Some nuns teach, some work with lepers, some pray and meditate. And one nun, Sister Karol Jackowski, runs a $3 million gift shop chain that sells, among other things, boxing-nun dolls, "Wash Away Your Sins" soap and a windup, fire-breathing Nunzilla.

Fun? Definitely, but not enough for a mention in Jackowski's just-published Ten Fun Things to Do Before You Die, a Catholic Chicken Soup for the Soul whose prescriptions for salvation in this life range from No. 4, "Find a Place to Escape Reality," to No. 7, "Make Yourself Interesting."

The idea for Ten Fun Things came to Jackowski, 53, who is now chief operating officer of the New York City-based Alphabets chain, when she gave a lecture in 1987 at St. Mary's College in South Bend, Ind., where she was dean of students. To dramatize No. 10, "Live Like You Have Nothing to Lose," she put on a gorilla suit—and made her point.

The daughter of East Chicago, Ind., bakery owners Henry and Shirley, Jackowski, who lives alone in Manhattan, joined the Sisters of the Holy Christ after high school. "My father didn't mind so long as I got a college degree," she says. In 1990, in pursuit of a Ph.D., Jackowski moved east, and in 1994 she switched to the less traditional Sisters for Christian Community. Hired in 1990 by Alphabets founder (and ex-nun) Linda Heidinger, Jackowski has held her current post since 1996. "Every work can be holy," says Jackowski, whose salary helps support sisters in lower-paying jobs. "There's even more need to work in a sector that's not religious." Especially if it's fun.