Running Nuns in the News!

Well, St. Catherine of Siena, who was a Dominican Tertiary, did say “run, run, run”.

The Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration of Our Lady of Solitude Monastery, currently being built in Tonopah, AZ, have chosen a unique way to raise revenue. As they have more young women aspiring to enter than they can currently house (with one new novice and a postulant hoping to enter, soon, they are full-up), the sisters need to fund the living quarters that will attach to their emerging chapel. So they have taken to running:

I think the press loves nothing more than unusual “Nun news” and the sisters have had lots of local coverage of their efforts (scroll down).

The sisters have a separate blog page to cover construction news and updates. I just spent quite the happy hour over there, marveling at how quickly a large chapel with dome can be raised when there are no weekly deposits of snow or days of biting rain.

You can check out the chapel appointments, which are very beautifully thought out, and the architectural plans here. And the metalwork!

Can you guess which stained glass design I would sponsor if I could?

This monastery looks like it will be a true spiritual oasis, when completed. I think you’ll really enjoy checking it out, and if you have something or someone you want to memorialize, there are lots of opportunities, there.

[Cue news ticker] In other Nun News…beep-beep-beep-beep-beep…(am I dating myself with that reference?)…wait, let me get out my banner, designed by Brian J:
Nun News Network International

A sister community to the “running nuns,” these PCPA’s in Portsmouth, Ohio, have announced that they will be moving from their rather dinky and land-poor house, to the Diocese of Charlotte. Probably a good move; Ohio has several PCPA monasteries, and Charlotte will very likely be in a good position to help them get established and rebuild. This particular community had nearly died out until some of Mother Angelica’s nuns from Hanceville, Alabama (who also provided the foundresses for the Arizona project) brought an infusion of much-needed new blood. Now, in addition to the perpetually professed nuns, they have three sisters in first vows, a novice and a postulant, so they are regrowing, and perhaps need replanting in this field of the Lord.

Meanwhile the Dominican Nuns at Summit (whose Gardener’s Basket I recently gave as a gift and it was a big hit), have taken their novices on a light-hearted “field trip” to their archives, where things got a little “hairy.” They also have news of a new book that sounds interesting, and their counterparts in Pakistan. The Summit nuns are currently blessed to have almost a dozen young women in various stages of discernment, so we can look forward to more growth in this “springtime” of evangelization.

After Oprah: Last month the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, in Ann Arbor appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. They report an overwhelmingly positive response to that appearance:

Since the show aired, the sisters have received positive feedback from all sides. Sister Maria Guadalupe reported that while traveling by plane, a flight attendant asked her if she had seen the “nuns” on Oprah. The question presented an opportunity for a lengthy conversation which proved edifying for those around them as well. She said that other sisters have also been approached about the show in gas stations, grocery stores, or on campus.

After the show, the number of young women registered for the sisters’ February discernment retreat jumped from 70 to 135. The community has also received many emails from new and old supporters, both before and after the show, sharing their excitement. “Probably our favorite feedback, though, comes in the form of stories we´ve heard, both directly and indirectly, from individuals who have been away from the practice of their Catholic faith, but were encouraged by the joy of our sisters to consider returning to the faith,” explained Sister Maria Guadalupe.

A few monastics that I keep in touch with have also written that the DSMME’s on Oprah has resulted in inquiries to their communities, as well.

The Third Order Regular (TOR) Franciscan Sisters are also building their new motherhouse and chapel

The All Saints Sisters of the Poor, the formerly Episcopal nuns who turned Roman last September, are breaking ground on a new hospice

Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church: If you live in the Spokane area, a retreat on Catholic living that sounds great.

Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother: Gearing up for Summer

The Capuchin Sisters of Nazareth have a new website and it looks very inviting.

Related News:
The Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal: Celebrate growth
Benedictine Sisters of Clyde, MO: a new novice
The Franciscan Sisters of Peoria have a blog run by a novice, Sr. Veronica, and she writes of a perpetual profession and the entrance of two novices
The Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist: a new novice
Sisters of Reparation: ditto
Benedictines of Rock Island: vocation news and an award