March 3, 2011. In
the heart of New York City, a group of nuns are hitting the streets
to help build a sense of community in their neighborhoods. This group
called the Sisters of Life, lives in the Bronx but travels throughout
the five boroughs as they encounter people from every corner of the
world.
Sister
Maris Stella
Sisters
of Life (New York City)“
New
Yorkers are just wonderful people, they have a great love for the
city and great traditions for the city, it's a Catholic city in many
ways with so many churches and many religious and many wonderful
things happening there.”
Working as a nun
can present many obstacles, especially in the city that is known as
the abortion capital of America. With one out of every ten abortions
in the United States occurring in New York, 70% of these take place
in the city.
The Sisters of
Life spend much of their time talking with young women who are
pregnant and are considering an abortion. They also speak with women
who may have already undergone the procedure and are looking for
someone to speak with.
Sister
Mariae Agnus Dei
Sisters
of Life (New York City)
“
As
sisters we have a great privilege of receiving these women and just
listening to them. What's your story? How are you? You know, often
times we're the first people to ask how are you, how are you? We have coworkers, over 10,000 just in the tri-state area, that
help us to help these women, whether it's someone to take them out
for a cup of tea, just to be a support, to be a friend. These girls, the only sister they had ever seen is in Sister Act.”
When joining the
sisterhood, nuns take the traditional three vows of chastity,
poverty, and obedience. The Sisters of Life however have taken a
fourth vow to protect and enhance the sacredness of human life.
They say that
every human being is unique and unrepeatable as well being created in
the image of God.
Sister
Maris Stella
Sisters
of Life (New York City)“
The
way that vow manifests itself in our lives is we serve women who are
in crisis pregnancy situations, who are in need of our assistance.
And then we serve women who have suffered from abortions, through
retreats of healing and also just speaking to them in helping them to
know the mercy of God.”
The Sisters of
Life include 70 nuns that come from across the US, Canada, and New
Zealand. That means in a city of 8 million people, they have plenty
of new faces to reach out to everyday.
AE
FF, Sisters of
Life
JM
JM
BN
