 |
| Sister Isabel Ball, CDP, Sister Maria Eva Flores, CDP, Sister Margit Nagy, CDP, Sister Ann Petrus,CDP, Sister Janet Griffin, CDP, and Sister Madlyn Pape, CDP, with OLLU Executive Vice President Dr. David Estes, celebrate the CDP legacy.
Carol Baass Sowa | Today's Catholic |
By Carol Baass Sowa
Today's Catholic
SAN ANTONIO • In a historic event, the six remaining members of the Congregation of Divine Providence (CDP) still teaching at Our Lady of the Lake University (OLLU) came together on March 27 to share their thoughts on ensuring the CDP mission and charism continue in the classroom. The distinguished panel included: Sister Isabel Ball, CDP, Sister Maria Eva Flores, CDP, Sister Ann Petrus, CDP, Sister Madlyn Pape, CDP, Sister Margit Nagy, CDP, and Sister Janet Griffin, CDP. Their audience included administrators, faculty, staff and students, with the event being taped for posterity.
Dr. Abigail Gray, interim director of the Center for Women in Church and Society, served as panel moderator, with Dr. David Estes, the university’s executive vice president, offering introductory thoughts on Mother Angelique Ayers, CDP, founder of OLLU. Quoting from the biography by Sister Generosa Callahan, CDP, of Mother Angelique, he noted, “She guided the development of Our Lady of the Lake College as few administrators dared to do.”
Continuing in that tradition, the six panelists addressed how their legacy can continue to be a presence on campus despite their reduced numbers. Titled “Sisters in the Classroom: Academic Life, Lessons and Legacy,” the panel, round table discussion and lunch that followed were part of the university’s Women’s History month activities.
Sister Isabel Ball, CDP, “truly embodies what this institution is all about and is an inspiration to us all,” said Gray. A campus icon, Sister Isabel is director of Mission Effectiveness at OLLU and a chemistry professor whose teaching career at OLLU began in 1954. From 1980 until 2003 she was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and she has been in charge of Mission Education throughout her educational career.
Sister Maria Eva Flores, CDP, is director of the Center for Mexican American Studies and Research and a professor of history and Mexican American studies. She is a cofounder of the Center for Women in Church and Society. Gray noted, “Her contribution on this campus has been extensive and with great longevity.”
Sister Ann Petrus, CDP, a teacher of mathematics at OLLU for over 20 years, has also been involved in leadership and formation. “Absolutely loved among her students,” said Gray, “you can see her zipping through campus just about any day on her bicycle.”
Sister Madlyn Pape, CDP, was acknowledged by Gray as helping students “find their voices and establish the beauty and wonder of music.” She has served under five OLLU presidents as a music faculty member and is former chair of that department, as well as having been a vice president and dean of students, a trustee and more.
Sister Margit Nagy, CDP, described as “petite, but with great power,” is a professor and chair of history, known for her extensive cross-cultural experience, research, writing and lecturing. She has been a visiting Fulbright lecturer and is also a cofounder of the Center for Women in Church and Society.
Sister Janet Griffin, CDP, was noted as “truly a teacher’s teacher.” An educator all her life, she has a master’s in Latin American History and a PhD in European History. After earning her doctorate, she was assigned to teach history and run that department at OLLU. She currently teaches World History and 19th Century Europe.
The first question posed to the sisters was: “How would you describe the essential and unique spirit of the CDP and its values, especially as they relate to the life and mission of OLLU?”
For Sister Ann, what first came to mind here is trust in divine providence. “That needs to be what we’re all about,” she said. “We believe that there is a God who cares and, as the Gospel says, we believe that for those who love God, all things work together for good.”
She noted providence, as stated in the congregation’s constitution, is “God’s act of continuing creation, drawing all things in love to their creator,” and it is the guiding principle of all the sisters do. “We are confident that the movements of history in which we participate are guided by the loving power of God,” she said, adding that all of us, along with the earth itself, have an active role in that continuing creation of God.
Describing the sisters as “get it done people,” she noted, “We believe in hard work and persistence in hanging in there until we get things done!” Education and all it means to individuals and society as a whole is a cornerstone of their mission, she said, beginning with Father John Martin Moye’s dedication to the education, welfare and empowerment of women when he sent the first sisters in France out to teach girls in a little village.
“We believe that, to the extent that we don’t listen to everyone, we miss an important part of the truth,” she said, “that everybody’s voice contributes. We strongly believe in inclusiveness and trying to remove barriers.” One of the sisters’ most recent commitments is to non-violence.
Sister Maria Eva added that her central experience with the sisters has been their “tireless service.” “Several years ago,” she said, “a top administrator stated, almost disparagingly, that the sisters were ‘doers’ as opposed to ‘thinkers.’ Well, we can think!” She went on to note the sisters cherish their sense of providence and are aware of the need to grow in their understanding of it, making a strong effort to do so and committed to carrying out the mission they embraced when first responding to God’s call.
Sister Janet took the question from a pragmatic perspective, asking, “How do we live this in the classroom?” She suggested leading off classes as she does, with a prayer and intention for the day, especially one of the many prayers of Father Moye. She recalled the committee formed in past years titled the OLLU Sisters, which came up with two pages of values for the university, based upon the values of the congregation. “It might be well, some time in the future” she added, “to just drag those out again, to look at them and compare them to what we’re doing today.”
The second question up for discussion was: “How can faculty members best bring the spirit and values of the CDP to their teaching, research and service?”
“We can do that only if you challenge us,” said Sister Maria Eva, including challenging the CDP administration, the university administration and “yourself” to work harder to know and understand what the spirit is and articulate it. She stressed the need to constantly return to the source in order to craft a legacy, the sisters’ legacy being the education of women, which she sees as not being done as well or as well-focused as in the past.
“Women have been underserved by the educational system in the United States,” she stated, noting that when she first came to OLLU, Mexican-American women were a minority but are now the majority of students. “Isn’t that a sign of providence?” she asked. Mexican-American women in San Antonio are underserved, she related, going on to question whether teachers are providing the best classroom experience for these women by coddling them or “misapplying the role of culture for their absences, accepting substandard writing.” Such maternalistic/paternalistic approaches, she said, often pass for caring but can really be a cover for racism. “Are you willing to speak frankly and grade hard,” she asked, “and accept no excuses?”
Her own legacy of hard work, a sense of responsibility and duty were instilled by her parents and reinforced at OLLU as a student and by the CDPs when she joined their community, she said, adding that at the core of the Catholic education tradition is the Christian Gospel of social justice. “Are we willing to challenge each other to work hard,” she said, “to demand the best, to challenge ourselves and our students to work as hard as we can to become the best?”
Sister Margit noted that because one of the congregation’s values, both as CDPs and for OLLU, is community, the sisters, staff, administrators and students work in partnership, each having a role to play. “It may not be the identical part,” she said, but an ideal that is doable for each person.
Sister Janet deemed a look at history necessary, observing that the sisters have been provident in much of their history, from Mother Florence Walter, CDP’s, challenge to purchase their present property for $75,000, to the sisters’ move here from Castroville, which came about because the railroad had bypassed that town.
“We survived the opening of UTSA,” she said, noting it was the same with the coming of Texas A&M to town. “Someone would say, ‘Oh, it’s down, down, down. We’re not going to make it,’” she noted, “but I think, because of providence, that we will!” The success of the weekend college and the outstanding nuns who have served as the university’s administrators also bear this out. “I think those are just some examples of how we have been guided by providence,” said Sister Janet, “and I trust that we will continue to do that, regardless of A&M, UTSA or whatever.”
“As we’ve gone through our history,” said Sister Madlyn, “there have been several times where needs of society have shaped us.” In the ’60s and ’70s they applied for newly available federal grants for persons who had not had access to higher education before. She noted too the influence of Vatican II which called religious life to renew and go back to its founding charisms. As a result, she said, the sisters began acting in a more collaborative way, “the idea of dialogue in cooperation.”
Sister Isabel noted the committee that crafted the current mission statement in 2001, which she served on, had involved the input of alumni, faculty, students, administrators and board members.
Shortly after this period, the university itself went through a drastic reshaping of its educational plan, reaching out to involve the faculty in this. “It was a time of high energy at the university” said Sister Madlyn, “and I think that at that time too, part of our mission statement talked about us as a community of learners.” She pointed out everyone’s role is important and “a community of equals, that would be our ideal.”
The third question tackled involved the scholarly belief that legacy cannot be left to chance: “How are the sisters of the CDP consciously crafting their legacy with faculty, staff and students?”
Sister Isabel took the question literally, stating that the legacy at a Catholic institution is two-fold, involving both its Catholic nature and the charism of its founder and OLLU’s legacy embraces both of these. She then read from a document the congregation and university have worked on together, which evolved as a result of grass roots OLLU/CDP “discussions, hopes and efforts.”
She related that at one time the sisters were responsible for the Catholic and CDP character of OLLU, so as the proportion of lay faculty to the sisters continued to grow during the ’70s, the CDPs became concerned. As a result, the Sisters Organization was formed and it was here that the sisters, then numbering about 35 and dwindling by two or three yearly, discussed how to fully share their charism with the faculty and initiated faculty development sessions. It was at one of these sessions that a faculty member aptly referred to the sisters as “the corps,” ala the Texas A&M tradition.
The Sisters Organization gradually dissolved, Sister Isabel noted, but by the late ’80s, concerns could no longer be ignored and they began meeting as the OLLU CDPs, inviting faculty and staff for supper conversations, where the sisters forthrightly asked their guests why they worked at OLLU, with the responses video-taped for future reference. Much brainstorming also took place, with one of the key things arising from this being the Office of Mission Effectiveness. When this office was finally staffed in 2003, things took off, she said, with there being a vice president for Mission and, five years later, a vice president for Mission and Ministry. These persons, she added, are not the ones with the primary responsibility, however. All are responsible for finding ways to maintain both the mission and the charism.
A final question for the panelists, on what challenges are encountered in learning to live out the charism, was left to be discussed at individual tables over the lunch that followed. In the prayer preceding this, Gloria Urrabazo, vice president for Mission and Ministry, asked God in his providence “to bless our continued conversation of living the legacy that we each are a part of.”