A Book Centered Around the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati Published by Six MSJ Faculty Members from the Department of Liberal Arts
Curiosity about and admiration for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and their values--those two characteristics are apparent in a book published this month by six faculty in the Mount’s Department of Liberal Arts: Our Cloud of Witnesses: Mission, Tradition, and Imagination.
The book is being piloted this semester in three sections of a required course in the Core Curriculum called Common Ground and will be integrated into all sections next year. According to the University’s catalog, students in the course “examine their own role as citizens, and explore historical and current ideas about the common good.” Instructors already incorporate material on the Sisters of Charity, as well as accompanying their students on a tour of the Motherhouse chapel.
Dr. Michael Sontag, coordinator of the Core Curriculum and Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, hopes that “when students learn that Mount faculty researched six Sisters important to the Mount and found the Sisters’ heritage inspirational and meaningful, they might find the examples of these sisters relevant to their own lives.”
Each author was asked to pose four questions for students to consider after reading the chapter. In the chapter “Sister Augusta Zimmer: The Mater Dei Chapel and Awakening to the Importance of Catholic Art," Dr. Andrew Buechel-Rieger, assistant professor of Religious Studies, challenges students to consider this question:
“Sister Augusta Zimmer was initially interested more in science than in art. Have you ever found yourself excelling at something you didn’t expect? What did you learn from this experience?”
“This book is an important contribution to the Mount community,” says Sister Karen Elliott, C.PP.S., D.Min., Chief Mission and Heritage Officer at the University. “It will help keep the Sisters of Charity heritage alive here. Women religious who taught at the Mount and made sacrifices for the Mount are remembered in this book.”
“In some traditions, if you say a person’s name, that person is present to you,” says Sister Karen, who wrote the Introduction to the book. She has talked with some alums in their eighties who still remember Sister Augusta Zimmer vividly, and reading about her and her work with Mater Dei Chapel will strengthen those memories and connections.
The book emerged from conversations Dr. Kyle Schenkewitz, assistant professor of religious studies in the Department of Liberal Arts, had with colleagues who wanted to research some of the Sisters of Charity whom they had heard others talk about with passion. They had intended to present their research as a symposium, but instead decided to collaborate with Dr. Gene Kritsky, retired dean of the School of Behavioral and Natural Sciences, who was launching the Mount St. Joseph University Press. Greg Goldschmidt, Director of the Mount’s Creative Services Department and a double graduate of the Mount, designed the cover.
Another essential collaborator on the book was Sister Judith Metz, S.C., Ph.D., historian for the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, who wrote an opening “History of Mount St. Joseph University” that intertwines the story of the University with the history of the Sisters of Charity.
Contributing faculty authors, all from the Department of Liberal Arts, include Elizabeth Bookser Barkley, Andrew Buechel-Rieger, Christopher Davidson, Elijah Prewitt-Davis, Kyle Schenkewitz, and Michael Sontag.