In case you missed yesterday’s appearance of the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist on Oprah, her website has three short video segments that you can watch.
Correspondent Lisa Ling spent time talking with the sisters and stayed overnight in the convent. The program provides an honest, fair, and rare look inside one of the Church’s growing female religious orders. In the videos, we get to see the sisters praying, playing floor hockey, teaching, and eating in silence. They talk about the families and jobs they left and the importance of silence. Perhaps predictably, both Oprah and Ling focus upon sexuality more than necessary, yet the response of the sisters was wonderful.
The average age, as noted in one of the videos is 26. I first wrote about this order and many others in my 2004 book “Young and Catholic: The Face of Tomorrow’s Church.” They are a real bright spot for the future of the Church. No doubt the national television coverage will spur a few vocational calls.
You’ll find the videos here:
Here’s the full story.
What did you think of the program’s coverage?
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Nuns on Oprah…in a positive light? I must see this! I’ve been on a retreat with these sisters and they are a great bunch…full of joy for the Lord! Thank you for bringing this coverage to my attention. : )
I thought Oprah’s interview with the Dominican sisters was well done and that the segment might have value for recruitment. The nuns were very refreshing, spontaneous and enthusiastic, and completely uninhibited about their vocations to religious life. They expressed joy, deep commitment, and were very convincing that the choice they had made to enter the convent was totally free. The ones who spoke indicated that they had had boyfriends, careers, material success, all the good things of secular life, and that these had not been enough to satisfy them. In the rigor and simplicity of living with vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, they had found fulfillment. Very refreshing! And very edifying! Lisa Ling and Oprah both handled the interview with dignity and grace, so kudos to them for that. This was as counter cultural as it gets!
I was very pleased with Oprah’s piece on these nuns. As someone who works for the Church in the realm of Communications and PR, I’m always a bit nervous to see how the coverage will turn out. In this case, I was overwhelmed with joy! I imagine the sisters spent many hours in prayer as they discerned acceptance of and participation in this broadcast. The Holy Spirit was certainly with them throughout. Praise God for this wonderfully refreshing witness to the freedom, joy and goodness that is born of a life totally given to Christ! Not only do I think it could have stirred hearts towards the religious life, I also imagine it stirred a renewed love of the Lord in all vocations, including marriage. I know it did so for me!
Oprah did a great job being open and balanced in her approach. And of course the nuns (of whom we have four living in our convent here in Phoenix AZ) were wonderful. You can find the whole of the interview (about 1/2 hr)on You Tube. The first section is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSa40PamMIU&feature=related
When Oprah mentioned that Muslims pray 5 times a day, I think the Nund lost an opportunity to mention that we pray the Liturgy of the Hours in the course of the day, plus the Rosary and private prayers. I was somewhat disappointed that they did not mention this and allowed it to go by unmentioned.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSa40PamMIU&feature=player_embedded#
Here is the entire show on youtube!
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