There’s been a lot of media around the topic of declining numbers of Catholic sisters and nuns. Beyond the veil: Debate continues on why number of nuns is declining, a recent article from Catholic News Service, highlights a couple of arguments about why the decline in number. “Italian Cl...

It has been an exciting week in the world of nuns. Because this was National Vocation Awareness Week, many newspapers and blogs ran stories about Catholic sisters and nuns, brothers and monks and friars, and deacons and priests. Here’s a bit of what I found about sisters and nuns. Seeing the R...

Every person is called by God, and that means you too! Sometimes this call is best expressed through a life of marriage and parenthood, and other times through consecrated life such as being a Catholic sister or a monk or a deacon. God also calls us in other ways, such as to this or that relationshi...

Nunday is here and we’re on a roll with IHM Sisters. Yes, it’s true, I am a bit partial to IHMs because they are my nuns! This photo and story were sent in from Kaz, a regular here at A Nun’s Life. Sister Elizabeth Zeestraten is an IHM Sister who just turned 100 on December 31, 200...

The calling to be a nun is a pretty amazing thing. It’s a real adventure because it is always full of twists and turns and the unexpected. You never know where the Spirit will lead you. Being a nun is also pretty countercultural — we live in community, we hold all things in common, and w...

The third part of a story by Brian Doyle in Best Catholic Writing 2007 on The Sisters of Mount Angel (return to the beginning of the story) Finally I gave my talk, singing and roaring, spinning stories, making jokes. I told them about barking “Point it down!� at my toddler twin sons when I was t...

The Flying Nun is an icon in many people’s imagination — whether Catholic or non-Catholic, whether you saw the originals or just the re-runs. The Flying Nun was a sitcom in the late 1960s starring a young comic Sally Field as Sister Bertrille, a novice with the Daughters of Charity who c...

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...

P rovidentia providebit. Providence provides. I learned the phrase from the Oblate Sisters of Providence when I first met them over 10 years ago. As I’ve gotten to know them through the years, heard their stories, worked side by side with them, and listened to how Providence is alive in their ...