Nuns Navigating Change

Alternative Approaches to Mother House Problems

It’s no secret that women religious—both nuns and sisters¹—in North America and Europe have been aging and their numbers diminishing.² So while my story of the Sinsinawa Dominicans is unique to us, versions of it are happening to congregations of women religious all over. Here I’m highlighting two examples of nuns who were confronted by similar demographic challenges as our own. Both examples involve endangered motherhouse homes and each response sparked my imagination. They are both super inspiring and I’m trying not to feel disappointed in our own outcome at the Mound, in comparison.

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The Dream Come True in South Dakota

This first example came to my attention last month when I was working on re-homing our beautiful Casavant Organ. A guy named Bill from Rapid City, South Dakota called me late-in-the-game to ask if the organ was still available. I told him the selection process was pretty much closed but he insisted, “just look at our facility and I promise you’ll want to consider us.” Well, Bill was right and I’m happy to say that their facility, Terra Sancta Retreat Center, was ultimately selected out of nine options to receive the organ. So this is the chapel is where our precious organ will be re-homed!

We learned that their chapel is practically made for our organ—it will be transported and installed without any reconfiguring needed. And the similarities don’t end there. The mid-century design, modern stained glass windows, and labyrinth will all make it feel right at home in its new location.

Holy Cross Chapel Windows at Terra Sancta Retreat Center compared with one of our Queen of the Rosary Chapel windows

Sinsinawa Labyrinth and Terra Sancta Labyrinth

I asked myself: how were these Benedictine Sisters able to save their mother house whereas we are forced to take ours down? Essentially, it was their timing and some deep pockets in the surrounding community that enabled them to salvage the facilities as a sustainable diocesan operation: Terra Sancta Retreat Center. This wonderful operation is literally the vision we were hoping to create here at the Mound. Alas, it didn’t take shape.

God knows I prayed over the past few years for a billionaire to notice us. I held out for that filthy rich someone who would swoop in and sink tens-of-millions in capital improvements into saving the place simply because it needed to be saved. I gave up that dream in November or December of 2025.

Now, I’m just grateful that it happened for Terra Sancta so they can provide a new and beautiful home to our Casavant organ. It may not be a happy ending, but it’s a happy outcome.

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Nuns-Gone-Rogue

My friend sent me this delightful article about some Augustinian nuns in Austria who literally escaped from a retirement facility to return to their former convent. This story made my heart swell since it is exactly what many of my own Sisters dreamt of doing in 2023 when they had to leave their home at Sinsinawa Mound.

Like the Austrian Sisters Regina, Rita and Bernadette (above), my elder sisters had to move from home because it was deemed unfit to meet their needs as octogenarians and nonagenarians. This determination was imposed by a broken healthcare system that would not cover costs unless they lived in a “certified” facility.

Don’t get me wrong, nearly 100 of my Sisters who moved across the state for “proper care” have made the absolute best of their new home—and they took the spirit of the motherhouse with them. They’ve transformed a cookie-cutter, bougie continuum-of-care retirement facility into a thriving, tightknit community with heart.

Nevertheless, I find something deeply inspiring about how these three eighty-something nuns simply refused to comply with “the way things are done”. It speaks to the call of women religious to not ONLY be obedient to our superiors, but also to our own discerning hearts.

I don’t know how things will unfold for these stubborn nuns, but I applaud their chutzpah for being true to themselves. Now that they’ve gotten the attention of Pope Leo, I’m hoping they get to stay home!

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1. While consecrated life has similarities across the globe, (VERY generally speaking) vowed women religious tend to devote themselves to 1) a cloistered, contemplative life in a monastery, in which prayer is their primary ministry (nuns) or 2) apostolic life out in the communities in which they minister among the people (sisters).

2. Numbers of women religious are increasing in Asia and Africa.