Verena von Pfetton at the The Huffington Post:
Sister Wendy is the most adorable old lady on the face of the planet (see photo). She's also a nun. And not just any nun! She's a Consecrated Virgin nun. (Not that I know what that means, but it sounds very important and most definitely deserving of Capital Letters.) She's also a genius art historian who graduated from Oxford and has this video series through BBC and PBS ["Sister Wendy's Story of Painting"] in which she goes to museums and talks about art. She's written a few books, but her most recent (and the reason for her visit) is "Sister Wendy on Prayer". Oh, and did I mention she's taken a vow of solitude?
Why do I believe this young interviewer is not serious? She had not read the book, and the author called her on that.
Von Pfetten: Well... I haven't actually read the book. But I like the idea!
Sr. Wendy: Dear me, I wish you'd read the book. Then you could ask me why I said something or other on page 97 and how page 32 really speaks to you.
But - and it's a very big BUT - she asked Sr. Wendy a brilliant question. I'll give her due credit for that.
Von Pfetten: You've spoken out about gay marriage. How do you balance what you believe with what you have sworn to uphold?
Sr. Wendy: I believe in loyalty. We should respect our church, but never believe that the church has the last word. The church is saying "this", but I believe that sooner or later "this" will change. "This" is not the mind of our Lord. God is all love. It's a delicate balancing thing. The Church has changed it's position over the years, and because the spirit is with the Church, in the end the Church will always get it right. But in the end. The spirit of the Church is the meaning of love, which hasn't yet, perhaps, been fully understood.
See. That's how it's done. I love Sr. Wendy. And yet, I fear for her. You see, she's a Roman Catholic nun. Will this sort of comment go unnoticed by the powers?
UPDATE: Thanks to my faithful stringer, Lapin, for the tip.
A Sister Wendy musical (!), "Postcards from God" was staged in London earlier this year.
ReplyDeleteSo nice to read that Sr. Wendy is still helping us see with fresh eyes!
ReplyDeleteLapin, I remember hearing about that. How did it do?
ReplyDeletePaul, I loved the scene in the series when she talked about the cave paintings at Lascaux. I remember she said that she thought they were religious paintings and that they were filled with erotic force. She gestured forcefully as she said it.
I think your worry, Mimi, is well founded... given the convictions and actions of Paparatzi. I'll bet somebody over there already has a file on her... which makes her all the more lovable.
ReplyDeleteI just love her. She is so wise.
ReplyDeleteI doubt Benny ever sees The Huffington Post but no doubt some faithful local will make a call or two in defence of the faith. Sr.Wendy is very cool individual who has never been scared of speaking her mind and yes, suffering the consequences.This is a good one.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't fear too much for Sr. Wendy, Mimi, not in any real sense. A woman like that will allow God to find for her the good in whatever her superiors might do (Romans 8.28!) Hasn't it been so throughout all the ages?
ReplyDeleteBut you're so right, that is indeed the way it's done!
The reviews of the musical were not that good.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't Episcopal nuns ever say wise things? Well, maybe some of them do. It's just that we keep the words hidden.
ReplyDeleteTheMe, do you really think that Benny doesn't read the Huffington Post? I agree, but I'll wager that, as David says, there is a watchdog tattletale out there somewhere ready to report.
ReplyDeleteMike, you're right. In the end, Sr. Wendy will surely be fine.
Ormonde, I'm sure Episcopal nuns say wise things. No one has taken up their cause, as you have done so beautifully with the deacons.
You all have this irreverent Catholic laughing her posterior off over the thought of "B16" hunched over his pc reading Huffpo!!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think Sr. Wendy will be ok. There are certain folks they just can't or won't go after and I think she is among them.
What Sister gets- thank God- and I was reminded of this when you mentioned Lascaux Grandmere, is that God's love is all about life force... which includes erotic love and energy. I mean - that is how life is created.
God understands that and Sister Wendy too. Just most of the hierarchy of my holy mother church has issues with it. Although you all have issues too... God help us all!
That is pretty funny and pretty sad BTW, that the woman had not read the book and Sr. called her on it. How Wendy is that!
Ormonde, the Episcopal Church has one whole convent on the upper west side of New York City full of nuns who say wise things. They are wonderful women, intelligent, educated, fun to be around, and I always stay there when I go to New York. It is the only place on Manhattan Island I can afford to stay considering my cash flow, but even if God struck me down with more money than I could carry, I would still stay with them. They are the Community of the Holy Spirit, St. Hilda's House. St. Hilda's is one of God's thin places on this earth. The women who live their lives there are special and spirit-filled in a most contagious way. I am smiling as I type this just thinking about them.
ReplyDeleteFran, a laugh a day, at least, is what this irreverent Episcopalian is all about. I've done my duty.
ReplyDeleteBoocat, there you go. You've taken up the cause of wise Episcopal nuns. I believe that when we gathered in New York, St. Hilda's was already full. That was a busy time in the city. I must give them a try when I go again.
Distantly related topic, Mimi, but if you're ever traveling to Rome and looking for a place to stay, the convent of the Suori de Santa Brigida... a Swedish RC order whose ministry is hospitality to the traveller... can't be beat. They are located in the center of it all, on the Piazze Farnese, and from the rooms one is looking right out on a building designed by Michelangelo (now the French Embassy as I recall). They were wonderfully hospitable.
ReplyDeleteI hope the interviewer's boss had a word with her about being unprofessional, being unprepared, and being patronizing about a nun--the first two are inexcusable and the third is positively dangerous!
ReplyDeleteDavid, it's karma! I have stayed at the Convento de Santa Brigida. It's a lovely place, with rooms furnished with beautiful antiques. No one there could speak English, but it all seemed to work out.
ReplyDeleteI was going to an audience with the Pope - one of the big public ones - not a private audience, and my Roman Catholic friends wanted rosaries blessed by the pope. I said yes to all requests, but no one gave me a rosary to have blessed, so I had to buy them. Fortunately the Suori at Santa Brigida had rosaries for sale at reasonable prices.
I loved staying with them, precisely because their ministry has always been to house pilgrims to Rome.
Note: we're speaking of St. Bridget of Sweden, not the Irish saint. We have a Roman Catholic church here dedicated to St. Bridget of Sweden.
Nina, the interviewer was disgracefully disrespectful to Sr. Wendy and to the assignment. I hope that she was called on it. Sr. Wendy held her own, and the questioner did elicit the pièce de résistence.
What a delightful read, Mimi and all y'all. I don't know Sister's work first hand, but by reputation: formidable, and not likely to suffer such slight as this interviewer gladly.
ReplyDeleteGood on her and the (may I guess it? Should I?) interviewer.
Yes; I guessed it.
Oh yes: Paul congratulations and abundant felicitations!
Johnieb, hey! Sr. Wendy rocks!
ReplyDeleteI looked up the convent, and it's called Casa di Santa Brigida. Delightful place.
Yet another reason to love Sister Wendy!
ReplyDeleteShe is probably one of the reasons the RCs don't want women priests -- she lives out Christ's teachings far too closely.
how did I miss this? I have just become a Sister Wendy fan.
ReplyDeleteDiane, she's wonderful, isn't she?
ReplyDelete