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 inten-
tional communitarian life dedicated to prayer and service 
since the very beginnings of our Nation’s history, fear-
lessly 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 pri-
vate 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 sis-
ters in the United States; 
Whereas Catholic sisters participated in the opening of the 
West, traveling vast distances to minister in remote loca-
tions, 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 dur-
ing the epidemics of cholera, typhoid, yellow fever, small-
pox, tuberculosis, and influenza during the 19th and 
early 20th centuries; 
Whereas Catholic sisters built and established hospitals, or-
phanages, 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, equal-
ity, and democracy in principle and in action; 
Whereas the humanitarian work of Catholic sisters with com-
munities in crisis and refuge throughout the world posi-
tions 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 Con-
ference 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 Reli-
gious (LCWR) in association with Cincinnati Museum
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Center and established to recognize the historical con-
tributions of Catholic sisters in the United States. 
Attest: 
Clerk.