“The Sisterhood: Becoming Nuns” is a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at five young women who must discern if they are truly called to be nuns. The emotions they experience, along with the frustrations, are seen plainly in the three episodes.
Episode 1 shows the five young women—Eseni, 23; Christie, 27; Claire, 26; Stacey, 26; and Francesca, 21—leaving their families behind and arriving at the convent. All of them are a bit fearful, not knowing what to expect. They all feel the warmth and welcome of the sisters who greet them. But soon they are assigned small living quarters, a uniform, and are told they can’t wear make-up. Their emotions begin to escalate. One young woman is upset to learn she must give up her cell phone in order to focus on Christ. Some question immediately if they can survive the six-week process to discern whether or not God is truly calling them.
Episode 2 has tension mounting for the young ladies. Eseni battles anxiety and feels broken because a photographer in her past had abused her. Christie doesn’t feel as if she has experienced Jesus since she arrived, but that the fast-paced life at the convent has interrupted her flow of prayer. She later has a breakthrough in prayer. The girls visit a home for people suffering from dementia and Francesca is disturbed by memories of her grandmother who suffered the same thing. All of the girls are touched by the faith of a dying woman named Mary Ellen, who tells them to pray for her, she will pray for them, and they will merrily see each other in heaven. Claire is troubled by some actions of the girls, but when she opens up to them it winds up being a disaster. As Sister Cyril says, people sometimes have trouble getting along.
In episode 3, the girls move from the Germantown convent to Chicago and the St. Mary of Providence convent. This is to provide them a variety of places and circumstances as they continue to discern whether to go forward in becoming nuns. They meet Sister Beth Ann, a nun who is kind and yet has a strong presence of authority. In this episode, Francesca has an anxiety attack and is allowed to call her mother. Sister Beth Ann voices her concerns for the immaturity Francesca shows, yet Francesca does her best the next day to help as the girls go to the streets to minister to homeless people and to seek food donations at a local market. Eseni misses Darnell and becomes a bit distant. The episode ends with Darnell showing up on the street to talk to Eseni. Will Eseni stay or go? It’s a cliffhanger ending.
In episode 4 Eseni must make a decision, whether to stay in the convent or leave with Darnell. It should be noted that sometimes certain words listed in our content like “OMG” or “S” are used in a re-cap of the previous episode. Stacey says she is at a “crossroads” while Christie feels confident that the convent is definitely in her future. The girls minister to the homeless and mentally disabled and Christie seems right at home, getting the disabled to laugh and sing with her. When the girls transfer to a convent in Kentucky, the Sisters of St. Joseph the Worker, they stop off at a restaurant and two of them draw stares from the other girls as they shorten their skirts and put on high heels.