Surely, I thought, this must be a joke as I read a news headline saying that the word “nun” has been dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. But it’s no joke. Lisa Saunders, a mom in Ireland, discovered that the new edition of the dictionary had dropped a bunch of words. Upon cl...

Question from Lou … what is the reasoning behind a nun or sister choosing a religious name? where does the significance come from? how is a religious name determined? thanks, lou In the Catholic tradition as well as in many other religious traditions and cultural traditions, the taking on of a...

Question from a reader … Dear Sister, I notice that religious nuns wear a ring just like a wedding band or wedding ring married couples wear. The wedding ring of my brother and my sis-in-law has an engraving of their names underneath the ring. What about religious nuns do they engrave somethin...

From my Ask Sister page … I’m stepping into religious life… or at least I think I am. I was wondering - do you ever feel lonely and alone? I really hate travelling alone and I yearn for the physical presence of a man - not sexual - just the ‘being there’. Jesus is my spouse, yes, but t...

Today’s nuns answer calls to serve differently   Modern sisters reach out to the world around them in ways unlike their stereotype Nancy Lofholm The Denver Post March 23, 2008 GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. Sister Karen Bland is a thoroughly modern Catholic nun. Her gold Chevrolet Malibu is proof. The...

I’ve been wanting to share with you a bit of my experience of the workshop for women and men religious that I went to a couple weeks ago. The workshop was called Poverty in a Land of Plenty and was led by my own IHM sister Sandra Schneiders, IHM. Sandra is an expert on the theology and history...