Sisters seeking collaboration to minister more effectively

Sister Mary Celine Weidenbenner, left, visits with Western Kentucky Ursuline Associate Risë Karr during Associates and Sisters Day in 2022

“Maybe we work with the homeless council? I don’t know how it will evolve,” Sister Sharon said. “Maybe it’s our experience or our contacts that will help. If we can strengthen a culture of collaboration, that will be part of our legacy.”

Collaboration isn’t a new idea for the Ursuline Sisters. But religious communities across the country are discussing the need to work beyond their membership as they strive to continue ministering while dealing with fewer numbers of sisters.

“Saint Angela Merici was collaborative,” Sister Sharon said. “If you look at the history of our community, no one did it alone.”

The Ursulines of Mount Saint Joseph opened schools in New Mexico in 1919 because families who had moved from Daviess County requested them to come serve in their “Kentucky Mesa,” Sister Sharon said.

“We were never in isolation. We showed up in response to what was happening in that part of the country,” she said.

With today’s Sisters more limited by age, it’s even more important to pursue collaboration, Sister Sharon said.

“Since we are no longer able to build schools, to physically establish new ministries does not seem to be the shape of our ministry, but rather to collaborate with others,” she said.

The Ursulines are members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which provides leadership resources to religious communities. LCWR urges religious communities to think beyond their own membership to work for change on larger issues, including racism, gun violence and improved immigration policies. The Ursulines have collaborated with other religious communities in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio to