Rock star! That’s how National Catholic Reporter described the response of Catholic sisters to Sr. Sandra after her talk last Saturday in Notre Dame, Indiana. Rock on, Sandra!

Sandra’s insights into religious life are music to the ears! Her rendition of religious life past, present and future is one of the clearest and most articulate that I’ve ever heard. The NCR article does a good job of highlighting her key points.

I especially like Sandra’s explanation of why the works of Catholic sisters have changed over time. She describes how the changes in ministry affect the way that Catholic sisters live, what they wear, how they pray, etc. She also offers a compelling vision of religious life for the future – and there will be a future! (She opened her talk with, “Reports of the demise of religious life, to paraphrase Mark Twain, are greatly exaggerated.”)

I appreciate how Sandra links the past to the present, then suggests directions for the future that are already emerging. Here’s an excerpt about that from the NCR article:

Increasingly, religious women have taken their expertise into ministries that, while still in continuity with those of the past and arising directly out of their communities’ charisms, are not ones most Catholics tend to associate with “the Sisters.” Schneiders grouped them into four “clusters”:

• Social justice ministers focused on systemic or structural change, whose “theological glue” tends to be Catholic social teaching. These include social scientists, activists, lawyers, political and community organizers, economists and sociologists, urban farmers and legislators.

• Ministers who work directly with the victims of social injustice or natural disasters, whose theological glue is deep compassion for the suffering Body of Christ. These include chaplains, social workers, counselors, literacy tutors, providers of child care or elder care, managers of low-income housing, those who work in homeless shelters or with victims of torture or sex trafficking.

• Intellectuals, scholars and artists, whose theological glue is faith seeking understanding in our time. These include composers, performers, journalists, writers, teachers and researchers in theology, philosophy and the sciences.

• Ministers who address the thirst for meaning and transcendence, with the theological glue of spiritual nourishment and growth. They work in spirituality centers, campus ministry, spiritual direction, retreats, holistic healing, or as popular writers or speakers on the lecture and workshop circuit.

I encourage you to read the article and to share your responses to it!

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

The other day, Sister Julie and I were going to a meeting when we passed these two billboards. Please excuse the poor quality of the photo — it’s hard to take a good picture on a busy highway….

The first has the figure of a man standing at the edge of an ocean, his arms upraised, the sun sparkling all around. The words say: “All of the joy. None of the shame.” At the bottom is the name of a Christian ministry called Cornerstone. By itself, the billboard didn’t make much sense to us. But then we saw another billboard, just a few yards away.

It has the picture of a woman with a sexy look on her face. The words say: “All of the liquor. None of the clothes.” The big arrow on the sign points the way to the bar.

Both billboards are targeted to men, but the messages are very different! Why not choose joy and what’s life-giving! Why not respect women and the sacredness of the human body! To me, the heart of Cornerstone’s message is that respect is a two-way street: when we respect ourselves, we can respect others, and vice versa. Respect can free us and lead us to joy. Drinking too much and treating people as objects for our gratification cannot.

I was so impressed with Cornerstone’s billboard that I called the ministry center and talked with one of the pastors there. Pastor Esperanza said that the billboard was a decision of the entire congregation. She explained that it was a way for the church to have a voice in the world: “If we don’t say anything, nothing will be done.”

She also told me about another billboard intervention. In several places around Chicago, a radio station had billboards promoting its morning show. The billboards depicted two men in bed with a woman. The words said something like: “Who do you wake up to in the morning?” A member of the congregation went to executives at the station and explained that her child could not avoid seeing the signs, and she asked them to remove the billboards. The billboards came down.

Although I’m not familiar with Cornerstone’s stance on other areas of faith and life, on the topic of respect and how to take creative action, Cornerstone rocks!!

I’d love to hear stories about the creative things you’ve seen in regard to countering negative messages with positive ones. Please write your comments in the box below.

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Join Sister Maxine and Sister Julie and A Nun’s Life Community for prayer today at 6 p.m. CST (your time zone).

DM006 Digital Ministry with Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answer Man, on techniques and technology around all things podcasting. Recorded live on February 10, 2011. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Be inspired by technology, technique, and theology.

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

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Guest: Cliff Ravenscraft, the Podcast Answer Man

Cliff Ravenscraft is the founder of GSPN.TV and is a full-time podcast producer and consultant. Among his shows is Podcast Answer Man, a weekly broadcast on techniques and technology around all things podcasting!

Topic: The nuns talk with Cliff about podcasting, what it is, how to get started, tips and secrets to a successful podcast, and growing online community.

We welcome  your questions for our guest. Please submit them using the comment box below or you can type them in the chat room during the live broadcast.

Show Notes

• what is a podcast and podcast basics
• The 11-step Checklist to Starting a Podcast in depth
• how does a podcast compare to a blog?
• what does an RSS feed have to do with a podcast
• deciding to go from podcasting as a hobby to podcasting for a living
• how do you make money as a podcaster?
• gaining financial insight from Dave Ramsey
• understanding podcasting and online community as a form of ministry
• the influence of Leo LaPorte
• the Generally Speaking Production Network – gspn.tv
• growing online community
• getting past the dreaded episode 7
• crossing multiple genres (entertainment, tech help, spiritual, etc.) in a single brand and keeping consistent
• do you need special equipment if you are starting out as an amateur?
• how do you “structure” your daily “work” day when there’s so much to be done to produce a podcast?

Digital Ministry covers a mix of things covering techniques, technology, and theology in order to enhance one’s capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in every day life on the Internet. The show airs on the second Thursday of the month (today was an exception) from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. Visit the Digital Ministry web page for more information including how to download this podcast after the live broadcast and our full podcast schedule.

Here in the Chicago area, we’re getting snow, snow, and more snow! Plus the winds are whipping around, so that when I look out the window, it’s like looking at a snow-globe that’s just been shaken. I’m not real fond of snow, but I love to engage with nature. So this morning, which BTW is World Day for Consecrated Life, I put on a ton of warm clothes and went outside with Sister Julie.

If there are religious sisters, brothers, priests or other consecrated persons who have been an important part of your life, we’d love to hear about them! Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Join the sisters and A Nun’s Life community at 6 p.m. Central Time (your time zone) at http://aNunsLife.org/LIVE for Praying with the Sisters live podcast and chat.

DM005 Digital Ministry with Father Robert Barron on the theology of ministering online, how to proclaim the Gospel in a digital age. Recorded live on January 13, 2011. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Be inspired by technology, technique, and theology.

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

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Guest: Father Robert Barron

Father Robert Barron is a sought-after speaker on the spiritual life-from universities to YouTube to national conferences and private retreats. The Catholic theologian and podcasting priest is one of the world’s great and most innovative teachers of Catholicism. His global media ministry called Word On Fire has a simple but revolutionary mission – to evangelize the culture.

Topic: The sisters talk with Father Barron about WWJD? What would Jesus do given today’s digital technology and media? Does Scripture give us any clues on why or how we might use digital media for the sake of the Gospel? We discuss these topics and more on this episode of Digital Ministry.

Show Notes

• Fr. Barron’s ministry at WordOnFire.org and teaching at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake Mundelein seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago
• the variety of media that Fr. Barron uses to minister online
• the importance of reading and studying theology and the faith before ministering online
• using other people’s language to communicate the Gospel
• talking about the Gospel to people who are unchurched, or unfamiliar with religion
• like Jesus, hanging out in the “courtyard of the Gentiles,” a place where unbelievers can engage with the Catholic faith
• YouTube and the Internet as a virtual Areopagus (cf: Saint Paul preaching in the Areopagus, Acts 17:16-34)
• how ministering online affects one’s own prayer life
• the influence of Fulton Sheen
• the “YouTube heresies”
• Father Robert’s reviews of the movies Gran Torino and True Grit
• responding to people who show anger in their comments on YouTube or other websites
• thoughts on WWJD — what would Jesus do in today’s digital world
• themes from scripture that can encourage us in our online ministry
• the spiritual needs of people online and adapting to them
• balancing multiple ministry responsibilities and interacting online
• and thoughts on what sermon Fr. Barron would ask Jesus to preach!

Digital Ministry covers a mix of things covering techniques, technology, and theology in order to enhance one’s capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in every day life on the Internet. The show airs on the second Thursday of the month (today was an exception) from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. Visit the Digital Ministry web page for more information including how to download this podcast after the live broadcast and our full podcast schedule.

For more information, including upcoming guests and our full podcast schedule, visit the program page of Digital Ministry.

Continue the conversation day or night at the A Nun’s Life Community Forum and look for the topic “Digital Ministry Podcast Listeners.”

DM004 Digital Ministry with Avinash Kaushik on web analytics, search engine optimization (SEO) and getting visitors to your website. Recorded live on December 9, 2010. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Be inspired by technology, technique, and theology.

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

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Guest: Avinash Kaushik

Avinash Kaushik is the Analytics Evangelist for Google, author of Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour A Day, and co-founder and chief education officer for Market Motive. He is also the author of the popular blog Occam’s Razor on web analytics.

Topic: The sisters talk with Avinash about how what web analytics and search engine optimization (SEO) are, how to attract people to one’s website, how to keep them coming back, and how to track and measure one’s website.

Show Notes:

• a first for Avinash: being interviewed by nuns!
• how Avinash got into working online
• what it means for Avinash to be an “evangelist” in his line of work
• a basic primer on web analytics and search engine optimization (SEO)
• a free downloadable PDF: Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide
• how to increase ranking on the search engines
• things search engines like
• things search engines don’t like
• what is meta-data — tags, keywords, descriptions — and how to use them
• a few ways to promote a website at no cost
• using Twitter and Facebook in conjunction with one’s website
• the value of making comments of value to other readers
• starting up with web analytics
• using WebsiteGrader.com to see how well is your website doing, if it’s getting traffic, if it has any SEO problems, and how popular is it in social media
• being yourself when writing a blog
• good content is always queen or king
• a case for why web analytics is important to have for any website
• understanding what a bounce rate is … see Avinash’s blog post on bounce rate for more info
• and more!

Digital Ministry covers a mix of things covering techniques, technology, and theology in order to enhance one’s capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in every day life on the Internet. The show airs on the second Thursday of the month (today was an exception) from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. Visit the Digital Ministry web page for more information including how to download this podcast after the live broadcast and our full podcast schedule.

For more information, including upcoming guests and our full podcast schedule, visit the program page of Digital Ministry.

Continue the conversation day or night at the A Nun’s Life Community Forum and look for the topic “Digital Ministry Podcast Listeners.”

Happy IHM Founders Day. Since our congregation’s founding in 1845, the IHM Sisters of Monroe, Michigan have been committed to issues of justice, peace and sustainability. This commitment is rooted in the mission of our founders Louis Florent Gillet and Theresa Maxis Duchemin to respond to the world’s most pressing needs.

In order to create a more just, peaceful and sustainable world, the IHM community promotes peace and non-violence; solidarity with the materially poor; economic justice and the development of an ecological consciousness.

Our IHM Justice, Peace, and Sustainability Office has created a short video highlighting how IHMs are working in these areas. We invite you to watch this video and to share the link with your friends. The video is on YouTube and also on our IHM website.

We also encourage you explore our Justice Peace and Sustainability pages on the IHM website. There you will find a variety of pages on topics ranging from Haiti to human trafficking, climate change to the consistent ethic of life.  Each page includes a description of the issue, stories of IHMs in action, prayer materials, resources and recommended actions you can take to act in solidarity with IHM Sisters and Associates.

Many thanks to Sarah and Nancy in our IHM Justice, Peace, and Sustainability Office for their care and ministry!

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Read the past 4 years of IHM Founders Day posts at aNunsLife.org!

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

DM003 Digital Ministry with Sr. Christine Ereiser, OSB, on using Twitter and providing meaningful content in 140 characters or less! Recorded live on November 9, 2010. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Be inspired by technology, technique, and theology.

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

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Topic: Using Twitter and providing meaningful content in 140 characters or less!

Guest: Sister Christine Ereiser, OSB

Sister Christine Ereiser is a Benedictine nun and the prioress of Saint Joseph Monastery in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and an avid user of Twitter to promote Benedictine values. Sister Christine encourages the use of the Internet and social media within the Benedictine community and at Monte Cassino School, a pre-school through 8 grade school started by the Benedictine Sisters in 1926.

Listen to her story and be inspired!

Show Notes:

• ministry in 140 characters or less
• getting started with Twitter
• tweets and ministry potential
• getting retweets
• choosing topics or themes to tweet
• when not to tweet
• tweeting in support of corporate ministry
• the Benedictine values of hospitality and of stability on the Internet
• amount of time needed to tweet
• Twitter: distraction or ministry?
• advice for Twittering beginners
• a leader’s advice on getting leadership involved in today’s Internet communication
• and more!

Digital Ministry covers a mix of things covering techniques, technology, and theology in order to enhance one’s capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in every day life on the Internet. The show airs on the second Thursday of the month (today was an exception) from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. Visit the Digital Ministry web page for more information including how to download this podcast after the live broadcast and our full podcast schedule.

For more information, including upcoming guests and our full podcast schedule, visit the program page of Digital Ministry.

Continue the conversation day or night at the A Nun’s Life Community Forum and look for the topic “Digital Ministry Podcast Listeners.”

DM002 Digital Ministry with guests Maureen McCann Waldron and Father Andy Alexander, SJ, of Creighton University Online Ministries recorded live on October 14, 2010. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Be inspired by technology, technique, and theology.

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

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Guests: Father Andy Alexander, SJ, and Maureen McCann Waldron

Father Andy and Maureen are partners at Creighton University’s Collaborative Ministry Office and Online Ministries. Online Ministries has a 12-year history of responding to people’s needs in real language and real-life experience.

They have visitors from around the world and are conscious of tailoring their resources to fit people’s spiritual needs as well as their language, culture, and available technology. One of many current projects is to translate their resources (including their very popular online retreat) into a variety of languages, most recently Chinese!

Listen to their story and be inspired with new ideas for how you engage in  your online ministry.

Show Notes:

• starting small with online ministry
• making the online experience user-friendly, especially across languages and cultures
• getting a variety of sources of content
• promoting one’s online ministry (getting people to show up)
• how working collaboratively affects your ministry
• the inspiration behind Online Ministries
• authentic Catholic websites
• key websites for connecting with young people
• having a full-time job and ministering online as an “add-on”
• creating a website and web experience based on people’s needs
• content vs. form
• Jesus’ use of the technology of his day

Digital Ministry is a podcast on using Internet technologies and social media for ministry. The show is hosted by Sister Maxine and Sister Julie of A Nun’s Life Ministry and covers a mix of things covering techniques, technology, and theology in order to enhance one’s capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in every day life on the Internet. The show airs on the second Thursday of the month from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. Tune in at www.aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

For more information, including upcoming guests and our full podcast schedule, visit the program page of Digital Ministry.

Continue the conversation day or night at the A Nun’s Life Community Forum and look for the topic “Digital Ministry Podcast Listeners.”

DM001 Digital Ministry with guest Lisa Hendey of CatholicMom.com recorded live on September 9, 2010. Produced by aNunsLife.org ministry. Sponsored by Vision Vocation Network. Our hosts talk with Lisa about social media, faith, building community and more.

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

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Guest: Lisa Hendey of CatholicMom.com

Lisa Hendey is the founder and editor of CatholicMom.com, a web site focusing on the Catholic faith, parenting and family life, and Catholic cultural topics. The site includes Lisa’s blog, articles by a variety of columnists, podcasts, videos, and many other resources. Lisa is author of the book, The Handbook for Catholic Moms.

Topic: A pioneer’s experience using digital technology & media for ministry

Show Notes:

• the meaning of “digital ministry” compared to “ordinary” ministry
• getting started with online ministry
• how being a mom helps
• a few “ah-HA” moments
• Lisa’s book The Handbook for Catholic Moms (nuns like it too!)
  
• using Facebook as part of one’s digital ministry mix
• making a website more interactive
• getting people to actually come to one’s web site or social media page
• on whether YouTube videos or podcasts should be “professional”
• advice to people starting or already involved in digital ministry
• energy for when the batteries run out

Digital Ministry is a podcast on using Internet technologies and social media for ministry. The show is hosted by Sister Maxine and Sister Julie of A Nun’s Life Ministry and covers a mix of things covering techniques, technology, and theology in order to enhance one’s capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in every day life on the Internet. The show airs on the second Thursday of the month from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. Central Time. Tune in at www.aNunsLife.org/LIVE.

For more information, including upcoming guests and our full podcast schedule,  visit the program page of Digital Ministry.

Continue the conversation day or night at the A Nun’s Life Community Forum and look for the topic “Digital Ministry Podcast Listeners.”

Many thanks to our program sponsor VISION Vocation Network.

With two new podcast series starting in September, Sister Maxine and Sister Julie are bringing you the most interesting people and topics around spirituality, ministry, discernment, social media, vocations, and more!

In a few short weeks, we are launching two new monthly podcast series. These live, interview-style programs will be broadcast live on our website. You are invited to join the conversation with us and our guests via our chat room during the live show. You can also submit questions ahead of time for our guests.

Here’s a glimpse of the two programs:

In Good Faith features guests who are nationally known for their ministry in spirituality, religious life, and discernment. The program will run every first Thursday of the month at 7 p.m. CST.

Our first show will be on September 2, 2010, and feature Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM. Sister Sandra is a leading authority on Catholic women’s religious life and a frequent contributor to Catholic periodicals, as well as a renowned author. She is professor emerita of scripture spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley where she teaches courses such as biblical spirituality, Christian spirituality and religious life.

On October 7 we’ll be talking with Dr. Margaret Susan Thompson, a professor of history at Maxwell School of Syracuse University, where she also holds appointments in the departments of religion, political science, and women and gender studies. Peggy is the leading expert on the history of women’s religious life in the United States.

We’ll be adding more information to the In Good Faith program page and our podcast schedule soon!

Digital Ministry focuses on using Internet technologies and social media for ministry. The program is a mix of things covering technique, technology, and theology in order to enhance one’s capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in everyday life on the Internet. The program will run every second Thursday of the month at 3 p.m. CST.

Our first show will be on September 9, 2010, and feature Ms. Lisa Hendey, founder and editor of CatholicMom.com, author of The Handbook for Catholic Moms: Nurturing Your Heart, Mind, Body, and Soul, freelance writer, and website designer. Lisa is one of the leading figures in Catholic social media today.

On October 14 we’ll be talking with Father Andy Alexander, SJ, and Ms. Maureen McCann Waldron, partners at Creighton University’s Collaborative Ministry Office and Online Ministries. Father Andy and Maureen have done extensive ministry in tending to people’s spiritual hunger in the digital world.

We’ll be adding more information to the Digital Ministry program page and our podcast schedule soon!

We are able to provide these programs free to listeners because of sponsor support. If you would like to sponsor In Good Faith or Digital Ministry, visit our Become a Sponsor page for more information.

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

FP005 Feature Podcast on IHM Ministry recorded live on May 15, 2010. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Sister Julie Vieira, IHM, discusses what ministry is, the IHM lived experience, the liberating mission of Jesus, and cultivating right relationships.

Catholic sisters and nuns minister in a variety of ways. In fact, the ways they can minister are endless because ministry is not simply what you do (e.g., your job), it’s a way of being.

At a recent discernment retreat for women interested in my IHM community, I gave a little talk on what IHM Ministry is all about. I encourage you to listen and add your thoughts below in the comment box. What struck you? In what ways do you think of ministry in general and in your own lived experience?

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

Subscribe to the A Nun’s Life Podcast:

A Nun’s Life Ministry will be launching a new podcast soon! The Digital Ministry Podcast will be on using Internet technologies and social media for ministry. We’ve been using these things for 4 years now and get many questions asking us “how’d you do that?” The new podcast will be a mix of things covering techniques, technology, and theology in order to enhance our capacity to do ministry, to witness to the Gospel in every day life on the Internet. (FYI: Podcast was initially called Social Ministry Podcast)

This podcast is for anyone who ministers online or who uses the Internet to connect with people: vocation directors, youth ministers, online community managers, religious communities and parishes, webmasters for religious organizations, churches and parishes, individuals, and more!

This is a place where no question is too foolish and everyone can share their wisdom and questions.

We’ll share our experience with blogs, podcasts, Facebook, Twitter, equipment, software, consultants and collaborators, books and resources, and interacting with people online. We’ll also interview folks across the social media landscape who can provide expertise, insight, and concrete help on a variety of related topics.

Here are some of the kinds of things we’ll talk about:

• How to get people to comment more on your blog
• Can one really do ministry “virtually”?
• What can I do to spread the word about my website?
• What are some good, solid Catholic organizations that I can go to for help or direct my visitors to?
• What is podcasting and how could it benefit my ministry?
• How do I start a blog?
• What would Jesus do with today’s Internet technology?
• Is it important for me to know what SEO is?
• Which social networks should I belong to?
• What do I do if I get negative comments?
• What is the difference between Twitter and Facebook and blogging?
• Can an iPhone or Blackberry really help me minister better?
• How do I explain to my community/organization why this online stuff is important?
• How do I manage all this online stuff AND still do my regular job?
• How do I care for and nourish my online community?

We’d like to hear from you! If you’d like updates on this podcast by email, click the SIGN UP button below.**  We just need your first name, email (never made public), and check the Digital Ministry Podcast box. If you wish, please let us know your other info, such as ministry position, organization, and website. If you are interested in being an underwriter of this podcast, please contact us for more information.
** If you’ve already signed up by commenting below or emailing me prior to June 14, 2010, then you’ve already been signed up!

I was wondering about the occupational options open to nuns. Specifically, could somebody be a physician and a nun?

- Maria

A Catholic sister or nun can engage in any occupation or job, including that of a physician. However the choice as to which kind of work or ministry to engage in is discerned according to the mission of the congregation and the needs of the world. Because each community has a particular mission, it might happen that particular occupations will fall outside of that mission proper. Also, communities which are cloistered or semi-cloistered would have additional limitations to working outside of the monastery because their primary ministry is prayer and contemplation.

As mentioned, the choice of what kind of work to do is made through discernment with others in the sister’s community. It is a very intentional discernment that takes into account the mission of the community, the needs of the community, the needs of the world, the sister’s gifts and passions, and most importantly the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

If you are thinking about what it might be like for you to be a sister or nun, I encourage you to get to know a community and, when ready, to chat about this with the vocation director or another sister whom you know in the community.

In my IHM community, for example, our mission is centered around “the liberating mission of Jesus Christ”. Traditionally we have focused this mission around education. So many of us are involved in “traditional”educative endeavors such as teachers, catechists, and professors. We also express our educative mission through ministry as writers, care givers, justice advocates, church leaders, editors, administrators, bloggers, counselors, missionaries, lawyers, doctors, and more.

In what other occupations have you seen sisters or nuns? In what way is that occupation a ministry? If you are a sister, how did you discern that call?

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Join Sister Maxine and Sister Julie for evening prayer
at 6 p.m. Central Time (check your time zone)

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 .

Much can be said (and written) about seeking God’s blessings and seeking God’s ways. Countless questions about God and directed to God have been uttered — what is the meaning in life, my life? how can I give my life to God? what is God like? where is God? does God hear me, notice me?

Sometimes, when pursuing one of these Big Questions, we stumble upon blessings that we did not intentionally seek. For example, way back when, I spent time discerning how God was calling me to use my gifts in the world as a Catholic sister. I was happily committed in my life as a sister but was still trying to find my place in the world in regards to form or context of ministry. Through prayer, conversations with my sisters, retreat, and simply trying new things, I began moving toward a kind of “answer” to what I was seeking. In the midst of all that discernment, that “figuring out” where God was leading me, there were some unexpected blessings.

Like blogging.

I started a simple little blog more as a hobby and to learn more about Internet technologies. I had no expectations for the blog other than it would help me learn a few tricks. I certainly did not expect that I would be working full-time with the A Nun’s Life website and community some 3+ years later! The blog was one of those blessings I stumbled upon while I was trying to pursue this other question of what work I wanted to commit myself to as an IHM Sister. It seemed irrelevant at the time, a mere distraction, yet it was and continues to be a great blessing that has taken me, and my original question, to a new place.

What “blessing stumbled upon” have you had in life? In what ways is God calling you to not necessarily answer your original question but simply to live out of the new place in which you find yourself?

Footnote: Thoughts today inspired by Teresa of Avila (p. 62) and my nun Sister Maryfran Barber, IHM.

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Join Sister Maxine, the A Nun’s Life community, and me for Praying with the Sisters podcast at 6 p.m. Central Time tonight (your time zone).

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.

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?

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.

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.

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)

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 …

Nuns are amazing women. They minister to the whole world — sometimes by traveling to the far reaches of the globe, sometimes by their powerful prayers from within a monastery. There is no place that we Catholic sisters and nuns will not go to minister to God’s people and to tend the precious world that God has entrusted to our care.

Today’s Nunday photo is a powerful reminder of this. My blogging friend Sister Susan Rose Francois of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Peace sent this photo and story of her nun, Sister Eleanor Gilmore.

From Sister Susan …

Sister Eleanor Gilmore, CSJP, is retiring from her health care ministry to the people of El Salvador. Sister Eleanor has lived in San Salvador since 2001 when she founded the Paz Salud health ministry which brings volunteer doctors and nurses to staff temporary health clinics for the poor of El Salvador. She had previously ministered in El Salvador during the civil war. From 1988 to 1993 she worked with Jesuit Refugee Services to coordinate health care in the capital for people from the repopulation villages. This was all the ministry she began after she “retired” from community leadership.

I was privileged to visit Sister Eleanor in El Salvador two summers ago. As we toured around the countryside, she would meet families that she had helped during the Civil War. It was as if she was a member of their family – they would embrace and catch up on all their news. Occasionally she would also tell us more grim stories – but always with a sense of humor. Like when we drove by the police station where she’d been held overnight. Or the Jesuit Refugee Service house she was staying overnight at in El Salvador – she had some appointments in the City the next day – only to be awoken during the middle of the night by police commandos who arrested her (again). Life was dangerous during the war to be sure, but she felt called to be there with the people.

Another Sister has taken over the ministry in El Salvador. Sister Eleanor will be returning to our west coast headquarters for some much needed rest and relaxation.

Catholic nuns today often have many, many different careers throughout their life. We have a saying in our IHM Congregation that comes from one of our founders, Louis Florent Gillet: “I desire to be everywhere when I see so many needs.” This spirit pervades all that we do, and often means that we end up doing many different kinds of things throughout our life.

Sometimes we take on a ministry because our congregational leaders (superiors) ask us to consider it. Other times we become aware of a need and are inspired to address it. We pray and talk it over with our nuns and decide together what to do. Many nuns also experience what you do in terms of having a passion (e.g. promoting literacy, caring for the sick, catechizing young people) and entering the job market to find a position in which we can minister.

My nuns are no exception to having multiple careers or callings throughout their religious life. I’d like to introduce you to my Sister Margaret Chapman, IHM, who currently serves as president of Compassionate Companions, Inc. in Michigan. Here’s her story.

P.S. This interview is a result of my Nun Questions post.
Your Questions. IHM Sisters respond.