Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America

By John Fialka and John J. Fialka

Book Overview

In the 1800s, nuns moved west with the frontier, building hospitals and schools in immigrant communities. They provided aid during the Chicago fire, cared for orphans and prostitutes during the California Gold Rush, and brought professional nursing skills to field hospitals on both sides of the Civil War. In the 1900s, nuns built the nation's largest private school and hospital systems, and brought the Catholic Church into the Civil Rights movement. As their numbers began to decline in the 1970s, many sisters were forced to take professional jobs as lawyers, probation workers, and hospital executives because their salaries were needed to support older nuns, many of whom lacked a pension system. Currently there are about 65,000 sisters in America, down from 204,000 in 1968. Their median age is sixty-nine. Nuns became the nation's first cadre of independent, professional women. Some nursed, some taught, and many created and managed new charitable organizations, including large hospitals and colleges. Sweeping in its scope and insight, Sisters reveals the spiritual wealth that these women invested in America.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312325967
• ISBN13: 9780312325961
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.06 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Witness to social decline

This book is at once fascinating and heartbreaking. As a non-Catholic, I was amazed at the accomplishments of Sisters in the US. I used to see them when I was a child, knew they existed but they were mysterious and hidden to me. Reading this book, I feel we have lost something so precious and powerful. As Christianity declines, it is not so much the religion itself I miss, but some - like these - of it's powerful institutions to help others.

Sisters: gutsy, fearless, inspirational women

"Sisters" is a comprehensive look at how Catholic sistes contributed to the development and growth of the United States of America. From hospitals, to schools to homes of refuge for prostitutes, one can see that Catholic sisters are a fearless cadre of determined women who work long hours, sacrifice much and give without counting the cost. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and learning about the Sisters of Mercy in particular, and what it means to be a religious in general. Even the famous Mayo Clinic had its beginning with a Catholic nun, Sr. Roberta, who encouraged Dr. Mayo to create a world-class clinic in the middle of nowhere. He was skeptical, but she was sure she had a mandate from God. Thank you Sr. Roberta for encouraging the Mayo family in this regard. I felt thankful to all of the sisters who had worked diligently in the Catholic schools I attended as a child and I am glad that Mr. Fialka wrote this book to give nuns recognition which they neither desire or expect, but certainly deserve. It should be a part of our American history curriculum.

Well-written history of women with guts and compassion

By the time I entered a Catholic elementary school in 1980, only one elderly sister was rumored to be residing in the church's convent. Two years later, the building was used for storage and our music room. Today, daily obituaries show how accomplished many of these women were - receiving an education that would have been unheard of for most women in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. It was not until I read this book that I really understood just how important these brave women -- and in many cases, young girls -- were in the development of this country, the nursing of its sick, and the education of its youth. This book skillfully explained the complex reasons for the sudden demise and division in the sisterhood today. Even the non-Catholic will be moved to feel concern for aging nuns and gratitude for their efforts. This book also offered a glimmer of hope as it investigated the growth of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading this book as much as I enjoyed learning what it had to tell me.

"Where have all the Sisters gone . . . "

Boy, if this isn't an eye-opener! Not a particularly scholarly treatise (thank God), the book nonetheless chronicles well the incredible story of the impact on our American history and way of life "the Sisters" have had. Living in the "heyday" of the 50's - early 60's, and having had the blessings of a parochial education, I was not only mesmerized by Fialka's exploration of the scope and breadth and depth of the impact nuns in America have had, but deeply saddened to get a fuller sense of the decline of this influence in our society. I'm no feminist, but if any women in our history deserve greater recognition and honor for what they contributed to our lives it's these women. Fialka's narrative bounces around a little, but he keeps you focused on the mostly selfless dedication many of these Sisters lived by. The stereotypical nun whacking your knuckles with a ruler obscures the realities Fialka chronicles in case after case of the love and devotion so many of these Sisters lavished on their students (or patients). His discussion of the causes of the decline of the Sisters as a force in our society cites numerous influences, not least of which were the upheavals in all corners of our social fabric in the mid-late-sixties, nor the disruption (my word) of the "Catholic eco-system" resulting from so much misguided interpretations of Vatican II doctrine. Good book. Read it, revel in your memories, and weep for its demise -- America's great loss.

Extremely interesting book, combines history and information

Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America is anoverview of the influence and contributions of nuns in thevast American land. There are a few statistics, someinterviews, and a great deal of history. History can bea very slow read. It can be to dense to wade through.But Fialka does a great job of presenting history in away that is not only interesting, but also enjoyable toread. The only sad part, of course, comes in the latterpart of the book when he writes of the decline of somany of the sisterhoods. Some of the decline was fast andintense, some has been slower - but all of it seems tobe painful. There are a few glimmers of hope, though.Some of the work done by the Dominican Sisters of Nashvilleand the Oblate Sisters of Providence is wonderful.