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].

***

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:

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.