Mother Dolores wears her habit all of the time BTW.
She is expected to walk the red carpet and be in the audience for this year's Academy Awards, since a short film documentary, “God is the Bigger Elvis,” about her and the abbey is nominated for an Oscar. The former won't be acting - she really is a nun - unlike some very public religious women, aka 'sisters' who have been in the news lately.
Mother Dolores, 73, was an award-winning actress who performed in two Elvis Presley movies. In 1963, she was about to sign a seven-figure contract and was engaged to a Los Angeles businessman when she decided to join the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Conn, where she is now prioress.
The 37-minute documentary talks about Mother Dolores’ story and about life at the abbey. It is an Oscar nominee for best documentary short category and will premiere April 5 on HBO.
“I adored Hollywood. I didn't leave because it was a place of sin,” she told USA Today.
"I left Hollywood at the urging of a mysterious thing called vocation. It's a call that comes from another place that we call God because we don't have any other way to say it. It's a call of love. Why do you climb a mountain?"Always a fan, I wrote to her after an ABC piece by Bob Brown, and I treasure the letter she wrote in response. I can't wait for this year's awards show - there is sure to be lots of admiration for real nuns in habits. I'm happy Billy Crystal is hosting.
The nun said she allowed cameras to access the abbey to help those who are soul-searching.
“We wanted to invite the world into another order of life that might give some hope,” she said.
The documentary interviews Mother Dolores and other nuns like Sister John Mary, 44, a former Oxford-educated advertising executive who came to the abbey after a period of addiction. - CNA
OOPS! WRONG PHOTO AT TOP! THIS ONE IS MOTHER DOLORES:
This isn't Mother's first time at the Rodeo either!
ReplyDeleteThis abbey is less than an hour from me. They are an interesting group of nuns, and not without their controversy either.
ReplyDeleteI used to go to Sunday vespers on occasion. They do chant everything in Latin to Gregorian chant which is nice to hear.
She's such an inspiration. I like her explanation of vocation, too. Nothing esoteric. It is what it is. Right on.
ReplyDeleteWhat controversy is that?
ReplyDeleteI actually tried to contact her Abbey to visit there. (Not because of her, but because they are simply awesome.)
ReplyDeleteI never figured out how to actually contact them from a vocational perspective, though. Every contact was for students, interns, etc.
So I saw it as God's will for me to not consider it. Clearly they aren't hurting for Vocations and if I couldn't contact them with such an inquiry, they aren't looking out for mine.
It was nice to meet a clearly closed door for once!
There are always exceptions for leaving the enclosure...I don't the Academy Awards are one of them.
ReplyDeleteShe is a lovely person but I think it is shameful the way her past is being used to promote the needs of the monastery.