I don’t mention this to bash Oprah. I only mention it because if Oprah doesn’t have a basic conceptual grasp of the life of Christian religious, i.e., the life of Christian nuns and monks, sisters and brothers, one can barely expect more “ordinary” lay persons to have half a clue.  Why?

Oprah has access to practically anything she wants 24/7. This includes people, books, experts, the works. For someone so publicly aligned with the spiritual life writ large, for someone who has made millions sharing (some would say “peddling”, but I wouldn’t) “spirituality” it seems out of character for her to engage in the kind of televised gawking that went on today.

Of course, many will see nothing unusual here: Oprah isn’t orthodox. That is, she has never to my knowledge cast as “Christian” her personal spiritual awakening or the platform she’s given to the authors of numerous spiritual books she’s had on her show. It’s “spirit” or “spiritual”, but not denominational. I think she’d admit that her orientation is Christian in many respects. But it was, in retrospect, foolish of me to think that Oprah as spiritual big sister to the world would have known about the lives of American women religious. The order happened to be Roman Catholic. So? Well I suspect many Catholics themselves are clueless about what it means to be a nun or are ignorant of the basic spiritual aspects of the nuns’ religious life.

But here’s where Oprah doesn’t get a pass. The “normal” person in the pew may be blissfully ignorant of the traditions of the religious life. But why is this aspect of American life so foreign to Oprah? I suppose the feeling I have now is reminiscent of an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street.

Baltimore Detectives Pembleton and Bayliss (I think) pick up a young black wannabe gangster they’ve tried to get information from. I believe they handcuff the kid, throw him (sort of gently) in the back of the car, and start driving. The kid freaks out believing that they’re going to rough him up or worse. As his anxiety increases Pembleton and Bayliss appear serene and self-assured.

Finally, they pull off near a body of water. The kid now is terrified. They uncuff him and just stand there with him. The kid has no idea where he is. It’s the Atlantic Ocean. Just 10 or so minutes from his home and he’d never been there. The streets — literally and figuratively — were all this kid knew. Oprah had never sought out that which surrounded her least during her mega-star years: all the books about the religious life, all the people who did know about the religious life, all these examples of nuns and monks in the US.

As I said, my intent is not to bash Oprah. Rather, I take it as an opportunity to look into my self: What am I likewise blissfully ignorant about but have no excuse to be? What group or religion am I woefully ignorant about?

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