Women & Spirit

Now and then a good shot in the arm is just the thing, isn't it?  At the end of October hundreds of Sisters of Saint Joseph from the northeast traveled to Ellis Island to experience Women & Spirit Catholic Sisters in America, a traveling exhibit chronicling the breath and depth of the contributions sisters made to the country and to the church.  The exhibit was organized by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) an association of leaders of congregations of women religious in the United States.

Standing side by side with sisters in my own congregation, gathering the information, learning about women whose stories are known by few outside their own group and thinking about the courage, perseverance, and savvy it took to establish - hospitals, orphanages, colleges, and a myriad of other service institutions - usually with very few resources and sometimes in the face of opposition, made me proud.

Seeing the panel highlighting the Sisters of Saint Joseph who responded from France to an invitation to come to Missouri and teach the deaf in St Louis in 1836 underscored for me what these faithfilled 'women of spirit' did.  I have thought often of how solid are the shoulders we stand on - never more so than that afternoon in New York.  I did count my blessings.

(In the photo above Sisters Maureen Broughan,left, and Connie Quinlan take in one of the panels in the exhibit.)  For more information visit:  womenandspirit.org