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Archives: An Opportunity for Leadership and Religious Archivists
As president of the Benedictine Sisters of the Federation of St. Scholastica, I have become more and more aware of the importance of keeping well organized and accurate archives. However, it seems that tending to archives is often left on the backburner of issues considered by religious superiors, given the huge array of pressing matters…
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A Rich, Painful Experience
On July 31, 1973, Sister Rita Anne Houlihan, r.c., was arrested and held prisoner for 14 days for picketing with the United Farm Workers in Fresno, California. Fifty-three women and 150 men were arrested that day, including 16 sisters and 24 priests. The religious men and women had come to Fresno to “witness to the…
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My Journey in Religious Archives
I had plunged into the waters of religious archives as the result of research in women’s history in Chicago. One particular episode had to do with the historical research I contributed to my colleague Ellen Skerrett’s curation of the B. V. M. section of the Loyola University Chicago’s Art Museum exhibition “Crossings and Dwellings: Restored…
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Southwest Franciscans, An Evolving History
The Franciscans have a long history in the Southwest. Fray Marcos de Niza saw Zuni Pueblo in 1539, leading to centuries of evangelization and struggle. After Mexico gained independence from Spain, trust in the Franciscans diminished and their numbers in the Southwest declined until the last died in 1848. Fifty years later, at the request…
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Responding to research needs: the response of the Maryknoll Mission Archives
Late in the spring of 2011 the Maryknoll Mission Archives, a collaborative venture of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, Maryknoll Sisters and Maryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful, launched its website and opened its virtual doors to the world. The site included information for researchers about using the Archives, an Archon component through which we…
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Alexian Brothers
The Alexian Brothers, working closely with the Archdiocese of Chicago, responded to the problem of support for men and women with AIDS or ARC with a residential facility called “Bonaventure House” after the founder of the American province, Brother Bonaventure Thelen, C.F.A. The facility was not a hospital or hospice; rather, it provided room and…
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A Community Leader’s View
One of the responsibilities of Leadership is preserving the legacy of their congregation, especially as some congregations are growing smaller and looking at some type of closure. I know that there is a fear of losing the history and contributions of smaller less known congregations. Although these congregations are small, they hold a unique part…
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Sister St. Francis Sullivan, CSJ
Sister St. Francis Sullivan devoted her career as a Sister of St. Joseph to the education of young women. By 1931, she had earned a doctorate in French. After teaching high she began her forty-year career in the French Department at Regis College as faculty and chair, in addition to fulfilling other collegiate duties, as…
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“Don’t forget the Sisters!”
When I started research for my forthcoming book Chicago Católico: Making Parishes Mexican, 1920-77, historian Ellen Skerrett sagely suggested “Don’t forget the Sisters!” I gathered abundant material from Mexican parishioners and Claretian clergy at St. Francis of Assisi, a church known as Chicago’s catedral mexicana. But with Ellen’s words ringing in my ears, I contacted…
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Medardo Brualla, CMF
Father Medardo Brualla, a Claretian Priest serving the Mexican Community at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Los Angeles, California became the point person working with public heath personnel during the 1924 bubonic plague in this Mexican enclave. A quarantined area was established to prevent outsiders who wanted to profit from the community’s abandoned…
