Pursuing Truth: How Gender Shaped Catholic Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland by Mary J. Oates

Abstract

Reviewed by: Pursuing Truth: How Gender Shaped Catholic Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland by Mary J. Oates Katherine A. Greiner Pursuing Truth: How Gender Shaped Catholic Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. By Mary J. Oates. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2021. 284 pp. $19.95. Pursuing Truth: How Gender Shaped Catholic Education at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland, tells the story of the first Catholic college to offer baccalaureate degrees to women: the College of Notre Dame of Maryland. Founded by the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1895, the College of Notre Dame’s tumultuous yet triumphant history sheds light on the ways in which gender shaped its approach to education, mission, and religious identity. In her thematic approach, Mary J. Oates explores how the college differentiated itself from other elite colleges for women, like Smith and Vassar, and navigated the complicated attitudes regarding gender and women’s education within the Catholic Church. Oates examines how the School Sisters of Notre Dame founded, governed, and financially supported the college. While other colleges for women were primarily led by men, Catholic women’s colleges like the College of Notre Dame, depended on the leadership of women religious. As “the living endowment,” the sisters were the heart of the college, serving as presidents, deans, faculty, and, as Oates reports, even the janitorial and service staff. However, Oates argues that the inherent sexism in the Catholic Church undermined the power women religious had over their institutions. The 1917 Code of Canon Law brought more restrictions to convents, the congregation struggled to develop a full faculty for the college and had to depend on a relatively large number of lay faculty to serve at the college, creating various tensions and adding financial strain to the college. [End Page 80] Oates also explores how gender influenced curricular and pedagogical decisions at the College of Notre Dame. Faced with the ever-changing expectations of the proper education for a “good Catholic woman” as well as practical considerations for the students entering the workforce, the leaders of the college remained committed to its liberal arts curriculum. Oates argues that this differentiated the College of Notre Dame from other Catholic women’s colleges that focused on vocational training in occupations deemed suitable for women such as education and nursing. The latter half of the twentieth century brought new challenges to Catholic higher education, particularly the women’s colleges. Receiving little to no financial support from diocesan leadership, the administration of the College of Notre Dame turned to federal funding to support their students. Yet, the legal question of whether federal monies could support Catholic institutions was not yet decided. Colleges like Notre Dame had to figure out how to remain both Catholic and yet non-sectarian. The move to sponsorship model and board structures more distanced from the religious congregation helped to achieve this. Additionally, in order to address their own financial struggles, Catholic men’s colleges began to admit women, raising difficult admission challenges for the Catholic women’s colleges. Nevertheless, the College of Notre Dame, now Notre Dame of Maryland University, survived. Pursuing Truth is thoroughly researched, well-organized, and beautifully written. Oates presents a complicated institutional story with clarity and precision. Her compelling archival research provides vivid insight into the day-to-day operations and culture of the institution that was so profoundly shaped by the convent culture of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and the institution’s commitment to educating women. She presents the various sisters who led the college as complex individuals, capable and visionary, with their own flaws and limitations struggling to steer the college through a myriad of ecclesial, social, and financial challenges. Refreshingly, Oates does not over-romanticize convent life or the bygone days of American Catholicism. For example, Oates presents the problematic class divisions in the convent that directly influenced divisions within the student body. In the same chapter, Oates rightly points out how systemic racism and racist attitudes among Catholics in Maryland, perpetuated segregation at the college until 1951. It is imperative that scholars continue to examine the ways classism and racism have shaped the history...