[The Blue Nuns Need an Elevator is a story about an order of Nigerian nuns and their attempt to run a pregnancy center out of a dilapidated hospital in Illinois. The story will be told over the course of several installments through audio and written vignettes.]
PART 3: Elevator as Protest
Thanks for listening to The Blue Nuns need an Elevator. Sincerely hope you’ve found these few minutes to be brief moments of delight in your days. Let me know if you’ve had any thoughts while listening, happy to engage about it.
This is the final part.
Allegedly, the phrase “Let the excellence of your work be your protest” hangs on the studio wall of an artist named Michael Card. Not original to Card, its a quotation attributed to theology professor Bill Lane. Michael Card was writing songs at a time when those around him were interested in celebrity and mass appeal, forgoing the songs themselves. Artists like Amy Grant sung Michael’s work, and he liked this. He wasn’t going for fame, he was going for integrity. So he expressed his concern to a mentor, Bill Lane, and was met with that bit of wisdom: “Let the excellence of your work be your protest.”
Absolutes are not always so. There may come a time when protest must be protest, but when it comes to undoing a trend that is going too fast to curb, maybe the only way to stand against it is to do the opposite thing so well, you can’t be ignored.
I thought of this phrase as I sat down to edit this final part of Blue Nuns. Not one time did Sister Theo say a thing about any sort of legislation, but since this conversation was from 2018, I wonder if she might’ve had we talked in recent years. The Catholic faith is, after all, outspoken on the subject of abortion and birth control. Regardless, it was evident to me that she’s not interested in changing or even engaging with legislation. She’s interested in fixing a problem at the root of the issue, and doing it excellently. Not by picketing, or arguing, but by serving.
Though at the time we spoke there were only a handful of people they had been able to bring in, the sisters in the Immaculate Heart of Mary religious order were devoted to serving them well. So well, in fact, that they sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into renovating a building. And yet, there was one thing left.
TRANSCRIPT
NARRATION: This is the final installment of a three-part series about Nigerian nuns running a pregnancy center called the--Madonna Renewal Center--in a hundred year old hospital in Illinois. The story is told by Sister Mary Theo, who as a child wanted to be no joke. A flying nun.
Theo: Usually when I saw airplanes, I thought when it disappears, it was going to heaven. So got up that morning and I said to my teacher, I know what I will do. He said, “what?” “I'll be a pilot. I will go and take people and I will fly them straight to heaven and they'll go and sing and then we'll come back.”
NARRATION: As an adult sister, Mary Theo moved to the US to join her order, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of Christ in the North American branch. She was named the leader of the branch in 2012 and was tasked with the job figuring out what to do with the building they were given. But turns out, that task was a little too overwhelming. So the diocese decided the building would be sold…except there wasn't consensus among the sisters and Sister Theo, especially…
Theo: the selling of the property somehow disturbed me more than I could ever imagine, and then I started having this nightmare of messages that kept coming “bring life into their property. Bring life into that property.” I wouldn't sleep at night. In the middle of the night, this voice will wake me up. “I ask you to bring life into that property.”
NARRATION: So Sister Mary Theo walks into the final meeting with five of her blue nuns, all the big wigs of the diocese, and the realtor who's found a buyer. And then quite dramatically and with no plan at all, she stands up and tells the board that the sisters have changed their mind.
Theo: And I said, I'm so sorry, we are not selling our property. I think God is calling us to put this property to good use.
NARRATION: But then they had to figure out what to do instead, and the voice in the middle of the night kept persisting, keeping sister Theo awake as they explored what this might mean. They considered a retreat center with a purpose to “empower women” -- as they wrote in the brochure, but a visit from a young, local pregnant woman who needed help made up their mind. They would commit this space to the caring of pregnant women in the community who need help.
This is part three, elevator as protest.
Theo: Eventually we realized we will go this route, how and when we arrive at the point we had no idea, but we know we had to keep going, so we kept going. I kept speaking to communities, to groups, to whatever about the vision of doing. Sometimes they will insult us and say things and I will sit back and cry. You think I change my mind. I got over myself. This is not about me. God is the reason for asking us to do this. I don't know how, but we have to go ahead.
NARRATION: So Sister Theo goes to every single church in town, told them about what they're doing, asked for their support, and some responded positively. They wanted to be a part of the work the sisters were doing:
Theo: people saw it as a need. They saw it as a need.
NARRATION: The sisters began down the path of making the space livable for their purposes and they find that before they could do any renovation at all, They had to clean, asbestos and mold from the building, from all four massive stories….
Theo: and that alone will cost about 250,000. And we went and talked to the bishop and Bishop said, where are you getting this 250,000 from? And I said, “my Lord, miracles.”
NARRATION: Now, I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of this bishop. The diocese had just secured a solution to a very big problem, a buyer for a building that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix, and then this group of nuns (led by a sister who ran away from home to join the order) go rogue and resist the sale. I wanna commend the bishop for the willingness to see and honor the conviction. But I'm guessing that hearing the price tag of $250,000 might make a person think they'd made a mistake by not selling a money pit when they had the chance. But with Sister Theo standing in front of him, it may have been a little easier to believe in miracles because things just. Happened with her running the ship. Big things.
Theo: We kept going, you know, raising little by little money here and there. In 2015, a man called me and he said, “sister, I learned about what you're trying to do, build that place. And my wife and I decided to make a donation to you, wanted to make you a thousand dollars. and we realized that the donation will not take you far. So we decided to donate a 1957 Chevy to you so that he can raffle it.”
I didn't even know how to respond to him. I was wondering this old crap, and the sisters warned me…They said, don't collect it. This is not a junkie, but I was thinking in my heart, if this man is giving us this car it must be worth something. So I was quiet on the phone. He said, “do you understand the 1957 Chevy?” and I said, “honestly, no, I don't know cars.” He said, “okay, can I stop by and show you the picture of the vehicle?” I said, “okay.”
I dropped the phone with him. I called our pastor and I said, father, this is a call I received. Somebody just said he would donate a 1957 Chevy. He was screaming! This is a miracle, Sister! God is answering your prayers.
I said, “wow. Okay.”
NARRATION: The man came to visit and showed Sister Theo a picture of the car. She still didn't understand why this would be more than just a thousand dollars check, but then he explains himself and he said,
Theo: “Sister, the reason we are partnering with this car is it is the value that is what about 30,000? So we think if we give it to you, you can sell just 300 tickets at hundred dollars each. And get your 30,000 that way.”
So we sold raffle tickets, and somebody paid 20,000 to buy about 200 tickets. By the time his money arrived, we had finished selling. I wanted to mail back his check. I said “we don't have any ticket anymore.” And he said, “maybe Jesus wanted you to have that money, so keep it.”
So we made 70,000 out of that…
…and then people started pitching in. Like these carpets were donated by MetLife. People started volunteering their time, and gradually we kept working like that until we've been able to renovate up to the third floor.
NARRATION: So through Rummage sales and Raffles and 5ks (which they call, and this is not a joke, the blue nun fun runs), they've been able to fix three floors with the third floor being the bedrooms for the moms when they arrive. Which actually brings up the most expensive and important renovation project of them all, and well, it's a big one:
There's no elevator.
Theo: We have still our major, major, major, major, major renovation problem of elevator. Our elevator is not working and we've been trying to renovate it. We had a few companies we brought in here and they charged stuff to come and do things and disappeared on us. You know, so we are still praying and hoping to have a solution to the elevator. The city gave us occupancy, temporary occupancy, so we can bring them in until we have an elevator working, but they're hoping between now and August we have solution to our elevator. We're praying hard for that.
NARRATION: So they've come so far. The building is resident ready. The sisters have been waiting for years, and all that's standing between them and their ability to put their faith into action is just, you know, a really expensive and important elevator.
There's a connection to be made between Sister Theo and this elevator. They're missing. Remember when she was only six, she had the dream to be a plain flying nun…
Theo: I will go and take people and I will fly them straight to heaven and they'll go and sing out and I will come back.
NARRATION: So it's not a plane, but it is a symbol of movement upwards. An analogy of transcendence. It's like they both take people to God in some way.
music
At the time we spoke, the Madonna Renewal Center had only seen about six women come through their doors, all of whom didn't stay long, especially long enough to last through the end of their pregnancy. So there doesn't seem to be demand for something as expensive as a brand new elevator. Despite this, Sister Theo persists. But why?
Leslie: It seems like all of your, uh, your interest in babies and kids and mental health counseling and psychology, all of it is coming together in this Madonna Renewal Center, isn't it?
Theo: Yes, because when I was in Ghana as a principal, I think what pushed me strongly into, into psychology was, you know, I believe in the holistic care of the person. And even when they come to school, they're not just coming there to learn the whatever subjects that you want to form this entire person. And gradually I realized that, many people break because of circumstances. And if we could help them regain who they are, that the world would be very much a better place for all of us.
music
NARRATION: There's a quote I heard once. It's let the excellence of your work be your protest. I think I understand what it's getting at. It's saying if there's something you object to. You can't change it with your own hands. You bore yourself into the thing you can change. You decide that the thing worth protesting is also worth your best and highest efforts in the arenas you've been put in.
The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, mother of Christ, the blue nuns have chosen this philosophy under the leadership of Sister. Theo, their best and highest is spent on devoting their lives to a cause. They believe in, proven by the devotion they show with the entirety of their lives, and then they do it excellently.
This is their protest against the opposition, not just legislation, which Sister Theo didn't mention at all when we talked, but against society itself for them. To care for these pregnant women and new mothers and their children, even if it's just a handful, is the excellent work with which they protest.
Sister Theo never did become a pilot, but I think that her dream that she had at six in a schoolhouse in Nigeria is being realized. She's taking people to. It's just…she needs an elevator.
---
Thanks for listening to the Blue Nuns Need an Elevator. You can listen to all three parts and read more about my experience with Sister Theo at leslieeilerthompson.substack.com, or you can listen to the entire series on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Just search for “Blue Nuns Elevator, Leslie,” and it's bound to show up.
I'm grateful to have used Blue Dot Sessions for the music in this series, and if you're a fellow creator needing music, I highly recommend their services.
Thank you for making the space for this story, and if you like what you heard, consider subscribing wherever you're listening, whether that's Substack or a podcast platform.
I'll continue to share projects as I make them. Until then, take care of yourself and others and look for the light.
-
MUSIC CREDITS:
Toothless Slope by Blue Dot Sessions
Palms Down by Blue Dot Sessions
Low Coal Camper by Blue Dot Sessions
Basketliner by Blue Dot Sessions
Calisson by Blue Dot Sessions
The Blue Nuns Need an Elevator, Part 3: Elevator as Protest