Nuns and Pop Culture

When Pope John XXIII threw open the window opening the Church to the modern world, I'm not sure he specifically had pop culture in mind, but why not? ... I started thinking about this after reading an interesting article called "The good books: how church used pop art to guide young"... It's an interesting read with a look at the covers of several pamphlets that pose tantalizing questions related to sexuality, vocation, drinking, and well, more sexuality.  

I recently came an article from 2012 with the real-life nuns that have served as consultants to the show Call the Midwife. They are a group of seven Anglican sisters from the Community of Saint John the Divine. The community was founded in 1848 as a "nursing sisterhood" working with Florence Nightingale, London's East End, and then Birmingham where they've lived since 1976.

I'm grateful that my introduction to The Divine Sister, a comedic play written by Charles Busch, came from a review by Lawrence Toppman, a theater critic and culture writer with The Charlotte Observer. Had I run into the predictable story line and characters elsewhere, I may have been less than amused with this comedy and missed its actual intent.

My sister Donna texted me a while ago and said, “U gotta c ths show--Call the Midwife. PBS. Nuns.” I hesitated, because I’m not a big fan of tv shows based on medical stuff. But I figured if Donna, who is a nurse, likes it, I probably would too, especially since it has nuns.