Nuns Across The Orange A History Of The Pioneering Anglican Community Of St Michael And All Angels Bloemfontein

When Sister Emma and the five women who accompanied her from England crossed the Orange River early in 1874, they exchanged the comfortable mainstream of Anglican Church life for the rigours of pioneering new works in an undeveloped country. Living conditions were primitive, travel was hard, and money was always in short supply. The newly-formed Community of St Michael and All Angels opened the first girls’ schools north of the Orange and the first hospital in the Free State. At Kimberley, Sister Henrietta achieved a world first through her successful campaign for the State Registration of nurses. Four Sisters were besieged in Kimberley during the Anglo-Boer War, and in Bloemfontein their Mother House became a military hospital. By faith and determination the Community recovered. St Michael’s School was raised to new standards of excellence, while the Sisters expanded their mission to include Lesotho and the eastern Free State. Decades of work with Bloemfontein’s sick and deprived led to Sister Enid becoming known as Ma Mohau (Mother of Mercy), and to national acclaim in the 1970s as South Africa’s Mother Teresa.

When Sister Emma and the five women who accompanied her from England crossed the Orange River early in 1874, they exchanged the comfortable mainstream of Anglican Church life for the rigours of pioneering new works in an undeveloped country. Living conditions were primitive, travel was hard, and money was always in short supply. The newly-formed Community of St Michael and All Angels opened the first girls’ schools north of the Orange and the first hospital in the Free State. At Kimberley, Sister Henrietta achieved a world first through her successful campaign for the State Registration of nurses. Four Sisters were besieged in Kimberley during the Anglo-Boer War, and in Bloemfontein their Mother House became a military hospital. By faith and determination the Community recovered. St Michael’s School was raised to new standards of excellence, while the Sisters expanded their mission to include Lesotho and the eastern Free State. Decades of work with Bloemfontein’s sick and deprived led to Sister Enid becoming known as Ma Mohau (Mother of Mercy), and to national acclaim in the 1970s as South Africa’s Mother Teresa. This book studies the development of the Community’s religious life, and charts the progress of their work among all races from their foundation until the death of the last Sister in 2016. Across the Orange, their relative isolation from the strong centres of Anglicanism eventually contributed to their demise, but not before they had established an enduring legacy. The work they began in Lesotho is continued by the Community of the Holy Name, while St Michael’s School in Bloemfontein is recognised as one of the finest girls’ schools in South Africa.

A Journey Just Begun tells the story of the only indigenous Canadian Anglican religious order for women, the Sisterhood of St. John the Divine, in a way that celebrates the Sisters' past, describes their present, and looks forward to their future. It focuses on God's transforming love in the lives of the Sisters, and in the lives of those they serve. The 130-year history of the Sisterhood is explored through the lens of its six Reverend Mothers and in the context of the culture of each era. The monastic life as lived today and into the future is portrayed through the lens of monastic sacred space, specifically the architecture and landscaping of the Sisters' chapels and buildings. Photographs and other creative works by the Sisters (visual arts, poetry, and music) illustrate their past, present, and future.

"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 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. 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.

The impact of colonial dispossession and the subsequent social and political ramifications places a unique burden on governments having to establish equitable means of addressing previous injustices. This book considers the efforts by both Canada and South Africa to reconcile the damage left by colonial expansion, in part, looking back with a critical eye, but also pointing the way towards a solution that will satisfy the common need for human dignity

Costly Communion explores a variety of twentieth century Anglican theological responses to concerns regarding Eucharistic doctrine and church order in both English and African contexts and seeks to provide insight into the current divisions confronting the Anglican Communion.