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.