The immediate past leader of the main group of U.S. Catholic sisters is to receive an honorary doctorate from Jesuit-run Fairfield University.
Sr. Pat Farrell, the past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws at the Connecticut institution's annual commencement, the university announced Friday.
The Ignatian Solidarity Network will honor St. Joseph Sr. Helen Prejean with the “Robert M. Holstein: Faith that Does Justice Award” May 7 in New Orleans. Prejean is known for her work advocating against the death penalty.
So do we need to be reminded yet again of what U.S. Catholics think of their women religious?
Here’s another measure of affection:
Nearly 500 people jammed into a conference room April 13 at the St. Regis Hotel for Catholic Charities CYO’s annual Loaves and Fishes awards dinner and gala. Each year organizers honor some worthy recipient with the Loaves and Fishes Award for Faith in Action. It’s for someone who has done extraordinary work on behalf of the needy of the archdiocese.
The president of the primary group of U.S. Catholic sisters has asked Pope Francis to consider appointing women to "major leadership posts" in the church and to be open to dialog with women religious.
Franciscan Sr. Florence Deacon, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), makes those encouragements in the May issue of U.S. Catholic, the magazine published by the Claretians.
Sr. M. Patrice Kerin, a Franciscan sister in Sylvania, Ohio, who served as general superior and established the health care system Franciscan Services Corporation, died April 7 after a brief illness. She was 86.
Kerin was a good debater and listener, someone who helped people discover solutions instead of giving orders herself, friends said. She exhibited Franciscan values and Irish hospitality, they said.
"She had just a wonderful way of giving you the reverence that you were the only person that was important to her at that time," Franciscan Sr. Rachel Nijakowski said.
A Belfast choir about to perform the production “The Sound of Music” became a little more connected to the story’s protagonist.
Choir member Sr. Dympna O'Daly reveals that she and Maria von Trapp, the woman on which “The Sound of Music” is based, were pen pals, according to BBC News.
Visit BBC News to find out how the correspondence began and what they discussed.
Fr. José Rodríguez Carballo, the new second-in-command for the Vatican's religious congregation, is "personally modest, friendly and joyful," his predecessor said.
Women religious in the news
The last nun to run a Chicago-area hospital stepped down March 27 after 35 years.
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The former head of many of the world's Franciscans will be responsible for men and women religious around the world as well as the controversial study of US sisters.
Benedictine Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki received the Archbishop Oscar Romero Award from the Mercyhurst University Religious Studies Department. The award is given out each year to an “organization or individual who meets the criteria of ‘living the call of faith and justice in an extraordinary manner,’” according to The Merciad, Mercyhurst’s newspaper.
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