Question of Faith
A weekly question of faith answered by Cleveland Catholics. Fr. Damian Ference, Vicar of Evangelization and Deacon Mike Hayes Director of Young Adult Ministry in the Diocese of Cleveland co-host with frequent guests from the Diocesan Office who join in the conversation. Sponsored by Briefcase Marketing--check them out at https://www.Briefcase.marketing
Question of Faith
What's Up with Catholic Sisters?
SPONSOR: Briefcase Marketing
Guests: Women's Religious Archives Collaborative
Sr. Susan Durkin, OSU, Executive Director
Sarah Lubelski, Lead Archivist
Catholic Sisters have shaped American society through education, healthcare, and social services since 1727, yet their stories remain largely untold outside their communities. The Women's Religious Archives Collaborative aims to change that by creating a state-of-the-art heritage center in Cleveland's historic Central neighborhood.
• Women Religious Archives Collaborative breaking ground May 2025 in Cleveland
• 41 congregations across US and Canada contributing their historical collections.
• 32,000-square-foot facility will include climate-controlled vaults and exhibition space.
• Project highlights sisters' contributions through education, healthcare, and social services.
• Archive preserves everything from photographs and documents to personal artifacts.
• Stories include the sister who roller-skated through "five-mile highway" convent hallways.
• Distinction explained between sisters (apostolic) and nuns (monastic/cloistered)
• Cleveland uniquely home to 17 motherhouses at one point in diocesan history.
• Facility expected to open December 2026 as research destination and educational center.
• Project celebrates the sisters' quiet, transformative impact on countless lives and communities.
Learn more at archivescollaborative.org and follow the project on Facebook and Instagram to stay updated on this important preservation effort. Special thanks to Margaret Eigsti, Managing Director for her assistance with this episode.
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Readings for Palm Sunday can be found here.
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On today's Question of Faith. What's up with Catholic Sisters? Hi everybody, this is Question of Faith. I'm Deacon Mike Hayes. I'm the Director of Young Adult Ministry here in the Diocese of Cleveland.
Speaker 2:And I'm Fr Damian Ferenc, the Vicar for Evangelization.
Speaker 3:And I'm Sr Susan Durkin, an Ursuline Sister of Cleveland and Executive Director of the Women Religious Archives.
Speaker 4:Collaborative I'm Sarah Lubelski, the Lead Archivist for the Women's Religious Archives, collaborative.
Speaker 1:So that's what's up with Catholic Sisters is. There's this huge archival project that's going on. I just think this is the coolest thing ever, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, tell us about it. Yeah, what the heck is going on with this archive?
Speaker 1:Yeah, what the heck is the Women's Religious Archives. Collaborative.
Speaker 3:Well, we're really excited to break ground here in Cleveland sometime in May of 2025. To date, we have 41 congregations across the United States and Canada that want to bring their historical and currently being made collections here to Cleveland in a space that will not only be open for research but for dialogue, for presentations, for an exhibit, so that future generations current and future generations can learn about the vocation of Catholic Sisters but also the tremendous body of work that Catholic Sisters have been engaged in since they came to the United States in 1727.
Speaker 1:Now, Sarah, you're the archivist, so this is just a basic question. I wanted to ask you how does somebody become an archivist?
Speaker 4:So I started with an English degree and, as you, know you can do anything with an English degree.
Speaker 3:Yes, you can.
Speaker 4:So after I got my undergraduate degree I went to graduate school for libraries. I had always had an interest in libraries, ever since I was in grade school. I went to graduate school for libraries. I had always had an interest in libraries ever since I was in grade school. I volunteered after school stamping the books and, you know, up into college I was interested in history but a terrible history student because I can't remember dates. So this was a way to kind of find stories and tell stories that maybe had never been told before.
Speaker 1:Very nice, cool, all right. So what are some of the types of materials that are going to be held at the archives?
Speaker 4:So we will have things in every single kind of format you can imagine. We'll have photographs, moving pictures, moving images, audio, oral histories, any way you can record information. We'll have that kind of format represented in these collections. But mostly it will be paper, lots of paper documents. You know people would write in old ledgers, and so we'll have that right up until digital files today.
Speaker 1:Right, and what are some stories that are going to live there as well?
Speaker 4:So we have lots of stories of the foundings of congregations what brought sisters to America and to their particular diocese that they served in. Also the stories about the address, the needs that they address through their ministries, and the individual stories of sisters and the work that they did, their contributions, nice.
Speaker 2:Sister, you said that you're going to break ground soon. Where is that particular ground and what is the structure going to look like?
Speaker 3:Well, we're really excited because when we were trying to find a space that we could build this facility, all of our partners said, we want to place this in an area that needs investment and also a place where sisters have traditionally served, and so we're very excited that we were able to purchase some property from the Sisters of Charity of St Augustine, and so we will be located down by the old St Vincent Charity Hospital on the corner of East 22nd and Community College Avenue.
Speaker 2:Very cool.
Speaker 3:So it's really nice because we can make an investment in that historic central neighborhood and be in a place where the Sisters of Charity of St Augustine have served since 1865, which is really exciting. The building itself is going to be a two-story facility, which is really exciting. The building itself is going to be a two-story facility. A portion of the building, which will be about 32,000 square feet, will have a vault that will be temperature and humidification controlled for all of these documents that Sarah referenced. But the front part of the building is really going to be the public space. We'll have a multi-purpose room where people can come and hear about the research and these tremendous stories of the sisters. We'll have spaces for conferences, but the real jewel in our facility is going to be an exhibit space. So if anybody that's listening was at the Maltz Museum in 2010 for the Women in Spirit.
Speaker 2:I was there.
Speaker 3:Great for the Women in Spirit exhibition there. It's going to be like that it's going to reference the contributions of sisters. It's going to talk about the life of sisters, the vows we take, the different types of religious life, the ministries, how we live together. You know, it's going to really be almost a nice vocational piece for future generations to really learn about the value of this life and how we connect our faith with our service.
Speaker 2:There was high quality production and presentation. There's something that you would see at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or the Cleveland Institute or the Cleveland Art Museum, and that's the kind of thing that you're doing here.
Speaker 3:So, absolutely, we're really excited. We're working with a local communications firm, impact, and they are helping us to bring together this information in a way that is relatable, that has a lot of digital components to it and that we can have some permanent displays, but really they'll be rotating displays too, based on different subject area or things that come up, because we really want this to be an education destination, particularly for school groups to come in, young children, families, but also researchers, high schoolers doing term papers or college students that are doing certain work on a dissertation or some sort of a master's degree. And then we also have the ideas around preservation, historical preservation, digitization, all of those things that will be a draw for a very rigorous intern program and just like some robust conversations around how do we look at this evolution, that the problems continue. You know that we face as a society, but as a church, how have we addressed those and how will we continue to do that? So this space of inspiration, I think, is clearly a need that we have today in our society.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sister, how did you get involved in this project? Is this something you were asked to do? Was this personal interest of yours, or you know how did it come to land on you to be the executive director of this, or how did?
Speaker 3:it come to land on you to be the executive director of this. While I was congregational leader for the Ursuline Sisters, we had downsized and moved into a new facility for our sisters. In that process we had to figure out what we were going to do with our archives, which contain the artifacts of Dorothy Kazel, one of the martyrs in El Salvador in the 80s, and so that's going to be a very important story to continue to tell. So in that process I said you know, what we have is a temporary solution. What is going to be a permanent solution for this? And so it began as just kind of a local and a regional project. But then the need became very much apparent to us, which is when it expanded to go across the United States, and so there's high interest from the sisters themselves, variety of congregations, size congregations, ministries that people have done. It's going to be a very unique space and the only independent one being built in the United States right now.
Speaker 2:I love that. Not only will this. What are you calling it? A center, or what are you calling? It A heritage center, a heritage center, is not only going to be in the Diocese of Cleveland, but it's going to be in the city proper. As one who is a resident down here, it's another reason to visit the city, and I'm thinking for these grade schools visit there in the morning and then maybe come down for noon mass at the cathedral and have a very Catholic day. It could be cool.
Speaker 3:That's great. See, that's what we're doing. It's really about a collaborative project. It isn't one congregation or one entity that owns it. We're coming together in a collaborative way, which I believe is another witness, and we have several collaborative partners. We're very excited Bishop Molesik has been so welcoming of this project to be here in the diocese. We're partnered with the public library here, the main branch, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Archives, western Reserve Historical Society, other institutions that have like missions as ours. So we're really trying to collaborate on multiple levels with people. So really excited about that. And our location, being central as we are, allows for east side, west side anybody to come and visit us very easily, right off the freeway, close to the airport.
Speaker 1:As you talk to other women's religious about this, what's their reactions been Like? Has there been something that's really touched your heart? When you talk to someone about this and said, yeah, hey, we're doing this whole project about our history, you know what came up when you talked to them about these things.
Speaker 3:Sisters are really excited. I really believe that we're looking for ways that we can continue to expand our education mission, and it's really about how we can keep saying there's value to this life, there's value to faith-driven service. There's more to life than just money. It's really about, like, how do we serve the other, and Catholic sisters have been very good about balancing that piece, and so I think the sisters see it not just as a place for storing our historical story, but the story continues to be built today. I mean, we're not going anywhere. It's just how do we lift the bushel basket and shed the light. I think is what we're trying to do in this facility. So they're very excited, to the point where the sisters themselves have leveraged a lot of their own financial resources in order to make this building a reality. Nice.
Speaker 1:And so, sari, I'm sure you're plotting out the exhibit space now, and so what's going to be included in the exhibit space?
Speaker 4:you're plotting out the exhibit space now and so what's going to be included in the exhibit space. So I think that you know, historically, sisters and their contributions have been sort of really under-researched and been hidden, as Sister Susan said. So this will really be an opportunity for us to explore some of those stories, so much like the Women in Spirit exhibit that toured. It'll be a chance to show, like the different contributions that women have had. So and even like just very kind of things that might be kind of considered mundane but like what it was like to live in a convent, what it was like to live in one of those huge convents.
Speaker 4:That was maybe like we had one group that said that they had a mile of a hallway called five mile highway hallway and so she had a pair of roller skates that she would roller skate up and down the hallway to get from one end of the building to the other, so she could do all of her ministries. And I just cannot wait for the roller skates to be on display.
Speaker 1:I was just going to say I hope you have the roller skates.
Speaker 4:Well, the archivist was talking to me. She's like they want to get rid of the roller skates I said, do not get lot of wonderful stories that are going to be shared, and you know deep stories of faith and passionate service that these women have contributed.
Speaker 2:I was in New York City for my birthday. I go every year and I love the Cloisters which is an extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and right up there I knew it was there, but I'd never visited until this last time is the Shrine of Mother Cabrini, and I'm wondering will there be anything from Mother Cabrini or Elizabeth Ann Seton, or will there be any saint or a relic that you know that might be part of this collection? Have you determined any of that yet, or is that too far down the line?
Speaker 4:A lot of congregations have a lot of artifacts and things that they are trying to figure out what to do with. So part of our mission is to help them tell their own story in the geographic space where they are. So, for instance, we have collections that are coming from South Dakota, so we want them to be able to tell the story of the Sisters of the Presentation or the Benedictines in South Dakota. But we also want them to be able to tell their story in Cleveland so that a researcher can come and say how did someone provide health care on the prairie in the early days of the United States and how does that compare to providing health care in downtown Cleveland in the same time period?
Speaker 4:So kind of looking at all of the different nuances of how Sisters served as part of that and really, truthfully speaking, artifacts are a very small part of that story, but something that will be part of our exhibit space.
Speaker 2:Sister Jane Nesmith, who's a sister of the Blessed Sacrament she directs the Black Catholic Ministries office is a spiritual daughter of St Catherine Drexel, and I know her community did some downsizing. They moved from where they were and they moved Catherine's body to the Cathedral of Philadelphia. Now more people have access to it and I'm thinking there is a buzz, although you say it's silent and quiet and a secret. There's certainly interest in this sort of thing.
Speaker 4:For sure, and I think that this is really an opportunity to give some visibility to these collections that have never been seen before. I mean, you really have to know that they exist in order to be able to research them, and if you don't know they exist, then the stories don't get told.
Speaker 1:Right, and so is there one thing that you found out so far that maybe you didn't know, that you thought was like this is really cool. I've never heard this before.
Speaker 4:Stories like that all the time, and so I really think that for me it's as a non-Catholic. I had never really met a sister before I had started working in Catholic Sister Archives, so for me the big surprise has always been I kind of viewed it as being like a retreat from the world. But nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, as a sister, you're out in the world constantly, you're making connections, you're collaborating, and I think that the groups in Cleveland have done that particularly well, just opening their doors hospitably to immigrants and other orders of sisters as they've come to Cleveland. It's really been a wonderful story.
Speaker 2:Sister, could you make the distinction, because maybe some of our listeners don't know it the distinction between a sister and a nun, because those terms are used interchangeably, but there's actually a distinction to be made.
Speaker 3:No, yes, it's based on the vows, and so those that have the vow of stability, mostly like it, would be a monastic or a cloistered community, they are known as nuns. For those that have a more apostolic bent, then we are coined as sisters, and that really is a Rome has, you know, kind of made that distinguish, you know has distinguished that term for us.
Speaker 2:So Ursulines, notre Dame, csjs, my incarnate word, sisters. We're all sisters and then, like the poor Claire's would be, they're sisters, so-and-so, but they're also nuns. That's helpful and a lot of people say, oh okay, that makes sense.
Speaker 3:I just want to touch back a little bit too on what Sarah said about Cleveland. We really do have a unique situation here that most people across the country do not have. At one point in our history in Cleveland there were 17 motherhouses here that's almost unheard of and then over time there were about 28 congregations in a period of time when immigration was very high back in the early days. And then, as time went on, the statistics really tell us that there's over 100 congregations that have made some sort of contribution just to the Cleveland Diocese alone. They might not have stayed there may have been a couple of sisters here that have done a specific ministry but I think it really tells a tale of how the sisters have such a great spirit. It doesn't matter if you're an Ursuline or a congregation of St Joseph or a Poor Claire. We all know each other, and so there's a real camaraderie and a way of wanting to work together on certain things that we all want to see the betterment of our society, but also like a strengthening of our faith.
Speaker 1:Cool, nice. So when is this all going to happen? Like, when are you hoping to open up the doors?
Speaker 3:Well, we're hoping to open the doors. If all proceeds according to plan, you know, and you always wait on cities and permits we're hoping that the facility itself will open for us to begin working in there in December of 2026. It'll take, you know, about 15 months for construction. So if we can open in 2026, get the collections in, get the exhibit space up and running and then we can start inviting the public in and all permits go the way they you hope they go.
Speaker 3:Right, but you know what? I have thousands of sisters right now we do praying for this effort, so I can't imagine that. You know we're not going to stay on time and, of course, under budget.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. I wonder if any sisters taught at Trinity High School when Mayor Bibb was there, because if they did, you could have one of those sisters you know. Call the mayor and say, hey, I'm praying for you.
Speaker 3:The Sisters of St Joseph. Third Order of St Francis that did found Marymount, now Trinity. Third Order of St Francis that did found Marymount, now Trinity. They are partners in this so we're very happy to have their collection and they had a collection in Stevens Point, wisconsin, and also here in Cleveland, so they have a very broad network that they have, you know, served over time, which a lot of people don't know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, speaking of things that people don't know, sister, what's one thing that you think everybody should know about Catholic Sisters that maybe they don't, here in Cleveland, I mean?
Speaker 3:I think Catholic Sisters have been involved in almost every facet of our life here in our city, you know it's either education, it's health care, it's the social service agencies we run hospice care, elder care so so many people, whether they're Catholic or not, have been touched by a Catholic sister, and so I think that that contribution that sisters do very quietly is something that a lot of people aren't always is aware of just the total amount of impact that we've had over 175 years because Catholic sisters have been a part of the diocese now for 175 years.
Speaker 4:Can I tell mine Sure, when I was working, I previously worked with the Congregation of St Joseph and one of my jobs in their archives was cataloging the books, and so as I was cataloging books written by their sisters, I found my phonics workbook that I remembered from second grade and it was written by one of the congregation of St Joseph's Sisters and it has like a green plaid cover and I remember it vividly from my school days because it was one of the first workbooks I ever had and, as an English major, that made a big impression. I'll bet yeah.
Speaker 2:Now, sister, when you were speaking you mentioned hospice and that made me think that the foundress of the modern hospice was actually Rose Hawthorne, whose dad was Nathaniel Hawthorne, the guy who wrote the Scarlet Letter. And I know this because the Hawthorne Dominican sisters used to have a home here in Cleveland, actually in Parma, and I know that because my mom spent the last year of her life there and the care of those sisters and the nun who took care of my mother is still alive, sister Mary Kevin Clutterbuck, op. I think she's like 97 or 98, and she's retired happily in Hawthorne, new York. But yeah, I mean they do their work very well, quietly, without much fanfare, but boy, they helped build this diocese and make it what it is.
Speaker 3:So another thing to be proud of as a the other thing that comes to my mind, too, is it's a former very successful city leader here in Cleveland at one point had approached me and said you know what I give to the sisters because the sisters taught me to read.
Speaker 3:If I did not know how to read, I never would have been the success that I am today. They were the formational people in my life. They were there. His family had had some hardships early on, and so the sisters were always the one constant in his life, and so from that point on he said I owe everything to the sisters. And so I think that sentiment is out there for so many people who have found their niche and found their place in our world and have continued to go on to do good things as a result of their contact with so many of the sisters across the country.
Speaker 1:Where can we find you online? Are there things to look at already that you're putting up online at this point? We have a great website.
Speaker 3:We invite you to visit us. So that's archives with an S collaborativeorg, and we also have a Facebook page, so please follow us on facebook and instagram, so we hope you'll follow us on those as well.
Speaker 2:awesome well, I was just thinking, talking about websites father, confession's good for the soul.
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Speaker 3:I don't, but I'm really excited to hear about them.
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Speaker 1:Dan is not an idiot, but I am. So there we go. Sister, I know you said that you go to church here in Cleveland. What parish do you attend?
Speaker 3:I attend Blessed Trinity Parish.
Speaker 1:And what's great about Blessed Trinity?
Speaker 3:Oh, it's a great group of people that are there. It was a school that I taught at when it was Ascension Parish, and so it's. It was the last school that I taught at when I was an elementary school teacher, so you know, have warm feelings about it. Father Doug is a great pastor and then when I'm not going there, I attend St Brendan's because that's my. That was the parish where I grew up. So Father Tom Wust, a great guy and just happy.
Speaker 1:That's where I did my second year of formation was at St Brendan's in North Olmstead. It's a great place.
Speaker 2:I remember St Brendan's has. I think they have big beautiful wooden doors and there's like Celtic designs in there.
Speaker 3:Yes, there are St Brendan the Navigator.
Speaker 2:And back in the day, when I was in the seminary and I had Father Fortuna for my liturgy class, we did our Easter vigil reenactment at Annunciation Parish back in the day. So I remember being there. It's been a while, but yeah, both great places.
Speaker 1:Nice, it's Palm Sunday. Can you believe it? I can. Your beard makes it look like it's Palm.
Speaker 2:Sunday it's feeling good, baby. I'm glad I have it, because it's what 40 degrees out or 35 degrees out on opening day, yeah really yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:So let's take a look at the readings for this week. At the procession with the palms, I enjoyed reading this today. It said so. Those who had been sent off found everything just as he had told them. And as they were unty the colt, his owner said to them why are you untying the colt? And they answered the master has need of it. So they brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks over the colt and helped Jesus to mount. As he rode along, people were spreading their cloaks on the road. I just love picturing that, you know, seeing him coming in, you know, on a colt, as opposed to on some big, huge fancy horse. He comes in on a donkey, basically, and shows sort of the simplicity that he is a different kind of king than what someone would expect to see.
Speaker 2:Any thoughts on the readings this weekend?
Speaker 3:I like this piece about when they're arguing amongst themselves which can happen in a communal setting about who is greater, and it's really. I am among you as the one who serves, and I think that, for me, is reflective of who we should be and what Jesus is asking of us. It's really about how do we? Our faith is about seeing the stranger, seeing that there are no strangers, seeing the person before us that we're here, we're meant to serve. We're here to bring the kingdom of God here, right here and now. And it's not about fame, it's not about wealth and I think that for me, is a big part of how I see my vocation as a Catholic sister but also who we're meant to be.
Speaker 4:Nice. Going along with that, I really like the line where it says Jesus took his place at the table with the apostles and that kind of reminds me of our project, because we're asking people to see themselves in the lives of the sisters, see how the sisters serve them and really reflect on what the role of spirituality has been in your everyday life and how you serve your God or the people around you and community.
Speaker 2:And we haven't mentioned it yet, but today is April 8th. It's the one year anniversary of the solar eclipse Totality three. I love the eclipse so much.
Speaker 1:You cannot stop talking about this, no, I already.
Speaker 2:I sent all my friends a text today with pictures from it. We've been going back and forth, but what I loved about the eclipse so much was it was a theological day for me, because it was totality, completeness. And John 3, 16,. God so loved the world that he gave us his only son not a part or not most, but all of him. And then Jesus, in the Eucharist and on the cross, gives this is my body, given for you, not a little bit of it or not most of it, but all of it. And that so God's love for us is complete, emptying of self, and what he wants back from us is the complete gift of ourself, again in service and love and acts of charity and acts of justice. And so this is it Like the Lord gives us the model for how to make ourselves a gift and then we return ourselves as a gift back. So you know, it comes back to the eclipse often for me, it's true, anyway or it comes back to canonic love often, and the eclipse reminded me of that.
Speaker 1:That's a better way of putting it Well, sister, susan Durkin and Sarah Lubelski, thanks for your complete gift, not only being here today, but the gift that you're going to give this entire diocese with the gift of this Women Religious Archives Collaborative that's coming up soon.
Speaker 3:It's our privilege to be able to do this and just so grateful for the invitation to join you today. Thank you.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, thank you. So we'll have this and a whole lot more next time here on question of faith.
