Happy Friday! I can hardly believe that we are already in the later part of October. You know what that means … Halloween is creeping up on us, slowly but surely and spookily. For A Nun’s Life that also means addressing the oft-asked question this time of year: Is it appropriate for me or my child to wear a nun’s habit as a Halloween costume? Sister Maxine and I will be taking this question head on during today’s “Ask Sister” portion of Nun News Roundup.

Here’s today’s lineup:

• 

  Newly-minted saint Sister Jeanne Jugan

  Pope Benedict XVI canonized Sister Jeanne Jugan

• Nuns swing hammers, hang wallboard to rebuild homes hit by Katrina
• Women religious take the podium at Africa synod of bishops
• U.S. women religious supported by sister sisters in Asia
• The Mysterious Sister X – an article in Commonweal Magazine
  Interviewing Mirabai Starr on the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila

Join us for all the news that’s fit to broadcast this week about nuns!

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’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.

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.

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.

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.

So many good nun stories this week. Treat yourself to some good news about Catholic sisters and nuns alive and well in today’s world.

Radical Love: The Sisters of Summit, New Jersey - a photo essay by Toni Greaves in Time Magazine. Greaves explores through photography and interviews why the nuns have chosen to lead a cloistered life. Sister Lauren Franko, age 22, talk about her discernment and choice to lead this life. Well done, Sister Lauren!

Sr. Mary Michael Retires from Teaching – a beautiful story in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (January 29, 2009). Sister Mary Michael Burns is a Sister of Charity of Seton Hill. See photo below of Sister Lindena Brace with Sister Mary Michael Burns at her retirement party.

The Garden of Evil by David Hewson (Delacourte Press 2008) – okay so this book isn’t about a real nun, but it sounds interesting nonetheless. I just saw a review of this in the Galveston Daily News and it peaked my interest. The book features Sister Agata, an art expert who gets caught up in trying to solve a crime, and in so doing becomes a target herself (cue dramatic music).

Catholic Nun ministers at the Circus – Sister Dorothy Fabritze is a full-time circus worker and Catholic nun who holds religion classes, working across cultures, sharing the circus lifestyle.

It has been an exciting week in the world of nuns. Because this was National Vocation Awareness Week, many newspapers and blogs ran stories about Catholic sisters and nuns, brothers and monks and friars, and deacons and priests. Here’s a bit of what I found about sisters and nuns.

Seeing the Results by Ray Kisonas of the Monroe Evening News (January 13, 2009) – a great article that shows the impact that Catholic sisters have had and continue to have in education.

“This lady made such an indelible mark on my life,” said Ron Pickard, who grew up in Monroe and now lives in Tennessee. “She had an influence on all students and that’s why we have such a gathering here today. It’s wonderful we have her with us. I wouldn’t miss this for anything.”

Nun Explains How the Sisterhood’s Changed by a reporter for CBS Channel 7 in Wausau, Wisconsin (January 10, 2009) – I felt compelled to comment on this article

But she realizes everyone believes they are meant to do something, and sisterhood may just not be for everyone…. “I say listen to the Lord. He does not tap you on the shoulder – a vocation is a feeling. ‘This is what I want to do.’”

Inspired by the skating nun by Ernest Hebert for the Boston Globe (January 5, 2009) – Don’t know how I missed this piece!

These were Sisters of Mercy. They wore long black gowns from head to toe and what looked to me like giant white bibs. You could see their faces, but nothing else, not even their hair, so from a distance it was hard to tell who was who.

The sisters pushed the tall sister onto the ice. The sister began to glide, picked up speed, twirled, her black gown expanding. Long before the movie “The Flying Nun,” I had grasped the concept. It took me a full minute to realize that the sister was ice skating.