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A Habited Life Matters

An introduction to the interview kindly written by Sister Mary Mother of Pearl who has held membership of the Retired Sisters League (RSL) for a number of years.

In the company of Srs Salomé of the Ninth Mystic Rhinestone and the venerable Carmen Get it, I had been privileged to represent the Sydney house at the Order's inaugural International Conclave, held in Paris in 1997.

That honour was repeated when we three "weird Sisters" were then able to attend the second Conclave in the home of the Order, San Francisco, in 1999.

Buoyed by the euphoria we had experienced while meeting with so many of our sisters/soeurs/schwestern/sorelle/girlfriends from both the Old and New Worlds, it was subsequently proposed that the Sydney house would invite the international veils to join us at the upcoming Gay Games in November, 2002 - what we termed "The Third World Conclave"

Being a much smaller "outpost" than those houses who had hosted the previous Conclaves, the Sydney house wasted no time in procuring sufficient supplies of Silver Star starch and Fabulon to prepare our habits for the rigours of a three year "awareness campaign" to spread knowledge of the Order and its works amongst the general public.

This was, after all, a period which would also see the commemoration of the 20 year anniversary of the founding of the Sydney House.

An already heavy round of manifestations was augmented by regular "weekend brunches" in various Sydney cafés, and members of the House even featured in an especially commissioned "photo shoot" for a series of condom and lube packs (apparently ours was one of the more popular in the range - maybe because the whiteness of our guimpes made them easy to find, even in the dimmest of lights).

All of this (well, maybe not so much the condoms) paid off when, following the anniversary celebrations in November 2001, members of the Order were invited by the ABC to be interviewed by Geraldine Doogue as part of the "Life Matters" programme on Radio National.

The offer was, of course, accepted (never stand between an OPI sister and the Fourth Tenet) and (ridiculously) early one morning Sr Carmen Get It and I met at Central Railway and (as Noël Coward had put it) "tottered down the hill" to the ABC studios in Harris Street.

Entering that imposing "Xanadu-like" edifice we were greeted by an ABC staffer, who remained admirably non-plussed when we asked if, having both travelled in "mufti", there was somewhere we could enrobe.

It may be simply that the ABC architects hadn't considered the need for "vestries" when designing their glass and chrome extravaganza, but Sr Carmen and I were both surprised to be ushered into Ms Doogue's (capacious) office to effect our metamorphoses.

(I hasten to add - lest this lead to the start of any scandalous rumours - the office was otherwise unoccupied at the time. Ms Doogue was already "on air" and dealing with rather more mundane topics than those soon to occupy her.)

Finding a discreet corner (the floor-to-ceiling glass and atrium structure did not offer much in the way of privacy) the two of us effected the transformation from Middle-Aged Men of Inner Western Appearance into Gay Male Nuns.

A quick, mutual check of pinning and draping (the simian-like "grooming" that any member of the Order has undergone countless times during public manifestation) and we were "ready for our close up" (or whatever the radio equivalent is).

Our "usher" subsequently reappeared and showed us to the studio where we were greeted by Ms Doogue with a look of surprise, an air of wonder, and a sense of curiosity.

That curiosity fuelled the interview which follows, which I hope will be of interest. Ms Doogue's respect for the Order and its works was evident throughout, as I hope you will find.

I offer it [this introduction] to you, in sweet memory of Sr Carmen Get It.

Sr Mary, Mother of Pearl (RSL)