Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America

by John J. Fialka

Sisters is the first major history of the pivotal role played by nuns in the building of American society. Nuns were the first feminists, argues Fialka. They became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges.

In the 1800s nuns moved west with the frontier, often starting the first hospitals and schools in immigrant communities. They provided aid and service in the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes in the California Gold Rush and brought professional nursing skills to field hospitals run by both armies in the Civil War. Their work was often done in the face of intimidation from such groups as the Know Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan.

In the 1900s they built the nation's largest private school and hospital systems and brought the Catholic Church into the civil rights movement. As their numbers began to decline in the 1970s, many sisters were forced to take professional jobs as lawyers, probation workers, managers and hospital executives because their salaries were needed to support older nuns, many of whom lacked a pension system. Currently there are about 75,000 sisters in America, down from 204,000 in 1968. Their median age is sixty-nine.

In Sisters, Fialka reveals the strength of the spiritual capital and the unprecedented reach of the caring institutions that religious women created in America.

Genres: Nonfiction, Religion, History, Catholic, American History, Spirituality

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 24, 2003

Reviews

[Liesl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is chock full of anecdotes and life stories of various sisters across various regions of America. I think my favorite might be Sister Blandina, who braved the Wild West in Colorado. It's so interesting to see how the times change: back in the day, women flocked to religious life seemingly without second thought, whereas now I feel like the concept of vocational discernment is a more drawn-out process.

Also, bishops were so silly sometimes. I've been thinking about the vow of obedience recently and how obedience as a virtue relies on trust. If you trust that your authority figure has your best intentions in mind, it's easy to obey. But many of these religious sisters knew that their bishops were driven by ego and control issues, instead of genuine concern for their orders, which made it easy for them to say "nah" when bishops were being stubborn.

God has been calling women to positions of authority for ages. Since the book was published in 2003, there's been another twenty years of Sister History that haven't been recorded. How is the vocational crisis faring compared to the crisis that began in the 60s?

Author did not use Oxford commas, much to my chagrin, so as I read I marked them in myself.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book until it got to the tumultuous time following the Council. It basically exhibits the history of religious women (particularly the Sisters of Mercy) in the United States from the founding of the nation to the present day. The first two-thirds, to me at least, is a great chronicle of the contributions of women religious to the Church and the nation but then ... it happens.

What happens? The sisters "modernize" aka pick up the mind and heart of the world and ditch that which made them great. And what happens? Sisters leave in droves, those who stay twist the charisms of their orders according to the mind of the world and started to drift from the original purpose of their vocation: the unify themselves and other more perfectly to Christ. Some orders have claimed to have moved "beyond Jesus" which only illustrates further what is wrong with many religious orders of women today.

Also, the one mention of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma is condescending as if they (the Almas) were the rebels when they (the larger group of Mercies) were the rebels who went against what Venerable Catherine had in mind for her religious order.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

My education was under the direction of The Religious Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh, PA. What a rich history these ladies enjoy. They are incredible with their level of sacrifice and dedication. There was only one I had issues with, all the rest were lovely to me and held my interests to heart. Their story of spreading educational and medical support to those who needed them is a revelation. Why there isn't a huge memorial constructed to their honor is beyond me.

Well written with many insights and curious background stories. Of course, I would have relished more about the ones in the Pittsburgh area.

[Maria Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected it to be. The author has a very liberal stance and the book is definitely from a secular perspective. Approximately half the book discusses the upheavals that occurred in many religious orders after Vatican II. The author discusses how those women who are members of un-habited orders are dying out, and cannot seem to make the connection between the orders who are habited flourishing.

[Alicia Snyder]

i love this kind of stuff. i really need to finish this book.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this at my library and grabbed it knowing nothing about it. It was a fascinating read and introduced me the amazing sacrifice this woman do. Great read.

[Lisa of Hopewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting

[Mary Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 *
This account of Catholic Sisters (not nuns, despite the title; there are nuns in the United States meaning, members of cloistered monastic communities, but they do not get mentioned here) focuses primarily on the Sisters of Mercy, the biggest congregation of Sisters in the US, with apparently terrific archives, and also the author's high school teachers.

Fialka describes the heroism of these women, who, particularly in the 1800s, lived highly sacrificial lives, often underfed, overworked and sometimes literally giving their beds, pillows and mattresses to the poor. I was humbled to read of their unstinting dedication.

Fialka focuses on the Sisters who began missions in pioneer territory and intimates that, though their physical deprivation was often extreme, they acted with a degree of liberty and creativity that was gradually restricted as the "frontier" shrank and the works they began become more institutionalized. At about the same time, the many local foundations of the Sisters of Mercy were united in one confederation and the first Sister to head it emphasized igid uniformity. (To be fair, I think this focus existed in other religious congregations at that time as well.) But, in Fialka's telling, the Sisters still had an esprit de corps and a love of laughter that kept them going despite constraints.

Then, 1968: almost overnight, many religious communities, including the Sisters of Mercy, experienced a radical drop in the number of new vocations. And apparently the Sisters of Mercy did not respond to this with any efforts to reach out to encourage vocations to their community for several decades. As portrayed in this book, they were wholeheartedly engaged in the civil rights movement, the women's movement, and entering into the experience of the poor and oppressed whom they vowed to serve; but as a result, they faced a daunting "age gap" as they entered the 21st century.

Fialka ends the book with a look at the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, a religious congregation that changed little after Vatican II - still in long, flowing habits, still following an intense schedule of community prayer, still laser-focused on teaching in Catholic schools - that is remarkable for the number of young women who continue to enter formation every year. Much as he loves his Sisters of Mercy and lauds their efforts on behalf of social justice, he intimates that the Dominicans may have chosen the better part.

The first two-thirds of the book were rollicking and inspiring. The last section, no fault of the author, was something of a downer. Perhaps the book would have ended on a more balanced note had he looked at a broader range of religious communities active in the American Church today.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating story of Catholic nuns and how they fit into the history of the US. The book most focused on one prominent order, The Sisters of Mercy.
Nuns are so important to the Roman Catholic religion, and the history of the US as a whole, especially in the nursing and education sectors. They really were the first radical feminists of America.
I really enjoyed most of this book. It's a bit long and hefty, but it's not written like a textbook and more of a story. I especially enjoyed the history parts. Reading about how nuns really helped established the nursing profession was something I was particularly interested in. I was inspired by the talk of their work in the Civil War, when they worked very hard for little to no money, and were actually tapped by generals to nurse dying soldiers.
I also didn't realize that they had to travel here in the 1800s by ship. I mean, I logically knew that, but the book went into the arduous sea voyage, and how most of the times they were the only women on the boat. I was particularly impressed by the travel to San Francisco from Ireland, and I give the bishop credit for getting them to take the chance. It must have taken some finagling and maybe a white lie or two.
Fialka said in the introduction and an interview that he wanted to write this book because he feels indebted to the nuns who taught him; in fact, he dedicated this work to his high school English teacher. My biggest beef with this is the fact that he seems to see the Catholic church through rose-colored glasses. He barely touches on the sexual abuse scandal at all, which has rocked the Catholic world, including nuns. Also, women (and men, but less so) are choosing a religious life at such a fraction that they did in the past that some scholars think that in the next generation there won't be Catholic sisters anymore. He touches on this a tiny bit, especially in the section where he talks about new sisters joining an order, but he chooses to profile an order that is experiencing more recruits than any other in the nation. I felt like he wasn't doing his due diligence as a journalist by examining these important issues, and instead only focusing on the good parts. And when a woman decided that she didn't want to be a nun, he didn't look into her reasons why, he just kind of looked down on her.
I get it, a Catholic nun from the Sisters of St. Joseph changed the trajectory of my life. She was a mentor throughout my college career, and even went to my pinning ceremony. But you can't ignore the dire straits these sisters, and the Church as a whole, are in now.

[Rem · Rating 4 out of 5]

"One of the remarkable thins about nuns is that they did all this in a seemingly endless, often-losing battle of the sexes with Cathlolic bishops, many of whom were accustomed to treating them as subjects. Nuns versus bishops, perhaps the nation's oldest gender war, has endured for over 150 years.
Here is an event that sociologists and historians still puzzle over: In 1968 there were 179,974 sisters--convents had filled to an all-time high. The following year the flow of young women into the sisterhood nearly stopped. It was as if someone had turned off a tap. The causes are many and complex...Membership...was being replaced by a cynicism bred by the Vietnam War about government and all authority...In the outside world, professional opportunities for young women in business, law, medicine, and the arts had begun to appear. For the first time many doors were opening for the woman who wanted something more.
One other cause: The all-male officialdom of the Catholic Church convened in Rome...to rewrite the rules of the Church." pg. 15

"The bishop once chided Mother Russell in a letter, once saying "your heart is bigger than your purse." She might have lacked the money to properly support some of her causes, but when it came to courage, that was a different matter.

Mother Russell came to live there [the Pest House] until Bishop Alemany ordered her back to the convent, saying that a "general's place was at headquarters directing operations, not exposing herself as a common soldier." pg. 88

PAGE 89 (TOP) REFERENCE TO AN EARLIER CHAPTER???

"[Segregated cemeteries] Despite over a century of efforts by Mother Elizabeth Langer, Saint Katherine Drexel and many other individual Catholics to defeat intolerance; despite the fact that the Civil Rights had been brewing in the South and in the media since 1955, the Catholic Church had still not roused from its self-induced torpor about racial matters." pg. 196??

"Our intention throughout this was to always remain, but to change whatever makes it difficult for us to operate in the modern world. But her faction...couldn't live with the decrees from Rome. in 1970, they asked to be dispensed from their vows. ...The unthinkable was allowed to happen...Monsignor Weber points out in his brief for the cardinal, "there was never any groundswell of support for the sisters in many other [religious] communities locally or nationally. That appears to be true...This may have more to do with American than Rome. The shocks the 1960s delivered were profound. A parade of demonstrations, riots, assassinations and rebellious rhetoric had left the nation divided but in a distinctly conservative mood." pg. 223

"The legacy of more than 400,000 women who have been Catholic sisters in America is a peculiar kind of gift. They educated millions of us, healed millions more. They inculcated the spirit of giving ans built the schools ans hospitals that make healthy comunities, and in that sense, they have given us living reference points that help define the quality of American life.
They have been a source of care and hope in nearly every American crisis, from the War of 1812 to the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Theu were there for us in the Chicago fire, the San Francisco Earthquake. They stood fast among the chaos and superstition of the yellow fever outbreaks in New Orleans and pitched in when others preferred to ignore the AIDS outbreak in the 1990s. Along the way they shaped our history. Without sisters it is fair to say our frontier cities and the Wild West wod habe been mich wilder places. It is also fair to say that without them the American Catholic Church would be but a shadow of its current self. Their gift is peculiar because it is largely unexamined. Older Cathlolics seem to have to take it for granted. Younger Catholics don't know much about it. This is partly because of the odd experiences of growing up in a church that was built on the faith, courage, idealism, self-sacrifice and sweat equity if young women. Yet in parochial school when we read church history, we read about the pronouncements and the activities and opinions of elderly men.
Part of the reason for this is that, historically, sisters have been trained to be self-effacing. Their mission was to give attention, not to receive it; to cure poverty, not to complain of their own. Another part of the reason is that thr American Catholic Church...is one of the country's most poorly understood institutions.
Because of the sheer breadth of the experience of Catholic sisters in America, this book--with a few excursions--uses the journey of the Sisters of Mercy to tell the larger story. There is great diversity among the nation's four hundred orders of sisters, but members of most of them will see much in the adventures of the Mercies that is similar to their own experiences, including the more recent years." Pp. 325-326

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. It gave me a new look into the nuns who taught me in school growing up. I always figured they had zero fun, which was why they hated us kids so much. now I am pretty sure it was because they only had one way of teaching, they way it was always done .
I think this should be real in every seminary and every women's study class.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd like to give this 4.5 stars but that option is not available. I read this historical account several years ago and was quite impressed that so many young immigrant women came to America, and with sheer devotion and cooperation, built schools, hospitals, and charity organizations to meet the needs of others. It is also about the rise and decline of women to make this same commitment to service. Their contributions to American society is astonishing. Anyone who attended Catholic school, or was served at a Catholic hospital, will reflect with renewed appreciation for the devotion to service these women provided. It is inspirational reading.

[Kate Lapinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book I wanted to read before I even knew it existed. Nuns are underrated and not taken very seriously beyond nostalgic thoughts of catholic school, but oh my god! should they not be. They are a force! This book follows one order (The Sisters of Mercy) from their founding, detailing how much they contributed to many, many communities in America, and how their work in education and running hospitals impacted society. It gave me a lot to think about in regards to women's work, the impact of (now) having very little religion in daily life, and selflessness and community. All things I don't think about nearly enough.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opening. Made me sad & angry.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating, interesting, important read.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

True feminism!