Convent Tuesday Oct. 9, 2012

All Saints Sisters of the Poor Convent is located in one of the most beautiful areas of Catonsville, an oasis of woods and gardens tucked away at the end of a road and surrounded on all sides by state park land. Maintaining the grounds and buildings, not to mention the care of the nuns themselves, costs a very large amount of money. The sisters have cannily managed money gifted to them for the past 100 or so years.

In addition, the All Saints Sisters bring in pin money through the gift shop located on the convent grounds.










The gift shop works on an honor system. Purchases are made by dropping money in a small cash box and retrieving one's own change.

Seems like an open invitation for theft but actually works in the converse manner. Customers often tell me they ended up leaving more than they owe. This is such a statement about human nature- when trust, something most people are used to earning, is freely given, a person usually responds with gratitude. Of course, the occasional teen has wiped the sisters out. I'm hoping the lightening that repeatedly strikes them as they attempt to spend the money dissuades them from further crimes.



The gift shop's main item for sale is cards. For many years, the nuns calligraphied and illustrated the cards by hand.















These days, Sister Barbara Ann, the current resident artist, uses a pretty stellar computer program to come up with new card ideas. The drawings and calligraphy, however, are still her own, and she produces some of the sweetest cards you'll ever see.