholic tradition in the post-feminist era”.

According to reviewers of the film, there is no narrative, allowing the women to speak for themselves without the intrusion of interpretation or commentary. While a good idea, it’s important to note that no documentary can be completely “objective” because the very process of selecting and editing clips is itself an interpretation by the filmmaker. Still, I like the approach and appreciate it.

I’m hoping that the film will be screened in Detroit or Chicago as I’d love to see it for myself. The reviews have been interesting but I’ve not read anything from a nun perspective about the film.

Here’s one of the reviews for your reading pleasure.

Alvin Unveils ‘Women of Faith’: New documentary shines a light on local women and the Catholic Church in Cape Cod Today by Bethany Gibbons (April 7, 2009)

Also, you can check out the Women of Faith website — it’s got a few things on there, but unfortunately much is still “under construction”. Will write more on this when I am able to see the documentary.

Happy Easter! This Easter Monday we celebrate Easter and Nunday with a beautiful photo and story of Sister Mary Ruth Dittman, SDS. Sister Mary Ruth is a Sister of the Divine Savior. The Salvatorians, as the Sisters of the Divine Savior are known, minister throughout the US and world.

The photo and story below were sent in by Miss Dina.

I am part of Saint Catherine Church congregation in Phoenix, AZ, and we had went on a 12 day pilgrimage three years ago to Italy. That was when I met a Nun for the very first time, her name was Sister Mary Ruth. Sister Mary Ruth sat next to me through out our pilgrimage, and we ventured through to the many sites and beautiful churches of Italy. Even though my time with Sister Mary Ruth was for a short period of time, we had many talks about the pleasantries and harshness of our world. As each day went by and I watched her, I saw a servant of the Lord deal with these everyday obstacles with dignity, diplomacy and with such grace. I realized that I too should not have to compromise my dignity, my kindness and my love for the Lord in order to live in this sometimes harsh world. I believe God puts people in our paths for a reason and I’m glad God put Sister Mary Ruth in my path.

Oh yes!! As we finally reached our destination to our visit to the Vatican and to see Pope Benedict, you could see Sister Mary Ruth glow with excitement.

The photo is of Sister Mary Ruth and Miss Dina at the Vatican waiting to see Pope Benedict.

To see all the photos of Catholic sisters and nuns and links to their stories, visit the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Recently I was asked what the difference is between the IHM Sisters of Monroe, Michigan, and the IHM Sisters of Immaculata, Pennsylvania. There’s no easy answer to this, especially since there’s also a third IHM community, the IHM Sisters of Scranton, Pennsylvania, plus the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the original community of one of our IHM founders. So I’m throwing them all into the mix here too!

A little historical context first though — check out an earlier post OSP IHM: Nuns Who Rock in which I wrote about how our co-Founder Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin was originally an OSP Sister and how the IHM congregation became 3 separate communities.

I find it difficult to characterize how we are different because as an IHM Sister, I am overwhelmed (in the good sense) by our shared charism and our connections to one another and to our founders. The 3 IHM communities are like three siblings who were separated when they were young — their early, foundational years were shared, but then they each were in different places and so lived and expressed their original shared experience in different ways. Some of those ways were based on the geography and the Catholic culture in the area, the needs of the people and of the Church in that area, and of course the women whom the Spirit led to be part of that particular community.

So we have both similarities and differences. Honestly, the best way to get a sense of what we are like (similarities and differences) is to be with us. The facts (e.g. this one is in Monroe, this one Philadelphia, etc.) cannot come close to telling the whole story, and ultimately (especially if one is discerning religious life) you can tell which one “fits” you when your heart leaps for joy when you are with them.

The OSP IHM Timeline, a narrative of our histories, can tell the story way better than I can. In it, each community expresses who they are through the various periods (early history, Vatican II period, tody). The OSPIHM Timeline was made back in 2005 by an inter-congregational team that I was blessed to be part of. It’s pretty cool. Just click on the link below!

OSP IHM Timeline

A happy and blessed Monday of Holy Week to you! And, happy NUNDAY! Today’s photo of a Catholic sister comes from Discerninglife25. Here’s what she wrote:

This is Sister Laura Downing, a Sister, Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Immaculata, Pennsylvania. This is a picture of her taken at my Catholic High School in the Diocese of Raleigh, NC. Sister Laura teaches theology to freshman and sophomores, and she always has a vibrant joy, enthusiasm for teaching, and an attractive personality (not to mention a great sense of humor!).

My relation to Sister Laura is that though she is not my teacher, she is still my friend. She is always there to talk, even when she has flocks of kids sitting in her room (she is a very popular nun!). She even took me to her motherhouse, which was a very fun trip indeed. Overall, I say that Sister Laura is very down to Earth and knows how to have fun. She has certainly defined today’s nun very well indeed!

Thanks, Discerninglife25! What a wonderful portrait of Sister Laura.

Now since we’re talking about IHM, I wanted also to address a question from an earlier post about Immaculata IHMs and Monroe IHMs. But that will have to wait till tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Come and see is an invitation we hear in the Gospels addressed to people who feel an attraction to, people who are drawn by the Gospel and the lifestyle of Jesus. It’s an invitation that the Catholic Church echoes as it invites people to take a personal look at a call to follow Jesus through religious life.

Until you’ve had the opportunity to experience a religious community through individual sisters or brothers, at prayer, in ministry, or by interacting with a group of sisters or brothers, it can be difficult to get a feel for what religious life is like, and also to which particular community you are called.

My IHM community is hosting a “Come and See” weekend for women who are thinking about religious life and are attracted to the IHM life and mission.

“Come and See” Weekend

Date: May 1-3, 2009
Time: Friday 7 p.m. to Sunday 12:30 p.m.
Location: IHM Motherhouse, Monroe, Michigan

There will be opportunities to pray with my IHM nuns, chat with us, learn about us and about discernment, and just hang out with us.

For more information or to register, please contact Sister Mary Bea at 734-240-9820. And as always, feel free to contact me if you have any wonderings.

I received an email from an A Nun’s Life reader alerting me to TIME Magazine’s finalists for the list of 100 most influential people of 2009. You can vote online for your top pick. Among the list of “leaders, artists, entrepreneurs and thinkers” is Sister Mary Scullion, RSM, a Sister of Mercy who ministers on behalf of homeless people in Philadelphia. According to the TIME profile on her, “over 95 percent of those who cycle through her Project H.O.M.E. program have never again been forced to live on the streets, a success rate which has made the program a model for dozens of other U.S. cities.”

It’s awesome that TIME is featuring a Catholic sister on their list of influential people. I’m proud of Sister Mary for the work she is doing and for representing nuns and the awesome work that nuns do throughout the world — from the cloister to corporate office to impoverished villages.

Check out TIME’s list and be sure to vote for Sister Mary!

VOTE NOW

I’m sure that rocker Jon Bon Jovi voted for Sister Mary!

For more info on Sister Mary, check out the Project H.O.M.E. website as well as various media coverage.

• Philadelphia Inquirer – Ask Sister Mary Scullion – Sister Mary questions about homelessness (February 26, 2008)
• Philadelphia Magazine – The Good Generation – Jon Bon Jovi and Project H.O.M.E. (December 2007)
• NBC News – Philly nun aims to end homelessness: Organization she founded has already cut homeless population in half (November 16, 2005)
• MSNBC The Daily Nightly – More About Sister Mary (November 15, 2005)

Nunday has arrived and today we have not one, but two Catholic sisters from the Congregation of the Humility of Mary, a religious community of women based in Davenport, Iowa. From their website:

Like the woman in the gospel who lights a lamp to search for lost treasure, we seek the will of the Spirit in the signs of the times.

Motivated by compassion and justice, we give ourselves wholeheartedly wherever the needs are greatest.

Sister Marilyn Schierbrock, CHM, standing, is a neighborhood advocacy coordinator in downtown Davenport, Iowa. Here she is helping neighborhood women to establish a community garden.

Sister Cathleen Real, CHM, has been personally trained by Al Gore to provide education on climate change and the threats it poses to humanity and the planet as a whole. From a faith based perspective Sister Cathleen utilizes materials from The Climate Project training, including evidence of temperature increases, the serious consequences of global warming and recommendations for taking action to lessen the impact on the earth.

For other Nunday features, see the A Nun’s Life Facebook photo album. If you’ve got a photo of a real Catholic sister or nun, check out the details on submitting your photo for consideration.

Sisterhood among Catholic sisters and nuns is a powerful, Spirit-filled experience. I’ve been thinking a lot about sisterhood after having been home at the IHM Motherhouse for a couple of days. I was with a group of sisters doing some planning for our community’s retreat/celebration days this summer. Throughout the meeting and at supper following our meeting I was overwhelmed with the bond of sisterhood. It’s something that I never even imagined prior to being an IHM Sister. It’s not easy to define or explain, but let me try to put words around what it feels like.

Sisterhood is …

• always having a home, a real home
• knowing that your nun has your back
• being part of something bigger than yourself, bigger than the sum total of individuals
• falling in love with God and mission, and falling in love with how God and mission are expressed in your sisters
• sharing the deepest things of the Spirit with another sister or group of sisters
• praying together, laughing together, grieving together, working together
• the sparkle in the eye of a sister that lets you know that all will be well
• mentoring one another in religious life, ministry, and prayer
• having a common history and shared core values
• daring and risking together for the sake of the Gospel
• becoming more yourself than ever
• relating to one another with great tenderness
• being in real, tangible community even when ministry takes you to away from your sisters
• holding all things in common with your sisters
• being held up by your sisters’ prayer when you can’t find the strength to pray
• having sisters in heaven who keep watch over us
• working through disagreements, misunderstandings, failings without forgetting that we belong to one another and to Christ
• being willing to lay down your life for your sister

When people ask me what it’s like to be a sister, how we are different from other people committed to God who pray and do good works, this is what I want them to experience, this sisterhood, this dynamic of how we are with one another which is incarnate in how we are with the world.

What else might you add? Sisterhood is …