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By prayer and petition: the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament's mission of evangelization and Americanization, 1891-1935
Bresie, Amanda Louise
Bresie, Amanda Louise
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[Fort Worth, Tex.] : Texas Christian University,
Date
2014
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Abstract
This dissertation uses the educational and social justice activities of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People (SBS) to challenge misconceptions about the role of the American Catholic nun in national debates on race, education, and the boundaries of church and state. Though absent from reform literature, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament adopted the Progressive paradigm and translated it into the Catholic idiom. In an age of anti-Catholicism, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament sought to prove that not only were Catholics Americans, they could help Americanize other racial groups. Examining the SBS from its foundation in 1891 to the 1935 retirement of Superior General Mother Katharine Drexel, this study shows that the SBS played a significant role in directing Catholic policy towards minorities. An heiress, Mother Katharine Drexel personally funded the dozens of schools run by her own congregation. More remarkably, she is partially responsible for aiding almost every single Catholic mission and school for both Indians and African Americans. Her donations also gave her power over policy, something few Catholic women enjoyed. Far from dying to the world, Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament steadily broadened their definitions of mission to include advocating for legislative agendas. They used Eucharistic language and the metaphor of the Mystical Body of Christ to justify their forays into public policy. Mission work required prayer but also congressional lobbying, fearless negotiations, and savvy media campaigns. While not a radical, Drexel was, nonetheless, radically Catholic and pushed the Church to recognize racism as a sin. SBS actions and theology offer a rebuttal to the belief that Catholics did not participate in racial reform until Vatican II, and it belies the notion that political participation of sisters is a modern development.
Contents
Subject
Subject(s)
Drexel, Katharine Mary, Saint, 1858-1955.
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People History.
Catholic Church Missions United States History.
Catholic Church Education United States History.
Monasticism and religious orders for women United States History.
Church work with Indians Catholic Church.
Church work with African Americans Catholic Church.
Social justice Religious aspects Catholic Church.
Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People History.
Catholic Church Missions United States History.
Catholic Church Education United States History.
Monasticism and religious orders for women United States History.
Church work with Indians Catholic Church.
Church work with African Americans Catholic Church.
Social justice Religious aspects Catholic Church.
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Dissertation
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History