catholic sisters
The mysticism of Thea Bowman
As I studied Christian mystics, I kept wondering where the Black women were. Then I discovered Sister Thea.
America’s real sister act
“When we narrate the history of the church from the perspective of Black nuns,” says historian Shannen Dee Williams, “myths about the Catholic past fall quickly and they fall hard.”
How Sister Helen Prejean became a “social justice sister”
“What saves us is learning how to love, even to the point of death.”
Catholic sisters and their difficult vocation
Alice McDermott ponders a mystery: How is it that women hear the calling and find the strength to love and support their neighbors?
Sister Everard's silence
We thought her only stern and rigorous and dry—until one afternoon in October.
Prayer-haunted
Prayers linger in choir stalls, soak into walls. Centuries of prayer can make you feel buoyant in medieval European cathedrals. Gratitude settles over you like a benediction within busy urban shrines.