The far-flung sisters of Global Sisters Report form instant connection

Earlier this week, I was reviewing a webinar on women religious by Sr. Sandra Schneiders of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The presentation was part of a FutureChurch series called “Women Erased.”

She said when she prepared to address the topic, she was a little puzzled at the idea of erasure when it came to women religious. Ignored? Denigrated? Abused? Maybe. But erased?

I laughed when she described how we had even survived recent attempts of a patriarchal church to “domesticate” us. Religious life continues to produce stellar women who excel in their chosen fields of the arts, education, health care, politics and theology — not exactly the faceless, nameless “good sisters” of yesteryear — and who are less dependent on numbers than on competence and call.

Acknowledging declining numbers and increasing age in some parts of the world, she marveled at how younger members entering in small numbers don’t seem focused on ministry, property, dress or survival, but on how to engage with like-minded others in what they are giving themselves to: becoming religious women.