The Catholic Church has a unique role in combating belief in sorcery and mob reprisal attacks against sorcerers, Bishop Don Lippert of Mendi says. He has described the nuns who venture into the worst areas of the country as incredibly and inspiringly courageous. Lippert says they are putting their lives at risk in a desperate Read more
Young men and women in New Zealand are devoting their lives to the Church. We hear from some of them about their path ahead. Jane Maisey spent her twenties exploring, both physically and spiritually, looking at different religions and ways of being. But it wasn’t until the Christchurch earthquakes that she came back to the Read more
Mechanical bulls, rock-climbing walls, bounce houses, go-karts: Before becoming a nun, Sister Virginia Joy helped insure them all. “I was a go-between between the underwriters and the customers,” said Sister Virginia Joy, a former high school soccer star from South Carolina now wearing a habit of white and navy blue. She was fighting Midtown Manhattan Read more
Movies such as The Sound of Music, The Blues Brothers and Sister Act evidence the intrigue surrounding the life of a nun. Nuns in their 30s aren’t as common as they once were so the average person isn’t as likely to come into contact with one. In fact, according to Pew Research Centre data the Read more
I call Sr Silvana on the landline and she apologises for not having a mobile signal – she was in the basement. Not walking the cloister in silence but running a hostel and helping the students she works with. Much of our conversation is spent talking about school (I went to one run by the Read more
A keynote speaker at June’s New Zealand Catholic Education Convention has slammed Britain’s shadow education secretary for a jibe about nuns as teachers. Sr Gemma Simmonds, CJ, told the Tablet that Labour’s Tristam Hunt had shown “breathtaking ignorance and bigotry”. His jibe came on the BBC’s Question Time programme last month, when the topic under Read more
What began with Vatican criticism of the “secular mentality” and feminism of US sisters has ended in a Vatican report full of praise. The report on the apostolic visitation of religious women in the United States, released Wednesday, thanks them for their selfless work caring for the poor and promising to value more their “feminine genius”. Read more
It’s Saturday afternoon and in an unmarked police car in central London a burly policeman is accompanied by a tiny, bird-like nun. A raid is about to take place on a brothel whose inhabitants, the police believe, include women who have been trafficked into Britain from eastern Europe. The nun is an integral part of Read more
Three Italian nuns were raped and beaten before two were decapitated and another murdered in a convent in Burundi. The bodies of Srs Bernardetta Boggia, 79, Lucia Pulici, 75, and Olga Raschietti, 82, were found in their dormitory in Kamenge, north of the capital Bujumbura. Police said three suspects had been detained for questioning as Read more
In an age of villainy, war and inequality, it makes sense that we need superheroes. And after trying Superman, Batman and Spider-Man, we may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns. ‘‘I may not believe in God, but I do believe in nuns,’’ writes Jo Piazza, in her forthcoming book, If Nuns Ruled the World. Read more