By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Sister Joan of Arc Souza sets the tone of the conversation with her opening line:

"The myths of nuns? They think we don't smoke. They think we don't drink. Well, we don't smoke."

"People think we don't have any fun," says Sister Mary Edward Sugioka with a big smile. Sister Mary Edward has fun. She has a stack of photos to prove it. At the top is a snapshot of her bobbing in an inner tube at the Kapolei water park.

Says Sister Joan of Arc, "As I tell the students, I wasn't born a nun."

This brings a round of hearty laughter from Sister Mary Edward and Sister Rose Annette Ahuna. All three women are on the faculty of Saint Francis School in Manoa. All three went through high school at Saint Francis.

"The nuns in school were happy people," says Sister Rose Annette. "They cared about us and they were wonderful role models and good teachers. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to teach."

Sister Rose Annette and Sister Mary Edward graduated from Saint Francis in 1948. That fall, they traveled to join the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order in Syracuse, N.Y.

In the novitiate, the young women lived by strict rules, where even an errant giggle at the wrong moment could get you into trouble.

"Remember when you had your penance for a whole week of cooking?" Sister Mary Edward asks.

"A week? It was a month!" says Sister Rose Annette. "I thought I was going to die!"

This sends them into gales of laughter.

"I don't even remember what got me in trouble."

Sister Rose Annette later taught biology at Saint Francis, and Sister Joan of Arc was her student.

"We put lizards in your aquarium," Sister Joan of Arc confesses.

"That was you?!" Sister Rose Annette doesn't look too surprised.

"In high school, I was always getting detention for stupid things," says Sister Joan of Arc. "Dirty shoes, walking around with my shirt tail hanging out, jumping over the fence to pick guavas. Stuff like that."

When Sister Joan of Arc announced she was going to become a nun, her family was sure she wouldn't make it.

"I was too much of a fighter. But I knew what I wanted.

I wanted to teach religion. I went, and I never looked back."

All three nuns worked in schools on the Mainland before coming home to Hawai'i. The campus they now live and work on is very different from their high school days.

For instance, every student has her grades and weekly progress reports posted online. Parents can access their daughters' records at any time, and teachers can post notes for parents' eyes only.

"If little Suzy wants to go to a dance, mom or dad can take her by the hand, go the computer and say, 'Well, let's see how you're doing.' " says Sister Joan of Arc.

Since 1996, Saint Francis has operated on a year-round schedule. At one time, it was the only Catholic school west of the Mississippi to do so.

Changing social mores have affected Saint Francis dramatically over the years. When Sister Joan of Arc was in high school, a girl could get in trouble just by being seen riding in a car with a boy, even if he was her cousin.

"Now there's drugs, pornography, peer pressure in the society. Money is a problem, in that some have too much. The whole world ethic has changed," says Sister Joan of Arc.

"It used to be that the vast majority of students had both biological parents in the home. Now it's the minority."

One of the biggest changes is the school policy on young women who get pregnant.

"It used to be girls who got pregnant would be expelled. But now we keep the girls," says Sister Rose Annette.

"If they ever needed their diploma, they need it then," says Sister Joan of Arc.

The sisters feel very strongly about this. "I think that's the most Christian thing we ever did," says Sister Rose Annette.

There are consequences, though. A pregnant student cannot wear the school uniform. She cannot go to prom or graduation. If she's a class officer, she must relinquish her position. When the baby is born, she can't bring the child to campus or show pictures of the baby at school.

"The only right they have is to go to class," says Sister Joan of Arc. "When we have one girl who gets pregnant, we don't have any more for a long time. The other girls see what she goes through. It's a lesson you cannot teach in a classroom."

When Sister Joan of Arc became principal of Saint Francis school 14 years ago, she was told to "turn around" enrollment or the school would be closed. There were 275 girls in grades 6-12 then. Now there are 400. This year the school is celebrating its 80th year of offering "quality Catholic education in the spirit of joy."

Some things haven't changed, though, like the ghost stories the girls like to tell about dead nuns roaming the hallways at night.

"Like I tell the girls," says Sister Joan of Arc with a twinkle in her eye, "the dead ones won't hurt you. It's the living you have to worry about."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.