It’s Time for Nuns on the Bus to take to the Road Again: Getting Beyond Being “Pro-Birth” to Protecting all at the Margins by Dawn Webster

Author and daughter, Dr. Sheela Jane Menon, Assistant Professor at Dickinson College, PA

The country desperately needs to see the Nuns on the Bus on the road again. I just watched Radical Grace, nearly three years after my daughter and son-in-law gave it to me as a Christmas gift. My tardiness made me feel guilty, but despite the passage of time, the film still feels very timely.  Three years after the cancer that is 45 entered the White House; three years after the corruption and cruelty he unleashed has metastasized into key branches of government; three years after Catholics  have witnessed the heart of the Gospels ripped out the way children have been ripped from the arms of their parents at the southern border, this documentary about how a few nuns risked their place in the church to fight for justice tells me we need the leadership of the nuns more than ever.

Catholic voters from the heartland gave 45 the keys to the White House.—60 percent of them voted for him. Many justified voting for a man with Donald Trump’s appalling sexual, business, and racist history by pointing to his supposedly “pro-life” stance. Continue reading “It’s Time for Nuns on the Bus to take to the Road Again: Getting Beyond Being “Pro-Birth” to Protecting all at the Margins by Dawn Webster”

Film Radical Grace Highlights Nuns’ Response to Vatican Reprimand

Radical GraceWhile the Catholic Church has sought to control US Nuns through what has been called the “New Inquisition,” it has been unsuccessful in its efforts.  The film Radical Grace documents the response of Sr. Simone Campbell, Sr. Jean Hughes, and Sr. Chris Shenk and is nothing short of brilliant.  Producers Rebecca Parrish and Nicole Bernardi-Reis chronicle their holy journeys in maintaining their vows by challenging the Vatican.  A full review of the film can be read here.

Please consider supporting the film through its crowdfund campaign.  The opportunity to meditate with Sr. Simone is incentive enough!  Congrats to Rebecca and Nicole on their fantastic project and much gratitude to Sr. Simone, Sr. Jean, and Sr. Chris for reminding us that “love is blind but obedience shouldn’t be.”

On April 30, the Vatican Doctrine of Faith “told the leadership group they were ignoring procedures for choosing speakers for their annual conferences and questioned if their programs were promoting heresy,” dashing hopes that the new pope would take a different attitude toward the nuns.

Continue reading “Film Radical Grace Highlights Nuns’ Response to Vatican Reprimand”