1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:02,960
Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.

2
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:09,840
Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you welcome to stump mom never told

3
00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:17,320
Speaker 1: you From house top works dot Com. Hello and well

4
00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:20,040
Speaker 1: to the podcast. This is Smelling and I'm Kristin Kristin.

5
00:00:20,160 --> 00:00:23,920
Speaker 1: Today's episode is a tip of the habit two Nuns.

6
00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,040
Speaker 1: We spent a lot of time thinking about that side.

7
00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,800
Speaker 1: Don't think up with lots of nun puns people. Um,

8
00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:32,520
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you if, before we get started,

9
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:33,920
Speaker 1: if we want to do a little number from the

10
00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,560
Speaker 1: Sound of Music? By we, do you mean me, Molly?

11
00:00:37,159 --> 00:00:40,320
Speaker 1: I thought i'd be lovely. Um No, can you do

12
00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:43,040
Speaker 1: a few bars or climb every mountain? I don't think

13
00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:44,839
Speaker 1: you want me to you hear my voice of how

14
00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:47,599
Speaker 1: little Cold? All week? I'm all scratchy. The nuns will

15
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:50,519
Speaker 1: lift you up. We don't want to scratchy climb every mountain.

16
00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:52,400
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that. The service to the

17
00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:55,640
Speaker 1: Sound of Music. That was how I first came in

18
00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,200
Speaker 1: contact with the idea of nuns at a very young age.

19
00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:01,240
Speaker 1: Was watching the Sound of Music and I was like, man,

20
00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:03,800
Speaker 1: I understand why Maria didn't want to be a numb

21
00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,160
Speaker 1: But these laders are pretty awesome. They find Nazis, they sing,

22
00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:11,119
Speaker 1: they've got they live in a really nice place. Um,

23
00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:12,960
Speaker 1: you know, it seems better than taking care of the

24
00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:14,920
Speaker 1: seven kids, to be honest. So are you saying that

25
00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:19,040
Speaker 1: you thought about becoming a nun? Molly? Um? No, Because

26
00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:20,720
Speaker 1: as soon as I think you you see the sound

27
00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,000
Speaker 1: of music. You see for every sound of music there is,

28
00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:25,720
Speaker 1: there's like two movies where there's a really mean nun teacher.

29
00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:28,560
Speaker 1: So I feel like those are the two stereotypes that

30
00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:31,120
Speaker 1: people get. Is either singing nuns because we've got things

31
00:01:31,160 --> 00:01:33,759
Speaker 1: like sister act sound of music, and then we've got

32
00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:36,319
Speaker 1: like the mean nun category where if you want to

33
00:01:36,360 --> 00:01:39,680
Speaker 1: just stereotype a kind of educator right away, it's a

34
00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:43,600
Speaker 1: nun with a ruler. So this is going to get

35
00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:47,120
Speaker 1: beyond all those stereotypes to look at the history and

36
00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:52,840
Speaker 1: daily life of a nun. Yes, And before we get started,

37
00:01:53,320 --> 00:01:58,760
Speaker 1: maybe it's good to differentiate between nuns and sisters, right

38
00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,880
Speaker 1: because you know, the terms are used interchangeably a lot

39
00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 1: in the Catholic community. And we should also say we're

40
00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,880
Speaker 1: gonna be talking about Catholic nuns because there are other

41
00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,760
Speaker 1: both Christian denominations and non Christian denominations like Buddhism that

42
00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:15,280
Speaker 1: have religious women that they call nuns um But in

43
00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:20,040
Speaker 1: the Catholic Church, there are two groups of religious women

44
00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:24,560
Speaker 1: who have taken these vows of chastity, obedience, and poverty.

45
00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:27,240
Speaker 1: And the ones who go who inter convent never to

46
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:30,840
Speaker 1: leave again, are considered the real true nuns, and the

47
00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,079
Speaker 1: other ones working in schools and hospitals and other community organizations,

48
00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:39,040
Speaker 1: those are technically sisters. And the reason for that divide

49
00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:42,520
Speaker 1: is explained by their history, and it might also have

50
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:47,760
Speaker 1: implications for their future. This very simple difference between nuns

51
00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,120
Speaker 1: and sisters. So we might use the terms a little

52
00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,359
Speaker 1: interchangeably during this podcast, but that's sort of the breakdown

53
00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:56,239
Speaker 1: between the two. And one last point to get really technical.

54
00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:00,000
Speaker 1: If we use the phrase contemplative nuns, we're talking about

55
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:03,440
Speaker 1: out those nuns who are living in the convents outside

56
00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:08,320
Speaker 1: of mainstream society. So let's go back to the past,

57
00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:13,120
Speaker 1: the very earliest Christian communities where we get the explanation

58
00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,960
Speaker 1: for why nuns used to wear habits or the veils.

59
00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:22,240
Speaker 1: And these were women who dedicated their lives emulating Jesus Christ,

60
00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,880
Speaker 1: and they tended to be virgins or widows and called

61
00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:29,720
Speaker 1: themselves either spouses of Christ or brides of Christ. So

62
00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,840
Speaker 1: they started wearing veils to symbolize this spiritual marriage right

63
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:36,920
Speaker 1: to be off limits to the rest of the society.

64
00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:38,880
Speaker 1: And I think what's kind of interesting is these women

65
00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:41,280
Speaker 1: kind of popped up on their own. It's not like

66
00:03:41,320 --> 00:03:44,120
Speaker 1: these early Christian communities said, hey, we need we need

67
00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:46,119
Speaker 1: like a girls club. You guys want to be like

68
00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,320
Speaker 1: the women of the church Jesus brads. It was more

69
00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:51,800
Speaker 1: of these women made their own decision to say, I'm

70
00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:54,720
Speaker 1: going to set myself apart by wearing the veil um

71
00:03:54,760 --> 00:03:57,200
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna live like Jesus did and service to

72
00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:01,040
Speaker 1: the poor, living a very strenuous life of prayer and devotion,

73
00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,400
Speaker 1: and I want to be as close to uh spiritual

74
00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:08,240
Speaker 1: perfection as I can. So it's not until the fourth century,

75
00:04:08,280 --> 00:04:11,960
Speaker 1: after monks begin living in community with each other that

76
00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,640
Speaker 1: the brides of Christ following suit, and so we start

77
00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,320
Speaker 1: having the structures more like the convents that we think

78
00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:22,599
Speaker 1: of today. And this is also when they begin taking

79
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:27,800
Speaker 1: their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Right, they lived

80
00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,000
Speaker 1: that way before, but that's right in the fourth century've

81
00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:34,039
Speaker 1: got definitive communities popping up and those specific vows, and

82
00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,000
Speaker 1: often what they would do is the monks would have

83
00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,440
Speaker 1: like one building, and then nearby the nuns would have

84
00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,239
Speaker 1: another building, and they would together be a self sustaining community.

85
00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,680
Speaker 1: They would do their chores, they'd they'd live off the

86
00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:50,200
Speaker 1: work of those two groups together. And different women would

87
00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:54,599
Speaker 1: would flock to convents for different reasons, some by choice.

88
00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:58,360
Speaker 1: For instance, if they didn't want to get married, they

89
00:04:58,400 --> 00:05:00,279
Speaker 1: might go to a convent. It was a good option

90
00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:03,320
Speaker 1: for them at the time. It was also a convenient

91
00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,560
Speaker 1: escape for battered women and former prostitutes who would have

92
00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,600
Speaker 1: been shunned by society. It was kind of a protective

93
00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:11,800
Speaker 1: space that they could go to. But then a lot

94
00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,279
Speaker 1: of women were also sent there against their will by

95
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:19,120
Speaker 1: their parents, for instance, women who might not have been marriageable.

96
00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,040
Speaker 1: There's some really interesting to statistics from the fourth century

97
00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:24,479
Speaker 1: on all the way up to you know, maybe the

98
00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:28,520
Speaker 1: eighteenth century where UH parents, you know, would look at

99
00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,279
Speaker 1: the amount of money they'd have to pay UH potential

100
00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,000
Speaker 1: husband in the form of a dowry versus the amount

101
00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,960
Speaker 1: of y they'd have to pay the convent UH to

102
00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:39,359
Speaker 1: take on their daughter. And it was way cheaper to

103
00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,080
Speaker 1: send your daughter to a convent than to to arrange

104
00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:43,720
Speaker 1: a nice marriage for it. And if you think about

105
00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:46,880
Speaker 1: how large from these old families were, they would, you know,

106
00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:49,839
Speaker 1: marry off the best looking daughters. And then the comment

107
00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,480
Speaker 1: would be sort of like the runner up for the

108
00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:55,320
Speaker 1: ones who maybe not didn't win the genetic lottery. Yeah,

109
00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,560
Speaker 1: we we think a lot about arranged marriages, but parents

110
00:05:57,600 --> 00:06:02,160
Speaker 1: would actually seat of arranged convent days. And uh, if

111
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,040
Speaker 1: they promised a young daughter to a convent, she would

112
00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,840
Speaker 1: be known as an oblate or the nuns, and the

113
00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,720
Speaker 1: nuns would take up her education very early in and

114
00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:14,240
Speaker 1: then when she had the age necessary to take the vow,

115
00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,480
Speaker 1: she would have taken the vows. But listen to this

116
00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:19,960
Speaker 1: little fun fact too. For women who were there who

117
00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:25,040
Speaker 1: really desired marriage and um children, they might be given

118
00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:28,720
Speaker 1: dolls that looked like Jesus to take care of. I know,

119
00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,760
Speaker 1: our little Jesus dolls. That was the closest they got

120
00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,080
Speaker 1: to motherhood. According to one scholar, Well, they would take

121
00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:35,680
Speaker 1: care ashould clarify they would take care of them on

122
00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:37,720
Speaker 1: certain holy days. They wouldn't just carry around their little

123
00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:40,840
Speaker 1: Jesus doll baby in their in their habit. Maybe there's

124
00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,080
Speaker 1: really no way of knowing true. Records can be kind

125
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:47,360
Speaker 1: of sketchy from those early centuries. But then something happened

126
00:06:47,920 --> 00:06:53,440
Speaker 1: in twelve, a big date for non history, and that

127
00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:57,240
Speaker 1: is when Pope Boniface the Eight issues a papal bull

128
00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:02,640
Speaker 1: decreeing that complete enclosure thin cloisters was a requirement for

129
00:07:02,720 --> 00:07:06,400
Speaker 1: all nuns. Now, up until twelve, these communities and monks

130
00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:09,120
Speaker 1: and nuns could kind of pop up do what they wanted,

131
00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:13,040
Speaker 1: and you know, the Vatican didn't really oversee them too much.

132
00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:16,559
Speaker 1: But in this era, the Church is sort of like, whoa,

133
00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,360
Speaker 1: we've got these women living together. We've got uh some

134
00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,240
Speaker 1: nuns getting pregnant from living so close to these monks

135
00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:27,640
Speaker 1: and priests. Uh. So they decided to say, you can

136
00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:29,920
Speaker 1: never leave the walls of your commit a gat and

137
00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:32,920
Speaker 1: there were these even rules to where the windows of

138
00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,960
Speaker 1: a convent could be. You know, that walls couldn't overlook

139
00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,480
Speaker 1: a road that the public might pass on, because they

140
00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: didn't want both the public to see the nuns and

141
00:07:40,760 --> 00:07:44,080
Speaker 1: the nuns to see the public. And the language of

142
00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,400
Speaker 1: the of the papable was pretty condescending to women. It

143
00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:51,000
Speaker 1: was like, you know, you are just temptresses for these

144
00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:53,480
Speaker 1: priests and these monks, and we have got to put

145
00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:57,760
Speaker 1: you enclosures for your own good. And you know, if

146
00:07:57,760 --> 00:07:59,280
Speaker 1: that's the only we're all going to be saved, is

147
00:07:59,280 --> 00:08:01,400
Speaker 1: if you are separate from the rest. And time got

148
00:08:01,400 --> 00:08:04,680
Speaker 1: even worse for women living in these cloisters with the

149
00:08:04,760 --> 00:08:09,800
Speaker 1: Protestant Reformation, because they were visible symbols of the Catholic Church,

150
00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,360
Speaker 1: and then convents were denounced by Protestants as unclean and

151
00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,280
Speaker 1: unholy places, and then some umes were even beaten and

152
00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:19,680
Speaker 1: beheaded because of it. Right, it was it was a

153
00:08:19,720 --> 00:08:22,520
Speaker 1: tough time to be a nun because these communities that

154
00:08:22,600 --> 00:08:24,880
Speaker 1: had come up on their own, they may have had

155
00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,920
Speaker 1: the early element of opening a school that the nun staffed,

156
00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,440
Speaker 1: they may have opened a hospital very early on. And

157
00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,800
Speaker 1: these women who are working so hard in the community

158
00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,920
Speaker 1: suddenly are decreed not legitimate by the Vatican. And it

159
00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:40,360
Speaker 1: was a real trying time where some orders would say, okay,

160
00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:42,760
Speaker 1: we're not nuns. We're gonna say that we aren't nuns

161
00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:45,760
Speaker 1: so we can continue to do all our community service,

162
00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:48,439
Speaker 1: whereas some orders really fought tooth and nail with the

163
00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,320
Speaker 1: Vatican who say, hey, we may teach in schools, but

164
00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:54,560
Speaker 1: we're still we're still nuns. You know, we don't need

165
00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:56,640
Speaker 1: to be shut off from the world to really live

166
00:08:56,679 --> 00:08:59,280
Speaker 1: the best spiritual life we can. You know, we think

167
00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:01,679
Speaker 1: that we're called to be out in the community working

168
00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:04,360
Speaker 1: with them, and uh so it's a really trying time.

169
00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,719
Speaker 1: And you know, I think that researching it now in

170
00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:09,760
Speaker 1: our present day christ and you can find a lot

171
00:09:09,800 --> 00:09:13,480
Speaker 1: of sort of feminist scholars who kind of project onto

172
00:09:13,480 --> 00:09:16,720
Speaker 1: these nuns what they think their lives were like, especially

173
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:19,200
Speaker 1: within the cloisters. They say, oh, yeah, these women couldn't leave,

174
00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:22,600
Speaker 1: but they were still the first feminist because they were

175
00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,160
Speaker 1: writing all these essays and writing these poems and they

176
00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,560
Speaker 1: were really you know, creative women who didn't let being

177
00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:32,600
Speaker 1: in close stifle their creativity. And then you've got other

178
00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:34,720
Speaker 1: scholars saying, oh, no, this was the worst thing ever

179
00:09:34,800 --> 00:09:38,559
Speaker 1: happened to women ever ever well, and it lasted for

180
00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,040
Speaker 1: a long time. It wasn't until nineteen a hundred that

181
00:09:42,120 --> 00:09:45,520
Speaker 1: Pope Leo the thirteenth acknowledged that the active sisters who

182
00:09:45,559 --> 00:09:49,960
Speaker 1: were living outside of convents would be recognized by the Vaticans.

183
00:09:49,960 --> 00:09:53,040
Speaker 1: So they're kind of reinstated at the beginning of the

184
00:09:53,120 --> 00:09:57,040
Speaker 1: twentieth century, and then with the Vatican too, which convened

185
00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:01,199
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty two, we have a loosen up of

186
00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:04,640
Speaker 1: life and the convent. So along with that we have

187
00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,600
Speaker 1: the differentiation between the sisters and the nuns we talked

188
00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,040
Speaker 1: about in the beginning of the podcast. We have the

189
00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:13,720
Speaker 1: active sisters who are out working in the schools and

190
00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:16,439
Speaker 1: working in homeless shelters and places like that, and then

191
00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,280
Speaker 1: we have the contemplative nuns who are in the cloisters

192
00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:23,840
Speaker 1: with their life just dedicated to the convent into Christ.

193
00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,040
Speaker 1: So if you've ever seen a person you think is

194
00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:29,160
Speaker 1: a nun out in like a school or community, probably

195
00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:32,360
Speaker 1: a sister. Yeah, I will say once, um and maybe that.

196
00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:34,360
Speaker 1: I don't know if that reassures me. But once when

197
00:10:34,360 --> 00:10:37,160
Speaker 1: I was in Italy, Christen, I went to St. Peter's

198
00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:39,360
Speaker 1: to see the Pope, and you know, he was going

199
00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:41,200
Speaker 1: to make an appearance, and everyone was like, Oh, when's

200
00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:45,559
Speaker 1: it gonna comment come, And a sister kicked me hm.

201
00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:48,520
Speaker 1: So I just you just see look on Molly's face

202
00:10:48,640 --> 00:10:52,000
Speaker 1: right now, just saying that hard it did, and I

203
00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,120
Speaker 1: was stunned because I was like Why is this nun,

204
00:10:54,240 --> 00:10:56,760
Speaker 1: this holy woman? Why did she kick you? Was it

205
00:10:56,840 --> 00:10:59,199
Speaker 1: just crowded? It was crowded and everyone wanted to see

206
00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,000
Speaker 1: the pope. Well, you know, sometimes people get a little

207
00:11:02,200 --> 00:11:04,080
Speaker 1: but I did not think that just because she took

208
00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,480
Speaker 1: some vow she had the right to the better spot

209
00:11:06,520 --> 00:11:08,720
Speaker 1: than I did. And I wish I could have seen

210
00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,280
Speaker 1: you taken on a taken on a sister the Vatican Molly. Well, now,

211
00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:14,200
Speaker 1: I just you know, I'm not saying that there are

212
00:11:14,240 --> 00:11:16,439
Speaker 1: any less than another, but I just all these years

213
00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:17,960
Speaker 1: I've been telling the story of how a nun kicked me,

214
00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:20,240
Speaker 1: but it was really a sister. Now was the nun

215
00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:23,960
Speaker 1: wearing a robe and a habit un who kicked you?

216
00:11:24,200 --> 00:11:27,440
Speaker 1: She was? And I think that's pretty significant because this

217
00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:30,800
Speaker 1: was two thousand three, and by this time many nuns

218
00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,880
Speaker 1: had given up wearing habits. Uh and may sisters tega

219
00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:38,439
Speaker 1: out wearing habits because in the nineteen fifties questions started

220
00:11:38,480 --> 00:11:41,520
Speaker 1: to rise up about how clean these habits were, what

221
00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,120
Speaker 1: was going on underneath those flowing robes. Yeah, Pope Pies

222
00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:47,400
Speaker 1: the twelfth said basically to the women, you might want

223
00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:48,839
Speaker 1: to start thinking about, you know, if you're going to

224
00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:50,360
Speaker 1: be out in the world. Why don't you look a

225
00:11:50,360 --> 00:11:52,920
Speaker 1: little bit more like the communities that you serve, which

226
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:54,840
Speaker 1: was offensive of some of the nuns, because you know,

227
00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,319
Speaker 1: there was meaning behind every single piece of clothing they

228
00:11:57,320 --> 00:11:59,720
Speaker 1: put on. It was something that had to do with

229
00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:02,360
Speaker 1: cry s life for Christ sacrifice, so that was kind

230
00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:04,200
Speaker 1: of offensive. But he was saying, you know, you're spending

231
00:12:04,240 --> 00:12:07,440
Speaker 1: so much time trying to keep these garments clean, that

232
00:12:07,559 --> 00:12:10,280
Speaker 1: might be time you could better use praying, working with

233
00:12:10,320 --> 00:12:13,559
Speaker 1: the community. But things really heat up and the changes

234
00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:16,720
Speaker 1: really start to happen in nineteen sixty two and the

235
00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:21,160
Speaker 1: Second Vatican Council is called So with the Vatican Too,

236
00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:23,760
Speaker 1: which was kind of an attempt to open up the

237
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,840
Speaker 1: Catholic Church a little bit modernize it. Nuns did away

238
00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,560
Speaker 1: with their habits in one order, even consulted Christian Dior

239
00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,480
Speaker 1: about what they should wear next. Yeah, they wanted sort

240
00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,280
Speaker 1: of the modern habit, a designer modern habits. And along

241
00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,959
Speaker 1: with the Vatican Too going on, we also have the

242
00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:46,800
Speaker 1: rise of second wave feminism, and with that we see

243
00:12:47,160 --> 00:12:52,240
Speaker 1: um not only maybe more nuns getting out into the community,

244
00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:56,200
Speaker 1: but also a drop in women choosing to um go

245
00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,160
Speaker 1: to convents and become sisters and nuns. Right you talked

246
00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,440
Speaker 1: about Christ and how in those early communities, to some women,

247
00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:05,480
Speaker 1: a nune was a really good alternative getting married. If

248
00:13:05,480 --> 00:13:07,080
Speaker 1: you did not want to get married, they would say

249
00:13:07,320 --> 00:13:10,240
Speaker 1: a husband or a vail. And with that rise of

250
00:13:10,280 --> 00:13:12,840
Speaker 1: second way feminism and the idea that women didn't have

251
00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,000
Speaker 1: to get married, didn't have to stay home with kids,

252
00:13:15,040 --> 00:13:18,480
Speaker 1: could could sort of choose their own path, these women

253
00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:23,280
Speaker 1: started seeing convents as a less appealing choice. So we've

254
00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:26,199
Speaker 1: got that going on. We've got Catholic families getting a

255
00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,880
Speaker 1: little bit smaller, so that you know, whereas especially after

256
00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,720
Speaker 1: World War Two, a Catholic family would usually donate one

257
00:13:32,760 --> 00:13:34,760
Speaker 1: of their kids to be a priest or are none

258
00:13:34,800 --> 00:13:37,760
Speaker 1: they sort of marked that kid for a religious life,

259
00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:40,280
Speaker 1: there were fewer children to do that with, so you

260
00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:42,480
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to, you know, throw away your chance at

261
00:13:42,480 --> 00:13:45,959
Speaker 1: grandchildren with a with giving one away to the Catholic

262
00:13:46,040 --> 00:13:51,200
Speaker 1: church goodness. And as a result, in nine five, we

263
00:13:51,240 --> 00:13:55,200
Speaker 1: have approximately a hundred and eighty thousand sisters in the US.

264
00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,280
Speaker 1: By two thousand nine we got fewer than sixty thousand,

265
00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,240
Speaker 1: and a big surprise here, the median age for remaining

266
00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:06,000
Speaker 1: nuns is in the seventies. They are an aging population.

267
00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:09,040
Speaker 1: But one really interesting thing that that you found, Molly,

268
00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:11,640
Speaker 1: while you were researching this article for how stuff works

269
00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:15,679
Speaker 1: on how nuns work, is that the younger women who

270
00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:20,800
Speaker 1: are becoming nuns today are actually more traditional and more

271
00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:25,280
Speaker 1: fundamental than these older nuns. Yeah. The women who stayed

272
00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:28,440
Speaker 1: after Vatican too stayed because they had these true callings

273
00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:30,680
Speaker 1: to live this kind of life, and most of them

274
00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:34,280
Speaker 1: took on really interesting ministries. Um in the community. And

275
00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,680
Speaker 1: uh they sometimes have you know, nine to five careers

276
00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:42,680
Speaker 1: in addition to living and working at the convent. So um, yeah,

277
00:14:42,720 --> 00:14:46,480
Speaker 1: there's it's an aging population that's pretty liberal. That they

278
00:14:46,640 --> 00:14:48,960
Speaker 1: usually tend to have beliefs about whether women should be

279
00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:51,240
Speaker 1: ordained in the church, and they think that as nuns

280
00:14:51,240 --> 00:14:54,160
Speaker 1: they should have equal standing with priests. They're also highly

281
00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,560
Speaker 1: educated of nuns today have master's degrees, right, And so

282
00:14:58,600 --> 00:15:01,440
Speaker 1: it's very interesting to these women at the trend. Rather

283
00:15:01,520 --> 00:15:04,040
Speaker 1: than you know, attracting maybe more women who are in

284
00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:06,400
Speaker 1: their fifties, say, finishing up one career and getting right

285
00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:09,120
Speaker 1: to start another one, that actually what they're attracting these

286
00:15:09,200 --> 00:15:12,520
Speaker 1: days are twentysome things who want to wear a veil,

287
00:15:12,520 --> 00:15:15,280
Speaker 1: whereas most women haven't wren the veil since the sixties,

288
00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,600
Speaker 1: who want to live enclosed, uh for larger periods of

289
00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:22,200
Speaker 1: time than they do. So it's it's kind of interesting.

290
00:15:22,240 --> 00:15:25,360
Speaker 1: I think it'll be uh, pretty fascinating to see what

291
00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:27,720
Speaker 1: happens in the next ten years or so, whether the

292
00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,520
Speaker 1: liberalism that some of these nuns have adopted remains or

293
00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,280
Speaker 1: if these new traditional women will sort of take the

294
00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:38,160
Speaker 1: lead in the Catholic Church and the young women who

295
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:42,360
Speaker 1: are receiving the call. Because the process of becoming a

296
00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:45,600
Speaker 1: nun starts with a call or a message from God

297
00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:48,400
Speaker 1: that that a woman would receive that she's meant to

298
00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:53,440
Speaker 1: lead this life. Um, it's interesting that they would do

299
00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:55,880
Speaker 1: this because it's not a light undertaking. It takes a

300
00:15:55,920 --> 00:16:00,200
Speaker 1: long time to become an actual nune with all of

301
00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,960
Speaker 1: the vowels or sister. I mean, it's not like the

302
00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:05,560
Speaker 1: process of becoming a nun or sister is any different. Yeah,

303
00:16:05,560 --> 00:16:07,520
Speaker 1: you don't just show up at a convent, knock on

304
00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:10,840
Speaker 1: the door and say, hey, I like these clothes, I

305
00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:14,400
Speaker 1: like the sound of music, I like to pray, I'd

306
00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,320
Speaker 1: like will be Goldberg. No, it takes almost ten years

307
00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,200
Speaker 1: to become a nun UH women who received that call,

308
00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:24,120
Speaker 1: and they start contacting different UH convents and communities and

309
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,960
Speaker 1: orders about their place in that community. The process almost

310
00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:30,760
Speaker 1: reads like serrority rush Kristen, and sometimes they use the

311
00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:33,640
Speaker 1: same language of dating. They'll say, well, I'm dating five

312
00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:35,840
Speaker 1: convents right now, trying to find the one that's right

313
00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:38,640
Speaker 1: for me. UM. But yeah, they'll go around from order

314
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:40,760
Speaker 1: to order and say sort of, you know, what do

315
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:42,120
Speaker 1: you have to offer me? What kind of work do

316
00:16:42,160 --> 00:16:44,800
Speaker 1: you do? They'll talk to the sisters figure out if

317
00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:46,680
Speaker 1: that's where they belong, and then once they find the

318
00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:50,320
Speaker 1: place that they want to take their vows with UH,

319
00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:53,800
Speaker 1: they begin a process with the formation director, with the

320
00:16:53,840 --> 00:16:58,240
Speaker 1: disctermined director of getting ready to enter the community. And

321
00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:02,520
Speaker 1: once you start that pre candidate process, you are called

322
00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,000
Speaker 1: an aspirant. And while you're an aspirinate, you have to

323
00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,320
Speaker 1: be deemed fit in mind and body by psychologists and doctors.

324
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,399
Speaker 1: You're not just a crazy person off the street. You

325
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,199
Speaker 1: have to complete essays about their call and UM your

326
00:17:14,200 --> 00:17:17,000
Speaker 1: relationship with God. And then once you've gone through the

327
00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:21,160
Speaker 1: first phase, you become a postulant or an official candidate

328
00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:23,840
Speaker 1: and still you're not taking any vows, but you might

329
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:28,399
Speaker 1: start living with other sisters and participating in activities. And

330
00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,640
Speaker 1: this last for a couple of years until the next stage,

331
00:17:31,680 --> 00:17:35,320
Speaker 1: which is the novitiate. And at this point you are

332
00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:38,520
Speaker 1: considered a novice member who will live as a sister

333
00:17:38,600 --> 00:17:41,960
Speaker 1: while studying different subjects outlined by canon law and by

334
00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:45,000
Speaker 1: the different orders. And at this point you're going to

335
00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:47,280
Speaker 1: give any salary that you might be earning to the

336
00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,280
Speaker 1: community and you kind of start choosing to live that

337
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:55,760
Speaker 1: life of poverty and really becoming part of the non community.

338
00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,600
Speaker 1: And then finally you take your sets of vows. You

339
00:17:58,640 --> 00:18:00,679
Speaker 1: have a first set of vows you're renewed on a

340
00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:04,280
Speaker 1: year by your basis, and then the final vows, which

341
00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,119
Speaker 1: are considered binding forever. But you get ten years to

342
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,080
Speaker 1: sort of go through this process before you take these

343
00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:12,600
Speaker 1: binding forever vows. And it makes sense because if you're

344
00:18:12,600 --> 00:18:16,480
Speaker 1: going to take a vowel for ever bound with God,

345
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:19,040
Speaker 1: becoming a bride of Christ, I mean, you really want

346
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:21,679
Speaker 1: to know that you're for real about it. Yeah, if

347
00:18:21,680 --> 00:18:24,959
Speaker 1: they give you plenty of time to learn about the church, uh,

348
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,159
Speaker 1: drop out if you want to drop out and there

349
00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:29,000
Speaker 1: are I mean, there are certain things set out by

350
00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,000
Speaker 1: the Vatican that you must study and learn about. And

351
00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,760
Speaker 1: I think that I think it's really interesting knowing that

352
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,800
Speaker 1: it takes ten years for a woman to pledge herself

353
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:39,680
Speaker 1: as a nun to become the Brighter Christ, to get

354
00:18:39,680 --> 00:18:41,600
Speaker 1: the ring. At those final vows, they'll hand out the

355
00:18:41,600 --> 00:18:44,320
Speaker 1: woman to ring and say, here's your wedding ring with Christ.

356
00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,880
Speaker 1: Knowing that these women go through ten years of pursuing

357
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,040
Speaker 1: this profession, I think it's even more interesting that right

358
00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:56,639
Speaker 1: now nuns are under investigation from the Vatican in this country,

359
00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,359
Speaker 1: the United States. They are under investigation. And it's not

360
00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:02,520
Speaker 1: the templative nuns we've talked about, the ones who are

361
00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:05,320
Speaker 1: of we think it is locked away in the convents,

362
00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:08,680
Speaker 1: although they're not locked away, but the active sisters who

363
00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:11,960
Speaker 1: are out in the community, who are doing things like

364
00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:16,200
Speaker 1: advocating for the healthcare reform bill. We had sixty thousand

365
00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,359
Speaker 1: sisters sign on to a letter of support um for

366
00:19:20,440 --> 00:19:24,800
Speaker 1: the healthcare bill, and uh, yeah, the Vatican is basically

367
00:19:24,840 --> 00:19:29,679
Speaker 1: investigating all of these different orders, and especially the Leadership

368
00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:35,080
Speaker 1: Conference of Women Religious who have really agitated for women's

369
00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,800
Speaker 1: ordination in the Church. Right, And you've got to remember,

370
00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:40,520
Speaker 1: obviously the Catholic Church is not having an easy time

371
00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:43,639
Speaker 1: of it right now. There's a sexual abuse crisis. People

372
00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:46,800
Speaker 1: are saying, do we still need a pope? And uh,

373
00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:48,600
Speaker 1: some people are saying, if we had more women in

374
00:19:48,680 --> 00:19:53,080
Speaker 1: leadership positions, maybe these crisis, these crises wouldn't get so bad.

375
00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,560
Speaker 1: And basically, nuns are allowed to do everything priests can

376
00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:01,800
Speaker 1: do except perform mass. But because some people are saying that,

377
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,160
Speaker 1: that's why, uh, many scholars believe these u S nuns

378
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:08,520
Speaker 1: are being investigated. There being investigated, some belief for being

379
00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,879
Speaker 1: just too liberal. And uh, one scholar compare the current

380
00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:18,320
Speaker 1: investigation to sending a science professor to every single college

381
00:20:18,359 --> 00:20:21,439
Speaker 1: in the country and asking him to write report on

382
00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:27,040
Speaker 1: every single colleges, you know, administration, academic life, student life.

383
00:20:27,280 --> 00:20:30,080
Speaker 1: They're saying, this is a task that's impossible for one

384
00:20:30,080 --> 00:20:33,320
Speaker 1: person to do because orders are so different from one another.

385
00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:36,600
Speaker 1: Every order might have a different service that they provide,

386
00:20:36,880 --> 00:20:38,439
Speaker 1: they might have a different you know. I mean, they

387
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:40,400
Speaker 1: are kind of like sororities where they're all different from

388
00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,240
Speaker 1: each other. So the fact that the Vatican has said

389
00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:45,679
Speaker 1: that one sister will visit all of these convents and

390
00:20:45,720 --> 00:20:48,600
Speaker 1: write report on the state of the American nun is

391
00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,680
Speaker 1: kind of an outrage to uh, these current women who

392
00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:55,160
Speaker 1: service nuns, and they're saying that, uh, they very much

393
00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:59,240
Speaker 1: fear that something that like Pope Bonifit, the eights Papal

394
00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:03,160
Speaker 1: bull could result where the decisions made that all nuns

395
00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:06,520
Speaker 1: again need to be enclosed. They need to live, you know,

396
00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:10,359
Speaker 1: quiet lives without all this service element. So it's it's

397
00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:12,920
Speaker 1: kind of interesting to see. It's it's being interpreted as

398
00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:16,320
Speaker 1: this slap back from from modern life back into the

399
00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,320
Speaker 1: Middle Ages, whereas a Vatican is trying to frame it

400
00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:23,000
Speaker 1: as an examination into the quality of life of these

401
00:21:23,040 --> 00:21:27,520
Speaker 1: different orders. And they were referring to um the checkups

402
00:21:27,560 --> 00:21:32,320
Speaker 1: as apostolic visitations, and it's led they're led by Mother

403
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,320
Speaker 1: Mary Claire Millennia, who was described in one article as

404
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 1: an apple cheeked American with a black habit and smiling eyes.

405
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:42,800
Speaker 1: And her report is supposed to be completed by mid

406
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,640
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven. So it will be an interesting thing

407
00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:48,440
Speaker 1: to watch. It'll be interesting. You know. Someone were saying, yes,

408
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,200
Speaker 1: it's just a visitation. Obviously, you want someone to check

409
00:21:51,240 --> 00:21:53,320
Speaker 1: up on your quality of life. But this kind of

410
00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:57,000
Speaker 1: investigation is usually only ordered when something's gone horribly wrong,

411
00:21:57,440 --> 00:21:59,200
Speaker 1: like these are the kind of investigations that are going

412
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:01,359
Speaker 1: on about the sex full abuse crisis. So the fact

413
00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:04,760
Speaker 1: that the nuns are getting one too is striking a

414
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:08,800
Speaker 1: lot of people as pretty fishy because really, um, I

415
00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:12,000
Speaker 1: don't like the idea of nuns being prevented from doing

416
00:22:12,040 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 1: the good work in the communities that they are doing.

417
00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,800
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of times now, while we were

418
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:21,160
Speaker 1: talking about the younger women who are flocking to convince today,

419
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,359
Speaker 1: but since it is a ten year process, a lot

420
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 1: of times the women who um will choose to become

421
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:29,840
Speaker 1: sisters are also older women who have kind of lead

422
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,920
Speaker 1: their lives and really feel this call. They might be widowed,

423
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:35,800
Speaker 1: they might be divorced, they might have gone through some

424
00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:38,480
Speaker 1: difficult circumstances and they say, hey, I really want to

425
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,520
Speaker 1: do good with the rest of my life, and and

426
00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,840
Speaker 1: you can have kids, can become a nun as long

427
00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:46,840
Speaker 1: as your kids aren't dependent on you. Um, those women

428
00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,240
Speaker 1: can become ordained as nuns. So it's it's really affecting

429
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:53,359
Speaker 1: a wide range of women. But you know, again, people

430
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,280
Speaker 1: are wondering if because these women are so broad in

431
00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:59,560
Speaker 1: their interests, in their backgrounds, in their desires, and maybe

432
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:03,760
Speaker 1: their lack desire for the priesthood that um, this investigation

433
00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:06,960
Speaker 1: has come come down on watch what happens? We see

434
00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:09,239
Speaker 1: what see what happens to these nuns. And within light

435
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:12,679
Speaker 1: of the investigation, we thought it would be important to

436
00:23:12,840 --> 00:23:15,879
Speaker 1: tell the full story of nuns because I learned a

437
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:17,760
Speaker 1: lot Molly with this research. I don't know about you.

438
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:19,600
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I love drying this article because a lot

439
00:23:19,600 --> 00:23:21,399
Speaker 1: of times nuns are, you know, kind of like the

440
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:24,399
Speaker 1: librarians we talked about, incredibly stereotype and we think of

441
00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:26,960
Speaker 1: them as these, you know, women who are just off

442
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:30,440
Speaker 1: and separate from the world, not really doing too much,

443
00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:33,520
Speaker 1: but but they are there is an active, active life,

444
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,119
Speaker 1: sharp gals. Okay, so it's pretty cool. And do you

445
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:39,480
Speaker 1: want to talk about one other thing, one really kind

446
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:43,200
Speaker 1: of cool contribution that nuns are making to our society.

447
00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:47,800
Speaker 1: They might help us understand because of Alzheimer's That's true,

448
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,359
Speaker 1: and that is um from something called the Nuns Study,

449
00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,320
Speaker 1: which has been happening at the University of Minnesota, and

450
00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:54,960
Speaker 1: it's been written up a few times. You may have

451
00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:56,879
Speaker 1: seen it in Time magazine or the New York Times.

452
00:23:57,080 --> 00:23:59,960
Speaker 1: But basically this uh, this order of nuns in minnesot

453
00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:03,439
Speaker 1: To was approached by a researcher who wanted to study

454
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,080
Speaker 1: their brains and try and figure out, you know, what

455
00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,720
Speaker 1: what causes forms of dementia, what happens as the brain ages.

456
00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:12,920
Speaker 1: And these nuns make a really good study group because

457
00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:15,760
Speaker 1: they've all lived similar lives. They're eating this for the

458
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,920
Speaker 1: same food. They don't smoke. Um, you know, they've they're

459
00:24:18,920 --> 00:24:23,080
Speaker 1: really good like sample size of uniformity and um. He

460
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:26,000
Speaker 1: can tell based on writings that these women made when

461
00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:28,920
Speaker 1: they were going through their candidacy process what they were

462
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:30,840
Speaker 1: like when they were young. So what's going to happen

463
00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:33,560
Speaker 1: is when the nuns die, they donate their brain to

464
00:24:33,600 --> 00:24:38,440
Speaker 1: this researcher and he can compare, you know, the spots

465
00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,159
Speaker 1: that might have appeared on the brain that indicate dementia

466
00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 1: or Alzheimer's with their younger rings and try and make

467
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 1: connections about how we can prevent Alzheimer's and other forms

468
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,000
Speaker 1: of aging. And they've already started making some connections such

469
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:54,640
Speaker 1: as women who or of higher intelligence and had more

470
00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,120
Speaker 1: brain activity tended to have lower rates of Alzheimer's. Women

471
00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:02,520
Speaker 1: who exhibited more positive amo ocean in those essays, um

472
00:25:02,560 --> 00:25:06,159
Speaker 1: also tended to have lower rates of all summers. So again,

473
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:08,520
Speaker 1: some interesting things to watch for in the future. That

474
00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:12,320
Speaker 1: nuns are contributing to our society. And it's pretty synohing

475
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:15,679
Speaker 1: just because so few studies are done with women. So

476
00:25:15,760 --> 00:25:17,480
Speaker 1: the fact that he knew he could go this community

477
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 1: and get sort of the ideal sample size, I think

478
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:25,120
Speaker 1: it's pretty pretty cool. So with that we tip off

479
00:25:25,200 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 1: habit to nuns. And you know, we've never heard from

480
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,000
Speaker 1: a listener who's a nun. I don't believe um, but

481
00:25:32,119 --> 00:25:34,560
Speaker 1: you know, nuns were very hip to the social media

482
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:36,800
Speaker 1: and the social networking. One of the one of the

483
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 1: references I'll just plug this that helps me and eyes

484
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 1: ran this article is a blog called a Nun's Life.

485
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,919
Speaker 1: So um, if we've got any nun listeners out there,

486
00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:47,359
Speaker 1: we'd love to know. Yes, email us nuns moms stuff

487
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 1: at how stuff works dot com. Don't that we read

488
00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 1: an email from another listener? All right? I have an

489
00:25:56,800 --> 00:26:00,399
Speaker 1: email here from Lisa and it's about the superhero pot cast.

490
00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:02,760
Speaker 1: She writes, I think that the way women are portraying

491
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:04,800
Speaker 1: comics is giving off messages to girls read them that

492
00:26:04,840 --> 00:26:06,840
Speaker 1: they are victims and that they can't be as powerful

493
00:26:06,880 --> 00:26:09,320
Speaker 1: as men. After listening to your podcast on this, I

494
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 1: looked up the women in Refrigerator's list and was shocked

495
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:13,520
Speaker 1: to see how many women were on it, even once

496
00:26:13,520 --> 00:26:15,880
Speaker 1: that I thought were strong and held their own against men.

497
00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,280
Speaker 1: My favorite female superhero has to be Sue Storm from

498
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 1: the Fantastic Four because even though she suffers miscarriages, I

499
00:26:22,280 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 1: still think she is one of the strongest members of

500
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,080
Speaker 1: the team. She also has brains, and that is why

501
00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:30,680
Speaker 1: she is my favorite. Well, thank you for that email,

502
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:33,280
Speaker 1: and thank you to everyone who has written us at

503
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 1: our email address, Mom's Stuff at how stuff works dot com.

504
00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,200
Speaker 1: You can also join us over at Twitter at Mom's

505
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,119
Speaker 1: Stuff Podcasts. You can head over to our Facebook and

506
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,720
Speaker 1: leave a comments say hello. And finally, you can read

507
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,880
Speaker 1: our blog It's stuff Mom Never Told You at how

508
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:56,840
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com for moralness and thousands of other topics.

509
00:26:57,040 --> 00:26:59,119
Speaker 1: Is it how stuff works dot com. To learn more

510
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:01,919
Speaker 1: about the podcast, click on the podcast icon in the

511
00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,439
Speaker 1: upper right corner of our homepage. The Houstuff Works iPhone

512
00:27:05,440 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 1: app has arrived. Download it today on iTunes. Brought to

513
00:27:13,520 --> 00:27:16,600
Speaker 1: you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray. It's ready,

514
00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:17,200
Speaker 1: Are you