Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Sr. Romina Sapinoso and Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sr. Christa Parra compete on "Beat Shazam" on Fox. (GSR screengrab)
Global Sisters Report's Monday Starter is a feature from GSR staff writers that rounds up news from or about women religious that you may otherwise have missed.
They didn't win $1 million, but they definitely had fun.
"Beat Shazam" is a game show on the Fox network where two-person teams try to be the first to identify a song. There is a lot of music, a lot of dancing, and on June 20 there were a lot of sisters.
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Sr. Romina Sapinoso and Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary Sr. Christa Parra were contestants, while other sisters cheered them on from the live audience. Sapinoso and Parra co-founded the intercongregational and intercultural community, Magnificat House, in El Paso, Texas. Parra works with migrants in Juarez and Sapinoso ministers in Anapra in a center for children with special needs.*
Substitute host Nick Cannon was shocked to have a team of sisters competing.
"You guys are truly nuns?" he asked when the contestants were introduced. "I mean, nuns on 'Beat Shazam'!"
Later in the show, Cannon spent about a minute and a half talking to them, and both sisters talked about how much they love music.
"When I learned about this show and that it's a celebration of music — music is the soundtrack to our life," Parra explained.
Though they clearly had fun, the sisters did not leave with any money. They correctly identified five of nine songs before being eliminated, but they were only the fastest team on two of them, putting them in last place and out of the competition.
You can watch the show here.
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Recent podcast highlights sisters' work in El Salvador
A recent podcast available on the streaming services Spotify and Apple Podcasts featured Sr. Irene O'Neill, who heads Sisters Rising Worldwide, a sister-run nonprofit based in St. Paul, Minnesota, that connects sisters with funders and each other to support sister-led humanitarian projects and ministries throughout the world.
O'Neill, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, was interviewed by humanitarian worker and journalist Daniel Wordsworth on the support Sisters Rising Worldwide has given to sisters in El Salvador working in areas affected by gang violence.
Their ministry, under the umbrella the Color Movement, is supported by Sisters Rising Worldwide and the humanitarian organization Alight.
O'Neill praised sisters' challenging and often difficult work in El Salvador and in finding and affirming the dignity of gang members and their families.
"The heart of the sisters is the heart," she said. "The heart really is that people count. Everybody counts."
Asked about the common misconceptions of sisters by the wider public, O'Neill said that most people do not realize that sisters are "social justice warriors."
"We're a quiet force," she said of the 700,000 sisters in the world today. But, she added, "our real prayer is in our action."
The May 9 podcast is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
The podcast appeared as part of the series "Finding Good with Daniel Wordsworth."
*This story has been clarified with more information.
