The lay sister in educational history and memory

Abstract

A tiered and hierarchical system of membership has in the past characterized many Catholic religious teaching orders.1 In women's orders, those who undertook domestic duties were usually referred to as lay sisters. Those who undertook teaching and administrative duties were called choir nuns. Histories of Catholic education have tended to include scant references to the system and virtually no systematic exploration of its meaning in the culture of Catholic schools. The aim of this paper is to provide an exploration of the construction of lay sisters in a particular religious order and school setting. The exploration is informed by poststructuralist theory; in particular, notions of ‘discourse as practice’, the symbiotic and hierarchical relationship between the binary oppositions, individual consciousness as the site of the discursive struggle, and investment in discourse. These notions are drawn upon to explore the construction of the category of lay sister within educational histories, texts that pertain to the order in question and interviews undertaken with choir nuns, one lay sister, ex-students and ancillary staff. The narrative of one lay sister is explored in order to locate her understanding of the construction.