Exhibit Focuses on ‘Wonderful and Courageous’
Women Religious Missionaries
By Father Dan Dorsey

In mid-May I attended the opening of the Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America exhibit here in Cincinnati. The exhibit narrates the story of women religious who contributed significantly to the history and culture of the United States. Arriving on U.S. shores almost 300 years ago, Catholic sisters began establishing schools, hospitals and colleges, as well as staffing social service outreach programs that have served millions.

Father Dan Dorsey

Through the exhibit I met sisters “who corresponded with President Thomas Jefferson, talked down bandits and roughnecks, lugged pianos into the wilderness and provided the nation’s first health insurance to Midwestern loggers.” (Women & Spirit brochure)

At some of the most poignant moments in our nation’s history—the Civil War, the Gold Rush, the San Francisco earthquake, the influenza epidemic of 1918, the civil rights movement and Hurricane Katrina—women religious brought the love and compassion of Jesus Christ to those most in need.

By the time I reached the end of the exhibit I was marveling at what wonderful and courageous missionaries these women were and are. I wondered where we would be as a Church and as a country without their missionary efforts.

I also began to appreciate in a deeper way the impact that women religious have had in Glenmary’s home mission effort. The Glenmary Sisters have led the way over the years in their commitment to the mission areas of rural and small-town America, and their innovation and creativity are an inspiration to me.

As I drove home that night I thought of the question the founder of Glenmary posed to the Church in the 1930s: “Does the command to ‘Go and teach all nations’ make an exception of our own? These vast sections of our land, with millions of unchurched families, are just as legitimate a field of missionary enterprise as Africa and China.”

The cover story of this issue celebrates the 20th anniversary of our Lay Pastoral Coordinator Program. The contribution women religious have made by serving as pastoral coordinators of Glenmary missions serving those “vast sections of our land” continues to play a significant role in our home mission ministry efforts. To each of these missionaries: Thank you.

• Franciscan Sister Sara Aldridge, Vanceburg, Ky., 1989-92;
• Sister of Social Service Chris Bennett, Daingerfield, Texas, 1991-92;
• Divine Providence Sister Mary Bordelon, Metter, Ga., 2007-present;
• Dominican Sister Maria Goretti Browne, Morehead, Ky., 1990-93, and Grayson, Ky., 1999-06;
• Daughters of Mary of the Immaculate Conception Sister Mary Cronin, Moulton, Ala., 1992;
• Providence Sister Joseph Fillenwarth, Vanceburg, Ky., 1995-2005;
• Franciscan Sister Marie Colette Gerry, Grayson, Ky., 2007-present;
• Charity Sister Marie Gilligan, Amory, Miss., 1992-98;
• Sister of Notre Dame Edna Maier, Clintwood, Va., 1998-99;
• Franciscan Sister Mary Jean Morris, Bruce, Miss., 2001-present;
• Sister of St. Joseph Kate Regan, Ripley, Miss., 2000-present;
• Daughters of St. Mary of Guadalupe Sister Arcadia Rivera-Gutierrez, Plymouth, N.C., 2008-present;
• Divine Providence Sister Florita Rodman, Amory, Miss., 1999-2004;
• Franciscan Sister Lene Rubly, Franklin, Ky., 1993-98;
• Sister Alies Thérèse, Ackerman and Eupora, Miss., 2002-present.

Over the next year the exhibit will travel to Dallas, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Liberty Island, N.Y.; and Dubuque, Iowa. I hope you will make a point to attend. I think you’ll not only be inspired and moved—but you’ll also catch the missionary spirit!