Looking for Amazing Nuns...
Hello Readers!
Do you know (or know of) a nun that is deserving of the adjective 'amazing'? She can be living in any part of the world and can be old or young. It would be great to have variety, and you might get in touch to tell me about a nun who is following in the footsteps of Mother Theresa and feeds starving children a simple breakfast or she may be an academic nun in the way Edith Stein had a number of secretaries to whom she dictated her philosophical works.
I'm researching dynamic sisters with the view to doing mini-biographies of nuns who are setting a higher standard for religious life. For some decades there have been less women going for religious life, perhaps because they had the idea that it was limiting, confining and that they would not be able to accomplish great deeds. But to counteract this stereotype of nuns as a controlled and fettered group of women who are prevented from developing their gifts and talents because of the constraints of the convent walls - I would like to show living nuns who have become pillars of their religious community and who would be examples to other women. With this in mind, I am only doing biographies of living nuns.
The development that sparked my interest in doing this story was the fact that the number of women joining religious orders has tripled in the last three years.
It would be wonderful to have many suggestions of sisters who are living out their vocations in extraordinary ways. Please drop me a line in the comment box.
Do you know (or know of) a nun that is deserving of the adjective 'amazing'? She can be living in any part of the world and can be old or young. It would be great to have variety, and you might get in touch to tell me about a nun who is following in the footsteps of Mother Theresa and feeds starving children a simple breakfast or she may be an academic nun in the way Edith Stein had a number of secretaries to whom she dictated her philosophical works.
I'm researching dynamic sisters with the view to doing mini-biographies of nuns who are setting a higher standard for religious life. For some decades there have been less women going for religious life, perhaps because they had the idea that it was limiting, confining and that they would not be able to accomplish great deeds. But to counteract this stereotype of nuns as a controlled and fettered group of women who are prevented from developing their gifts and talents because of the constraints of the convent walls - I would like to show living nuns who have become pillars of their religious community and who would be examples to other women. With this in mind, I am only doing biographies of living nuns. The development that sparked my interest in doing this story was the fact that the number of women joining religious orders has tripled in the last three years.
It would be wonderful to have many suggestions of sisters who are living out their vocations in extraordinary ways. Please drop me a line in the comment box.
With Warmest Wishes, Mary
Sister Cecile Reilly at St Malachy rectory, 1419 North 11th Street, Philadelphia 19122 USA.
ReplyDeleteBTW I'm not her, I'm an Australian who knew her some years ago.
I know of two religious sisters who have inspired me. Sister Agnes Cunningham, SSCM of Champaign, Illinois, USA and Sister Sarah Roy, OSF of Peoria, Illinois, USA. Drop me a line if you want to converse about these ladies!
ReplyDeleteCan they be deceased? I never knew her, but Sr. Maria Francis Waugh of Portland, who died in a car accident in 2004, started this amazing ministry of hospitality:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ourpeacefulplace.org/opp/opp.php?page=history
I sit on their board of directors today, and even though they have no shelter left (got kicked out and it seems to have been turned into some form of tavern) the Directoress (who isn't Catholic even) is this awesome woman that Sr. Maria inspired so much that she now walks around downtown with a suitcase helping the homeless. But Sr. Maria started the whole thing, years ago.
Sister Joan Melley, S.S.J., of Presentation BVM in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. This is one of the hardest working, and still one of the warmest and most welcoming women in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. My wife and I have known Sister Joan for many years. She has been the continuous thread of our existence in the parish. The priests have come and gone. Sister Joan is a constant.
ReplyDeleteMother Olga of the Sacred Heart. She is fantastic. Born in Iraq and raised in the Church of the Assyrian East, Mother Olga eventually converted to Catholicism (a very interesting story that my mere words cannot do justice). She has had quite an impact on the students in Boston and has recently started her new order.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dmnazareth.org/mother-olga-of-the-sacred-heart/
or
http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/like-abraham-called-from-her-homeland
Please consider her! Mother Olga has not only brought me back to Catholicism through her example, but others as well! :)