The United States House of Representatives recently honored the "social, cultural and political contributions of Catholic sisters" in House Resolution 441. (See our news release.)
This honor was no doubt influenced by the traveling museum exhibit "Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America."
A few months ago, our entire office and a handful of others packed on a bus and rode to the Cincinnati Museum Center to see the exhibit. Of course, we felt a special tug to see the exhibit - some of our co-workers were responsible for submitting materials to the exhibit and we knew Saint Mother Theodore Guerin would be featured.
Although I would have liked to have seen more about the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Ind., (would it have been too much to ask for a floor-to-ceiling statue of Mother Theodore?), the exhibit was fantastic. It brought back a lot of memories and enriched my appreciation for my Catholic education. It was interesting to compare the history I know about the Sisters of Providence with the history of Catholic sisters across the U.S. In nearly every element covered in the exhibit, I could think of Sisters of Providence who had been involved in a similar endeavor — whether it was education, health care, social services, justice, civil rights work, nursing care during the Civil War, the rights of women, artistic work and so much more.
The exhibit, though, seemed to take care not to glorify the lives of Catholic sisters, exploring difficult subjects such as classism and racism within congregations, including the ownership of slaves.
The exhibit is well worth your time. It is currently at the Women's Museum in Dallas until Dec. 13, then it will travel to Washington, D.C., Liberty Island, N.Y., and Dubuque, Iowa. (The schedule is here.)
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