Overview

Winner, Conference on the History of Women Religious (CHWR) Distinguished Book Award Winner, 2014 Catholic Book Award in History presented by the Catholic Press Association For many Americans, nuns and sisters are the face of the Catholic Church. Far more visible than priests, Catholic women religious teach at schools, found hospitals, offer food to the poor, and minister to those in need. Their work has shaped the American Catholic Church throughout its history. Yet despite their high profile, a concise history of American Catholic sisters and nuns has yet to be published. In Called to Serve, Margaret M. McGuinness provides the reader with an overview of the history of Catholic women religious in American life, from the colonial period to the present. The early years of religious life in the United States found women religious in immigrant communities and on the frontier, teaching, nursing, and caring for marginalized groups. In the second half of the twentieth century, however, the role of women religious began to change. They have fewer members than ever, and their population is aging rapidly. And the method of their ministry is changing as well: rather than merely feeding and clothing the poor, religious sisters are now working to address the social structures that contribute to poverty, fighting what one nun calls “social sin.” In the face of a changing world and shifting priorities, women religious must also struggle to strike a balance between the responsibilities of their faith and the limitations imposed upon them by their church. Rigorously researched and engagingly written, Called to Serve offers a compelling portrait of Catholic women religious throughout American history.

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9780814795569

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Reviews

Conveys the history of American women's religious life in its astonishing breadth and diversity. McGuinness writes with the authority of a scholar and the ease of a storyteller. Her collective portrait of the women who have for so long represented the face of the American Catholic church will be useful not only to historians of women and of religion in the United States, but also to general readers who wish to learn about the often hidden and far-ranging contributions vowed women have made to church and nation. -Kathleen Sprows Cummings, University of Notre Dame

For generations of American Catholics, the face of their church was, quite literally, a woman's face. McGuinness recovers the compelling story of these sisters and puts them back at the center of American Catholic history. - James M. O'Toole, Boston College McGuinness writes with the authority of a scholar and the ease of a storyteller. Her portrait of the women who have for so long represented the face of the American Catholic church will be useful to readers who wish to learn about the often hidden and far-ranging contributions vowed women have made to church and nation. - Kathleen Sprows Cummings, University of Notre Dame McGuinness culls wide-ranging historical evidence, examines European roots, and brings contribution to greater light and perspective with her collective story of many communities across the United States, beginning with the Ursuline sisters in New Orleans in 1727...This is a comprehensive, objective, and readable contribution to a subject of growing interest despite fewer numbers of sisters. - Library Journal Margaret McGuiness's book is brimful of... telling anecdotes and it reminds us that the experience of women religious in North America represents a unique and compelling chapter in Roman Catholic history [...] The book does not romanticise the past (as one might expect, there were both good nuns and bad nuns) but it is impossible not to admire many of the characters in this book and feel sorry about what they had to endure. - Catholic Herald

Conveys the history of American women's religious life in its astonishing breadth and diversity. McGuinness writes with the authority of a scholar and the ease of a storyteller. Her collective portrait of the women who have for so long represented the face of the American Catholic church will be useful to not only to historians of women and of religion in the United States, but also to general readers who wish to learn about the often hidden and far-ranging contributions vowed women have made to church and nation. -Kathleen Sprows Cummings, University of Notre Dame

For generations of American Catholics, the face of their church was, quite literally, a woman's face. McGuinness recovers the compelling story of these sisters and puts them back at the center of American Catholic history. James M. O'Toole, Boston College McGuinness writes with the authority of a scholar and the ease of a storyteller. Her portrait of the women who have for so long represented the face of the American Catholic church will be useful to readers who wish to learn about the often hidden and far-ranging contributions vowed women have made to church and nation. Kathleen Sprows Cummings, University of Notre Dame

Author Information

Margaret M. McGuinness is Professor of Religion and Executive Director of the Office of Mission Integration at La Salle University, Philadelphia. She served as co-editor of American Catholic Studies from 2001 until 2013. Previous publications include: A Catholic Studies Reader and Neighbors and Missionaries: A History of the Sisters of Our Lady of Christian Doctrine.

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