HWR Conference Program
Whither Women Religious:
Analysing the Past, Studying the Present, Imagining the Future
10th Triennial Conference on the History of Women Religious
June 26–29, 2016 | Santa Clara University
Sunday, June 26, 2016
10:00 a.m.
Sunday Mass | Mission Santa Clara De Asís
Noon–4:00 p.m.
Registration Open | Graham Foyer
2:00–3:00 p.m.
Keynote Address | Graham 156
Deirdre Raftery, University College Dublin
“Researching Women Religious in the 21st Century: Old Challenges and New Opportunities”
3:30–4:00 p.m.
Afternoon break
4:00–5:30 p.m.
Session A | Relationships with Clergy | Graham 163
Chair: Jim Carroll, Iona College
Jamila Jamison Sinlao, University of California, Santa Barbara
“Pioneer Sisters in the West: Catholic Women Religious in the Archdiocese of San Francisco, 1850–1860”
Diane Batts Morrow, University of Georgia
“The Oblate Sisters of Providence and the Josephite Fathers, 1878–1903”
Betty Ann McNeil, D.C., DePaul University
“Crises—Charism, Community, and Cornettes: The Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph’s, Emmitsburg, Maryland, 1809–1849”
Session B | Care for the Earth, Community, and the Whole Person | Graham 164
Chair: Mary Anne Foley, C.N.D., University of Scranton
Donna Maria Moses, O.P., Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
“Religious Life in the Land of Olive Oil and Honey”
Ryan P. Murphy, Temple University
“Corporate Stances as Lived Religion: The Sisters of St. Joseph and Social Justice Activism”
Deborah Torres, Creighton University
“The Impetus of Charism for Women Religious in Response to Human Trafficking”
5:30-7:30 p.m.
Dinner
7:30-9:00 p.m.
Picture in 1,000 Words I | Graham 156
Chair: Catherine R. Osborne, University of Notre Dame
Barbra Mann Wall, University of Virginia
“Photographs as Evidence for Demonstrating the Role of African Sisters in Humanitarian Relief”
Dana A. Freiburger, University of Wisconsin-Madison
“The Many Universes of Seddie Bingham / Sister Aloysia (1873–1899)”
Elizabeth Perry, Framingham State University
“The Stations of Our Saviour’s Passion: An Illuminated Manuscript from Syon Abbey, Lisbon”
Shannen Dee Williams, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
“On Discovering Barkley Hendricks’s My Black Nun (1964)”
Susan Maloney, S.N.J.M., Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
“From Bride of Christ to Unfinished Liturgy: Spiritual Transitions in the Life of Anita M. Caspary, I.H.M.”
Maggie McGuinness, Lasalle University
“Katharine Drexel’s Ministry in Philadelphia”
Natalie Carroll Sargent, University of Notre Dame
“‘One in Heart’: Women Monastics and Active Sisters Come Together”
Monday, June 27, 2016
8:00-9:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00-10:30 a.m.
Session A | Myths and Memory | Graham 163
Chair: Diane Batts Morrow, University of Georgia
Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée, Paris Sorbonne University
“About the Myth of Origins: The Daughters of
Charity and Their Founders (17th–20th Century)”
Jane Kelly, University of Melbourne
“Remembering for the Sake of the Mission and Revisiting the Myths”
Katharine Massam, University of Divinity
“Remembering the Aboriginal Benedictines, Imagining Reconciliation in Australia”
Session B | Educational Praxis | Graham 164
Chair: Elizabeth Smyth, University of Toronto
Jacqueline Gresko, Douglas College New Westminster
“Women Religious Teaching Japanese Evacuees in Canada During World War II: Context and Comparisons”
Melanie Sue Carroll, Syracuse University
“Teaching Nuns and Special Education: Using Historical Models to Inform Contemporary Teacher Preparation”
Carey Pallister, Sisters of St. Ann Archives
“Nurturing the Creative Spirit: The Importance of Teaching of Art in North American Convents”
10:30–11:00 a.m.
Morning break
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Session A | Interrelations: Colonizers and Colonized | Graham 163
Chair: Carmen Mangion, Birkbeck, University of London
Alison Graham, University of Toronto
“Imperializing Femininity: Vowed Women and Enclosure in Spanish Manila, 1620–1790”
Annie Stevens, Webster University
“Making the Future Possible: Lessons in Loretto Mission from China to Pakistan”
Jillian Plummer, University of Notre Dame
“Gender and Sexuality in Christian Mission: Society of the Holy Child Jesus in Nigeria”
Session B | Recovering Voices | Graham 164
Chair: Fernanda Perrone, Rutgers University
Susan Maloney, S.N.J.M., Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
“In Her Own Words: The Spirituality of Anita M. Caspary, I.H.M.”
Nan Cano, I.H.M., Immaculate Heart Community of California
“The Challenges and Rewards of the I.H.M. Community as a Contemporary Ecumenical Community 1970–2015”
Carolyn Osiek, R.S.C.J., Society of the Sacred Heart
“Editing a Saint: The Challenges of Bilingual Transatlantic Cooperation with the Writings of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne”
12:30–2:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00–2:00 p.m.
Docent-led tour | Mission Santa Clara De Asís
2:00–3:30 p.m.
Session A | Picture in 1,000 words II | Graham 156
Chair: Mary Beth Fraser Connolly, Purdue University Northwest
Caroline Bowden, Queen Mary University of London
“Margaret Wake in Her Clothing Gown, 1633”
Caroline N. Mbonu, H.H.C.J., University of Port Harcourt, and Petronilla Umunna, Catholic Institute of West Africa
“Unfolding Dreams: Odyssey of M. Charles Walker,
R.S.C., and the Native Sisterhood (H.H.C.J.)”
Kara French, Salisbury University
“N is for Nun: Women Religious in Early American Children’s Literature”
Rebecca Berru Davis, College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University
“Sister Helene O’Connor, O.P., Liturgical Art: An Apostolate and a Pedagogy For Artists and Educators”
Ryan P. Murphy, Temple University
“Going Against the Flow: The Sisters of St. Joseph and the Redirection of the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia”
Turlough McConnell, Turlough McConnell Communications
“The Sisters of Charity, New York City’s Famine Irish, and the Irish-Catholic American”
Session B | The Changing Classroom | Graham 163
Chair: Melanie Carroll, Syracuse University
Rosa Bruno-Jofré, Queen’s University, and Patricia
Quiroga Uceda, Theory and History of Educational
International Research Group (THEIRG)
“The Religiosas Concepcionistas Misioneras de la Enseñanza in Spain, Late Francoism, and the Reception of the Second Vatican Council”
Christine Baudin Hernandez, St. Agnes Academy
“Sisters and the City: The Dominican Sisters of Houston and the Evolution of an Educational Infrastructure”
Fernanda Perrone, Rutgers University
“Reevaluating the Loretto Community’s Higher Education Mission”
3:30–4:00 p.m.
Afternoon break
4:00–5:30 p.m.
Sisters Negotiating New Roles in the Modern World | Graham 163
Chair: Carol Coburn, Avila University
Carmen M. Mangion, Birkbeck, University of London
“Adapting to the Modern Girl: British Catholic Religious Life, 1940–1970”
Thomas Rzeznik, Seton Hall University
“Still the Sisters’ Hospital?: Transitions in Catholic Healthcare in the 1960s and Beyond”
Theresa Keeley, University of Louisville
“Nuns, an Ex-Nun, and Ronald Reagan: Debating U.S.-Central America Policy in Ireland”
5:30–7:30 p.m.
Dinner
7:30 p.m.
Film: Chosen: Custody of the Eyes | Graham 156
Abbie Reese, Filmmaker
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
8:00–9:00 a.m.
Breakfast
9:00–10:30 a.m.
Roundtable: Challenges and Promises in Researching the History of Women Religious | Graham 156
Chair: Maggie McGuinness, LaSalle University
Carol Coburn, Avila University
Mary Beth Fraser Connolly,
Purdue University Northwest
Elizabeth Smyth, University of Toronto
Kathleen Sprows Cummings,
University of Notre Dame
10:30–11:00 a.m.
Morning break
11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Session A | Getting in Touch with European Roots | Graham 163
Chair: Katharine Massam, University of Divinity
Christine Anderson, Xavier University
“Faith and Action: Continuity in the Religious Life of Sister Blandina Segale, Servant of God”
Joseph Gerard Mannard, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
“‘Enveloped in a Fog of Mystery’: The Strange ‘Elopement’ of Sister Ann Gertrude Wightt from Georgetown Visitation in 1831”
Cecilia Murray, O.P., Mount St. Mary College
“The Monasteries and How They Grew: American Dominican Cloisters”
Session B | On Leaving: Renewal and Reconciliation | Graham 164
Chair: Elizabeth McGahan, University of New Brunswick-St. John Campus
Heidi Elizabeth MacDonald, University of Lethbridge
“Choosing to Leave in the Post-Vatican II Era”
Christine Gervais, University of Ottawa
“Spiritual and Societal Innovations Among Former Women Religious”
12:30–2:00 p.m.
Lunch
Research Round Table for Graduate Students | Graham 163
Chair: Catherine R. Osborne, University of Notre Dame
2:00–3:30 p.m.
Session A | Creation and Preservation of Religious Identities | Graham 163
Chair: Christine Anderson, Xavier University
Jennifer E. De Vries, Georgetown University
“Dressing the Part: Regulations on Clothing in Beguine Life Rules”
Michelle Meza, California State University Fullerton
“Looking Toward the Future: Patronage Networks and Letter-Writing in English Convents, 1600–1800”
Session B | Consequences of Vatican II for Religious Life | Graham 164
Chair: Thomas Rzeznik, Seton Hall University
Sally Witt, C.S.J., Sisters of St. Joseph
“Schools and Hospitals on the Frontier: Sisters of St. Joseph of Concordia, Kansas, in Public Schools and Community Hospitals through the 20th Century”
Rosa Bruno-Jofré, Queen’s University
“Transtemporal and Global Approaches in a Longue Durée History of Religious Congregations: The Process of Renewal of the Sisters of the Infant Jesus (Spanish Province) as Case Study”
3:30–4:00 p.m.
Afternoon break
4:00–5:00 p.m.
Session A | Women Religious Claiming Their Own Theology | Graham 163
Chair: Mary Oates, C.S.J., Regis College
Katie Anne-Marie Bugyis, St. Martin’s University
“Unveiling Women Priests in the Late Middle Ages: the Case of Barking Abbey”
Elissa Cutter, Saint Louis University
“Angélique Arnauld, Reformer, Moinesse, and Théologienne: Jansenism and Counter-Reformation Catholicism at the Convent of Port-Royal”
Session B | Developing Organization Structures: Two Case Studies | Graham 164
Chair: Barbra Mann Wall, University of Virginia
Else-Britt Nilsen, Norwegian School of Theology
“Whither Dominican Sisters? Dominican Sisters International–25 Years”
Elizabeth McGahan, University of New Brunswick–St. John Campus
“Leadership Practices in a Canadian Congregation: An Overview”
5:00–7:00 p.m.
Reception | Location TBD
7:30 p.m.
Banquet | Locatelli Center
Wednesday, June 29
9:00–10:30 a.m.
Keynote Address | Graham 156
Sandra M. Schneiders, I.H.M.
“Whither the Ministry of Women Religious? Critical Historiography as Creative Hermeneutics”
10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
The Future | Graham 156
Chair: Catherine R. Osborne, University of Notre Dame
Mary Johnson, S.N.D. de N., Trinity Washington University
“International Sisters: Where and Who They Are”
Patricia Wittberg, S.C., Indiana University–Purdue University, Indianapolis
“International Sisters in the U.S. Today: Findings from a New Study”
Shannen Dee Williams, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
“‘The Future of the Black Catholic Nun [in the United States] Is Dubious’: Race, Religion, and the Changing Face of the Catholic Sister in the 21st Century World”