Welcome to listeners of The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM Radio. Sister Maxine and I were invited to be part of the program, JustLove, a conversation on the Church’s social mission. Today’s show is about new technologies of communication and we’re delighted to talk about our experience with many of these new technologies — blogging, podcasting, social networking, live chat, etc. The host is Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, the Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York.

We invite visitors to explore our site. We’ve got the blog front and center here. We also do daily live podcasts at 6:00 p.m. EST on prayer, listener questions, and special interviews. We also hang out daily in the chat room to talk with visitors. And if you are wondering if God might be calling you to a religious vocation as a religious sister or brother, as a nun or monk, as an ordained person, or a formal ministry in the church, visit our Vocation Forum.

Coincidentally, it was exactly 1 year ago today at exactly the same time that we were in New York City at the Sirius Radio studio and on Pathways of Learning, another show of The Catholic Channel. Sister Marie Pappas and Jackie LoFaro were both instrumental in helping Sister Maxine and me see the wonderful possibilities of radio shows for our ministry.

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Sister Maxine Kollasch and I spent our second day in Manhattan visiting with Sister Marie Pappas and Jackie LoFaro who star in and produce the “Pathways of Learning” radio show on The Catholic Channel on Sirius Radio. You may remember me writing about Sister Marie awhile back when she interviewed me for the show.

We had a great time with Sister Marie and Jackie. You can hear about our visit on our second A Nun’s Life podcast. As noted earlier, we are just beginning to experiment with podcasting so it’s a bit rough but it works!

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

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Behold the mic!

Raven the radio technician extraordinaire!

Sister Marie, Jackie, and Father Miles

Sirius art

Sirius ornament

Last week I had the pleasure of talking with Sister Marie Pappas, CR (Sisters of the Resurrection), host of the program “Pathways of Learning” on The Catholic Channel #159 on Sirius Radio.

Sister Marie Pappas is the Superintendent of Schools of the Archdiocese of New York with responsibilities for the education of more than 107,000 students in the largest Catholic school system in the nation. She is a Sister of the Resurrection [New York Province], the only order of women religious that, as Sister Marie likes to say “was founded by a mother and her daughter.” Sister has an MA in Religious Education from the Angelicum in Rome, as well as a P.D. in Religious Education and has taught and lectured at the Notre Dame Pontifical Institute and at the Catechetical Conference of Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. Sister thinks of Pathways of Learning as a “nationwide conversation about life’s larger lessons.” Conversations include finding God in today’s movies, girl bullies, if and what American teenagers think about God, whether kids are suffering from homework overkill, and the threats faced by Catholics living in the Middle East war zone. (source)

We spent an hour together discussing how we became nuns, what it’s like being a nun today, and my blog, A Nun’s Life. Because of our difference in age (Sister Marie entered around Vatican II, and I entered around Y2K) we brought varying perspectives to what it was like to decide to become a nun, wear a habit, minister, live in community, and many other things. What was remarkable was how much we had in common (though from different generations and different communities) and how it seemed as if I’ve known Sister Marie my whole life (this interview was our very first meeting). I admire Sister Marie, the work she is doing and the beautiful way that she lives her religious life. Sister Marie is definitely “A Nun You Should Know”.

The show airs tomorrow (Tues, Oct 23) from 1-2 p.m. (eastern standard time) on Sirius. If you don’t have Sirius you can start a free 3-day trial and listen via the Sirius Internet Radio (http://www.sirius.com/listenonline).