Benedictine sisters in Missouri have released a CD for Christmas. Proceeds will go towards a new priory church, as the one they are using is becoming too small. The prioress of the community, Mother Cecelia, said five years ago there were 18 sisters in the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles community. Now that Read more
The image that surfaces when Sr Teresa Forcades speaks is evocative of spiraling energy, bubbling in spirit, and of being on the ground with the needs of the people of God. Forcades — a Benedictine nun, activist, feminist theologian and physician from Catalonia in Spain — and Francis — a Jesuit pope from Argentina — Read more
We have begun the Season of Advent in the year of Our Lord 2013, and we are still waiting. What are we waiting for, and why? The Lord has come; the Lord has redeemed us on the Cross; so why do we begin again this annual cycle of reading the Old Testament prophecies about the coming Read more
Fifty years after she made her last movie, former film star Dolores Hart has become a celebrity again. Now Mother Dolores, the prioress of a Benedictine monastery in Connecticut — and still known as the nun who kissed Elvis Presley (in King Creole) — she has just had her autobiography published. Titled The Ear of Read more
A young monastic order of nuns in the United States has for the second time released an album that has debuted in the top position on Billboard magazine’s classical traditional music chart. “This is an unprecedented accomplishment for … a group of contemplative nuns, this devoted, hidden prayerful group who do not tour and remain Read more
I often see scaffolding wrapped around buildings. Rigid metal poles bolted together. Planks and ladders providing safe passage from one place of work to another. Scaffolding is needed for major repairs and maintenance, such as replacing a roof, or painting a tall building. Sometimes, this scaffolding is then plastic-wrapped, to provide privacy, safety, and a Read more
Environmental activism is a dangerous vocation in the Philippines, but a Catholic nun in Mindanao is defying those who want her to return to her convent and stop raising her voice in defence of creation, Catholic News Service reports. Benedictine Sister Stella Matutina works in Mindanao, the most conflictive island in the southern Philippines. Now Read more
In November 2011, I was one of a team of four lecturers from Yarra Theological Union (YTU), Melbourne, which led a month-long liturgical study tour to Europe. The tour, entitled “Realising the Vision: 150 Years of Liturgical Renewal”, was offered to YTU students and to anyone who had an interest in contemporary liturgical renewal. With 25 Read more