Catholics in the United States often went to Catholic schools. Some of the reasons for this is obscured in time, but essentially for groups such as the Irish Catholics it was a matter of survival--culturally, faith-wise and in some places physical survival.
One of my own sisters became a Sister when she was still a teenager and served as an Adrian Dominican for about a dozen years. She was one of the youngest women going into the convent at the time and when she left there were not many Sisters younger than her still there. She had many close friends that left as well, but I don't want to write this post about reasons that may have led to their exodus, I wanted to write this post to say how much I am in debt to the fine women who helped me through my school years who wore the habit.
The Sisters at our school were Sinsinawa Dominicans, but I think it's safe to say that while each order had its own personality, the teaching sisters had very similar goals and characteristics.
At one time there were over 140,000 nuns in this country. If you attended a Catholic school like I did when the Sisters were numerouos, you know what a tremendous service they performed. Sisters were focused on making good Catholics out of us, but you could see they worked very hard themselves on their sanctity as well and doing just about everything with excellence. Visiting convents as a young boy to see my sister, I have some insight on how the Sisters did most everything with precision and determination. They were a special class of people who gave 100% to everything they did.
In the baby boomer classrooms where students often numbered 40 or more (my classes actually had over 50 to a room), the Sisters were overworked and under appreciated. Often the Sisters kept teaching through dreadful illnesses and well into their 70s and 80s. In these overcrowded classrooms often fully stocked with kids today who would be classified as special needs kids and certainly behavior-challenged kids, some of the Sisters would turn to a little corporal punishment (which was essentially the rule of the day for many of our parents in those days) and that seems to be what many Catholics remember or at least talk about.
We should also remember the tears they shed for us, the kindness they showed, the late nights they put in grading papers, the endless prayers they said for us and perhaps more than anything else their determination to see that we set out on the right path. We owe them so much and today we could use them more than ever, but their numbers are dwindling.
I was raised in a family of women with a father who was a tough Irish Catholic cop with a big heart and a special love and respect for the Sisters. The women in my family all faced the women's right movement and related issues in their own individual ways. But for my money, it's hard to imagine more powerful women than the sisters who spent more time than our own mothers guiding 40-60 little souls each day. It's hard to imagine any other job where so much influence was yielded on such a personal level. We may not have bloomed into saints, but we are all better people because of them.
I am one of those who like the funny plays that depict the prototype Sister who is ready to scold the audience in a tough love Catholic school way. But for me these performances are best when the actress gives us little insights of love, kindness and humor that give us a tiny glimpse into our lives years ago. Let's not forget the real Sisters who cared so much for us "back in the day." Do you what you can to show them you care.
