mystery nun revealed

Last week my coworker kept telling me … "I saw a nun in the park" or "I saw that nun on the street" or "I saw a nun walk into City Hall." Now this being Portland, it's fairly rare to see a nun-in-habit so I thought he was pulling my leg at first. When he explained what the habit looked like (brown with a thin black veil) I knew it must have been a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist. They're around, but rarely downtown since their ministries are in the Columbia River Gorge and Outer SE Portland.

Well today's paper solves the mystery. Sister Maura is apparently responsible for masterminding an awesome kids art project in the park across from City Hall that recreates fish in the ocean.

She was sitting on a bench in Chapman Square Friday morning, a nun in a brown habit, watching the fish jump and the waves break in the breeze. She was catching her breath at the calm end of an extraordinary year that transformed the way students at four Portland middle schools view art and possibility (not to mention nuns) …

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