A New Era
1961 marked the beginning of a new era in the community, the construction of one of the last remaining BVM high school: Carmel High School in Mundelein, Illinois, a joint project with the Carmelite Fathers. 1968 saw the closing of the last boarding school.
Vatican II, a significant event in the lives of Catholics was significant for the BVM community as well. In 1967 the Tenth General Chapter sought to respond to the invitations of the Council. Responses which followed included legislation approving a new government structure, TOPA (Totally Open Personal Application which gave sisters the freedom to apply for jobs of their choice), and an affiliate program, an organized grouping of non-vowed men and women interested in participating in the BVM values.
In recent years, the community has been actively involved in working for peace with justice. During the Civil Rights movement, sisters participated in the 1965 march to Selma. Today, there are a number of sisters who participate in the annual demonstration at the School of the Americas/Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. Sisters of Charity are on the staff of NETWORK and the 8th Day Center for Justice, a coalition of Catholic religious congregations striving for social change. The community has also taken a corporate stance against the death penalty, has declared that the Mount Carmel campus in Dubuque is a nuclear free zone, and supports national comprehensive immigration reform.
Since its beginning, the community has responded to the current needs of the day. There are currently sisters living in nineteen states, and in three foreign countries: Ghana, Ecuador, and Guatemala. Ministries of the sisters include working as hospital, hospice, and prison chaplains, working with those with addictions, people with AIDS, pastoral service, spiritual direction, counseling, and, of course, education.
November 1, 2007 was a year of jubilee to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The theme of the year was “Crossing the Waters, Currents of Hope: Celebrating 175 years of BVM Presence and Partnership.”
Read more about this topic: Sisters Of Charity Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
Famous quotes containing the word era:
“The great pagan world of which Egypt and Greece were the last living terms ... once had a vast and perhaps perfect science of its own, a science in terms of life. In our era this science crumbled into magic and charlatanry. But even wisdom crumbles.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)