Recently, my kids and I were watching Sister Act for their first time. While my kids are all baptized Catholic, we have not raised them as Catholics as my ex-husband and I both grew away from the Catholic religion. As a result, our kids aren’t very educated about Catholicism. They know some of the basics, but they don’t have the benefits of the cultural education I gained from growing up Catholic.
At one point, Mother Superior (Maggie Smith) shows Dolores/Sister Mary Clarence (Whoopi Goldberg) her “cell,” a.k.a. her room. Dolores begins complaining violently about how sparse the room is. I told my kids that the room was pretty accurate for a convent. My kids just looked at me like I was nuts. They asked how I would know, and I told them I had spent the night in a convent. This caused the movie to get paused as my one son asked, “What? Was this some kind of field trip?” I explained that there was a convent attached to the Catholic school where I went and that I ended up spending a night there.
The longer story is that when I was in high school, there was a campus ministry sponsored “fastathon” in my freshman and sophomore years during Lent. The goal was to bring about awareness of global hunger and to raise funds for a food related charity by getting sponsors. It was basically a 36-48 hour juice fast. My freshman year, there was a group of about five of us who participated (out of about 225 students total in the high school). We spent the night at the school, and after dark, we went running shoeless through the unlit hallways. It was exhilarating event and a priceless memory. :)
My sophomore year, I was the only one who elected to stay at the school while others participated from home due to other social activities. Since it was just me, I ended up spending the night in the convent with the nun who was sponsoring the activity. I got to follow the nuns about for their daily activities on the weekend including attending the various matins, vespers, etc. I also got to see parts of the building that most students never got to see in all their years at the school. It was an interesting experience, but not one that gave me any desire to join a convent for life, especially since I was already dating my future husband at that point.
I also took a nun with me when I went shopping for my honeymoon lingerie, but as they say, that is another story!
© 2014 Green Heart Guidance
At one point, Mother Superior (Maggie Smith) shows Dolores/Sister Mary Clarence (Whoopi Goldberg) her “cell,” a.k.a. her room. Dolores begins complaining violently about how sparse the room is. I told my kids that the room was pretty accurate for a convent. My kids just looked at me like I was nuts. They asked how I would know, and I told them I had spent the night in a convent. This caused the movie to get paused as my one son asked, “What? Was this some kind of field trip?” I explained that there was a convent attached to the Catholic school where I went and that I ended up spending a night there.
The longer story is that when I was in high school, there was a campus ministry sponsored “fastathon” in my freshman and sophomore years during Lent. The goal was to bring about awareness of global hunger and to raise funds for a food related charity by getting sponsors. It was basically a 36-48 hour juice fast. My freshman year, there was a group of about five of us who participated (out of about 225 students total in the high school). We spent the night at the school, and after dark, we went running shoeless through the unlit hallways. It was exhilarating event and a priceless memory. :)
My sophomore year, I was the only one who elected to stay at the school while others participated from home due to other social activities. Since it was just me, I ended up spending the night in the convent with the nun who was sponsoring the activity. I got to follow the nuns about for their daily activities on the weekend including attending the various matins, vespers, etc. I also got to see parts of the building that most students never got to see in all their years at the school. It was an interesting experience, but not one that gave me any desire to join a convent for life, especially since I was already dating my future husband at that point.
I also took a nun with me when I went shopping for my honeymoon lingerie, but as they say, that is another story!
© 2014 Green Heart Guidance
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