These Catholic sisters want to start a new order with a difficult mission: helping clergy abuse survivors

Sister Danielle Lussier and Sister Theresa Alethia pose for a portrait on the front porch of their home in Mt. Sterling, Ky., in April. Natosha Via for NPR hide caption toggle caption Natosha Via for NPR Sister Theresa Alethia and Sister Danielle Lussier stand out at daily Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Lexington, Ky. Their heads are covered in waist-length teal veils, and black canvas work aprons cover their gray habits. The aprons feature an embroidered image of Jesus on the cross, alive and gasping for air. "It is an important moment for us, when Jesus calls out to the Father, 'My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?'" Sister Theresa Alethia says. "That's the moment that we enter into with the people that we serve." Alethia and Lussier call themselves the Sisters of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth and Goodness. They spend most of their time praying for and meeting with people who have experienced abuse of various kinds, including emotional, financial, spiritual or sexual. It's a daunting and complex mission: serving the Catholic Church by caring for people harmed by it. Right now, Alethia and Lussier are the only community of religious sisters in the Catholic Church fully dedicated to serving abuse victims. Sister Danielle Lussier and Sister Theresa Alethia sing morning prayers in the chapel next to their home in Mt. Sterling, Ky., in April. Natosha Via for NPR hide caption toggle caption Natosha Via for NPR And they have more plans for the future. The two sisters are working to establish themselves as an official, full-fledged order in the Catholic Church – a long process that depends on the cooperation of the local bishop, the growth of the order, and, as the women say, "God's timing." Catholic researchers say there are nearly 2,000 orders of Catholic nuns in the world, though the exact number is hard to know for sure. These communities of men and women devote their lives to becoming more like Jesus by living out vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. "In modern times, members of religious orders often have a ministry where they still are devoted to prayer and dedicate themselves to God, but that they also serve their fellow citizens through responding to the needs of the world," says University of Notre Dame History Professor Kathleen Cummings. The Franciscans, many of whom serve in ministries devoted to caring for poor people and the Earth, were founded in 1209. Other orders were founded more recently, such as Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity, which started in 1950. Cummings says religious sisters have dedicated their lives to serving vulnerable people as everything from battlefield nurses to inner-city educators. "What we're seeing here is really just a modern manifestation of that, a group of women who recognize a need in the church and want to dedicate their lives to fulfilling it, and to not do that part time to make that their entire life." Sisters Theresa Alethia's and Danielle Lussier's mission is borne of their personal experience. In 2022 they left the Daughters of St. Paul, a different order they'd both been a part of for at least 10 years. They learned that their spiritual director, a priest, had been accused of sexually assaulting one of their sisters in 2017, and suspected he was grooming them for abuse as well. In their suffering, the sisters say that God called them to help others who had experienced harm at the hands of leaders in The Church. Sister Danielle Lussier along with Sister Theresa Alethia spends her time praying for and meeting with people who have experienced abuse by the Catholic Church. Natosha Via for NPR hide caption toggle caption Natosha Via for NPR "How do we help the people in church to be aware of these patterns without going through the experience of being hurt?" Alethia says. "Because that is, that is the clearest education. But can we avoid that education for most people? Obviously we believe that you can, but we're trying to figure