-- Donna Markham, OP

 

For more than 150 years, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine and other congregations of Catholic women religious have served America’s most vulnerable residents. Their ministries of health care, education and social service are significant, faith-based resources that strengthen a community’s capacity to help those most in need.

 

The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland understands that thousands of families and individuals rely on the services provided by ministries of Catholic women religious every day.

 

The Foundation works in partnership with others to strengthen Sister-led/Sister-sponsored ministries. A key objective is to build awareness of the enduring impact of women religious and their ministries for individuals, communities and America.

 

In 2001, the Foundation supported research which identified collaboration and capacity-building activities as an essential tool for strengthening and sustaining ministries. The following year, the Saint Ann Foundation began its support of collaborative efforts among congregations of Catholic women religious. The Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland continues this work, which now includes a partnership with the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina to assist women religious throughout that state.

 

Saint Ann Legacy grants are available to ministries of women religious in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee (Region VI of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious). These grants commemorate the Saint Ann Foundation, which was dedicated to supporting women, children and youth and the ministries of women religious.

 

 

The Foundation is pleased to announce that a grantee project, Women in Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America, produced by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, will premiere this May at the Cincinnati Museum Center. The traveling exhibit will tour the United States until 2012.