I'm Krista Tippett, today, obedience and action, a conversation about religion and the

world with sister Joan Chittestor.

If women were ordained in the Catholic church in our lifetime, some say, Joan Chittestor

would be the first woman bishop.

The church is a human institution, and it is slow.

It's also a universal institution.

It takes a long time for ideas to seek to the top, let alone to move the bottom.

So you just realize that what is going on right now is simply the seeding of the question.

It comes down to how many snowflakes does it take to break a branch?

I don't know, but I want to be there to do my part if I'm a snowflake.

This is speaking of faith, stay with us.

I'm Krista Tippett.

Sister Joan Chittestor is a powerful woman of our time, a venerable and sometimes uncomfortable

voice in her beloved Catholic church.

This hour we revisit our 2006 conversation about her life in a 1500-year-old monastic

tradition, and how that has shaped her into a global forward-thinking activist.

From American public media, this is speaking of faith, public radio's conversation about

religion, meaning, ethics, and ideas.

Today, obedience and action, a conversation with sister Joan Chittestor.

When Joan Chittestor's half century as a Benedictine nun, the world has changed dramatically,

and so has her church.

As a young woman, she believed she had to put aside her love of writing for religious devotion.

...