Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 14:25:06 -0700 From: Eros Publishing Subject: Press Release Sisters in Cyber Space E. Heath Merriwether You have seen them on Broadway in Seattle and San Francisco handing out condoms and supporting local AIDS organizations and bringing an awareness to queer rights. Now you can find them on the web. That's right, you can find the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence from Seattle to Bangkok, Thailand while surfing the web. The Sisters are a group of men and women who are dedicated to the support of community, AIDS and human rights organizations. Sister Zsa Zsa of the San Francisco Mother House was the first to hit the web back in 1995, leading the way for the sisters worldwide. Both of the Seattle Houses can be now be found on the Internet along with the Mother House in San Francisco and the orders world wide. In talking to Sr. Caddie Lac DeVil, the Abbey's Web Mistress, she said "The Internet has made a world wide organization accessible to one another fore support and to exchange information ". With the link from the calendar on the Seattle House's page to the Abbey's Calendar you can get the most up to date information on the sisters outings and fund raising. One evening Sr. Caddie was in one of the Internet Chat rooms, when she was asked if any one knew of any AIDS support for people living in Ireland. A young man living in Belfast had just tested positive and now had to tell his partner. With the aid of one of the sisters in Wales, who had previously done work in Ireland, on AIDS issues, Sr. Caddie was able to pass on the information via e-mail. Since the first web site went up in 1995, there are now over ten web sites maintained by the sisters worldwide. Both of the Seattle houses, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Seattle (http://www.drizzle.com:80/~spi/) and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Abbey of St. Joan (http://www.emerladnet.net/~abbeyspi) have sites, along with the Mother House in San Francisco (http://www.thesisters.org/ ). A worldwide response from the international orders, with their own web sites has sprung up. Several of the UK orders have sites. Now the Welsh order (http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~snag) along with the UK site (http://www.cablenet.net/~twoboyz/main.htm) give you the up on the sisters in the UK. Not to be out done (and for those who speak a foreign language) both the German (http://www.dieschwestern.org/) and the French (http://rafale.worldnet.net/~aubepine/) orders have sites. Further south, OPI (Order of Perpetual Indulgence), in Sydney (http://www.sydpcug.org.au/~mmqc/opi-tccc.html#top) also has a site with lots of informative links. The Sisters also have Missions under their watch as far away as Bangkok Thailand (http://nun.org/convent.htm), with their own web site. Back a little closer to home and more than likely the last place you would expect the Sisters to have an order, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Bogota, Columbia (http://nun.org/convent.htm). With all the individual web sites linked to each other you begin to realize how much influence the sisters have and work they do worldwide. In Seattle, with internet mecas like Microsoft and AmazOn.com nearby, The Abbey of St. Joan, in it's first 2 years of existence not only caught up with their very own web site but went one step further by joining the E-Commerce realm. With their Abbey Books (http://www.emeraldnet.net/~abbeyspi/books/index.html) , online bookstore in association with AmazOn.com, the Seattle based online bookseller (rumor has it , that Sr. Caddie once worked for AmazOn.com).Taking advantage of AmazOn.com's Associate Program the Sisters are able to add to their fund raising ability. By clicking on the Abbey Books icon, you are whisked away to the a list of recommended books relating to gay and lesbian issues, safer sex and even a mix of Pagan and Christianity in their Spirituality section. Every time you order a book from the list or go to the link to AmazOn.com's home page and order, the Sisters' Charity Fund will receive 5-15% of the sale. These funds are, in turn, used to support grassroots AIDS and Human Rights organizations in Seattle." We realized we had a good thing here with AmazOn.com", said Sr. Caddie "and we hope other community organizations will follow". "So far we know that the Seattle AIDS Vigil (http://www.emeraldnet.net/~aidsvigil/index.html) and local Seattle writer Aubrey Hart Sparks has already joined us in utilizing this asset."(of the Amazon.com Associates Program) With the growing expansion of the Internet, many non-profit organizations have joined the sisters with their own web sites reaching out often past their local communities. . So happy surfing, but watch out for surfing Nuns. http://www.wolfenet.com/~aubrey/aubrey.htm