Religious Communities

"Out of traditions of the past, we find meaning for the present and hope for the future, responding as our founding sisters did to the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of God's people..."

-- Sr. Mary Denis Maher, CSA, Ph.D.

Certified Archivist

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 Foundation’s primary geographic focus for Religious Communities grants is Northeast Ohio, which it defines as encompassing the Dioceses of Cleveland and Youngstown. In addition, the Foundation builds awareness of the enduring impact of women religious and their ministries beyond this region.

News

Women & Spirit was recently featured in the Catholic Universe Bulletin. Sister Marian Durkin, a foundation Board member, is highlighted in a photo leading a group tour. See the article here: Women and Spirit exhibit inspires faithful at Maltz Museum

The Foundation is pleased to announce that the traveling exhibit, Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America is now appearing at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage through August 28th. A project supported by this Foundation at its earliest stage, the exhibit has been shown to date in Cincinnati, OH, Dallas, TX and Washington, D.C. at The Smithsonian.

First arriving on America’s shores almost 300 years ago, Catholic sisters built and led schools, hospitals, orphanages, colleges, and other social institutions at a time when women had few professional opportunities. This fascinating compilation of first-person accounts, rare artifacts, compelling films and important photographs reveals a new perspective on American history, and includes stories with special significance in this region.

Women & Spirit is a project of The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with Cincinnati Museum Center. LCWR is an association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. The Conference has more than 1,500 members, representing about 95% of America’s 68,000 women religious.

The exhibit comes to Cleveland through the generosity of Signature Sponsors The Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, Notre Dame College, PNC, Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, and Ursuline College/Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland and The John P. Murphy Foundation and The Thomas and Sandra Sullivan Family, with additional support from Cleveland Foundation, Marymount Hospital/Cleveland Clinic, the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation, the Samuel H. and Maria Miller Foundation and Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton.

Catch a look Women & Spirit in this video, but we urge you to see it for yourself! (At left, two Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, Regina Fierman (center) and Joan Gallagher (right) tour the exhibit in Cincinnati.)

Collaboration for Ministry Initiative

Now in its seventh year, the Collaboration for Ministry Initiative (CMI) encourages partnerships and networks among women religious and between women religious and their lay partners. The effort grew from Foundation-supported research conducted in 2001 that identified collaboration as an important strategy for strengthening and sustaining ministries.

CMI currently supports research on the ministries of women religious in Cleveland and its inner ring suburbs by Rob Fischer, Ph.D., Co-Director of the Center on Urban Poverty & Community Development at Case Western Reserve University. This research is looking into the impact of the Diocesan reconfiguration process on these ministries and the Sisters’ vision and challenges for these ministries as they move forward. CMI also supports active collaborations of congregations such as the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking, in which six congregations work together to build awareness and expand resources on the issue of human trafficking in Ohio.

The Sisters of Charity Foundation also collaborates with the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina in its parallel initiative for women religious in that state.

Saint Ann Legacy Grant Program

This grant program honors the legacy of Saint Ann Hospital and the Saint Ann Foundation which merged with the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland in 2006. These grants recognize that Foundation's vision of being a resource for ministries of women religious, particularly those that improve the lives of women and children. The smaller Saint Ann Legacy grants support capacity-building and program needs.