Women on a Mission Podcast

Unless you’re a nun, you may have an outdated picture of what it’s like to be one in this day and age. Update and expand your understanding by joining Holy Names Sisters Kathleen Griffin, Mimi Maloney and Teresa Shields on an exploration of ministries and adventures in religious life today. Join us each week to walk a mile in the shoes of Women on a Mission!

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S3.E4 The Ministry of Music

S3.E4 The Ministry of Music

“An encounter with beautiful music… is an encounter with the divine.” In this episode of Holy Names Sisters: Women on a Mission, lifelong musicians and music educators Sister Karen Conlin and Sister Claire Durocher discuss what music study can teach us about life and how music helps us persevere.

S3.E4 The Ministry of Music

S3.E3 Angela Rose House: A Hope-filled Home for Refugees

Newly arrived refugees in Canada face many challenges, from overcoming language barriers to enrolling their children in school. Over the years, more than 300 refugees have found help, friendship and welcome at Angela Rose House, a ministry of the Sisters of the Holy Names in Windsor, Ontario. In this episode, Director Ilda Demir and two former refugees who have lived at the house share amazing stories of hope and transformed lives.

S3.E4 The Ministry of Music

S3.E2 Affordable Housing and Resident Services with Mercy Housing Northwest

Mercy Housing Northwest operates on the principles of respect, mercy and justice, the core values established by the five religious communities that collaborated to establish the affordable housing organization. As Mercy begins its first project in Oregon, Director of Resident Services Katie Parker and Mercy board member Sister Georgia Yianakulis share Mercy’s successful approach to affordable housing with resident services that has already affected the lives of thousands of families in Washington and Idaho.

S3.E4 The Ministry of Music

S3.E1 SNJM Schools and the Full Development of the Human Person

Schools sponsored by the Holy Names Sisters honor our core value of supporting “the full development of the human person.” Campus ministry staff at our schools work with students to educate and empower them though service projects, leadership training and social justice work. In this episode, Sister Daleen Larkin and Francois Laborie from Ramona Convent Secondary School and Julie Tilghman from Holy Names Academy in Seattle discuss how they nurture the full development of their students.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

“Who is journeying with me on this path?” Sister Michelle Garlinski, SNJM and Sister Sarah Rudolph, IBVM are bringing younger and new religious together to answer that question. In this episode, they share their experience connecting across congregations, creating a “community of communities” and reflect on the evolution of religious life.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S2.E5 PUENTE Learning Center and Developing Access to Education

“The needs of the community are presenting themselves,” observed Sister Jennie Lechtenberg as she began a small tutoring program in East Los Angeles. Every time a new need presented itself, PUENTE Learning Center grew. In this episode, Sister Jennie details the development work that transformed PUENTE into an expansive education center serving over 2,000 children and adults each year.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S2.E4 MACAMS and Anti-Trafficking Advocacy

“How about the next time we meet, each of us bring one more person?” That’s what Sister Carroll Ann Kemp suggested to Sister Carol Ries and the other women meeting to learn more about the issue of human trafficking. That group continued to grow, evolving into the Mid-Atlantic Coalition Against Modern Slavery (MACAMS). And that’s how grassroots organizing happens: passionate people share with each other and band together around a cause. In this episode, Sisters Carroll Ann and Carol share their experience combatting human trafficking through public education, advocacy and supporting organizations that aid victims.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S2.E2 Wisdom Works and the Transformation of Eldering

Could growing older be a richer experience? Sisters Rosemary Thielman and Roberta Lamanna were convinced it could, and they started Wisdom Works to elevate “eldering” into a more meaningful and spirit-filled process. In this episode, you’ll learn about the healing and support experienced by mothers, abuse survivors and others who continue to be blessed by Wisdom Works.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S1.E9 Our Place Community Outreach

During the COVID pandemic, Our Place Community Outreach has served over 25,000 people and distributed over 600,000 pounds of food to meet the increased needs of their community. Sisters Joan Dixon and Carol Frances Lee share how the harmonious missions of Our Place and the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary led to community in Spokane, WA, and support for all its residents.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S1.E8 The Founding of Heritage College

How do you start a college? It would take a miracle. “But maybe a miracle can happen,” Sister Kathleen Ross said to herself, inspired by Mother Marie Rose and by the community in the Yakima Valley asking for access to higher education. Sr. Kathleen worked with Martha B. Yallup and Violet Lumley Rau to found Heritage College and oversaw its growth from 85 students to more than 1,400 during her tenure as President. In this episode of Holy Names Sisters: Women on a Mission, she reflects on how the college was built to empower transformational, student-centric education.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S1.E7 Next Step Learning Center

Sisters of the Holy Names believes that education transforms lives and families. In 1994, that belief led to the creation of Next Step Learning Center in Oakland, CA. Sisters Cynthia Canning and Rosemary Delaney, who served as Co-Directors of Next Step for its first 21 years, share how Next Step has helped underserved youth and adults in Oakland build literacy skills, attain diplomas and transform their lives.

S3.E4 The Ministry of Music

S1.E6 Miryam’s House

When Sister Peggy Kennedy moved to downtown Spokane, WA, she encountered the unmet needs of women experiencing homelessness. There was no support. There was no safe space. With great effort, five women religious communities came together to create a safe space, Miryam’s House, which allowed marginalized women to build stability and grow. As Sister Peggy says, “What we couldn’t do alone, we could do together.”

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S1.E4 Building a Better Future with Nuestra Casa

Immigrants – especially women – in dire need of help learning to read, write and speak in English find both a warm welcome and access to basic educational resources at Nuestra Casa in Washington’s lower Yakima Valley. In this episode of “Holy Names Sisters: Women on a Mission,” Sister Mary Rita Rohde and Executive Director Caty Padilla explain how support from the Holy Names Sisters has transformed lives for farmworker families seeking a better future for themselves and their children through education.

S2.E6 Around the Well and Young Women Religious

S1.E3 Pierce v. Society of Sisters

Sister Carol Higgins shares the Sisters’ history as educators in Oregon in the early 20th century and their work against the Ku Klux Klan. Oregon’s Compulsory School Act of 1922 led the Sisters to the Supreme Court to defend themselves, parents’ rights and the 14th Amendment in the landmark case Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1925.