Sister Vicki Ix is probably tired of all the cooking nun puns and the comparisons to Sally Field (The Flying Nun). But you have to admit, her approach to vocations is unique.
Sister Vicki is the vocations director for the Benedictine Sisters of Virginia. She is combining new media technology and her love of the culinary arts —she’s a culinary school graduate and once worked as a restaurant chef before entering the religious life — to reach out to women who are interested in a life of religious vocation. She’s as adept at the tools of the Internet as she is with her cooking utensils. She has a YouTube channel, where she posts cooking lessons, and a blog, Monastic Journey. She has become a bit of a trans media sensation, receiving publicity this year across the new and traditional media spectrum, including Friends Eat Blog as well as the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which wrote a profile on her (and did a recent follow-up), and the religious media, such as the Arlington Catholic Herald.
As she told the Times-Dispatch in late May:
If St. Paul were alive today, his letters would be going out on the Internet. It can be used for good things, really good things.
That makes sense and we agree. Congratulations Sister Vicki on some well-earned and deserved attention to a important need in the Church — vocations to the religious life. We add our prayers to your efforts.
Here is her “Cooking Pasta 2″ lesson (part one is an introduction):
Pasta and prayers: Sister Vicki Ix cooks for her Benedictine sisters and also works tirelessly and innovatively for vocations.
