H. Res. 441 

In the House of Representatives, U. S., 

September 22, 2009. 

Whereas the social, cultural, and political contributions of 

Catholic sisters have played a vital role in shaping life in 

the United States; 

Whereas such women have joined in unique forms of intentional communitarian life dedicated to prayer and service 

since the very beginnings of our Nation’s history, fearlessly and often sacrificially committing their personal 

lives to teaching, healing, and social action; 

Whereas the first Catholic sisters to live and work in the 

United States were nine Ursuline Sisters, who journeyed 

from France to New Orleans in 1727; 

Whereas at least nine sisters from the United States have 

been martyred since 1980 while working for social justice 

and human rights overseas; 

Whereas Maura Clark, MM, Ita Ford, MM, and Dorothy 

Kazel, OSU were martyred in El Salvador in 1980; 

Whereas Joel Kolmer, ASC, Shirley Kolmer, ASC, Kathleen 

McGuire, ASC, Agnes Mueller, ASC, and Barbara Ann 

Muttra, ASC were martyred in Liberia in 1992; 

Whereas Dorothy Stang, SNDdeN was martyred in Brazil in 

2005; 
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Whereas Catholic sisters established the Nation’s largest private school system and founded more than 110 United 

States colleges and universities, educating millions of 

young people in the United States; 

Whereas there were approximately 32,000 Catholic sisters in 

the United States who taught 400,000 children in 2,000 

parochial schools by 1880, and there were 180,000 

Catholic sisters who taught nearly 4,500,000 children by 

1965; 

Whereas today, there are approximately 59,000 Catholic sisters in the United States; 

Whereas Catholic sisters participated in the opening of the 

West, traveling vast distances to minister in remote locations, setting up schools and hospitals, and working 

among native populations on distant reservations; 

Whereas more than 600 sisters from 21 different religious 

communities nursed both Union and Confederate soldiers 

alike during the Civil War; 

Whereas Catholic sisters cared for afflicted populations during the epidemics of cholera, typhoid, yellow fever, smallpox, tuberculosis, and influenza during the 19th and 

early 20th centuries; 

Whereas Catholic sisters built and established hospitals, orphanages, and charitable institutions that have served 

millions of people, managing organizations long before 

similar positions were open to women; 

Whereas approximately one in six hospital patients in the 

United States were treated in a Catholic facility; 

Whereas Catholic sisters have been among the first to stand 

with the underprivileged, to work and educate among the 
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poor and underserved, and to facilitate leadership 

through opportunity and example; 

Whereas Catholic sisters continue to provide shelter, food, 

and basic human needs to the economically or socially 

disadvantaged and advocate relentlessly for the fair and 

equal treatment of all persons; 

Whereas Catholic sisters work for the eradication of poverty 

and racism and for the promotion of nonviolence, equality, and democracy in principle and in action; 

Whereas the humanitarian work of Catholic sisters with communities in crisis and refuge throughout the world positions them as activists and diplomats of peace and justice 

for the some of the most at risk populations; and 

Whereas the Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America 

Traveling Exhibit is sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with 

Cincinnati Museum Center and will open on May 16, 

2009, in Cincinnati, Ohio: Now, therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 

(1) honors and commends Catholic sisters for their 

humble service and courageous sacrifice throughout the 

history of this Nation; and 

(2) supports the goals of the Women & Spirit: 

Catholic Sisters in America Traveling Exhibit, a project 

sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with Cincinnati Museum 
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Center and established to recognize the historical contributions of Catholic sisters in the United States. 

Attest: 

Clerk.