Mother, Mascot, Martyr?
Oct 3
Haggar College Center
Oct 3
Haggar College Center| Thursday, Oct. 3 - Saturday, Oct. 5 | This Event is Free and Open to the Public |
The Center for the Study of Spirituality is proud to announce the conference, Mother, Mascot, Martyr? Exploring the Local and Lasting Legacy of Sister Madeleva Wolff, CSC. This free event will take place on the campus of Saint Mary's Thursday, Oct. 3 through Saturday, October 5 and will feature faculty from the College, as well as invited scholars from other institutions.
This event is open to all.
Sister Mary Madeleva Wolff, CSC (1887–1964) was the third president of Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, and an influential figure in American Catholic religious life, theological education, women’s higher education, and poetry. Sixty years after her death, Sister Madeleva continues to be celebrated as an influential figure in multiple arenas. Some memorializations cast her as a wise spiritual “mother” whose insights should be mined for religious life today. Others know her as a unifying persona or “mascot” for the institutions she spearheaded. Still others venerate her as a “martyr” who sacrificed her personal talents and interests for worthy religious causes.
This conference will explore the various and sometimes-disparate roles Madeleva embodied in life and occupies in the collective memory of American Catholics today. The gathered scholars will consider: What are the lasting legacies of Sr. Madeleva? What do these legacies tell us about the communities that continue to commemorate her? And what can Madeleva’s legacies teach us about navigating the realities of today’s world? Together, these scholars will offer inventive perspectives on the rich and complex legacies of Sr. Madeleva as well as American Catholic life today.
All of the reflections and perspectives offered at the "Mother, Mascot, Martyr?" conference will be edited and published in a multidisciplinary volume by Paulist Press, the publisher of the Madeleva Lectures.
About The Center for the Study of Spirituality
Founded in 1984 by Dr. Keith Egan with generous support from the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the Center for the Study of Spirituality offers programs that promote the engagement between faith and reason and the connection between mind, body, and spirit. A hub for scholarly and public engagement, we draw on intellectual resources in the Catholic and Christian heritage as well as how individuals practice faith in their daily lives to develop critical conversations around contemporary religious issues, especially as they relate to women’s experiences in society, the academy, and the church.