Four sisters -- by birth and vocation -- work for peace

Published: 2004-02-25

MINNEAPOLIS (CNS) -- "We know four sisters who are also Catholic nuns," begins a documentary written, directed and edited by a class of sixth- to eighth-graders at Southside Family School in Minneapolis. Their 27-minute documentary focuses on Sisters Rita, Kate, Jane and Brigid McDonald, who are siblings and all Sisters of St. Joseph. With their white hair and animated personalities, they are frequently spotted at peace rallies and protests around the Twin Cities. "These four sisters believe if we work together we can bring peace and justice into our lives and into the world," the narrator says at the start of the film. "They believe you and I can make history and have fun doing it, and we know that's true." The opportunity to make the film came through media artist and documentarian Mike Hazard. An artist in residence at the Center for International Education in St. Paul, Hazard makes most of his living teaching in public schools. A friend pitched the idea of a project on the McDonald sisters to him. Although he had never heard of the foursome, he said, he soon bonded with "these radical and crazy nuns."

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