CV NEWS FEED // The Women’s Religious Archives Collaborative (WRAC) recently unveiled its plan to create a Heritage Center in Cleveland, Ohio that will honor and celebrate the contributions and histories of more than two dozen congregations of Catholic religious sisters.
Catholic sisters are spearheading the project “ensure the preservation of sisters’ legacies,” according to a WRAC press release. The Center will open in 2025, and will include information about the histories and contributions of 35 different religious women’s congregations.
The Center “will be the nation’s first independent heritage center for women religious,” the press release noted:
This joint undertaking will honor the past accomplishments of women religious while also inspiring future generations to think, dream, and serve in response to the needs and challenges of their time.
The facility will span approximately 30,000 square feet, and will be used to host meetings, research projects, and public informational programs.
“As members of Catholic sisters’ congregations grow older and decline in number, hundreds of years of their histories are at risk of being lost,” said Ursuline Sister Susan Durkin, Executive Director of WRAC.
“These women and their forbearers have made immeasurable contributions to our communities and our nation, as leaders in spiritual formation, education, health care, social service and justice efforts,” Durkin continued. “The need to preserve their archival collections and the histories they represent for future generations has become increasingly urgent.”
In the new facility, WRAC will uphold and honor the histories of the Carmelite Sisters of Cleveland, the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, Toledo, Cincinnati, and Cleveland, the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, the Sisters of the Precious Blood, the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis, the Sisters of St. Francis, the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine, and several other congregations.
“You can’t adequately tell the history of the United States without including the contributions of Catholic Sisters,” reads a statement by Durkin on the WRAC website.
For more information about the new facility and its programs, click here.
