This week is an important one in the church calendar. We celebrate Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the season of Lent in two days. A wonderful Catholic tradition is to celebrate Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday. So in light of the advent of Mardi Gras, I’m sharing a picture from a gathering of IHM Sisters from Monroe, Scranton, and Immaculata, and Oblate Sisters of Providence. In true Philly style we had the Mummers join us for one of our celebrations. The Mummers remind me of the art, performance, and regalia that we often see during Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans.

In honor of Mardi Gras and the beginning of Lent, A Nun’s Life will be hosting a special Community Podcast tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. CST (your timezone). For more information, please see our blog post on Mardi Gras Podcast.

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).

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).

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).

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!

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:

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.

Happy Monday and happy Nunday! Nunday is alive and well but we still need your photos of Catholic sisters and nuns. Maybe it’s a nun that is a friend or relative of yours. Maybe it’s your teacher or catechist or coworker. Send in your photo to be featured on NUNDAY. By participating in Nunday, you’re helping in our ministry by promoting authentic images of women religious, that is, Catholic sisters and nuns, and helping people to get to know us personally!

You can view past Nunday blog posts or see the whole collection of nun photos on the A Nun’s Life Facebook page.

Today’s Nunday is a photo from Trish Clark, author of the book Good Night and God Bless which was recently reviewed here at A Nun’s Life. Trish writes:

“I took this photo when I was staying a convent guesthouse in Venice researching my book on convent and monastery accommodation for tourists, called Good Night and God Bless: A Guide to Convent and Monastery Guesthouses in Europe.

The sister was sitting at the reception desk knitting and came outside to give me directions.  She was very happy to have her photo taken and was thrilled with the instant (digital) result.”

I just learned that Trish shares all of the royalties from the sale of this book with the Mary MacKillop Foundation, an organization founded by the Sisters of St Joseph of Australia to help “helps those without choices, without hope, without a voice”. Way to go, Trish! You can find out more at the book’s website goodnightandgodbless.com.

So get a great book and at the same time support this author’s work and the Mary MacKillop Foundation. You’re also supporting the ministry of A Nun’s Life as we receive a small percentage (4%) of the purchase price from Amazon when our visitors click on links from our website to Amazon. Since I’ve inadvertently headed in this direction, I might as well add that A Nun’s Life Ministry welcomes direct donations as well — any contribution you can make helps offset some of the costs associated with providing this online ministry. To donate or to find out more, please our donate page.

UPDATE: Listen to today’s Praying with the Sisters podcast.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

While in Monroe, Michigan, this past week, I had a chance to take some pictures of the IHM Motherhouse. Sister Jill had also taken some cool photos so I’m including some of hers as well.

Sister Jill poses at the front doors of the IHM Motherhouse

My favorite image and saying posted in the IHM front foyer

Artistic rendering of the first "motherhouse" -- a log cabin by the banks of the River Raisin -- humble beginnings for Mother Theresa and the first sisters

Sister Antoinette Ruedisueli, IHM, in the computer room of the IHM Library

IHM Reading Room

Artwork from our IHM sisters and associates ... there are weekly classes taught by our IHM master artists in a variety of media

"The Back 40" ... this is the land behind the Motherhouse that extends beyond the forested area. Includes Saint Joseph lake and island.

See all of Sister Jill Kress and my photos of the IHM Motherhouse at the official A Nun’s Life Facebook page. You don’t need to be a member of Facebook to see the pictures.

Monday is NUNDAY! Today’s photo of a Catholic sister comes from Lucy, and it features Sister Mary Kiely, OSF. Sister Mary is a Sister of St. Francis of Philadelphia.

From Lucy:

Sister Mary came to Saint Didacus Parish School in San Diego, California, in 2007-2008. She was our Principal for one year. She was such a kind person. The children all loved her and we miss her now that she is retired in Ireland. She was the only Nun I have had the pleasure to know with a daily friendship. I remember thinking she was going to be different, I thought perhaps she would be a stern religious woman. I remember the children were nervous all summer knowing Sister Mary would take over the school, they just didn’t know what to expect. We were all pleasantly surprised to meet and get to know Sister. She was the nicest person with a true loving heart for the children of our school. She would always walk around the play ground enjoying the children. She would wear her sun glasses with her habit. It was such a fun thing to see at first. A Sister that is too cool.

Lucy continues:

In the picture I submitted Sister Mary is posing with preschool children with one of the parents Harley motorcycles. Now if this image doesn’t change the way we have thought about Nuns than I don’t know what will.

Thank you, Lucy! Love this photo. And to all, keep sending in your Catholic sister and nun photos and stories! Click for more info.

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.

Thank you to those who have been sending in photos of Catholic Sisters and Nuns. Keep them coming! Today’s Nunday photo comes from the Oblate Sisters of Providence of Baltimore, Maryland.

The photo is of Sister Josella de los Rios, OSP. Sister Josella is originally from Cuba and lives at the Oblate Sisters of Providence Motherhouse in Baltimore. Her OSP Sister Marcia Hall sent in the photo noting, “Sister has been in the community nearly 50 years. In the past Sister Josella has worked with children, but now she ministers primarily to our sick Sisters.”

Learn more about the Oblate Sisters of Providence at their website. And be sure to check out their book, Oblate Sisters of Providence, A Pictorial History.

Monday is Nunday! … at least for today. My folder of emailed nun photos is empty. Alas, there are no more photos of real Catholic sisters and nuns. Nunday can only go forward with your support.

Nunday is an opportunity to present the world with real images of nuns, instead of the cutesie caricatures and erotica that seems to dominate the genre of nun imagery on the Internet. It’s a chance to reclaim nun imagery so that when nuns are portrayed, they are presented authentically as themselves, not as a caricature with some ridiculous caption and being stripped of their name and their story.

So what do you have to do? Check out my post Nun Photos – Got em? Send em! which gives you all the info you need. Know a nun? Ask to take her picture. Are you a nun or sister? You’ve got to have some pictures of your community someplace!

This photo comes from an article published last year in the San Diego Union-Tribune called A Guiding Light by Sandi Dolbee (June 8, 2008).

Pictured is Sister Ursula Doherty, RSM, a Sister of Mercy, who was featured in the newspaper upon her retirement after teaching for 33 years at Saint Vincent school in San Diego.

Be sure to read the whole story as it’s a beautiful tribute to a wonderful nun.

The

end.

Good day and welcome to our special feature “Monday is NUNDAY”! I’m Sister Julie, host of A Nun’s Life, and a Catholic sister belonging to the IHM Sisters of Monroe, Michigan. On today’s program we have a nun guest hailing from the Sisters of the Divine Savior, otherwise knows as the Salvatorians. Please welcome Sister Elizabeth “Liza” Segleau, SDS.

Sister Liza has a masters degree in behavioral health and ministers as a social worker and counselor. She lives in a rural, mountain town in Arizona called Show Low. Sister Liza currently works for a private practice but is actively working with the director to set up a nonprofit counseling/outreach center called Gabriel after the archangel.  Once Gabriel is up and running, Sister Liza will work there fulltime. Says Sister Liza, “This is certainly walking out on a limb and trusting in God’s providence. I have not been involved in a start-up in quite some time. So enthusiasm, trust, joy, strength and patience will be required. Your prayers will be appreciated as we gently go about getting Gabriel started.”

The photo of Sister Liza is from when she ministered at Catholic Charities in Milwaukee. She served as an outreach working in their immigration program.

For more on Sister Liza and her Sisters, check out the Meet Sisters page of the Sisters of the Divine Savior website.

Send in your photos of real Catholic sisters and nuns. See more photos of sisters and nuns who have been featured on Nunday at A Nun’s Life.

Today’s Nunday photo and story come from a recent visit of IHM Sisters to Haiti. The IHM Sisters of Monroe together with the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the Immaculata IHMs, and the Scranton IHMs, have a corporate commitment to care for the people of Haiti. Here is our corporate statement:

We, the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the IHM Sisters, impelled by the Gospel, stand in solidarity with the people of Haiti, the poorest nation in the Americas, in their struggle for dignity, life and human rights both in Haiti and the United States.

You can read more about the Haiti Project on our OSPIHM.org website.

Periodically sisters go to Haiti to help, some stay for a short time, others for a while. Sister Michele Denton, an IHM sister from Monroe, was recently in Haiti with The World Community for Christian Meditation, an organization founded and led by Benedictine monks.

You can read about Sister Michele’s experience in Haiti at our IHM website in the article Sister Bears Witness to Haitian Struggles.

Send in your photos of real Catholic sisters and nuns.

See more photos of sisters and nuns who have been featured on Nunday at A Nun’s Life.

It’s the beginning of the work week, so it must be Nunday! Sister Brittany, a young woman in the process of becoming a Salesian sister, sent me a couple photos of a nun that is very dear to her. Here’s what Sister Brittany wrote to me about her nun (links added by me).

Her name is Sister Mary Greenan, FMA, and she is a Salesian Sister (the Congregation I am in formation with). She is friends with your Sister, Sandra Schneiders. She is an adjunct faculty member at Berkeley, at the Dominican School.

Once a week Sister Mary flies down to Los Angeles to give us a class on Salesianity — anything from our youth spirituality to Church history. She has been doing this for several years. She is chair of the religion department at one of the Salesian high schools, as well.

Irish by birth, but raised in England, Sister Mary was professed in 1975 – a time of great transition for our Congregation. Her real gift is for Youth Ministry, and she eventually was called to work at our Generalate in Rome. Following that position, she joined us in the United States and has been lending her expertise to our Sisters and the various Salesian groups here. Lay people have also found in her a great resource for her deep sense of spirituality.

I highly value the presence, wisdom, and friendship of Sister Mary. She has a dynamic vision of our Salesian charism. She is a great support, a tremendous woman religious, and a beautiful person. She inspires me.

Send in your photos of real Catholic sisters and nuns.

See more photos of sisters and nuns who have been featured on Nunday at A Nun’s Life.

Monday is Nunday! I received an email from Christine telling me about a website by Sister Mary Jane Masterson, CSJ. I thought it would be a great contribution to Nunday as Sister Mary Jane has lots of photos from throughout her life.

Sister Mary Jane is a sister of the Congregation of Saint Joseph in Cleveland, Ohio. Christine notes,”Sister Mary Jane has published a book about her life, reflecting on her growing up years, twenty years of convent life before Vatican II and her road of renewal that she continues to travel today.” You can check out the book on Sister Mary Jane’s website or at Amazon at One Nun’s Story: Then and Now.

Here’s a couple of pictures from Sister’s website:

Keep sending in your photos of real Catholic sisters and Nuns.

Nunday is here and we’re on a roll with IHM Sisters. Yes, it’s true, I am a bit partial to IHMs because they are my nuns!

This photo and story were sent in from Kaz, a regular here at A Nun’s Life.

Sister Elizabeth Zeestraten is an IHM Sister who just turned 100 on December 31, 2008. The Monroe Evening News online edition featured a story about her – IHM sister rings in century of life.

Writes Kaz,

I  liked reading how she summarized her life as the article stated with St. Paul’s words of wisdom found in Thessalonians 5:16-18, which reads: “Rejoice always, never cease praying and render constant thanks; such is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.”

You can also find a writeup about Sister Elizabeth on our IHM Sisters website. What amazes me is that Sister Elizabeth has been a Catholic nun for 77 years!!! WOW! She is an inspiration to me.

Nunday is here, and I am delighted to celebrate it with a picture of my own nun, Sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM. I am currently in San Francisco to give a workshop and was able to spend yesterday with Sister Sandra who ministers as Professor Emerita at the Catholic Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley here in California.

Sister Sandra and I spent the day at Muir Woods. On our way there we stopped at an overlook to see the ocean.

Sister Sandra is a Professor of New Testament Studies and Christian Spirituality and has done much work on behalf of religious life. She is a great thinker and theologian. She is also a great nun. Sister Sandra lives and breathes religious life and is an inspiration to me. We had such a good time hiking together and talking about life. I learned that she is a runner and that she’s bungee jumped and that she’s seen hippopotamuses in the wild!

I’ve got a few more pictures of our time together which you can see on my Facebook page.

Nunday is here! Today’s photo of Catholic nuns and sisters is from Sister Sarah Puls, of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict (commonly just called “Good Sams”) in Australia.

Writes Sister Sarah,

This particular bunch of sisters are all I-Kiribati (from Kiribati, like an Australian is from Australia). From left to right their names are Tibwau, Teubwaniman, Ameria, Beia and Kakare. This photo was taken at a gathering we held for all the old people on the island of North Tarawa, Kiribati. The old people came on trucks and sat around the mwaneaba (the building we’re in) all day dancing and talking and eating. In this photo they’re doing a dance to entertain the old people who had gathered.

I took this photo during my recent 5 month stay in Kiribati and I had the pleasure of learning some dancing too. It’s an incredibly precise art though so my dancing was never good enough to entertain the locals, but I had great fun when we had gathering of the sisters!

Check out Sister Sarah’s blog, The Nun Thing.

It’s a chilly Nunday here in Chicago … so cold that even the snow has stopped falling, the nun mobile doesn’t want to start, and Chloe the Convent Cat is buried in my comforter.

It’s is fitting then that today’s Nunday photo feature Catholic nuns embracing the joys of winter. The following photo was submitted by my blogging friend Sister Susan Rose Francois, CSJP, of Musings of a Discerning Woman. Sister Susan writes,

This is a picture of 3 Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace – Sr. Amalia, Sr. Susan (me), and Sr. Suyki. We had a snow day here at our province headquarters, St. Mary-on-the-Lake. We decided to make a snow person in the courtyard outside our dining room windows so that the elderly sisters could see it. We had great fun with our creation – who we christened “Sister Snow.” Inside our sisters cheered us on. One even gave us a standing ovation. We had a great time!

Read more about Sister Susan’s snow day on her post Sister Snow at Musings of a Discerning Woman.

Monday is NUNDAY! Every Monday A Nun’s Life features YOUR photos of nuns and your story in relation to those nuns. Last week we missed Nunday because we had a special guest blogger for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception — and as all good Catholics know, Holy Days of Obligation always trump the ordinary day!

Today we’ve got a great photograph from Raphael Borja, a Catholic and university student from Canada doing an exchange semester in Italy. This photo was shot in Rome (Vatican City) on All Souls Day in St. Peter’s Square, shortly after Pope Benedict’s noon address.

Writes Raphael,

“I’ll be the first to admit that I’m sometimes guilty of buying into mainstream media’s depiction of nuns as meek, quiet introverts and ruler-slapping school tyrants. Coming from a culture where men and women of the cloth are increasingly rare (and sometimes even latently taboo), it’s ever-refreshing to see flocks of priests draped in cassocks and sisters donning habits. Furthermore, to be reminded that a sister’s ministry is not always limited to cloistered halls as the stereotype projects, to see an overlooked side as she lives and fulfills her vocation among everyday people in a variety of ways, is nothing short of sweet.”

Nunday is here! Every Monday A Nun’s Life features your photos of Catholic nuns and sisters in an effort to express the beautiful diversity of religious life and to provide authentic images of nuns today. We’re getting to the end of the photo bucket, so start clicking and sending in more photos! I’m sure you’ve got pictures from Thanksgiving and preparations for Advent that you’d LOVE to share!

Nunday today features a postulant from the other side of the globe. Well, I don’t know if Sweden is exactly on the other side, but it’s pretty far from Chicago! Soon-to-be-Sister Linda is a postulant with the Brigittine community in Sweden. Here she is “basking” in the Swedish autumn grey skies! Writes Linda, “The Brigittines are amazing contemplative nuns, who exude a wonderful atmosphere of warmth and live their religious life with joy and sisterhood.

The community of Brigittine Sisters was founded by Saint Birgitta of Sweden and approved by Pope Urban V in 1370. The Sisters’ life is deeply formed by the monatic tradition and centered around  liturgical prayer. Their ministry is one of prayer, hospitality, ecumenism, and teaching the Catholic faith.

I can personally speak to the sisters’ ministry of hospitality. In 1995 I took my first and only trip overseas to visit England, Scotland, and Italy. Two friends and I spent a week in Assisi at the guest house of the Brigittine Sisters. We slept, prayed, and ate at the Guest House — three of the finest things in life! I can assure you that not only was the hospitality superb, but the meals were out of this world. Some of the best pasta and wine this side of God.

Blessings to you, Linda. Please be assured of our prayers as you continue your journey with the Sisters.

Nunday is here and today we have a special remembrance of Sister Julia Wilkinson, OSB, whose second anniversary of death was earlier this month. The photo was sent in by the Rev. Sallie Verrette, of Grinnell, Iowa.

Rev. Sallie writes: “Sister Julia was a dear friend of mine. She taught me about God’s love for me and showed me how to love God. She was mischievous and funny and filled with God’s Grace.”

Sister Julia was a Benedictine Sister of Mount Saint Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas. You can read more about her on the Sisters’ website: +Sister Julia Wilkinson, O.S.B.

Blogging Nun Updates

Sister Macrina Walker, OCSO, a Cistercian monastic, is the author of the blog A Vow of Conversation. Sister Macrina blogs and reflects on her current theological reading as well as other topics on her “pilgrimage to the sources of Christian truth”.

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a blog by Sister Amy Hereford, CSJ, a Sister of Saint Joseph. Sister Amy is in a degree program in Canon Law at the Catholic Univerisity of Leuven.

Sister Colleen Clair, FMA, a Salesian sister, write the blog Happynun Thinks Aloud … a Salesian Sister’s Take on Stuff. Sister Colleen has some great photos. Be sure to check out her Flickr links.

You can find these blogs listed now on Blogs by Catholic Nuns.

A Nun’s Life Updates

A Nun’s Life launched a new page called How to Become a Catholic Nun. So many folks have asked me questions around this that I thought I’d pull together a page just for you! I’ll be updating the last part on formation soon.

The Vocation Forum is doing well. Vocation Forum is a place where you can explore vocations to religious life. This forum is for those who wonder if religious life is for them and for those who are actively discerning religious life. Check it out and meet others who are discerning their vocation.

Requests

If you write or know of a blog by a Catholic nun (or woman in discernment) please let me know. I like to keep my Blogs by Catholic Nuns up-to-date so you can easily find other blogging nuns. Only requirements are that the blog be updated regularly and that the blog not be entirely anonymous.

Send in your Nun Photos!! I continue to host “Nunday” on Mondays here at A Nun’s Life. We need more submissions from you! Read Nun Photos – Got em? Send em! for details. Click to see previous Nundays.

Nunday is here! And we’ve got some cool stuff today. The Oblate Sisters of Providence are featured in the December 2008 issue of Ebony magazine! RUN, don’t walk, to your nearest convenience store and pick up a copy! The story and photos are fabulous.

The article is called “Walking with God” and was written by Kevin Chappell with photos by André F. Chung. The article starts with the single sentence paragraph: “At first, Virginie Fish ignored Him.” The story goes on to tell a bit about Sister Virginie’s vocation story, mentioning that she has now been a sister for 62+ years of which Virginie says, “It is a life of excitement, adventure, dedication.”

The article goes through some of the history of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and where they are ministering today. My friend Sister Marcia Hall, OSP, is also featured in the article. Sister Marcia is a former sociology professor who joined the Oblate Sisters 10 years ago. Says Sister Marcia, “I feel very strongly that I was called to be here, called to do the work that I am doing now.” Sister Marcia is now the vocation director for the Oblate Sisters of Providence.

Today is November 10, 2008, the 163rd anniversary of the founding of the IHM Congregations — Monroe IHMs from Monroe, Michigan (my community); Scranton IHMs; and Immaculata IHMs (both of Pennsylvania). Our congregations were begun by Mother Theresa Maxis Duchemin and Father Louis Florent Gillet, CSsR (Redemptorist priest). Mother Theresa was originally a member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence but she left to found a new community in Michigan with Father Gillet. Though the Oblate Sisters of Providence celebrate their founding by Mother Mary Lange and Father James Hector Nicholas Joubert, SS (Sulpician priest) on July 2, 1829, I can’t help but remember them on our Founders Day because without them, we would not be.

So today on Founders Day, which also happens to be Nunday, I want to share with you photos of my nuns, the Immaculata and Scranton IHMs and the OSPs. Though each of us lives our charism in unique ways and have different stories, we are bound together by a common heart.

First is a photo of the OSPIHM Governing Board which is made up of the Major Superior, the assistant to the Major Superior, and one member selected at large from the membership of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and the three congregations of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

The 2006 – 2010 members are (back row) Julie Vieira, IHM (M), Rose Yeager, IHM (I); Lorraine McGrew, IHM (I), Mary Persico, IHM (S), Mary Fran Gilleran, IHM (M); (middle row) Mary Ricardo Maddox, OSP, Mary Jo Gallagher, IHM (S), Mary Annette Beecham, OSP; Mary Anne Bolger, IHM (I) (front row) Fran Fasolka, IHM (S), Ana Jovita Hidalgo, OSP, Joan Mumaw, IHM (M)

Next is a photo of the OSP and IHM Major Superiors in 2005 at a gathering of our 4 communities in Immaculata.

The 2005 Major Superiors were Virginia Pfau, IHM (M), Annette Beecham, OSP, Mary Persico, IHM (S), Rose Marie DeCarlo, IHM (I)

Finally a photo of OSP and IHM Sisters whooping it up with the Mummers at our 2005 gathering of all four communities.

Previous posts on Founders Day at A Nun’s Life.

Today’s Nunday picture comes from Siobhan, a Reform Jewish woman who was a high school graduate of the Sacred Heart school in Halifax (Nova Scotia, Canada) and who has known and worked with Catholic sisters and nuns. The photo is of Sister Elaine Fortin, SC, a Sister of Charity from Halifax who is currently studying at Boston College for her Masters of Social Work. Last summer she worked for Habitat for Humanity in Romania for three weeks.

Writes Siobhan, “I like the [photo] of Elaine because it defies what many presume about nuns. I suspect if I was Catholic, I might will have become a nun but I am a Reform Jewish woman who occasionally reads your blog. I teach at a university though am on leave to assist Tzipi Livni as she tries to cobble together a coalition in Israel. We need all the prayers we can get!”

Well my prayers are with you, Siobhan — sounds like you should be blogging yourself! Thanks so much for the picture of Sister Elaine!

Got a nun photo? Send it in along with a little description — you and/or your nun might be featured on A Nun’s Life!

Sister Annunciata Grix, IHM, is a dear friend of mine in my IHM Congregation who died this past July. Still, Nuncie is very much a part of my life and definitely walks among the IHM “communion of saints”. I’ve been thinking about Nuncie a lot lately, missing her, and also asking for her prayers and support because I’ve got an adventurous couple of weeks ahead of me.

So this Nunday, I thought I’d share a couple more pictures of Nuncie that I took at her Remembering … a Remembering is a time for prayer and recalling memories of a Sister who has died. We usually hold Rememberings the night night before a Sister’s funeral. There are always albums of pictures, pieces of writings that the Sister wrote, flowers and momentos from family and friends, and stories — lots of stories!

Here are my past blog postings about Nuncie.

Get out your cameras and start clicking! This is your invitation to send in photos to A Nun’s Life. As you know, Monday is now Nunday because I publish your photos of Catholic sisters and nuns. It’s my little way of helping to change the face of nun imagery on the web.

But Nunday can’t keep going without your help and your photos. So start clicking or going through your SD memory cards and email me some pictures and a little description of the picture.These must be real nuns, not the fake varieties. See past Nunday submissions for ideas. Send me pictures of nuns with or without veils, playing or praying, ministering or just living life.

This is going to be an ongoing feature on A Nun’s Life and therefore an ongoing invitation to you to work with me to promote religious life and express the real faces of sisters and nuns today.

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

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

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

The second picture is of Sister Kathleen “Katie”.

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

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

Thank you, Michelle and Sisters Silvana and Katie!

Nunday is here and have I got a nun photo and story for you! We had a free afternoon to explore Louisville and the environs during the conference. Some folks hopped on boats for a tour via the Ohio River, some headed out to the Abbey of Gethsemane for a visit to the Cistercian monks and the home and grave of Brother Louis, aka Thomas Merton.

My afternoon started off with a rowdy group of vocation directors headed to lunch at TGIF’s on the 4th Street Live! strip of Louisville. The group consisted of my friend and sister Marcia of the Oblate Sisters of Providence, my friend Kelly visiting from ministering in the Appalachian Mountains, Sister Mary Gregory, Brother Ken from Ottawa, Mark a married layman leading a vocations office in California, and Sister Judy of Digital Nun blog. It was a riotous and thoroughly enjoyable lunch, time to get to know one another and to enjoy one another’s company.

On the way home, we stopped off at the Louisville Visitors Center for a photo op with none other than the Colonel himself, Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken. We lost Sister Mary Gregory but picked up two Pauline Sisters – Mary Michael and another nun whose name I missed.

Sister Marcia, Sister Julie, Pauline Sister, Sister Mary Michael, Brother Ken, Mark, Colonel, Kelly, Sister Judy

Keep sending in your nun photos so that I’ll have stuff to post on Monday which, as you know, is now Nunday! For more details, read my post Nun Photos – Got em? Send em!

See all “Monday is Nunday” nun photos.

Another Sister Julie CSSF aka Sister Mary Star Trek aka Sister Julianna (who said nuns still don’t take other names?!) sent me some wonderful nun photos. You’ll recognize her name because she often visits A Nun’s Life and, as we learned recently, is an avid Star Trek fan! Sister Julianna is a Felician Sister, that is a member of the Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Felix of Cantalice, Third Order Regular of Saint Francis.

This first nun photo comes from back in the 1980s when Sister Julianna was home celebrating her profession of final vows, August 17, 1986. Sister writes, “My cousin Anthony was telling me a CLEAN joke. The ending of it just took me by surprise!”

This second picture fast forwards to 2003 when Sister Julianna celebrated her 25th Jubilee (a jubilee is an anniversary year). Sister Julianna’s classmate (a classmate is someone who entered the congregation at the same time) Sister Margaret “Mago” Marie Padilla, CSSF, came home from Mexico for the celebration. Sister Julianna writes that Mago “lost her father to a gang shooting on her 18th birthday. She and her family showed their resilient strength and forgiving hearts. Later, Mago pioneered our Felician mission in the desert ranches (ejidos) in Coahuilla, Mexico, where she ministered for 15 years until being elected to council last year.”

Keep sending in your nun photos so that I’ll have stuff to post on Monday which, as you know, is now Nunday! For more details, read my post Nun Photos – Got em? Send em!

See all “Monday is Nunday” nun photos.

I just found an article from yesterday’s Detroit Free Press with two great nun photos. Remember that news story about the nun who “fights cussing with cussing” at her school? Well, she’s in the news again, this time with pink hair and headstands! Jim Schaefer’s article “A few minutes with: A nun with shocking pink hair” (September 28, 2008) has great pictures (linked below) and gives us a glimpse into the life of another real Catholic sister.

Sister Kathleen Avery, OSM, is a member of the Servants of Mary (aka Servites) of Omaha, Nebraska. The sisters’ mission is to manifest “God’s compassionate presence in the spirit of Mary”.

Sister Kathy Avery, 65, of St. Clair Shores stands on her head Friday in front of her students. Photo by WILLIAM ARCHIE/DFP

Avery, principal of St. Clare of Montefalco Catholic School in Grosse Pointe Park, was delivering on a bet she made to encourage summer reading. She also bet she would dye her hair. Photo by WILLIAM ARCHIE/DFP

Interestingly, the reporter Jim Schaefer commented, “You don’t sound like the stereotypical nun” to which Sister Kathleen responded, “Well, I think I’m still a pretty good nun.”

Nunday is here and I’ve got another nun photo for you. This one comes from another blogging nun, Sister Hildegard Magdalen Pleva, OSsR, who is the Vocation Director for the Redemptoristine Nuns at Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery in Esopus, New York. I feel a spiritual kinship with Sister Hildegard because my own IHM charism comes out of the Redemptorist tradition — our co-Founder, Father Louis Florent Gillet, was a Redemptorist priest.

Sister Hildegard is the blogger behind Contemplative Horizon, “Reflections of a female monastic concerning prayer, religious life, daily experience, and the contemplative way in the tradition of Redemptoristine Nuns” (a link can also be found on my Blogs by Catholic Nuns page). Sister Hildegard sent me this photo of herself with her grandbaby Nicholas. Yes, I said grandbaby. Sister Hildegard is a mother and grandmother who entered the Redemptoristines at the age of 55. She is a real Catholic nun and a “Sister Mom”. In this picture, Sister Hildegard holds her first grandson Nicholas when he was about 5 months of age.

Be sure to check out Sister Hildegard’s blog which also has lots of great photos from her monastery.

See all “Monday is Nunday” series of Catholic sister and nun photos.

Every Monday on A Nun’s Life is Nunday! I am featuring YOUR nun photos, that is, photos of real Catholic Nuns and Sisters. To learn more about submitting photos, please see Nun Photos – Got em? Send em!

Today’s photo comes from Betsy. Betsy wrote a beautiful email, and I asked her permission to include it along with her photo of Sister Margaret.

I met Sister Margaret McCormack, CCVI (Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio) in 1979 when I was 15 years old. She was one of my teachers in high school but, much more than that, she is one of my biggest cheerleaders, role models, prayer partners and inspirations. I probably don’t even remember that much from the class she taught back then but the life lessons she has taught me will last forever through me and through my children.

When I was an unhappy teenager she was there for me.

When I was a happy teenager she was there for me.

When I hated my mother she was there for me.

When I loved my mother she was there for me.

When, as an adult, I came to a sort of “truce” with my mother, Sister Margaret was there for me.

When I was a mixed up adolescent trying to figure out my place, Sister Margaret was my sounding board.

When I decided to go to nursing school, against the advice of many people, she supported me.

When I was in nursing school she sent me letters and notes telling me to “pray and stay close to the Lord and I love you.” I read all those notes to my roommates who laughed and said “what an old fashioned friend you have” but I knew they were secretly jealous!

When I graduated at age 21 and became a Registered Nurse, she clapped in the audience.

When I was a mixed up adult trying to discern if I had a call to religious life, she was there for me and EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY when I decided that wasn’t meant to be she told me that didn’t matter to her, she still loved me and knew I would do good in this world and it didn’t have to be as a religious sister.

When I made bad boyfriend choices and when these same bad boyfriends broke my heart I never even had to tell her; she KNEW and was supportive anyway.

When I needed a place to spend the weekend or the night or just the afternoon, no matter where she lived her door was always open to me.

When I decided it was time to travel and see the world she sent me off with more of her same advice – pray and stay close to the Lord.

When I settled in Utah and moved in with my Jewish boyfriend she didn’t care and was still there for me.

When I married him three years later (Outside the church, no less!) she flew 700 miles to be there for me. She welcomed my husband into the “family” and loves him for no other reason than the fact that he loves me.

When my husband and I moved to Texas, Sister Margaret and I rejoiced because she had moved to the Motherhouse in San Antonio and even though I was in Dallas, we were living in the same state again for the first time in 6 years!

When I had my first child and named her Margaret, Sister Margaret was the first person I called and she said it was only right that I name the baby after her because the name Margaret meant “intelligent” and “beautiful.” In the midst of her own grief – for that very same day she was leaving for Ireland to bury her brother – she rejoiced for me and then when they took baby Maggie away to the NICU because she couldn’t breathe on her own Sister Maggie prayed and prayed for her healing. When they told me my baby might not live and might be profoundly retarded Sister Maggie said that we would deal with whatever happened and we needed to just focus on the baby and the celebration of new life.

When we brought baby Maggie home and she was as healthy as can be, Sister Maggie came and spent her first Thanksgiving with us, holding the baby most of the weekend.

When we took baby Maggie to the Motherhouse to visit, Sister Maggie would drop hints about how baby Maggie needed a brother or sister. When I would remind her of my advancing age she said it didn’t matter – her mother had a baby at 44! Four years later when we had a son, she rejoiced again with us.

I have known Sister Maggie for almost 30 years which seems impossible but she is who I think of when I think of a nun or sister.

Everyone in this world needs someone like her.

Last week I started a campaign to change the face of nun imagery on the Internet. Thank you to so many of you who are supportive of this endeavor. I received a dozen or so photo from readers who are helping to make this happen. Many, many thanks. My hope is that pictures will continue to be sent in so that on every Monday I can post new nun photos making every Monday a Nunday.

So, keep sending me nun photos! We want to show the beautiful diversity of Catholic nuns and sisters — so that means photos of real women religious (another term for nuns/sisters) … maybe wearing the habit or in lay clothes, in ministry or at home, playing or praying.

I’ll post the photos and make sure they are search engine optimized so that when people search for nun images they’ll get real nuns instead of caricatures or erotica. Jen from Musings from the Big U blog also noted that the more you link to these authentic nun photos, the more the photos will be ranked higher which has the effect of pushing the other unsavory nun images to the back.

Since today is Monday, I have a nun photo for you sent in from Dennis who was taught by my IHM Sisters. The photo is of Sister Nora Marie, IHM.

Dennis writes, “About a year ago, one of my classmates at St. Felicitas finally got Sr. Nora Marie to let him take a couple snaps of her. This was taken just before she moved back to the Motherhouse. At the time, she was in Florida and packing. As for Sr. Nora, she was the bravest of the brave and had us for both 7th and 8th grade at St. Felicitas. She had Sr. Dorothy as an ally when she took over the eighth grade class. *grin* We really adored her.”

Photos of Catholic sisters and nuns are difficult to come by here in the World Wide Web. The Internet collection of nun photos is abysmal. I’m tired of looking for images and coming up with caricatures of nuns and erotica. Neither speak the truth about the women who are Catholic sisters and nuns or about the vocation of religious life.

With your help, I want to change the face of nun imagery on the web.

This is what I propose: Send me your photos of real, Catholic sisters and nuns today. Approximately once a week (depending on the number of submissions I receive) I’ll dedicate a post to your nun image.

My goal is two-fold: provide a repository of images for all to see and use, and get a glimpse of what nuns are like today from YOUR perspective. Who are the nuns that you see and know?

So here’s what you need to do:

1. Email me a nun photo (can be one nun, many nuns, whatever). If your nun image is already online, send me a link. In either case, in order for me to post the picture on my blog, I need your permission to distribute the photo and assurance that the persons in the photo are okay with having their image made public via the Internet.
2. Write me a few details about the photo such as the date and location taken, a description of the photo, and the name and congregation of the nun(s).
3. Tell me your story in relation to the image. (e.g., Sister Gabriel was my 7th grade teacher and taught me how to do a handstand.)

It will be helpful for many people to have good, authentic images of Catholic sisters and nuns. What do you get back? First and foremost the satisfaction of beginning to change the face of nun imagery on the web. You also get your nun photograph published on a widely-read blog for all to see!

While I may not be able to publish everything that is sent to me, I’ll do my best. I highly encourage all you religious communities to send me stuff too.

And for everyone who has a blog or website or who comments on blogs, forums, online articles, etc.: the more you link to these authentic nun photos, the more the photos will be ranked higher which has the effect of pushing the other unsavory nun images to the back.

Together we can give the Internet real visual images of Catholic sisters and nuns.