God's Girls: Stories from an Australian Convent
Clip 3: Today’s nuns
3 min 43 sec (
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Taken from the documentary God's Girls: Stories from an Australian Convent (1992)
Original title classification PG – this clip chosen to be PG
Availability of the complete title
Curator’s clip description
By the early 1990s it was likely that the Roman Catholic order of nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, was going to die out. Women who have chosen to stay in the order explain their reasons for staying, and talk about the new role of nuns in society today.
Teachers’ notes
provided by The Le@rning Federation
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This clip shows women from a Sisters of Mercy convent in country New South Wales, talking about their reasons for taking their vows and why, despite the challenges they face in today’s society, they remain true to their vocation. In an interview intercut with archival film footage of a nun in the 1950s working in a professional setting and another graduating, a sister reflects on the freedom and opportunities the Mercy sisters have had compared with other women in the Church and within the broader community. Another sister talks positively about the ways the Mercy sisters are working to meet contemporary needs.
Educational value points
- The clip features some of the issues facing women who have chosen a religious vocation. During the 1950s and 1960s, the number of people taking up a religious vocation was strong, but by the 1970s, large numbers were leaving religious life and new memberships continued to drop throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
- In charting their own history, the Sisters of Mercy acknowledge that the social, political and economic changes occurring at all levels of society during the 1960s, especially in the educational and employment opportunities available to young women, made their semi-monastic lifestyle with its tight structures and formal customs unappealing to many women.
- The clip features Mercy sisters in a range of modern ministries, including a prison and an AIDS clinic, revealing that their work has changed. The sisters’ traditional focus on women and children in health and education has expanded to embrace a wide range of poor and marginalised people in any area of need.
- Working primarily within the community services and educational sectors, the sisters use new technologies such as digital storytelling to create works that value diverse cultures and promote tolerance and understanding.
- The clip offers insight into the history of the Sisters of Mercy and their vision for the future. The Sisters of Mercy was founded in Dublin in 1831 by Catherine McAuley, based on a vision she had of serving Christ by meeting the needs of the poor. In 1846, the Sisters of Mercy came to Australia and the organisation spread rapidly, in response to the needs of a pioneering society. By 1981, to overcome declining numbers, the surviving foundations formed broader networks nationally and globally while retaining local autonomy. The Sisters of Mercy expanded their mission statement to embrace an outward and global approach towards ‘reconciling and embracing difference’.
- Music is an integral element of the clip. The organ- and piano-based music of David Bridie and John Phillips fades in and out of the interviews, archival footage and stylised contemporary imagery. As a stained glass image of Catherine McAuley is revealed, the music builds and evokes a sense of hopefulness, reinforcing the respect the women feel for their founder and the hope they express for their future.
- David Bridie and John Phillips, both members of the band Not Drowning, Waving, have collaborated on many film projects including the documentaries Body Work, Whitlam, Labor in Power and Koiki, Eddie Mabo and the feature films Greenkeeping, That Eye the Sky, Idiot Box and River Street.
