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!
Archived Comments
Another Sister Julie, CSSF December 29, 2008 at 9:37 am
LOVE this photo! I love it when an order respects the cultural richness of their members.
This picture reminds me of our sisters in Kenya. I once saw a profession Mass where they danced in every procession–entrance, Gospel, offertory and dismissal. They also danced the Magnificat as a Communion meditation. Beautiful!
Sarah December 31, 2008 at 5:03 am
Thanks Julie & Julie. This photo is of a very relaxed, celebration style dance. They also do some amazingly beautiful ceremonial dances like what I image the Kenyans do. One mass I went to in the cathedral had 4 dances, each of them beautiful and meaningful. As a foreigner I could only grasp the edges of the meanings of the dances but I often found them very moving and I could feel the emotion of the dancers who take their responsibilities very seriously and love to be involved. It’s such a great gift for us all to have diversity amoung our sisters and for me was a great gift to experience. Thanks for letting me share some of that!
