Sisters: Portrait of a Benedictine Community

For some reason, I've always been interested in the lives of nuns, and this tape about the St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, MN, does not disappoint. Two years in the making, it presents the wide spectrum of these women's lives "inside and outside this unique Benedictine community." Told by the well-spoken sisters themselves, it is a story of a society that balances work, prayer, and leisure (loved the scene of nuns cheering on the Vikings!), and now faces the challenges of an aging population and a changing world as it moves into the 21st century. While the sisters used to actively staff a hospital and a college, today they don't even have enough personnel to sit on the various boards of these institutions. Keeping up with the times, they now accept 50-year-old novitiates, seek diversity in members as opposed to the uniformity of yore, and "recruit" on the Internet. Even though all my questions about the monastic life were not addressed, this tape is highly recommended for its beautiful presentation--gorgeous videography and music--and deft approach to its topic. A perfect complement to the study of Benedectine monks, Trappist (VL-5/98). Aud: H, C, P. (K. Glaser)