Ministry

Recently I added Sister Laurel O’Neal’s blog Notes from Stillsong Hermitage to our list of Blogs by Catholic Nuns. Sister Laurel graciously responded to some questions I had for her about what it is like to be a hermit. I’ll post these in three segments starting with this one.

One of the first things I learned when I became attached to my nuns, the IHM Sisters, was that we are a dynamic group. We are always moving — scoping this ministry or prayer opportunity in one place; going by plane, train, automobile, bicycle, or one’s own two feet to attend to the needs of people and God’s creation in another place ...

Here is an essay from Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ. It was aired on the NPR segment, This I Believe, ”a national media project engaging people in writing, sharing, and discussing the core values and beliefs that guide their daily lives.”

Tonight (Friday) ABC’s 20/20 is airing a special 2-hour segment called “Seeing and Believing: The Power of Faith” at 9 p.m. EDT (check local listings). Part of the segment includes a section on “Silent Nuns” in which Diane Sawyer visits with cloistered nuns in a New Mexico convent.

I recently received an email from a student doing a paper on Catherine McAuley. She asked if Catherine had any symbols associated with her. Not knowing off the top of my head, I headed to web sites of the Sisters of Mercy (whom Catherine founded in 1831). To my great delight, I discovered that one of the symbols associated with Catherine is “a comfortable cup of tea.”