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137 6 Praying for the World “ M O ST P E O P L E A R E thrilled to have someone write about them,” claims freelance journalist and writer Kristen Ohlson in her 2003 book Stalking the Divine. “A few refuse,” she acknowledges, “knowing how often journalists botch their characterizations of people either through spite or just because it’s so hard to get the details right. In either case, people tend to think it’s a big deal.”1 Ohlson’s experiences did not prepare her for what happened when she developed a plan to write about the Poor Clares and St. Paul’s Shrine in Cleveland, Ohio. After attending Christmas Mass at St. Paul’s, she found herself wondering about these cloistered contemplative nuns, and hoped her proposed project would “construct a framework for trying to make sense of [the nuns’] faith and, perhaps, learn to build some kind of faith of my own.”2 Ohlson wrote to the Poor Clares informing them of her intention, and asked to interview members of the community. She was surprised when six weeks passed without a response, and decided to approach them as they greeted people from behind their grate after a Sunday Mass. Standing in front of Mother Mary James, the superior, Ohlson introduced herself as the “one who wrote the letter.”3 The superior politely nodded, “but seemed unconcerned about [Ohlson’s] request.” “We’ve had so many things to do,” she explained. “We haven’t had time to think much about it yet.”4 Surprised by Mother Mary James’s response, Ohlson concluded that her “proposal was so far on the periphery of their world that they could hardly see it.”5 The experience of convincing the Poor Clares to talk with her helped Ohlson understand a good deal about the community that had come to fascinate her. Mother Mary James and the Cleveland Poor Clares, she learned, were committed to a ministry of prayer. “They pray all the time,” she was told. “They pray all day and all night. They pray for the city and its people. They take requests from people. They take requests from people who call in or write to them—they’ll pray for this one’s sick child or that one’s aging parent.”6 The nuns did not bemoan living in the heart of Cleveland , but embraced the city. A visiting sister, worried that the community 138 Praying for the World lived in a struggling neighborhood, once suggested to the superior that the Poor Clares consider moving to more comfortable quarters in a safer area. The nuns refused, informing the sister that they often took the time to pray for the city from the monastery roof, “noting the twinkle of each distant light and the wavering lines of streets that radiated from downtown into the darkness beyond.” They did not want to leave the city because “[t]hey were afraid they wouldn’t be able to watch over it in the same way if they moved.”7 Ohlson’s experiences help confirm two common views held by many Americans related to the lives and ministries of contemplative women religious in the United States. First, Catholics as well as non-Catholics are intrigued by women who leave the world for a cloistered religious community in the twenty-first century, and wonder if “ordinary moments have greater meaning because of their [the nuns’] faith? Was their faith more powerful because it was compressed between the walls of their monastery? How had they converted from ordinary women to these hidden brides of Christ?”8 Second, people tend to be curious about what exactly takes place inside a cloistered monastery, and share Ohlson’s surprise when they learn that the nuns lead busy and productive lives that, although revolving around a schedule of prayer and meditation, include both work and shared responsibilities for maintaining community life. Their ultimate vocation, however, is prayer, which, Mother Mary James explained to Ohlson, is “a calling to live our lives for prayer. It’s God’s grace.”9 When Ohlson asked the superior why she had chosen the Poor Clares, the response was clear. “It was the perpetual adoration. It’s Jesus, really Jesus right there. We’re going to be doing that for all eternity, adoring God. When you do this, it’s like your heaven begins on earth.”10 According to a 2007 ABC News report, only about 1,400 women religious in the United States...

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