Who are the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence?

The name says a lot.

Their name is a parody of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. Their indulgence, of course, is sexual. Their core value is that Catholic sexual teaching inhibits true freedom, and why should we not crudely and lewdly make fun of it and glorify perpetual sexual excess and mock those who believe in keeping sex in its proper place, in the marriage bed?

One of the founding members called himself Sister Missionary Position. I've found references to Sister Merry Peter, Sister Hellena Handbasket, Sister Sensible Shoes, and Sister Homo Celestial, among others that are too specific in their references to anal sex to mention here. Some members from London (there are now Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence [SPI] around the world) call themselves Sister Vixen, and Sister Dire-Reah, who live in a “convent” called the London House of Common Sluts.

"Sister Cuminja Wrasse and I were talking about the common accusation that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence mock Roman Catholic nuns. ‘What’s your response?’ I asked. ‘I say, “You’re absolutely right,’ Sister Cuminja told me. ‘You’re absolutely right, but ask yourselves why we’re doing it…. The Catholic Church’s stance on contraception, on LGBT rights, on a hundred and one other things, is actually offensive, and offensive to far more people than I’m going to upset by trolling down the streets in a habit.’”—From Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody

From Wikimedia Commons, by David Shankbone, “Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence hold a charity tarot card reading at Rapture Cafe on Avenue A in the East Village of New York City.”

"The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence often parody sacred religious rituals in an offensive manner. Examples include their ‘Our Bother’ prayer and their ‘Condom Savior Communion,’ which makes fun of the Catholic Mass while distributing something of which the Church strongly disapproves. Additionally, they sexualize religious figures with their annual ‘Hunky Jesus’ and ‘Foxy Mary’ contests. [They prefer staging these contests on Easter Sundays, when they draw huge crowds.] A slogan at the bottom of the Sisters’ webpage reads, ‘Go forth and sin some more,’ the very opposite of what Christianity endorses."—From Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: Appropriate or Appropriation?

2007: “Night of the Living Easter: The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence celebrate their 28th year of raising money, eyebrows (and a smidge of Hell), all for our community. Including the popular Hunky Jesus competition!” By Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Hunky Jesus Competition

What's the Our Bother Prayer you may ask?

Our Bother, which plagues our pleasures,
Horrid be thy shame.
Your time has come,
You’re on the run,
As we cure you now and forever.
Let us spread affection without infection,
And let us play fair...

They dress in a mockery of traditional habits worn by Catholic religious sisters. Their official website identifies them as a charitable organization because they do volunteer work, but their volunteer work is aimed at promoting societal acceptance of homosexual activities, for example, Pride Marches, where most people who support these parades don’t realize sex acts of every kind are acted out in the streets. They also support homosexuals dealing with AIDS and pass out condoms, which certainly is fitting, because contracting AIDs is a risk for those who indulge in promiscuous sexual behavior, and a huge risk when it's homosexual promiscuity.

“1986
Marching in the Pride parade that year inside the shaft of a 40 foot penis covered in a huge condom, Sister Mysteria was the last nun at the end of the penis with two huge flesh covered beach balls connected to umbilical chords bouncing the entire length of the parade behind her! It won the Sisters another "Most Outrageous" award and stunned silence from spectators!”—From Sistory

The members are mainly homosexual and transgender men (there have been a few, how do I say this, women who identify as women) who actually make a lifetime commitment to this mock religious order, which has stages of postulancy and a novitiate loosely modeled on the process of joining real religious orders. They are sometimes called drag nuns.

Three Nuns in the Portal of a Church, between 1825 and 1894 by Amand Gautier. At the Walters Art Museum  

Currently, the SPI wear whiteface and exaggerated clown-like makeup. Their costumes usually include parodies of the elaborate starched white headdresses that used to be worn by traditional religious sisters, and they sometimes include variations on the guimpe, a white neck covering that was also traditionally worn by sisters.

Nowadays, from what I can tell by photos I've googled, their garish costumes seldom resemble traditional habits anymore, and they may also incorporate all kinds of oddities such as small stuffed animals, beads, fishnet stockings, and high heels, and the wearers may be partially nude.

In the beginning, those who called themselves Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence dressed in authentic habits. They started this way.

“A long, long time ago, in 1976, far away in the land of Oz (Iowa), a convent of Roman Catholic nuns lent some retired habits to The Sugar Plum Fairies performing their version of The Sound of Music. One year later, one of our Founders Sister Vicious Power Hungry Bitch (Ken Bunch) moved to San Francisco (1977) and brought those habits to the streets of the Castro district...” From Sistory

The Castro neighborhood became a center for homosexuals in the city in the 1970s. Last time I drove through a few years ago, I saw the city had installed rainbow pedestrian crossing markings to honor the neighborhood’s “culture.”

“Castro Street Crossing in the Rainbow Flag Colour,” photo by Burkhard Mücke

It's funny when you think of it, that the SPI started wearing habits when most of the real religious orders stopped the practice. In 1980, the sometimes-bearded SPI, still wearing authentic habits, picketed the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco because they wouldn’t list a homosexual student group in their new law school catalog. That protest failed. Then. But this is now. On a visit to Jesuit-run Santa Clara University about five years ago, I saw bulletins promoting pride week scroll by on an electric bulletin board in the library. But I digress.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence say they exist to spread light and love. I’m not buying it. Neither should you.

I don’t know where I saw this, but I like it, a lot. “God called. He wants His rainbow back.”