Where have all the
school sisters gone?
by Dorothy Dawes, O.P.

You rarely find them in the schools. When a postulant comes in who is "up for teaching," there is great rejoicing! Meanwhile in the convents there are only a few left of the great women who taught in the Catholic schools, and these, like our dear parents, are growing older. People ask "What ever happened to the nuns?"

The Second Vatican Council happened, in the sixties. Those who had come for security found change instead. Change brought confusion, and in the confusion, many left. It was a heart breaking time for young and old. So where are they now?

Many who left went to other classrooms, enriching other school systems. Some married, raised families, and found their happiness. Many come back to visit; sisterhood is powerful, and not easily dissolved.

Some sisters who are still in community have been called to wider spheres, utilizing their gifts and experience in teaching beyond the classroom. Sister Mary Jordan Langenhennig, who taught for fifteen years in elementary and high school, went on to learn community organizing. Challenged by the church to a "preferential option for the poor," she worked six years with other Dominican women and men among the Cheyenne and Arapahoe people in Oklahoma, after the example of St. Dominic, an itinerant preacher. Returning to New Orleans, she founded All Congregations Together and after five years, moved to bring her organizing skills to Baton Rouge, and other strategic locations in the state, where she continues to make a difference through Working Interfaith Network (WIN) and Louisiana Interfaiths Together (LIFT).

Sister Mary Jeanne Girshefski, who prepared teachers at St. Mary's Dominican College, now finds fulfillment as executive director of Strive Center, whose mission is to assure the most life-enriching experiences for persons with retardation. Parents, family members and clients sing her praise.

Sister Shirley Bodisch moved into work with the deaf, a tradition among Dominicans who trace their roots to Cabra, Ireland, where this work began in 1846. Now she teaches lively scripture classes to adults in five locations, four in Louisiana and one in Mississippi, all in sign language. In the Order of Preachers, she too is an itinerant preacher.

Sister June Engelbrecht became hospice chaplain in Hammond, where she helps the dying to meet God "face to face," and supports grieving family and friends. These are four names that come to mind, and there are others. Only God has the full measure of the lives touched by these sisters. They work very hard, and welcome support from the people of God.

Shaker theology teaches of gift, as in the Shaker hymn, "'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free." Someone asked a Shaker elder about their coming demise, and received the answer, "It was a gift for a time." Sisters in so many classrooms were a gift for a time, and courageous women today are giving their gifts wherever God calls them. Those who lament their loss to the classroom can thank God for the gift they were, encourage those still in schools and their lay successors, and seek to understand, support, and welcome the larger mission of today's sisters to the church.

Reprinted with permission from Clarion Herald, December 9, 1999