The Role of the Nun in Nineteenth-Century America: Variations on the International Theme

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Overview

The Second Vatican Council (1963-65) asked Catholic sisters to adapt their rules to the needs of modern culture. But how could they know what to keep and what to discard, if they did not understand the origins and functions of their rules? To answer these questions, Sister Ewens studied church laws of the past and their influence on the present, and analyzed sisters' roles in nineteenth-century American society. She wanted to help religious communities, including her own Dominican congregation, (of Sinsinwa, WI) to understand their rules and roles, so as to better discern future directions. Along the way she discovered that many rules dated back to medieval times. She chronicles sisters' struggles to live those obsolete rules in pioneer settings; their contributions to education, nursing and social services; their encounters with bigotry; how they transformed the public perception of Catholicism; the dangers of wearing the habit in public; and much, much more. Vatican officials who question American sisters' roles today could learn from this book why sisters' lives had to evolve in response to the call of the Council.