Catalysts for Good There are 58,000+ alumni who are making a mark on the world, advocating for women and social justice. For Women’s History Month, we’re spotlighting just a few Katies who have changed the landscape in education, healthcare, corporate culture, and more. Abigail Quigley McCarthy ’36 (1915–2001) In 1972, McCarthy published her critically acclaimed memoir, Private Faces, Public Places. McCarthy was a visionary Catholic feminist whose promotion of equality for all led to prominence in national politics, a regular column in Commonweal, advocacy for women in the church, promotion of Catholic women’s colleges, and leadership in interracial justice and inter-religious understanding. St. Catherine University’s Abigail Quigley McCarthy Center for Women is named in her memory.
32
ST. CATHERINE UNIVERSITY • SPRING 2020
Mary Madonna Ashton, CSJ, ’44 In 1983, Sr. Mary Madonna became the first woman and non-physician commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Health. She served in this position until 1991. During her tenure as commissioner, she worked to protect blood supplies during the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 1980s and advocated for policies to ban smoking in public spaces. She was president and CEO of St. Mary’s Hospital for 20 years. In 1992, she cofounded Carondelet LifeCare Ministries to address healthcare for Minnesota’s uninsured. In 2016, she was a National Women’s Month honoree.
Anne Joachim Moore, CSJ,’37, ’47, MAT’01, EdD (1916–2010) In 1964, Sr. Anne Joachim founded and served as president of St. Mary’s Junior College, the nation’s first college dedicated to healthcare. She led St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing and then its transformation into a thriving two-year college. The college’s guiding plan was to educate the student as a person, not a worker, and to welcome underserved students. In 1986, the college merged with what was then the College of St. Catherine, forming the University’s Minneapolis Campus.
