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Dominican Sisters of Mary on Oprah

By Robyn Broyles, February 09, 2010 20:43



Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the EucharistToday I watched the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist appear on the Oprah Winfrey show. The sisters' convent is located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and most members of this small Dominican are quite young, with an average age of 26.

I have occasionally watched Oprah, and when she talks about society and values, it's like she is speaking a foreign dialect of English—I can understand her, but it does not come naturally. It's peppered with strange New Age ideas and firmly rooted in the emptiest aspects of our culture. Hearing the sisters speak about living for Christ was like hearing my own language—and from the mouth of a poet. (Let me be clear here... I don't think I, by any means, am a poet in this language.)

Oprah made a great deal of the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience taken by every nun and sister. She clearly understood that while they may seem harsh, they are also, in a way, freeing. Here is a quote from Sister Mary Judith, in response to Oprah's question about what happens when a sister breaks a vow, that explains how the vows are not as foreign to secular life as it might appear at first:

It's an integrated way of life, and I would say even in married life, women, in a sense, have a vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They can't just gratify every sexual desire; they can't just go wherever they want when they want to go places; and they have to, in a sense, be spendthrifts so that they can support their families. So religious life is meant to mirror an integrated human life of giving yourself to the other. So to break a vow, is like saying you're not living integrated. You're almost lying to yourself. So you're inflicting your own punishment on yourself.... if, you know, you're cheating on your husband, or you know you're doing this, you're wreaking damage on yourself, and maybe on others.

Ah, the order of preachers. She gave Oprah's entire viewing audience a beautiful homily on living life according to the way we are created.

Image of the Dominican Sisters of Mary in Ann Arbor, Michigan, taken in 2008 by "Joseph." (CC) Some rights reserved (by-nc).

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Tags: media, culture, catholic life, celibacy, morality, natural law, women's issues, oprah winfrey

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