A contemplative order of women religious lives as a spiritual presence in a marginalized urban community.
It looks like just another house on just another block in just
another American neighborhood. Tidy hostas line the walkway to the front
door, pretty wicker chairs are circled on the front porch, and the
doorbell chimes in a familiar four-note melody.
The sweet-faced, gray-haired women who answer the door look
familiar, too: They might be AARP members, someone's great aunts, or
even just friendly next-door neighbors to anyone in any city. They greet
callers with warm smiles and understanding nods, sometimes dispense a
lemon bar or a glass of water, and love to hear the news about who's
just had a new baby down the block or who's in from out of town to visit
relatives.
But this house sits in one of the most
violent, poor, and crime-riddled neighborhoods in Minneapolis, and the
six women in it are Visitation sisters living a monastic life in an
inner-city setting. The monastery is housed in two typical neighborhood
homes a block apart in the Near North area of Minneapolis, a
neighborhood that, in crime maps of the city, has one of the highest
concentrations of gunshots fired and violent crimes.
The
sisters are there to live a spiritual life in an urban setting and to
participate in a community of people who are often marginalized or
overlooked.
They are, as their neighbors fondly call them, "nuns in the hood."
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