Castro Courier

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence To Celebrate
30 Year Anniversary with Slew of Easter Events

Every Easter, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence host an Easter egg hunt for neighborhood children in Dolores Park. Last year, Sister Flora Goodthyme (left) appears to perplex little Victor Marchis-Vackar as father Frank holds him. This Easter, the Sisters are hosting several activities as part of their 30 year anniversary.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in the Castro. The Sisters were formed to improve the socio-cultural, spiritual, educational and artistic experiences of the communities in which they live, work and have creative interactions. Throughout the years the Sisters have been employing satire and high drama in rituals, blessings, art, literature and general debauchery designed to “promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.”

The Courier recently conducted an interview with Sister Edith Myflesh about the continued mission of the Sisters and what they have planned for their 30 year anniversary.

Courier: How have the Sisters changed to meet the different environment in which they operate today, compared with 30 years ago? What are the main challenges that you face now?

Sister Edith: The Sisters started as four men who were being silly and playing dress up in an effort to wake up the gays to the fact that you don’t have to be just like everyone else to be gay. Over the next year or so, the “Founding Four” beget the “First Fifteen.” Most of their work was street theatre with some activism and fundraising thrown in. Then there were the lean times in the ‘80s when membership dropped to six because every nun was dying off. Gradually, as the community began to recover, so too did the Sisters.

Today, there are about 65 Fully Professed Sisters in San Francisco. We have about 28 houses in nine different countries, with an additional five potential new houses in the U.S. Last year we . . . gave about $80,000 out in grants. We’ll be giving out a record $30,000 in grants at our Easter celebration this year.

Our challenges come equally from inside our organization as they do from outside. We are a 501(c)(3) corporation . . . have registered the trademark for ’Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’ [and] maintain general liability insurance. There have been concerns raised about ‘how corporate’ the Sisters are becoming. For me, the corporation exists to serve our mission and vision – it allows us to do the work that we do.

From outside, our challenges are the same: guilt, hatred, bigotry. We still raise funds to help out with a number of needy causes, many of whom are hurting even more in these economic times. We still minister to our “flock” helping people of all ages, races and sexual identities to dump the guilt and shame and find joy in who they are as individuals.

Our mission, like our name, is perpetual: spread joy, dump the guilt and shame, serve the community. The forms that work takes are as varied as each Sister who dons the habit. They have changed over time, but that mission remains constant. We’ve spread all over the world, with no central authority aside from the mission that unites us:

I, Sister Edith Myflesh, as a Fully Professed Member in the Order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dedicate myself to public service, social activism and spiritual enlightenment. I will perpetually strive to affirm and sustain within myself the purpose of the Order.

I vow everlasting devotion to the communities we serve, to my fellow Sisters and the Order of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I will continuously endeavor to uphold my vows to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt.

What do you want from the outside community?

Your endless support and adoration! No, really. When people thank me for the work I do, I generally will thank them right back. Without the support of our community, we wouldn’t be able to do the work we do. And knowing that the people you serve appreciate the work you’re doing makes it a lot easier to do that work.

I think, beyond that, I would encourage people to be a little more open-minded. I’ve had several people approach me with an angry intent: “why are you mocking nuns?!” or “what the hell are you supposed to be?” When I have a chance to sit with them and explain how we aren’t mocking nuns, we ARE nuns and this is the work we do and how we serve the community, they usually get it and change their attitudes.

How have you shifted the mix of agencies and causes to which you contribute over the past several years?

We get approached on a regular basis. We get invited to help out with an event or we get a grant proposal. Sometimes those agencies end up being partners that we work with on a regular basis. For example, we’ve been working with Folsom Street Events for about 16 years now. Sometimes they’re just one-time grants.

We also work with agencies because one of us will feel a calling to serve a segment of the community or a specific cause. The Sisters are a ‘do-acracy’ – it’s all about using the veil and the house to serve the community in the way you feel best works for you. So, for example, if I have a special interest in serving the LGBT youth, then I would contact some agencies and put together a plan and then present it to my Sisters to get them involved. An offshoot of this would be when a Sister does work for an agency on her own without really involving the rest of us.

But, I wouldn’t say there’s been any real shift. We’ve always served a very broad base of the community. I know we’re often stereotyped as a “gay” organization that just serves AIDS-related or “gay” agencies. But the truth is that we fund and work with a whole lot more. We work with agencies that support diversity, human rights, health and wellness, education, and other direct service agencies.

What’s going to be new in this year’s Easter celebration?

We talked about doing something special for our 30th and, instead of messing around with something that works really well – the party in the Park – we decided to add on events around it.
We kick off the festivities on Thursday with a film and theatre night hosted by two of our early Sisters. Friday night is the opening night party for our archives show at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Saturday is a Sisters’ tour of the city that will end at the Eagle Tavern for a beverage benefit / international get-together with live entertainment. Sunday is, of course, our usual party in the park: Children’s Easter, live entertainment, Bonnet Contest, Hunky Jesus Contest and Sister Shenanigans. After the Hunky Jesus Contest, we’ll be having a promenade from Dolores Park up to Noe and Market streets for our after party. Monday, we rest. And then we start planning for Pride and Up Your Alley and Folsom.

I think, however, the BIGGEST thing we’ll have this year is the number of Sisters present. We’re expecting over 160 Sisters from all over the world to join us here in San Francisco. We’re having an informal, no pressure contest between all of the visiting houses to see who can raise the most money from the crowd. The winning house will get a grant from us as a reward. And we’ll be featuring performances and entertainment from our visiting Sisters.



	San Francisco, California April 2009