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The Catholic Historical Review 88.1 (2002) 158-159



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Book Review

Eyes Open on a World:
The Challenges of Change


Eyes Open on a World: The Challenges of Change. A Collaboration by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Paul Province. (St. Cloud, Minnesota: North Star Press. 2001. Pp. xiv, 206. $19.95 paperback.)

As communities of American women religious examine, analyze, and shape their identities in the twenty-first century, many have begun to look at their histories using the past as a way to understand the present and plan for the future. In Eyes Open on a World: The Challenges of Change, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Paul Province, have focused on the last half of the twentieth century to "explore and analyze the changes of the past fifty years and the effects of these changes on our community" (p. ix). During the five-year project approximately sixty-five sisters, consociates (laypersons), and former members were involved in researching, interviewing, writing, editing, reviewing and/or designing various facets of the process creating a final product that "is a collaborative effort in every sense of the word" (p. x). It is a fitting tribute in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of St. Joseph in St. Paul in 1851.

Eyes Open on a World tells the story of how a prominent and multi-talented community of women adapted to change within their religious organization and how they struggled to remake themselves while keeping their core values intact. It is a remarkable story of adaptation, change, controversy, and survival during a dramatic period of social and religious upheaval in American history. In 1951 the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet were in full habit, needed permission from superiors for the basic necessities of life, and rarely traveled outside their assigned work and convent settings--and if they did, they never traveled alone. Fifty years later, the sisters are making their own decisions about [End Page 158] dress, work, living accommodations, travel, and all other aspects of their daily lives. The challenge for the collaborative team was to explain this transition--the story of "[their] response as individuals and as a community to a changing world" (p. x).

This book succeeds on many levels. The authors made wise choices, casting a broad net by including chapters that describe many aspects of community life. Instead of taking a traditional approach describing the "institutional" story of teaching, healthcare, and social service, the authors provide the reader with "insider" information about tensions and changes concerning governance, religious life, membership, religious vows, theological questions, and "ministering as artists." In the second half of the book when the institutional story is told, it reveals an impressive record of creating and/or staffing elementary and secondary parish schools, private academies, conservatories, hospitals, orphanages, and the highly-respected College of St. Catherine within the changing milieu of twentieth-century American life.

The strength of this highly readable and enjoyable book lies in the authors' intent to integrate the sisters' experiences into the multiple contexts of religious life, the American Catholic Church, and the larger social and cultural milieu. Although recent books are beginning to contextualize the experience of women religious and integrate it into American women's history, little work has been done on more recent time periods, particularly the years immediately before and after Vatican Council II. Eyes Open on a World has moved boldly into that void and we can hope that other communities and scholars will follow and give the late twentieth-century experience the analysis and attention it justly deserves.

 



Carol K. Coburn
Avila College
Kansas City, Missouri

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