Overview

Witness to Integrity is a first-person account of the historic dispute between the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters (IHM) and James Francis McIntyre, the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles. Former Mother General of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters and president of the Immaculate Heart Community, Anita Caspary, IHM, tells her story of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters' motivations and struggles in their claim for authority and freedom to live a Christian life in accordance with their consciences. The conflicts that lead a part of the Immaculate Heart Sisters' Community to become an ecumenical community are described with vividness. Anita Caspary's personal narrative reflections provide in-depth details of the story that has captured media attention in books, television documentaries, and plays. In addition, the use of original sources from the Immaculate Heart Community archives that have not been open to the public assists in producing new insights and correcting inaccuracies and myths. Chapters are ""The Accusation,"" “Memories of a Catholic Girlhood,” “Background and Beginnings,” “Called to be a Nun,” “Teacher, Professor, and Administrator,” “The Sixties and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart,” “Cardinal James F. McIntyre,” “The Archdiocesan Visitations,” “The 1967 Chapter of Renewal: Creating the Vision,” “Embracing the Vision,” “The Cardinal’s Response to Renewal,” “The Vatican Visitations,” “A Test Case for the Vatican,” “A New Life for Religious Women,” and “The Immaculate Heart Community.” Anita M. Caspary, IHM, PhD, was president of the Immaculate Heart College from 1957 to 1963. She was Mother General of the Immaculate Heart Sisters from 1963 to 1969 and president of the Immaculate Heart Community from 1970 to 1973. She is the author of several articles about the challenge of the Roman Catholic hierarchy by the Immaculate Heart Sisters and has taught in the graduate level for the last three decades. Currently, she writes and teaches poetry at the Immaculate Heart Community in Los Angeles, California. ""

Full Product Details

9780814627709

Table of Contents

Reviews

While its interest to students of religious history of canon law is self-evident, Witness to Integrity can also be highly recommended to readers with a general interest in education, women's studies, or the social/political history of the 'western' world in the mid-twentieth century.Mystics Quarterly As a Council Father and a participant in the struggles of the IHM Sisters, this dramatic case history gripped me in a unique, poignant way. It erupts as the facts unfold, with passion, courage, determination, precisions. It called me to relive some of the basic issues emerging from Vatican II. This is the story of courageous women who embraced both the challenge and the pain in pursuit of their vision of Vatican II. The Immaculate Heart Community is reborn, blazing fresh trails, opening new possibilities for others to follow. I recommend this book to anyone who cares about our Church and is scanning the horizon for signs of new life.Remi J. De Roo, Retired Bishop of Victoria, B.C., Canada Anita Caspary's important and anticipated account captures the challenges facing this vanguard confronted by long-established ecclesiastic authority. In the process, the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary bore the brunt of the opposition, made smooth the path for others, and added their eloquent appeal to the call for redress raised across the feminist spectrum.Gloria Ricci Lothrop, Professor Emerita, California State University

...this book is must reading for all interested in U.S. Catholic history and the role of women in the Catholic Church. Charles E. Curran ...I recommend this book to anyone who cares about our Church and is scanning the horizon for signs of new life. Remi J. De Roo, Retired Bishop of Victoria.

Author Information

Tab Content 6

Countries Available