What do you know about nuns?
I’m not talking about the caricatured, stereotyped and ridiculous portrayals by movies, television and popular culture (Dead Man Walking and a few others excepted). You’ve probably seen pictures of nuns marching for civil rights in the sixties. You may heard of the selfless sacrifices made by sisters in the missionary field.
Neil Roger, via FLICKR
And you may know a sister (or two) who have changed your life for the better.
I do. Several, in fact.
Sisters have been on the cutting edge of social issues (it can be argued) for over a thousand years — much of the hierarchy cannot claim even a fraction of the social justice work these women have accomplished. They have been working (often very quietly) to keep the fundamental message of Jesus alive — the message that compassion, dignity and respect is the only response to every human person.
What you may not know is this: they are also some of the fiercest advocates of social justice for LGBT persons.
New Ways Ministry, a Catholic organization dedicated to promoting understanding and dignity for LGBT persons, has an excellent blog post about the work of religious sisters for LGBT equality.
Following is an excerpt:
It’s no secret–though it’s not well-known, either–that high on the list of Catholic supporters of LGBT equality are nuns. Communities of women religious have consistently been supportive of education, dialogue, and justice activities for LGBT people since the late 1970s.After Vatican II, when nuns’ communities re-evaluated their charisms and ministries, they quickly realized that the church had long neglected lesbian/gay rights and that this was an issue that cried for justice. They responded positively and actively.
Johnson’s article highlights the reason that nuns can be so steadfast:
“American nuns don’t want to fight the official church, but neither are they likely to sacrifice the integrity of their consciences for the sake of peace.”
At New Ways Ministry, we are indebted to our Sisters for financial, spiritual, and practical support over our 35 year history. More New Ways Ministry programs have been held in convents and motherhouses than in any other type of Catholic facility by far.
Read the full post here — and follow their blog on Twitter — it’s a heartening voice in a religious climate that is often far from charitable.
So if you have a negative view about nuns, consider changing your mind. And if you know a sister who’s braving the forefront of equality — thank them. Send them this post, in fact.
We may owe them more than we think.
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Filed under: Views & Voices
This is one of my favorite nuns: http://deckers66.homestead.com/
She wrote and sang a song about the pill :-{P} and so much more!
:O I did not know that.
Wonder why????? ;0)
How are they not condemned by the pope for what they’re doing? it goes directly against what he says. I’m not saying I’m not grateful, but in a religion that has such little room for alternative views I’d think this would be grounds for excommunication or something.
How do they get around their vow of obedience? They have to obey whatever the pope tells them. Their support of GLBT issues could get them excommunicated. They are very brave people. Good for them!
fuck yeah nuns
nuns are awesome and often overlooked. they have always been early feminists and usually pioneer important issues.
Wow that’s crazy
Hmm! Yay educational information! (sort of thing I’d like to see more here…)
no thanks to scripture or dogma..you are resposible for yourself imo.
Fantastic :) I was not aware of this. Thank you LGBTQ Nation, for posting this. I like to stay up to date on the community and its nie to learn new things about it aswell :)
Nuns that support LGBT rights? My mind has been blown.
Unconditional Love.
Good! May the Sisters be helped and get freedom too! http://www.langdonart.com
but arent they homophobes?
I had no idea how active they are in all communities. Much respect and thanks to all nuns
Thanks you sisters for bravely risking being excommunicated and helping people you don’t know, like myself.
shit the sisters/nuns i heard about beat lil native kids in school…
Most nuns are mad women.
That sounds intelligent-NOT.
This is fantastic. Also, a note for the people mentioning ex-communication: the Pope would not ex-communicate nuns for supporting gay marriage. In fact, you’d have to be really outstandingly exceptional to be ex-communicated. There’s more room for alternative views within the Catholic Church than appears.
For anyone interested in the history of women religious in the United States, there’s a wonderful new documentary called “A Question of Habit” which examines both how they’ve been stereotyped and how they have, in fact, been at the forefront of lots of civil rights issues (and other justice issues). It’s been shown in Chicago on public television. See the web site for more information. http://www.whalenfilms.com/aquestionofhabit.html
A nun’s vow of obedience is to Christ not the Pope. American nuns have been very vocal in their support of gay rights and faced investigation by the Vatican and continue as their conscience requires. Careful examination of Catholic theology will show that we are all called to follow our conscience and not be blindly obedient to any authority.