Ahead of its Time . . . Or, Right on Time?: The Role of the Sister Formation Conference for American Women Religious

Abstract

The Sister Formation Conference (SFC) looms large when historians look at the development of and changes in American religious life in the second half of the twentieth century. The SFC goal: “to integrate the spiritual, intellectual, professional, and social elements in the life of a religious” was considered “radical” by some, but its ultimate influence was profound in the lives of many American sisters and their communities. This grassroots, semi-autonomous organization of women religious predates, by almost a decade, the tumultuous upheavals and changes brought about by the Second Vatican Council and the secular women’s movement of the 1960s. Analyzing the mid- to late-twentieth century, particularly the post-World War II era, is significant not only for the history of Catholic sisters but all American women. Consequently, the story of the Sister Formation Conference is an important piece to understanding religious life in the twentieth century – if not the twenty-first century. The beginnings of the SFC happened during a time (1950s) that most historians of American women consider to be a decade burdened by a return to traditional and stereotypic gender expectations and oppressive, if not regressive, attitudes about women’s role in society. This paper will describe the SFC origins, its major accomplishments, and the “big picture” – or where the SFC fits into the larger context of the history of American women religious and American women’s history.