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1833Mary Frances Clarke and her four companions, immigrants from Dublin, found the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVMs) in Philadelphia. Ten years later, at the invitation of Matthias Loras, Bishop of Dubuque, the sisters moved to the Iowa Territory as teachers for the rapidly growing immigrant population. |
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In 1893 their home and school on St. Joseph’s Prairie southwest of Dubuque gave birth to Mount Carmel, the BVM Motherhouse in Dubuque, Iowa. Their educational mission expanded to parishes and private schools throughout the United States. |
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March 26:The 300 marchers from Selma, with the protection of the National Guard, arrive at the capitol in Montgomery. From the steps of the capitol building Martin Luther King addresses the marchers and the crowds of their supporters. |
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March 28:Congressman
Dickenson of Alabama brings charges of “drunkenness and immorality” against
the protesters before the House of Representatives in Washington. Sister Mary
Leoline and nine clergy and seminarians who completed the 50-mile march travel
to Washington to refute before Congress the charges of disorderly conduct made
against the marchers by Congressman Dickenson.
They present a signed “Statement of Morality during the Selma Crisis”
to Congressmen Ryan and Resnick of New York.
At the request of John McCormick Speaker of the House, Ryan and Resnick
introduce the Statement of Morality for debate by the members of the House and
for inclusion in the Congressional Records of the House and Senate. |
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April 28: |
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National
television networks interview the group of clergy
who had refuted the charges made before Congress by Representative Dickenson
regarding morality during the march. Sister Mary Leoline's testimony at the press conference lead BVM participants in Selma to probe its implications for the BVM community and their participation in the civil rights movement. |
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Addressing the congregation, the president, Mother
Mary Consolatrice, writes: “Since
problems of racial discrimination are far from solution, we must prepare
ourselves by intelligent reading and discussion of the issues at stake, by
prayer and sacrifice for the cause involving the rights of
humanity and by forming a correct understanding and appreciation of true
moral values . . .” |
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| Racial injustice emerges as a congregational issue for BVMs. The Chicago meeting of BVM provincial superiors and delegates is called The Problems that Unite Us. Parents of students from the BVM staffed elementary school in the African-American parish of St. Dorothy's on Chicago’s south side, lead a vigorous, unscheduled discussion about racism in Catholic school classrooms. | |||||||
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40 Years Later... |
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| The impact of the Selma events has been deep and long lasting. Three members of the Mundelein delegation to Selma left the BVMs to continue their ministries of advocacy and teaching as involved lay women. Mary Ann Sommer (Sister Mary Leoline) chose to redirect her commitment to the cause of freedom and equality as a diocesan nun in Detroit. As an involved teacher in Michigan and California, she participated in Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, DC, attended the Mexican American Culture Center in San Antonio, helped Caesar Chavez set up the farm workers clinic in Salinas, California, and now continues her advocacy roll as a contemplative “free-lance nun” during her retirement in Salt Lake City. | |||||||
| A new “collective consciousness” has formed among BVMs. Beginning with an exhaustive congregational self-study, followed by a long Chapter of Renewal, the creation of a Commission on Minority Affairs to study the personal and educational needs of members serving minority groups in BVM schools, the BVM congregation arrived at a decision in 1970 to encourage each individual sisters to choose her own “mission assignment.” | |||||||
| The result has been a series of initiatives to develop new BVM ministries in the Unites States and abroad: working with women, the poor, the disadvantaged; confronting racism and gender discrimination in the schools and in the workplace; attempting to further the “mission of freedom expressed in the ministries of education, justice and peace” in the United States, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Ghana. | |||||||
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Sources:
Sister Mary Ann Sommer, BVM |
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