Rooted and Reaching, Part Three: The Teaching Ministry of the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville from 1965–1975, Changing Seasons

We didn’t know where to begin—there was such poverty, but we went to the very ones we came to help, and God spoke to us through the poor.

—Sister Lee Kirchner

In 1965, the Ursulines found themselves in a season of change like never before. Revolution seemed to be in the very air one breathed. Events such as the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, urban riots, and the peace movement existed side by side with Vatican II, the historic gathering in Rome from 1962–1965 that brought about profound changes in the Church and the lives of the faithful.

The Sisters carefully studied the documents that emerged from Rome during the mid-sixties. These documents asked them to go back to study their roots, the life of their foundress, and their charism. Saint Angela’s legacy of adaptability during changing times served the community well. It was a challenging time, but often a joyful time, full of hope and renewal. The Ursulines were asked to respond to the question: “If Angela were living today, what would be her answer to the needs of the Church?” 1

Staarman were able to hire two Peruvian teachers for Santa Angela Merici School. Sister Lee then transitioned to the role of principal of the school. One of the teachers they hired, Carmen de la Cuba Laurel,

The Ursulines of Louisville carefully studied the documents that emerged from Rome during the midsixties. These documents asked them to go back to study their roots, the life of their foundress, and their charism.

Saint Angela’s legacy of adaptability during changing times served the community well. It was a challenging time, but often a joyful time, full of hope and renewal.

While the community in Louisville was responding to the challenge of renewal from Vatican II, and planning a way forward, the Ursulines in Carmen de la Legua, Peru, were finding their path in a foreign country and culture. Within two years of its founding, Sisters

Lee Kirchner and Mary Martha

stayed with the school over 50 years, is an Ursuline Associate, and a 2022 Angeline Award recipient!

Sister Lee reflects, “We didn’t know where to begin—there was such poverty, but we went to the very ones we came to help, and God spoke to us through the poor.” The Sisters developed youth programs and started sewing, knitting, and crocheting classes for the mothers. They helped the women develop their self-esteem and sense of personhood, something very much needed in the patriarchal culture of Peru.

Sisters Lee and Mary Martha were supported by the other Louisville Ursulines who taught at the Naval School in Lima, who often helped in their free time with the social programs for youth and mothers. Sister Kathy Neely became actively engaged in working with the deaf students at Santa Angela Merici School. The community withdrew its Sisters from the Naval School in 1970, citing political unrest in Peru and the lack of support by the Peruvian government for foreign teachers in its schools.

Despite many obstacles, including political revolutions, the Ursulines persevered; the school expanded from kindergarten through high school, and has played a significant role in the life and culture of the town.

The winds of change continued back in the United States. In 1966, Ursuline Academy, opened by the Ursuline Sisters in 1892 at the parish of Saints Peter and Paul in Cumberland, Maryland, merged with several other high schools in the area to form Bishop Walsh High School, a coed school. This merger was prompted by the “Declaration on Christian Education” documents of Vatican II, which encouraged cooperation among peers, discouraged the formation of new schools, and encouraged adaption “to the needs of their unique situations.”2 The Sisters of Notre Dame of Maryland, the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville and the Christian Brothers formed the faculty of the new high school.

In 1967, the education department expanded with the opening of the Ursuline Montessori School on the Ursuline campus. Sister Marlene Oetken, who was trained in the Montessori method at Xavier University in Cincinnati, was the first director. It was housed in a prefabricated building that served up to 12 students daily and was enlarged over the years. The youngest learners on campus were receiving the benefits of the Montessori method of hands-on learning and developing real-world skills.

In response to Vatican II, the Ursulines held a Special Chapter from 1968-1969. Among the many changes to religious life that came about in response to Vatican II, were changes to the expression of the fourth vow of instruction. It now included the words “teaching Christian living,” which was a much broader interpretation of what Christian formation meant and a return to the spirit of Saint Angela Merici. The Chapter implemented change in all areas of the life of the community, including its apostolate, or ministry—of the

Rooted and Reaching, Part Three: The Teaching Ministry of the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville from 1965–1975, Changing Seasons

Continued from page 5

Sisters, which was education. An unusual step was taken by publishing the financial statement of the Ursuline Society and Academy of Education for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1968 in The Record. The Special Chapter had voted to publish this information, along with a statement concerning the withdrawal of teachers from parochial schools, because it would explain that the financial condition of the ommunity had influenced this action. The Courier-Journal published an article about the report that highlighted the fact that the Ursuline Sisters saved the Archdiocese $1.25 million annually by either operating or staffing its educational institutions.3

In looking at their structure of government, the Sisters elected their very first president, Sister Adelaide Fackler, in 1968. Gone was the old title of mother superior in the spirit of renewal.4 The Sisters also smaller number of Ursulines in the future. The community had reached peak membership of 597 women in 1965-66; by 1975 there were 432 members.

Fewer members meant making some difficult decisions about the number of schools the community could manage and serve. At the time of the 1968 Special Chapter, there were 540 members, more than half of them staffing 27 schools in Louisville, and many teaching in seven other states. While these numbers on the surface looked chose an outside consulting firm to make a complete examination of the Ursuline way of life and community. This included acknowledging the reality in the sixties of a significant number of women leaving their religious communities—of which the Ursulines of Louisville were no exception—and planning for a encouraging, studies made that year showed that the costs of educating and maintaining a Sister in a teaching position at a parish school were outpacing the minimal salaries the Sisters were receiving.

Dates Served Name

1938-1944 Mother

1944-1950 Mother

1950-1956 Mother

Also at the 1968 Special Chapter, the Ursulines announced their plans to end over a century of semi-

1956-1962 Mother

1962-1968 Mother

1965

1965–66

1967

1968

1965

1966

1968

1968

Name Age

Mother Roberta Zehe 50

Mother Rosalin

Mother Columba Ishanski 50

Mother Cosma Coponi 63

Front row (L-R): Donna Mattingly,* Brenda Norris,* Lynn Manger*

Middle row (L-R): Jean Anne Zappa, Mary Jeffers,* Alberta Eiden*

Mother Agnes Marie Long 61

Back row (L-R): Linda Hayden,* Cecelia Thomas* (*Later left the community) cloistered life. Many other changes were made in the spirit of renewal. They had the option to teach in a public school, attend meetings without asking prior permission from the president, have visitors, revert to their birth names rather than their religious names, and most visible to others, they could choose to wear contemporary clothing without veils. The Chapter guidelines stated that an Ursuline Sister will no longer have to observe night silence, but will be responsible for “creating her own silence that she may deepen her union with God.”5

Along with all these changes, talks that began in 1965 of their beloved Ursuline College for women merging with Bellarmine College for men became a reality in 1968.

Along with all these changes, talks that began in 1965 of their beloved Ursuline College for women merging with Bellarmine College for men became a reality in 1968. Inspired in part by the documents of Vatican II, the two schools had begun an inter-institutional coordination of programs in the mid-sixties that attracted attention around the country. On February 2, 1968, the governing boards of both schools approved a statement of intent to merge, which was endorsed by Ursuline President Sister Angelice Seibert and Msgr. Alfred F. Horrigan, effective on June 1, 1968. For a period of three

1974