Constitutions Of The Sisters Of Charity Of Nazareth Kentucky

Roman Catholic sisters first traveled to the American West as providers of social services, education, and medical assistance. In Across God's Frontiers, Anne M. Butler traces the ways in which sisters challenged and reconfigured contemporary ideas about women, work, religion, and the West; moreover, she demonstrates how religious life became a vehicle for increasing women's agency and power. Moving to the West introduced significant changes for these women, including public employment and thoroughly unconventional monastic lives. As nuns and sisters adjusted to new circumstances and immersed themselves in rugged environments, Butler argues, the West shaped them; and through their labors and charities, the sisters in turn shaped the West. These female religious pioneers built institutions, brokered relationships between Indigenous peoples and encroaching settlers, and undertook varied occupations, often without organized funding or direct support from the church hierarchy. A comprehensive history of Roman Catholic nuns and sisters in the American West, Across God's Frontiers reveals Catholic sisters as dynamic and creative architects of civic and religious institutions in western communities.

The often forgotten role of Catholic sisters is told in experiences deeply rooted in self-realization and feminist methodology. In this collection of thirteen essays the contributors illuminate the little known world of a very creative and committed community of women—their aspirations, their values, their mission. An often neglected part of feminist research, this type of sisterly collaboration affirms the seminal paradigms in women's work and writing. These essays deal with many of the same issues of power, economic autonomy, friendship, spirituality, socialization, and professional commitment encountered in other feminist endeavors. Building Sisterhood gives the reader insight into the rigorous training involved in becoming a nun, including the complex relationships between the Monroe community, other IHM sites, and within the intricate church hierarchy. Feminist historian Margaret Susan Thompson places the essays within a historical context and provides detailed background for those unfamiliar with the life, duty, and experience of Catholic sisters. This book will make a unique contribution to feminist scholarship, religious studies, and women's history