Ode to St. O.

O those of us, now growing older, who grew up in Catholic schools staffed by sisters and remember their stories. Some were nonsense, of course, or Nun-sense, as Dan Goggin titled his musical about nuns.

But others were gospel truth. Among them were the tales of women who founded institutions to help the less fortunate. They were portrayed, and rightly so, as heroines of the Catholic Church. Another dramatist, John Patrick Shanley, dedicates his play Doubt to "the many orders of Catholic nuns who devoted their lives to serving others in hospitals, schools, and retirement homes. Though they have been much maligned and ridiculed, who among us has been so generous?" the playbill reads.

Among the legions of women so generous is the newly minted saint, Mother Theodore Guerin, canonized just last October. In 1841 she founded an academy for girls in southern Indiana. Today it is known as St. Mary of the Woods, the oldest Catholic liberal arts college for women in the nation.

Shanley's question--"Who among us has been so generous?"--is a good one for this present age of Catholicism that has substantially backed away from founding institutions that reach and rotate the commonweal. There are, however, some notable exceptions. The network of Cristo Rey schools inaugurated by the Jesuits is one. The De La Salle Christian Brothers' San Miguel schools is another. And groups of lay people who have taken over Catholic schools founded by religious orders no longer able to maintain them, often in inner-city neighborhoods, also follow in the footsteps of the noble and sacrificing Catholic sisterhood.

O yes, let's not forget another woman who recently founded a school in one of the more needy precincts of the world. In the town of Henley-on-Klip, 40 miles away from Johannesburg, South Africa, Oprah Winfrey built and opened a leadership academy for girls this past January. Students live at the school and tuition is free. Winfrey funded this school herself, initially to the tune of $40 million, through her foundation.

Most founding heroines and heroes of Catholic schools had a dedicated band of sisters and brothers they relied on to staff the classrooms. Many of these founders had no deep pockets and constantly scraped together donations and gifts from a variety of sources to make ends meet. It was a way of life for them and their followers. Today Oprah has reversed the picture. She has money beyond belief, but no band of sisters akin to the old-time religious congregations. Might that come next?

Nonetheless Oprah Winfrey follows in the great tradition of the many Catholic sisters, brothers, and priests who founded schools to serve the poor and disadvantaged.

O, who among us has been so generous?

PETER GILMOUR ([e-mail]) teaches at the Institute of Pastoral Studies of Loyola University Chicago.