I don’t remember the last time I had this much fun researching a topic.
You know you’re a celebrity when the world knows you by your first name. In the case of Jean Dolores Schmidt, it’s “Sister Jean.”
As the world now knows, this ninety-eight-year-old nun is the chaplain for the Loyola University Ramblers men’s basketball team. The Ramblers are the Cinderella story of this year’s playoffs. And Sister Jean is their inspiration.
What Sister Jean gave up for Lent
She has been interviewed on Good Morning America and featured in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. ESPN says that she has been mentioned in more than twenty thousand media stories.
On Monday, the university announced a series of merchandise bearing her name and image. You can buy socks, T-shirts, collectible toys, and more. One T-shirt is emblazoned “AIR JEAN” with a silhouette of her as Michael Jordan.
And you can get the “Sister Jean Bobblehead.” The company has made around five hundred different bobbleheads over the last three years. In just thirty hours, hers became their bestseller.
Note that she is not profiting personally from any of this. The university says she “gave her blessing” to using her name and image for items for sale and “didn’t ask for anything for herself.” Proceeds support the Loyola Athletic Fund and the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the religious order she joined in 1937.
Sister Jean has become especially famous for her wit. When an interviewer asked her what she gave up for Lent, she replied, “Losing!”
“I love being with people, spreading God’s word”
We know her for her presence at Loyola’s basketball games, but Sister Jean has been supporting the university since she moved to Chicago in 1961.
She directed Loyola’s neighborhood reading clinic, tutoring primary and secondary students. She counseled the student government regarding social justice initiatives and serves at orientation to help…
… Read More
—
Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.