Some weeks leave me more grumpy than others when I see how people depict and talk about women religious in the media and other public forums. This is one of those weeks.
Sigh.
Foolishness in North Carolina
I really don’t see the fun of men dressing up as nuns – for Halloween, in movies, to rob banks.
Yes, men (and women) have dressed as nuns to rob banks.
But this latest example from Asheville, N.C., is simply mind-blowing and appalling.
About 40 men and women dressed up in habits this week to go bar-hopping and celebrate the release of a beer called Sister Bad Habit Ale made by Asheville Brewing and the Thirsty Monk.
Writer Tony “Beer Guy” Kiss at Asheville’s Citizen-Times newspaper went along for the ride. Here’s how he described the scene.
“Beer was flowing freely. Sometimes, the nuns were rehearsing their spirited repertoire: Madonna's ‘Like a Virgin,’ George Michael’s ‘Faith’ and Bon Jovi's ‘Livin' on a Prayer.’
“Other times, hip-hop was blaring from the bus speakers and nuns were on their feet grooving. At one point, one nun proceeded to spank another with a yardstick. At a stop at Pack Square Park, Sister Bad Habit got out to chase a wild truant. I'm not making any of this up.”
I wish that he was.
Mark this page
If I’m late to this party, forgive me. But I just found Ask a Catholic Nun on Facebook this week.
It’s run by Pauline Books and Media, part of the communications empire run by the Daughters of St. Paul, who just happen to be celebrating their 100th anniversary this year.
The sisters use e-books, social media, mobile apps along with more traditional forms of publishing to spread the good word.
They invite Catholics and non-Catholics to ask questions about faith, mortality and religious learning on their “Ask a Catholic Nun” Facebook page.
“The site is intended to be informational not polemical,” it says on the site, which three years ago was voted best Catholic Facebook page in an About.com contest.
The two sisters answering the questions are from Boston: Sr. Mary Elizabeth Tebo and Sr. Marianne Lorraine Trouve, who also writes a blog about her “teacher, my friend and my model,” St. Thomas Aquinas. You can read it here.
My question this week would be: Why do people think it’s funny to dress up as a nun?
A must-read
Count me among those who think that the planet would be a much kinder place if nuns ruled the world.
And what would such a place look like? You can get an idea from Jo Piazza’s new book, If Nuns Ruled the World.
Piazza is a New York journalist and author of several books, including Celebrity, Inc: How Famous People Make Money. In her newest work she profiles 10 women religious who gloriously challenge stereotypical portrayals of women religious in pop culture.
Her subjects include Sr. Joan Dawber, who runs a New York City safe house for victims of human trafficking, Sr. Jeannine Gramick, who fights for gay and lesbian rights, and anti-nuclear activist Sr. Megan Rice.
I can’t wait to dive in after reading a review on Flavorwire that described Piazza’s work as a “readable, informative look at how nuns, as flawed and human and real as they may be, also have a calling and a faith, and they use that to create change in the world.
“Above all, though, the book is subversive . . . in its exploration of the strength and power that women have found through an institution that, at times, doesn’t even support their work. There’s a lot of grit and fortitude in these nuns’ stories, and they’re absolutely inspirational regarding how faith can be a tool to do some good in the world.”
Just one more
Yes, the ice bucket challenge that’s got everyone pouring buckets of ice water on their heads has raised a lot of money and awareness for ALS.
But frankly I was over all the viral merriment until I saw the Redemptoristine Sisters in Dublin, Ireland – an “enclosed contemplative community of religious women” – take the plunge.
Several media outlets last week, including the BBC, ran the video of the sisters’ challenge. (True to their private lifestyle, the sisters gave no interviews.)
Much laughter and hilarity and giggling ensued as three of the sisters, including one using a walker, poured buckets and bins of ice water on three of their colleagues.
At the end, all of the sisters wave good-bye and someone can be heard exclaiming, “Oh, Lord.”
Indeed.
Welcoming the world in
It didn’t take long for the word to get out: The sisters in Quito, Ecuador, were inviting the public inside their convent, past a set of heavy wooden doors, for the first time in 150 years.
The Mothers of Augustine have lived a private, secluded life since settling in the Ecuadoran capital 150 years ago. When the seven remaining sisters threw open those doors last weekend to celebrate that anniversary, more than 1,500 people came calling, according to Agence France-Presse.
Visitors toured the convent’s large courtyard and saw the mural that tells the story of how the women settled in Ecuador after being cast out of Colombia.
Bad news, though, for anyone who missed the tour. “It is the first time and the mothers believe it will be the last,” Javier Cevallos, one of the tour organizers, told the news agency.
More’s the pity. The convent, surrounded by white stone walls, is an oasis of calm in a city of 2.6 million people.
Maybe they’ll invite people back in another 150 years.
The art of being creative
I love the name of this art exhibit: “Who Says Oldies Can’t Paint.”
The artists themselves named the show and most of them are women religious, residents of Our Lady of Providence residential care facility, located on the former site of the Sisters of Providence convent in Winooski, Vt.
Six residents, five of them sisters, recently took a 12-week art course. All the women are older than 80 and none had ever taken an art class. They each chose a photograph to recreate in paint. Their subjects ranged from flowers and lily ponds to cottages by the shore.
“Knowing them as well as I do now, I think if I picked a word to describe the whole group it would be humble,” volunteer Pam Favreau, who taught the class, told WCAX in Burlington, Vt.
“This is a group of women that has just led exceptional lives of service and giving, but as you talk to them I am sure you wouldn't find one that would blow their own horn. I just wanted to give them a little chance to shine and they have far exceeded my expectations.”
Sr. Doris Gastonguay, a native of Maine, created a painting called “The Waterfall” that reflected her New England roots and the 30 years she spent working in Malawi, Africa.
“So I am transported from Maine, the Pine Tree State, to Malawi, the warm heart of Africa,” Gastonguay said. “Life has to be nourished by water or you have nothing. So this is ‘The Waterfall’ telling its story. Which is the story of my life.”
The sisters’ artwork will be displayed at the town’s community center until Sept. 26.
Chicago’s secret weapon?
The image of two unidentified sisters giving each other a celebratory high five at a recent Chicago White Sox game caught the attention of sports bloggers last week, some of whom noted that the team might need more than better relief pitching next season.
“Do they also need more prayer, and perhaps even some divine intervention? Not necessarily. But it might not hurt to bring more nuns to U.S. Cellular Field,” wrote David Brown for Yahoo! Sports.
The women were caught on camera congratulating each other and other fans around them after Chicago’s Adam Dunn hit an RBI single in the eighth inning, bringing the White Sox within a run of the Cleveland Indians.
Alas, the Indians went on to win 3-2.
We’ll forgive Brown this time for making a big deal out of the fact that two women religious – gasp! – could be avid sports fans.
[Lisa Gutierrez is a reporter in Kansas City, Mo., who scans the non-NCR news every week for interesting pieces about sisters. She can be reached at lisa11gutierrez@gmail.com.]