higher percentage of Catholic sisters
earned college degrees than most
women of their era. young women
who attended academies and colleges sponsored by Catholic sisters
Today more than
63,000 Catholic sisters
are carrying on a
centuries-old tradition
of service and prayer.
“
earned their diplomas and also saw
in the sisters powerful role models of
leadership and service.
Health care
in addition to education, health care
has been a main area of activity for
women’s religious communities in the
U.s., and like their role in education,
it goes back a long way. during the
American Civil War more than 600
sisters from 21 different religious communities nursed both Union and Confederate soldiers and provided skilled
nursing from the time of the Civil
War to the flu epidemic of 1918. in
the 19th century the public that once
perceived sisters as outsiders came to
appreciate their care and skill.
Reflecting the many hospitals
Catholic sisters established, in 2005
approximately one in six hospital
patients in the U.s. were treated in a
facility founded by Catholic sisters.
SISTER HILARY Ross
was an outstanding
scientist who authored more than
40 scientific papers
on the biochemistry
of leprosy.
U.s. came to overcrowded city tenements where poor sanitation and
insufficient health care resulted in
widespread disease and devastating
epidemics—conditions that offered
new challenges for Catholic sisters.
Children were becoming orphans
in staggering numbers; 30,000 were
estimated to be parentless or abandoned in the streets of new york
City in the 1860s.
one of the sisters’ responses
to this problem had its start on an
autumn night in 1869 when three
sisters found a baby girl, “sarah H.,”
on their doorstep. since then several
hundred thousand children have
been cared for by what grew into the
new york Foundling Hospital. now
in the 21st century the hospital continues its mission to shelter children
and help families in crisis.
Vatican II and beyond
Service to those in need
Throughout the mid-19th century,
waves of immigrants arriving in the
in 1962 Catholic bishops from
around the world gathered in
Rome. Although only a few sis-
ters attended the second Vatican
Council, also known as Vatican ii,
it transformed the lives of women
religious at home and abroad. The
council challenged Catholic sisters,
as well as men’s Catholic religious
VISION 2013
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