The LuLac Edition #3806, June 13th, 2018

WRITE ON WEDNESDAY

Our "Write On Wednesday" logo

As a product of the parochial school  system, nuns in the rear view mirror are close to my heart. That's why this recent editorial in The Times Leader caught my eye.

OUR VIEW: CATHOLIC SISTERS PLAY VITAL ROLES IN REGION

Religious sisters have toiled relentlessly to make this region better. They regularly served as a community’s backbone, always in the shadows — almost literally thanks to the black habits, and figuratively thanks to deep humility and a society that in the past wouldn’t acknowledge their accomplishments even if they had spoken up because, well, they were women.
They founded and maintained hospitals, nursing homes and colleges. For decades, they made the Catholic school system in the Diocese of Scranton possible and affordable by forming the core of the teaching staff while asking for little or no compensation. When government safety net programs were few to none, they fed the hungry, nursed the sick, clothed the poor and cared for the elderly or abandoned.
They numbered in the thousands and helped millions, always focusing on those who had nowhere else to turn. By establishing and teaching in schools and colleges, they carved a path to the middle class for immigrants, coal miners and factory workers.
In fact, at a time when women had few options beyond domestic servitude or the sewing mill, sisterhood was itself a path to education, a way out of abject poverty for women who became nurses and teachers. Though they belonged to a patriarchal church, in that way they were — perhaps paradoxically — a precursor to the women’s rights movement.
If you’ve lived in this area for any time at all you know someone educated by an institution of higher learning founded or once staffed by religious sisters. At the very least, you or an acquaintance were tended by a nurse trained at Misericordia (Sisters of Mercy) or Marywood (Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) universities.