They collect donations, distribute condoms and spread "universal joy". The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence have been active in Germany for 25 years. To mark the anniversary, co-sisters from seven countries met for a conclave in Berlin.
The crowd that gathered at the Gedächtniskirche in Berlin last week overwhelmed even some of the locals: Dozens of dressed-up creatures, all with made-up faces and elaborate costumes. From their heads (bonnets, veils and other accessories) to their feet (high heels, pumps and plush animal slippers), they are adorned with all kinds of glitter, buttons, brooches and other colourful trinkets. "These guys dressed up like this for their stag party, didn't they?" wonders a visibly unsettled passer-by.
"We are queer nuns of the 21st century. We spread universal joy on a voluntary basis, always have an open ear for worries and needs, offer absolution and blessings and distribute free safer sex material. We also collect donations for people affected by HIV and Aids."
This is how briefly, succinctly and comprehensively the Berlin order explains the work of the sisters on its website. The first German religious house of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was founded in Heidelberg 25 years ago.
There are now seven of these missions with around 50 active sisters in Germany, and around 2,000 worldwide. The founding anniversary was not only the occasion for a large public party, but also for a ten-day conclave, to which around 80 sisters travelled from all over Germany, Scotland, England, France, Canada, the USA and Switzerland.
Around 50 sisters are currently involved throughout Germany
Mish aka Sister SoAmI deLux aka Sister Missionary Position (her former name), one of the four legendary founders and inventors of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, is something of a guest of honour at the gathering.
Mish actually wanted to become a priest, but then his gayness got in the way. But with the Sisters in 1979, Mish found a way to combine service to people, social activism and the desire for pompous, clerical frippery.
According to Mish, this mixture not only serves personal enlightenment, the Sisters also offer themselves as public figures of identification. "We organise parties and cross political and clerical boundaries. We celebrate queer diversity and community. We also visit the sick and look after the homeless. And we scatter the ashes of our dead."
Particularly in the times of great death during the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, the Sisters not only took on the function of pastors in the gay metropolises of the USA, but also offered something like an alternative spiritual home and community for those rejected by their families, disappointed by the church or suffering from non-denominational illnesses.
So it's by no means about blasphemous nun pranks. And at least the nuns from the Berlin Aids hospice Tauwerk don't feel they are being made fun of by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, but regard them as colleagues, assures Sister Daphne Sara Maria Sanguina Mater d'Or, or Daphne for short.
"We have excellent contact with each other," explains the Mother Superior of the Berlin arch-motherhouse Sankta Melitta Iuvenis. But while the Tauwerk women are united by their shared Catholic faith, the queer sisters are also quite a colourful bunch when it comes to otherworldly matters.
Not a question of faith
"There are Christian people among us, then there are those like me who are neither baptised nor religious in any other way. Some, on the other hand, are more orientated towards Buddhism."
As different as the sisters are in this respect, the rituals they have developed over the decades - such as the consecration of novices and sisters - form a common basis. "These are moments that we enjoy celebrating together and also very seriously, because the path through the novitiate and then onwards to becoming a trained sister is something very significant."
As individually styled and dressed as each sister is, they all have one thing in common: the freely interpreted nun's costume and the white foundation of the detailed make-up on their faces. Daphne explains that this is to ensure that they are not perceived as individuals but always as a group. Across national borders, so to speak.
The so-called "white face" initially served as a mask, as many of the first sisters did not want to be recognised. Over the years, it has become clear that this uniform look has a high recognition value.
Together with the creative and eye-catching variations of the habit, the eccentric look serves as a kind of uniform and demarcation. As long as the sisters wear their cap on their heads and are on duty, abstinence also applies: hitting on men is taboo.
While the sisters still cause confusion and astonished faces among passers-by on Berlin's Kurfürstendamm, this is hardly the case in the gay scene any more.
"Our main aim is to spread joy"
"Over the last 25 years in Germany, we've been able to explain to people quite well what we're all about, which is why many people are already talking to us specifically," says Daphne.
"But we don't always have to talk about HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Sometimes it's just about having a chat, including about who we are and what we do. Our main aim is to spread joy."
For the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, spreading joy means, on the one hand, granting indulgences: Indulgence from the stigmatising guilt that society places on you - because you are gay or HIV-positive or supposedly not masculine, not fit, not slim, not smart enough or otherwise not conforming to the norm.
However, the sisters also spread universal joy through their pleasure-orientated credo: Go and sin, and have fun doing it!
To ensure that it is as safe as possible, the sisters always have condoms with them to hand out. Incidentally, these are the same ones that the "I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING" to the man. This is of course no coincidence, as the sisters are also members of Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe.
The Berlin conclave of the international sisters lasted ten days. It began with the big anniversary party to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the German section and ended with the international sisters honouring the events of the fetish friends at Folsom Europe.
Ten-day conclave with anniversary party
The international conclave is not just about getting to know each other, but also about exchanging experiences and learning from each other. According to Daphne, there are differences to the American Sisters, for example. "They not only have a completely different approach to spirituality. While we German sisters go around the pubs with a collection tin, the sisters in the USA like to go around with a bucket and have it filled with notes."
Because social projects in the USA can rely much less on state support, private donations are all the more important. "As a result, there is a very different, much more generous donation culture there than here," says Daphne.
To raise enough money for the HIV and AIDS projects supported by the Sisters, large parties, events and raffles are usually organised especially for this purpose.
It's late afternoon. The crossroads at the Urania on the edge of Berlin-Schöneberg's gay neighbourhood is not a very pleasant corner. However, a memorial stone for those who have died of AIDS has been located there for many years, in the middle of the road in a green strip. The Berlin sisters have been looking after the site for some time. Today, together with their foreign guests, they are honouring the dead. Glitter is scattered and blessings are spoken. The minute's silence ends with loud cheering.
Ceremony with numerous rituals: the consecration of sisters
But this is just the beginning of a long ceremony with numerous rituals. Not everything is comprehensible to outsiders, partly because the street noise drowns out some of it. Here too, curious, astonished and somehow helpless-looking passers-by quickly gather. At some point, there is no getting through on the pavement. A young policewoman and her colleague discreetly keep order - and watch the action with interest.
A novice is made a sister. The appointment is a mixture of amateur theatre, performance, solemn rite and great fun. The sister-to-be kneels before the mistress of ceremonies, says her vows and is finally presented with her habit. Finally, the decorative veil is pinned to the bonnet with large hat pins. The make-up is completed with a brand new lipstick (dark colour!) and finally the name tag is presented.
From now on, the mission in Edinburgh has a new, fully trained sister called Lotta Leftover in its midst, and she is now allowed to provide full service in the spirit of the Sisters of Perpedual Indulgence. She has to make her debut on the spot, distributing two condoms. Lotta quickly gets rid of the first one: she shyly hands it to the cute policeman.
Website of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
indulgence.com
