As part of the launch of our Organizer Toolkit, we’ve invited local organizers to share their stories to help illuminate why and how Nuns & Nones thrives where they live. Download the (free!) organizer toolkit here. These FAQs have been edited for clarity.
what does “success” look like?
There’s no one-size-fits-all model for Nuns & Nones, nor is there a “checklist” that signals success: In Minneapolis, success has looked like steady, consistent gatherings. In Philadelphia, a standalone gathering in 2017 sparked a lifelong relationship between a queer, Jewish organizer and the Sisters of Mercy.
As a spirit-led movement, we try not presume what might come out of our gatherings, but as Sr. Judy Cannon RSM said in the toolkit: “Expect surprises.” In each unique mold of a local Nuns & Nones community, the depth and power of relationships finds a way to reveal spirit-at-work.
As our friend Jean Holsten said recently, “We are not called to be successful. We are called to be faithful.”
We are faithful to our relationships. We are faithful to creating communities of contemplation and care. We are faithful to the ways of being and doing that are life-giving.
Philadelphia, PA
I credit the two days I spent with Nuns & Nones with radically influencing my outlook on social justice, intergenerational learning, and the valuable, often under-appreciated role women religious play in the fabric of the city I call home.
1. What did you expect when you showed up, and what did you get out of it?
Anneke Kat: I honestly had no idea what to expect from Nuns & Nones, but I was more open and willing to embrace an unknown experience that began on my 26th birthday. Coming from the field of interfaith community education, I was curious to spend time with women religious, a group of people I hadn't had encountered much before that moment. I had also recently lost my maternal grandmother and I was seeking a way to be reconnected with wise women in my wider community. My friends playfully teased me, a queer Jewish atheist, spending her birthday with a bunch of nuns. Little did they know, I credit the two days I spent with Nuns & Nones with radically influencing my outlook on social justice, intergenerational learning, and the valuable, often under-appreciated role women religious play in the fabric of the city I call home.
2. What effect did it have on your work, vocation, or ministry?
AK: Two years later, I am now part of the inaugural group of Mercy Global Action Emerging Leaders Fellowship, part the Sisters of Mercy. So how, one might ask, did this queer atheist Jewish woman end up at the only non-Christian fellow with the Sisters of Mercy? The very simple answer is Nuns & Nones. When this program application for the fellowship came across my inbox, I immediately jumped at the opportunity, eager for a structured way to learn from the Sisters of Mercy and to connect with women changemakers around the globe. As the beginning of this new experience unfolds, I again find myself in a virtual and in-person community of intergenerational learning with the sisters. I couldn't be more excited to embrace the "surprises" that will emerge this year.
Twin Cities, Minnesota
One of the sisters that I brought to the group for the first time last month, asked as we were driving home, “Is the depth of sharing always like this?!” I could honestly tell her “yes.”
Why did you start a Nuns & Nones gathering in Minneapolis? What sort of relationships have been created so far?
Stina Kielsmeier-Cook: The Twin Cities is a very "churched" part of the United States, and many of the millennials in our Nuns & Nones community have been connected to a religious institution at some point in their lives. We started the Minneapolis group because many millennials can't find authentic spaces within organized religion for questioning, doubts, and honest conversation about faith. Nuns & Nones was an opportunity to co-create a welcoming place for all religious seekers with no agenda to rope young people into belonging to a church.
Sr. Stephanie Spandl, SSND: Although the composition of the group has been different each time, I have found that the mutual desire to create sacred relationships has given us the willingness to listen, share and risk trusting one another at each and every gathering, whether someone is a new or returning member. While repeated encounters offer the opportunity for deepening relationship, sometimes the first encounter in a one-on-one conversation can be so deep and sacred as to leave one in awe. One of the sisters that I brought to the group for the first time last month, asked as we were driving home, “Is the depth of sharing always like this?!” I could honestly tell her “yes.”
2. What advice would you give to people hoping to start local groups?
SKC: Don't underestimate the power of a one-on-one conversation! At our monthly gatherings, we split into small groups of two or three for about 20 minutes. Also, sister-and-seeker pairs co-lead each gathering, which has helped them to go deeper outside of Nuns & Nones. The intergenerational relationship between the co-leaders help model generous, mutual connection for the greater community.
SS: When starting a local group, it helps to have a couple young adults and sisters committed to attending regularly to form the core of the group, even as others may come and go. This allows for relationships to form and deepen and opportunities to then partner in facilitating the group. For our group, the opportunity to share in depth in small groups, sister and young adult(s) around a particular topic, followed by sharing in the large group, has been the been key to helping us form and sustain relationships. I believe it’s the honesty, authenticity, depth and willingness to be vulnerable together in those conversations that sparks hope and keeps us coming back!
See our Local Organizing Toolkit for more.
Interested in creating a group where you live? Sign up here to join our next Zoom call for anyone interested in local organizing.