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In May, Melissa Ursin, vice president of mission and Catholic identity at Presentation High School, San Jose, received her doctorate in education from the University of San Francisco’s Catholic Education Leadership program. The focus of her dissertation was “to examine how the Sisters of the Presentation as a professional teaching community understood the vocation to educate, the formation that prepared them for such a vocation, and the communal practices that sustained their vocation.”
In selecting this topic, Melissa hoped that the study might “offer guidance for contemporary practice of the formation of lay educators for the vocation of teaching,” since as the number of vowed religious declines it is even more important that lay educators have the opportunity to learn from consecrated persons who have been living the apostolate of education, especially in regard to the vocation of teaching and living the vision of the gospels” (CCE, 2007, para. 28, 57).
Melissa’s literature review included basic studies on the vocation and formation of educators, including Presentation sisters. She emphasized both the “missing voices of women religious” in these studies and the Synod’s call for the “active participation of women.” Her published sources were Presentation constitutions, directories and ritual books. Unpublished sources included books of customs, Chapter minutes and administrative records from Mothers Comerford (1854), Leahy and Quirke (alternating,1916-1949); Sisters’ files pre-1965; and various spiritual and educational materials. Completing her sources were oral interviews with seven sisters who entered the congregation between 1947 and 1959 and taught at Presentation schools.
Not surprisingly, Melissa’s findings emphasized the enduring importance of spiritual formation. For sisters, this included creating a habit of prayer and contemplation, participating in daily liturgy and Divine Office, even visits to the Blessed Sacrament before and after school. “Busy I have been today, busy with Martha’s part, and when I do to school repair, with me dearest Jesus be, give me grace to instruct the poor for thee.”
At the same time, the importance of care for teachers’ physical and spiritual well-being is essential, as emphasized in “Feminist Ethic of Care” (Noddings, 1986). Various superiors’ directives regarding rest and recreation reflected this concern. Finally, Presentation sisters were heirs to a “legacy of wisdom” found in classes in education through the University of San Francisco, a program of theology at Presentation Center offered by the Jesuits, and the ongoing opportunity to observe excellent teachers.
In a final section, Melissa notes the challenges of women’s operating in a patriarchal system, as manifested in several historical moments: the amalgamation of Bay Area convents, the expansion of Presentation schools to Los Angeles, a property dispute with the archbishop after the 1906 earthquake, and disagreement with diocesan leaders over opening Presentation High School. All these were eventually resolved in the Sisters’ favor!
In conclusion, as Melissa stated in presenting her topic, “this study is significant because the contributions of women in the church have been historically underappreciated and often unacknowledged (Fiorenza, 1983). This research adds to the growing body of research about Catholic teaching orders and educational systems built and sustained entirely by women religious.”