Unveiled Discernment Series - Who Are We? The Faces Behind Unveiled!

Claire: 00:00:00

Feel like I was.

Jacinta: 00:00:00

Wait, is this recording?

Pax: 00:00:02

Welcome to the first season of Unveiled, a podcast series for girls and women of all ages, where we dive into the world of discernment.

Jacinta: 00:00:12

How long has this been recording?

Claire: 00:00:14

Hello? Hello? Hello?

Jacinta: 00:00:16

Can you hear us? Hi.

Pax: 00:00:17

Unveiled is produced by Sharon Leyne, Karen Ewen, and myself, Pax Ewen, in partnership with Arise Catholic Movement.

Claire: 00:00:24

You just need to feed us some sugar.

Jacinta: 00:00:26

As you can hear, we're clearly learning how to do this.

Pax: 00:00:30

Discover the beauty of discernment with your host, Jacinta Leyne and Claire Ewen.

Jacinta: 00:00:36

Take it from the top, people.

Claire: 00:00:38

Hello, everyone. Welcome to our preview episode where you'll learn more about us and why we're doing this. My name is Claire Ewen. I'm the oldest of five kids.

Thirteen, grade eight. I love reading, writing, traveling, dogs, even though we don't have one because of mom and dad. And I really dislike milk, cheese, and leggings.

Jacinta: 00:01:05

I'm Jacinta. I like two out of the three things that she doesn't like. I'm 14. I'm in grade nine. I'm the oldest of four kids and I live in Warm in Saskatchewan.

I like to spend my free time reading, writing, and fiddling around on the piano and, like, playing with our dog that our parents, like, gave in and just bought because he was cute. Sorry, guys.

Pax: 00:01:36

My name is Pax Ewen. I am the second oldest out of five. So Claire's younger sister.

Not always the best, but yeah, I really enjoy, like, baking, photography, gymnastics, and swimming. I'm the junior producer for Unveiled, so I'll be more behind the scenes. And then when Claire and Jacinta get off track, I'll get them back in line.

Claire: 00:02:01

You're so off track.

Jacinta: 00:02:04

We don't get off topic, do we?

Pax: 00:02:07

Oh, well, silence those times.

Claire: 00:02:09

Ten times. We don't.

Jacinta: 00:02:11

Yeah, I think that's fair. Continue.

Pax: 00:02:16

Okay, so we could talk a little bit about why we started unveiled. Right.

Claire: 00:02:20

Okay. So how it started was we originally planned a nun run following a really good friend of our parents, Sr. Maryam Josephine, for her vows.

And then we started making a list of people and went on and on.

Pax: 00:02:36

And on and on and on and on. It never ended.

Claire: 00:02:40

So we decided what if we brought the nun run to people here in Saskatoon area or, like, anywhere? So that's kind of where the idea started.

Jacinta: 00:02:49

Yeah, it was originally going to be like a big zoom meeting where everyone logged on, and then we were like, that's going to be kind of chaos. So we decided just to make it a podcast so you can listen anytime, anywhere hopefully on anything that you have. And yeah.

Pax: 00:03:07

What do you two hope to get out of Unveiled? Jacinta do you wanna go first?

Jacinta: 00:03:12

I just want to get to know the different orders and, like, their unique aspects of how they go about, like, just daily life and their particular characteristics.

And I just kind of want to explore, you know, if I did become a sister, which, like, orders I would actually be interested in joining or that would fit me, I guess.

Claire: 00:03:38

Yeah, I've always, like, wondered, how do you discern what order to join? Because, like, they're all so different. They have different aspects. So I think that's cool.

What I hope to get out of this podcast is not only learning about the nun discernment, but also just about discernment in general, because once you know how to discern something, it's easier to do the other stuff. So, like, at the moment, I'm discerning whether to continue homeschooling through high school or to go to high school in Saskatoon.

Pax: 00:04:11

Yeah.

I would say the reason I'm doing this, other than the tech work, which is really fun, is that, like, I know that so many people have never thought of, like, being a nun or a religious sister as a possibility. And I'm hoping that by, like, doing this podcast, it'll bring, like, new options to young girls everywhere.

Is there any specific order or, like, religious community that you're super excited to, like, interview or just learn more about?

Jacinta: 00:04:43

Oh, there's so many out there, and. I don't know half of them. It's like, I don't know.

Claire: 00:04:52

I feel like I don't know enough about the orders too, or enough in general about. Because, like, I know two, maybe three orders, but no more than that. So I hope to learn more.

Jacinta: 00:05:07

You know, I want to, like, discover. Which ones that I brought into my horizons. Yes, that's a good phrase. I know. We hope, we hope we broaden your horizons, guys. Just saying.

Pax: 00:05:24

We also hope through Unveiled to do some matchmaking, that if there's someone out there who hears like one of these testimonies or interviews, that really speaks to her heart that she'll understand. Like, maybe that's the, like, religious community that she's being called to.

Claire: 00:05:41

So I guess we, like, we hope to bring together an order to any person so that this may impact other people in a positive way.

Jacinta: 00:05:52

Yeah. I'm personally hoping that somewhere along the line we'll hear a story of a sister who discovered their order through this podcast.

Pax: 00:06:01

Oh, that.

Pax: 00:06:02

That would be so amazing.

Jacinta: 00:06:04

That would be awesome. We got high hopes for you guys.

Claire: 00:06:10

So Jacinta, I've heard you got to go on a Malawi trip this past summer and you stayed at a cloistered convent. So what was that like?

Jacinta: 00:06:21

It was honestly pretty cool. I mean, we were in like a guest part of the convent, so we weren't right in there.

But we got to just like see them at mass and kind of get insight on what their day to day life is like just by like watching them water the garden or feeding the chickens and stuff like that. It was just a cool experience to stay there. And specifically in Africa, it's like, I don't know many people from Africa.

Yeah, it's like, oh, there's sisters all over the world.

Claire: 00:06:57

It's actually kind of cool to think of sisters in different places doing different things. Like, how often do you think of a sister feeding the chickens in?

Pax: 00:07:07

I can tell you from my perspective, not very often.

Jacinta: 00:07:13

So that's part of the thing.

I'm really excited to like hear more of the differences between being in a cloistered area where like you're never out, except maybe one person versus a community that's like a combination of people and they're going out all the time doing all sorts of things and it's just a very different reality. And I'm excited to hear their perspectives on the differences from it.

Pax: 00:07:43

Yeah, so like the difference between discerning for like a cloistered convent or like a non cloistered convent, the discernment like series would be very different. A part of this discernment series of unveiled is our friendships.

Claire: 00:08:04

So. And snacks.

Pax: 00:08:05

And snacks.

Jacinta: 00:08:06

And snacks. Can't forget the snacks. Guys.

Pax: 00:08:11

How long have we known each other for?

Jacinta: 00:08:14

Cuz like three years.

Claire: 00:08:15

Yeah, cuz like we started going on field trips as like homeschooling groups during COVID and then we really got to know each other when we attended the same church.

Jacinta: 00:08:25

I think that's when I really got to know you guys. Like, I was super excited to meet you when we went on this first field trip and I was like, oh, these girls are really fun.

I specifically remember sitting next to Claire on a bus ride. And you know, it's Covid, so we're all wearing masks and I'm like looking at her and we're just like reading next to each other. We barely talked for the first part of the trip. It's kind of. It's kind of hard to think that we didn't talk for that long.

Claire: 00:08:53

I mean, like, we're similar. We knew. Yeah, totally.

Claire: 00:08:56

Books.

Pax: 00:08:57

Both introverted.

Jacinta: 00:08:59

Anyway, so we get off the bus. And everyone's like, ooh, fresh air. Let's take these masks off. And I look at Claire and I'm like, whoa, you look completely different.

Claire: 00:09:08

Like, when you see someone with masks, you're like it becomes like, well, that's part of them as you know it, right? And then they take it off. You're like, okay, well, that's going to take a while.

But like, also, I was even looking at pictures and I'm like, I've changed a lot.

Pax: 00:09:25

Yeah.

Claire: 00:09:25

Even my choice of glasses.

Jacinta: 00:09:29

I think that's. It really grew when we kind of started going to the same mass times and hanging out with kind of the same group of friends.

And suddenly you guys are introducing m to people that I probably never would have met otherwise.

Claire: 00:09:44

It's crazy. Like, I make friends by my friend friends.

Jacinta: 00:09:48

Yeah, me too.

Claire: 00:09:49

Kind of like how it works. I don't have to meet new people. Really just like, oh, hey, you know them. I know them too.

Jacinta: 00:09:56

Yeah. These nice little circles of like, oh, you know her and you know her and I know you also.

Pax: 00:10:03

We kind of got to know each other after, like, youth group and girls youth group and, like, leading and challenge.

Claire: 00:10:11

So I feel like something that really brought us together with writing. So, like, our book, which we still have to name,

Jacinta: 00:10:17

It's a work in progress.

Claire: 00:10:21

I'm like, it's been going on for two years.

Jacinta: 00:10:24

Yeah.

Claire: 00:10:24

Two years.

Jacinta: 00:10:25

Two years, yeah.

Pax: 00:10:26

Thank you.

Jacinta: 00:10:29

Yeah, that's definitely. This book is kind of like. Is based around World War II, and it's kind of this adventure story of three girls getting to know each other.

Kind of like we did, except you two already knew each other. I just kind of.

Claire: 00:10:47

I just like, thought about this recently. But we're writing about 18 year olds.

Jacinta: 00:10:52

No, we're not.

Claire: 00:10:53

Yeah, we are.

Jacinta: 00:10:54

My character's my age. You guys decided to be older. And I was like, good luck with that. Yeah.

Pax: 00:11:01

Also, we all really enjoy historical fiction, so.

Jacinta: 00:11:06

Yeah. Just books in general. Like, I don't know about you guys, but right now I'm reading Anne of Green Gables for like, the fifth, sixth time.

Claire: 00:11:15

I don't know. How many books have you read? There's like 12, but I can't read Best of Search and Part. I'm like, too old, can't read anymore.

Jacinta: 00:11:24

I've read, like, the first three of the series and then like, read one of, like, the Rainbow Valley one.

Claire: 00:11:31

That one is kind of in the future.

Jacinta: 00:11:34

I liked that one. The other ones, I always felt like, oh, yeah. But the three that I own, I'm like, You know what? These ones I like coming back to.

Claire: 00:11:43

So, like, Pax, I'm trying to get her to read it, but I got her to read a different series from the same author. So Emily of New Moon there. I think there are three books. But also, have you read Ascendant series?

Jacinta: 00:11:59

I think I read, like, the first three. I was like, they're so good.

Claire: 00:12:01

I love them.

Jacinta: 00:12:05

Yeah, I'm like, medium. I don't know if I would reread the books, but they were like, a good.

Claire: 00:12:10

Although talking about characters getting too old. Penderwicks. Oh, yeah, I can't read the last book. I'm like, nope, too old.

Pax: 00:12:18

They gotta get older sometimes.

Jacinta: 00:12:20

But I do like. I do like epilogues where you find out, oh, this is what they did with their life.

Claire: 00:12:25

Yes.

Jacinta: 00:12:26

And this is where you need a book about it.

Claire: 00:12:27

You don't need a book about it.

Jacinta: 00:12:29

But it was like, it's following.

Okay, I want to spoil it, but, like, it follows a character that's younger in the first books. So you're kind of getting deeper into that character's story, which I liked.

Claire: 00:12:42

Then they'll marry the wrong people.

Jacinta: 00:12:43

Okay, I. Okay, maybe we're talking about a different book. How many books are there?

Pax: 00:12:50

Five.

Jacinta: 00:12:51

Oh, I haven't read the fifth one. Maybe that's why.

Claire: 00:12:53

Don't read it. Don't read it.

Jacinta: 00:12:56

Noted. Yeah. What are you reading, Max?

Pax: 00:13:01

Oh, let me think. Oh, right now I'm reading a bunch of historical fiction by Jennifer A. Nelson.

Claire: 00:13:12

Same author of Ascendant series.

Pax: 00:13:14

Yeah, you guys, that's a great author you should read.

Jacinta: 00:13:16

Yes, I liked her historical films.

Pax: 00:13:20

So, guys, the historical fiction.

Jacinta: 00:13:21

The historical fictions are must reads.

Pax: 00:13:24

Yes.

Jacinta: 00:13:25

Specifically, Lines of Courage I really like. It goes from five different points of view during, like, the first time.

Claire: 00:13:30

I just reread that, like, yesterday, and.

Jacinta: 00:13:32

It was like, okay, guys, I gotta interrupt. I got this super funny story. So I come back from Africa and I bring back bookmarks, and I'm like, okay, I'll give a few to Claire and Pax. Anyways, so I give her this blue.

One with elephants on it. And it's, like, painted. It's a very unique bookmark.

So anyway, one day I check out books from the library, and one of them is this Leynes of Courage book, which is from Jennifer Al Nielsen, an author that they recommended. And I had read it before, but I was like, I'll read it again. So anyway, I'm bored. I'm just, like, flipping through the pages.

Because I'm like, what else am I going to do? And I open it, and there's this bookmark. And it looks exactly like the one I gave Claire. And I call her.

I'm like, are you missing the bookmark I gave you? And she was like, yeah. I'm like, did you use it while you read Lines of Courage? And she was like, yeah, okay.

Claire: 00:14:32

I remember that. Cause you also put it in the newspaper. You're like, missing bookmark, blah, blah, blah. But, like, also Lines of Courage.

That's like, the first half isn't my favorite. So, like, I probably got stuck reading it.

Jacinta: 00:14:45

Probably.

Claire: 00:14:45

That happens to us.

Jacinta: 00:14:46

It was more like, what are the chances that I was the next person who read it?

Claire: 00:14:49

Yeah.

Jacinta: 00:14:50

And it happened.

Claire: 00:14:51

That book was from the Martensville library, not the Warman Library.

Jacinta: 00:14:55

Yeah. What are the chances that ended up.

Pax: 00:14:58

Also, another good one is Words on Fire. It's about book smuggling, I think.

Claire: 00:15:04

Oh, I love that one.

Jacinta: 00:15:05

Yeah, that one was good. That was the first one I read out of it.

Claire: 00:15:08

Kind of reminds me of a movie we just watched. Oh, yeah, it's on Pureflex. It's called Disciples in the Moonlight. It's about Bible smuggling.

Pax: 00:15:15

So it's set in the future. It's like, what if Bibles were, like, illegal? Like, what if Catholicism was illegal?

So then these people who want to still spread God's words of peace, they smuggle books into different countries and everywhere.

Claire: 00:15:33

Hoping to, like, different states in United States.

Pax: 00:15:37

Yeah, they're also.

Claire: 00:15:37

So what happened was the current Bible we know as Roman Catholics, it became illegal, and they had this new Bible they made called the Enlightened Bible. So.

And, like, if you were caught with a Bible on your phone, actual copy, you could be, like, taken to prison. Like, it was big. So they smuggled these books to five different states, five different churches, and, like, it's amazing.

Pax: 00:16:06

It's my favorite movie at the moment, though. That changes quite often. But you guys should definitely watch it.

Jacinta: 00:16:12

Speaking of, like, great Catholic TV, the Chosen Season 5 is coming out soon, and I'm so excited.

Claire: 00:16:18

Okay. I love the Chosen so much. But we.

We started watching them, and then we watched the newest ones in theaters, and we've never filled in the in between space.

Jacinta: 00:16:29

You gotta fill in the in between.

Claire: 00:16:32

Spans and watch it.

Pax: 00:16:33

Just like, watch from the beginning to the end hours of Chosen, like the.

Jacinta: 00:16:37

Very first episode, and we were like, this show's really good. And then we never finished the season. And suddenly we're hearing all these things about it, and they're like, it's so great.

So we went back on it and we finished it in, like, two days. And every other season that's come out. We'Re like, this is great. I've heard a few shows that makes. Me cry and, like, actually think, yeah.

Claire: 00:17:00

I've heard people say that they cry from it. But what is. So, like, what timeline is it at? It's set.

Jacinta: 00:17:06

Okay, so it's set during the time of Jesus when he was doing his ministry. But what's super cool about it is it's set from the eyes of the disciples.

So you're watching Jesus's ministry through the eyes of Peter, of John, of Matthew, and how he calls them, and it dives into their stories. And a lot of it. There's a lot of, like, you know, kind of imagination on what their lives were like. But a lot of, like, the core. Of the story is taken from the.

Claire: 00:17:40

Bible is there from Judas's perspective. Just random.

Jacinta: 00:17:44

You'll have to, like, watch the show and find out. Claire.

Claire: 00:17:47

Oh, my goodness. That might be a while. What? You just gotta, like, screen time. Well, like, we are not a movie family. It's more of mom reading out loud to us.

So, like, right now we're reading.

Pax: 00:18:02

It's called the Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander.

Claire: 00:18:05

Yeah, it's like, imagination. It's fantasy, but it's pretty good. Yeah.

Pax: 00:18:12

On the line of books, do you guys have any special books? You guys read for prayer time or you can read for Lent?

Jacinta: 00:18:18

Oh, Lent. What are you doing for Lent?

Claire: 00:18:22

Okay, guess what? I'm giving up, guys.

Jacinta: 00:18:24

What?

Claire: 00:18:25

I'm giving up books.

Jacinta: 00:18:27

What? How can you do that? I gave up, like, I'm giving up reading past nine. I could not give up books for the whole day. This is not in me.

Claire: 00:18:36

I need to be centered on my school. So I thought, well, for Lent, giving up books could help. So as a family, we're giving up screens and sugar, and then we each do their own thing.

And I'm like, well, if I gave up books, it would be terrible, but I'd have more time for my school.

Pax: 00:18:49

Yeah, we also do. We go to mass three days a week. We do Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Fridays.

We do Wednesdays and Fridays we do adoration, the Rosary, and then Friday nights, we do Stations of the Cross. So that's our usual Lenten routine.

Claire: 00:19:05

So what are you doing?

Jacinta: 00:19:07

I'm doing.

So if you guys have ever heard about this app called Hallow, it's like this big Catholic app, tons of prayer resources, and they're doing this thing called Lent 40, I believe it's called. So every day there's like a reflection. It's gonna go through two books. One about, like.

It's about a person who survived the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, I think, in Japan.

Claire: 00:19:35

That's so cool.

Jacinta: 00:19:36

And he, like, survived and converted to the faith. So it's gonna go through that in this book called the Way, which I guess I don't know much about the books. I'll learn more, I guess.

Claire: 00:19:44

Yeah, I've heard there's a version for, like, girls. What's that?

Jacinta: 00:19:50

I don't know, like, the book or.

Claire: 00:19:53

I have no idea.

Jacinta: 00:19:55

There's like, a girl version of Exodus 90.

Claire: 00:19:58

Oh, yeah, that's what I'm thinking.

Jacinta: 00:19:59

My friend's doing that. I was like, I don't know if I can quite do that yet. Maybe next year.

Claire: 00:20:05

Okay. So you mentioned something. You said tons, and I've been thinking about that for a while. Like, people say we had tons of fun.

Did you actually weigh it, though? You hung out with tons of people. You can't keep people by their weight.

Jacinta: 00:20:22

It's a little rude. No, I was not. It's kind of just a phrase that I use a ton.

Pax: 00:20:39

Have you ever, like, listened to Saints Alive on Hallow?

Claire: 00:20:45

It's like, it's. You get to, like, hear a story about a saint, but, like, as in, like, it's acted. No, not acted. Like.

Jacinta: 00:20:53

Yeah, it's like an audio drama.

Claire: 00:20:55

Yeah.

Jacinta: 00:20:56

Version of the saint.

Pax: 00:20:57

And it's really good for. If I know a bunch of people listen to at bedtime. Just don't listen to a martyr story at bedtime.

Jacinta: 00:21:04

That might be a little. Yeah. St. Cecilia. That was really cool. I never really heard her story.

Claire: 00:21:12

There's also, like, even, I think three on St. Joseph. I'm like. Like, in the Bible, you don't actually hear much about him after, like, the angel appearing to him. Right.

Jacinta: 00:21:22

So, like, I haven't listened to that one.

Claire: 00:21:24

Okay. I'm not gonna say that. Like, it's so good.

Jacinta: 00:21:26

I've listened to the one about John Paul II and St. Joan of Arc. I really love that. I love St. Joan of Arc. She's one of my favorite saints.

Pax: 00:21:35

Yeah. So that's a must. Listen to Saints Alive on Hallow.

Jacinta: 00:21:39

Yeah.

Claire: 00:21:40

Hallow or Halo.

Jacinta: 00:21:42

Hallow.

Claire: 00:21:43

I could say Halo.

Jacinta: 00:21:44

I say Hallow.

Claire: 00:21:47

Is there a difference between the spelling, though? Hallow and Halo?

Jacinta: 00:21:52

Alexa, how do you spell Halo? She's ignoring me, guys. H A, L, O. But there's two Ls in Hallow and.

Pax: 00:22:05

Then there's W at the end.

Jacinta: 00:22:06

Oh, exactly.

Claire: 00:22:08

Okay. Yeah, point taken.

Jacinta: 00:22:13

We could talk forever. As you will definitely notice and maybe. Have already noticed, but we do need to wrap this up. Yeah. Thanks for listening. This is Jacinta, Claire and Pax signing off.

Pax: 00:22:26

The Unveiled podcast is an audio production in partnership with Arise Catholic Movement, hosted by Jacinta Leyne and Claire Ewen and produced by Sharon Leyne, Karen Ewen and myself. Pax. Audio mixing by Sharon and me, Pax. Editing and music by Sharon Leyne. Tune in to our next episode wherever you get your podcast.

Jacinta: 00:22:51

What if we do like Jacinta Claire Pax signing off. Okay, this is Jacinta, Claire and Pax signing off.

Pax: 00:22:59

Sign off. Okay, what we got to say in sequence

Claire: 00:23:01

Check.