Description
Book SynopsisPower of Sisterhood serves as an historical record of the Apostolic Visitation initiated by the Vatican Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. This book delves into the meaning of the Visitation for women religious as they experienced it and as they move into the future.
Trade ReviewEditors Margaret Cain McCarthy and Mary Ann Zollmann, BVM, have rendered a valuable service in gathering these chapters about the Vatican's 2009-2011 Apostolic Visitation (AV) of U.S. congregations of women religious. . . .This book succeeds very well in analyzing how a significant number of sisters experienced the AV. The chapters are very well researched, clearly written, and insightful. They express an inspiring degree of faith and charity. . . .[This book] will be especially useful to scholars of Catholicism, religious history, and women's studies. * American Catholic Studies *
Power of Sisterhood is a multifaceted vehicle for recording the responses of surveyed women religious to the Apostolic Visitation. . . . The authors develop a lively and engaging narrative which captures insightfully individual and communal reactions, providing a rich portrait of the present status of American women religious and an invaluable historical record. I recommend this study highly. -- Howard J. Hubbard, bishop emeritus, Diocese of Albany
If you really want to know what is going on between the nuns and the Vatican, read Power of Sisterhood. This work is clear: the problem is not that the nuns did not “think with the church” (sentire cum ecclesia). The problem is that they did. Power of Sisterhood is a story, a reference book, a history, and most of all, an insight into what happened in every diocese, parish, and convent in the country—as well as what it has meant to be Catholic—in the last 50 years. This book is a landmark in the history of women and a gift to the church. If it will only listen. -- Joan Chittister, OSB
Table of ContentsPrologue Framing the Apostolic Visitation as a Story Mary Ann Zollmann Chapter 1 What Is an Apostolic Visitation? Mary Ann Zollmann Chapter 2 Situating the Apostolic Visitation in Historical and Theological Context Patricia F. Walter Chapter 3 Tracing the Apostolic Visitation through a Chronology of Primary Sources Jean Wincek and Nancy Reynolds Chapter 4 Experiencing the Apostolic Visitation: Part One of the Apostolic Visitation Survey Margaret Cain McCarthy Chapter 5 Experiencing the Apostolic Visitation: Part Two of the Apostolic Visitation Survey Margaret Cain McCarthy Chapter 6 Living It Twice: Sources of Support and Inspiration Marcia Allen Chapter 7 Theological Reflection on the Apostolic Visitation: “Were not our hearts burning within us?” Addie Lorraine Walker Chapter 8 Balanced on Thin Ice: The Most Important Part of the Story Donna Day and Cathy Mueller Chapter 9 The Experience of the Apostolic Visitation: Remembered, Revisioned, Reclaimed, Released Mary Ann Zollmann Epilogue The Power of Silence Mary Ann Zollmann Bibliography List of Contributors
