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15. Mary Don’t You Weep: A Feminist Nun’s Vocation
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Chapter 15 Mary Don’t You Weep A Feminist Nun’s Vocation Sister Sojourner Truth My ministry as a nun entails the search for truth and justice in order to liberate society. How can I call myself a nun today—and a feminist nun—given the crimes of the Catholic Church? I speak as a sojourner who takes the risks necessary to expose hidden truths and the full range of societal injustices.1 I understand that everybody can’t bear to hear the truth and that many people don’t want to hear it. However, my sojourn, my calling, my living would be in vain if I did not challenge the entire notion of human domination and attempt to sow seeds of holistic emancipation. Being an African American feminist nun has never been a contradiction for me. Although certain teachings and practices in the Catholic Church have created dilemmas in my life, feminism and revolutionary resistance, in general, lie at the heart of my calling and everyday ministry. These revolutionary (Black, feminist, ecumenical) theological perspectives have offered the clarity I needed over the years to remain comfortable in my skin and true to my vocation, even if my combined identities appear confusing to others. Although many people refer to me by my religious title, “Sister,” I encourage countless others to call me by my first name. On the one hand, I have paid a price for the formal title with my blood, sweat, and tears and have redefined the term beyond the limitations traditionally ascribed to it by patriarchy. As someone working to transform and change the concepts of ‘a nun’ and ‘the church,’ I have no problem with the term nun or the title that goes with it. The women’s movement reclaimed “sisterhood” for all women. So the Catholic Church cannot claim ownership and coopt the term “sister.” On the other hand, I am also comfortable with the idea that the Catholic Church might have to 245 246 Sister Sojourner Truth get rid of terms such as nun, priest, and even pope in order to be open to the creative possibility of a nonhierarchical, nonpatriarchal church. The Catholic Church is a transnational corporate organization and has its CEO and other official titles like any other corporate institution. Thus, it has its own investment in these archaic yet power-laden terms and is not particularly enthusiastic about changing them. Religious titles can get in the way of deeply spiritual egalitarian relationships because of the pecking orders they produce. The true church, as I see it, would represent the full range of human diversity and promote equal status among the faithful. God Bless the Child: My Calling and Spiritual Journey I was born during the latter part of the depression in the United States. At age ten I decided I wanted to be a nun. My mother was ill, and I would visit her at the hospital. I saw nuns for the first time, and they were in full charge of that hospital! They were also very instrumental in my mother’s healing. Most important, they were happy women who were also loving, respectful, helpful, and dedicated. They exemplified and embodied all of the values in life that I aspire to; and although not one of them was African American, right on the spot I knew that I had discovered my religious vocation. I had also found my purpose for being and felt that purpose very deep within my soul. After high school, I entered a phase of religious life that included ministry in the Mississippi Delta. Some folks called it “Hell’s Kitchen.” I ministered to African Americans throughout the area, taught kindergarten, and engaged in social work. Even though my ministry was meaningful and among those disenfranchised , something was missing in my life. To attend to those soul stirrings, I entered the monastery. During a 10-year period in the monastery, my prayer life continued to be cultivated, and my inner stirrings were calmed. This monastic training resulted in an invitation by a religious sister and an African archbishop to establish a contemplative monastery for African women in an African country. Establishing this institution was a very demanding ministry that drew on every aspect of my being spiritually, physically, emotionally, intellectually, and politically. I was required to help raise funds for the monastery, which meant traveling back and forth to Africa, the United States, and Rome, Italy. Even though, for the most part, the years in Africa were...