The Dominican sisters on Oprah

Did you catch the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist on Oprah this week? The segment can be found on YouTube in four parts; the blog Aggie Catholics compiles them here.

First off, the sisters handled themselves beautifully, joy beaming off their faces as they shared their stories and answered Oprah’s questions with a wide smile and clear tone of seasoned evangelists. (Personally, my favorite exchange was one sister’s use of a chocolate analogy to explain why chastity doesn’t mean a life of sexual repression).

The sisters’ welcoming of Lisa Ling, the correspondent who spent the night at their Michigan convent, made an obvious good impression on the reporter, who was apparently turned away by every other religious community the show sought to interview.

“They were some of the kindest people I’ve ever encountered,” Ling commented.

In one shot at the convent, Ling discussed the sisters’ lack of personal possessions with one member of the community. “I imagine it’s very freeing,” she mused to one member of the community, to which the sister agreed, saying, “We really don’t need much.”

Later Ling described to Oprah the sense of liberation she felt was enjoyed by the women at the convent – they had finally found what they were seeking.

Perhaps predictably, one emphatic theme of questioning from both Oprah and Ling was how the sisters could give up the allures of the world: namely sex, followed closely by shopping.

“What happens when you break a vow?” Oprah asked two sisters. “Like if you go to Target and buy something.”

And more than once, the sisters were pounded with questions about their vow of chastity: How could they give up boyfriends? How could they give up sex?

On the other hand, I was disappointed at the lack of attention given to the sisters’ apostolates – namely education and catechesis in schools, parishes, retreats and even TV.

Before the segment aired, Catholic blogger Elizabeth Scalia lamented the secular media’s inability overall to grasp the real story and motivation behind people like the Dominican sisters.

“The interviewers are so hung up on sex, and so lacking in imagination or depth of thought, that it is the first thing they talk about, and an issue they cannot seem to get past,” Scalia wrote.  “Their curiosity extends only far enough to get a few pictures and soundbites (and a ‘gotcha’ if you can manage it), because in their conflicted worldview, religion is both too boring and too provocative for their viewing audience to endure.”

Today at The Catholic Thing, Joan Frawley Desmond suggested that Oprah’s line of questioning is reflective of the show’s audience:

But the specter of sexual repression and its distorting effects on the human psyche clearly haunted Oprah, prompting her to raise the matter repeatedly with her polite and gentle visitors. She didn’t seem daunted by a life without marriage and children—at least she didn’t raise the issues during her studio interviews. The absence of sex and boyfriends, though, truly worried her: How did the sisters maintain their emotional and mental stability while living celibate lives?

... Yet her practiced interrogation, though clearly well-intentioned, revealed only the remotest understanding of traditional religious life. The persistent questions about sex began to appear crass and myopic. Were they prompted by her own skepticism, or merely designed to mirror the audience’s eye-rolling reaction?

Scalia, on the other hand, gave a more positive review in the end, noting that “Winfrey teased but was never disrespectful, and the whole discussion – from leaving parents, to giving up what is thought of as ‘normal,’ was a healthy back-and-forth.”

Whatever your take on Oprah’s style of questioning and whether she was genuinely captivated by her guests’ bold and joyful witness, I think we can agree that the Dominican sisters did accomplish something by agreeing to be on the show.

In an e-mail update before the segment’s airing, the sisters said, “We accepted this invitation as an opportunity to share our life, and by extension, the Gospel, with an audience that we might not ever reach otherwise.”

They added their prayers that the Lord would use the show “to touch the hearts of many, so that they may come to know Him and His boundless love and mercy.”

Part of the Dominican sisters’ charism is to live out the New Evangelization called for by Pope John Paul II and now his successor, Pope Benedict XVI.

“Deeply attuned to the needs of the church today, our community is familiar with many rooftops from which to proclaim the Gospel,” the sisters state on their website. “It is only through our strong contemplative life that we have the strength to go out to all the world, quite literally, well aware of the admonition of Saint Dominic that grain is meant to be scattered.”

Whether teaching kindergartners or housewives, these women are sharing the love of God in a way that’s joyful, infectious and compelling. Kudos to them for casting into the deep and proclaiming the Gospel to a whole new audience.

-- Elizabeth Hansen, Headline Bistro editor