The Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland recently had their Chapter 2024, a gathering that takes place every four years in which they make significant decisions for the congregation, including a new leadership team. There are 109 sisters in the congregation.
The sisters elected Sister Laura Bregar as their new president and the following four coucilors: Sister Maureen Doyle, Sister Maureen Grady, Sister Kathleen Flannery and Sister Gretchen Rodenfels. The new leadership team begins its four-year term of service on June 8.
As the congregation continues to focus on its mission of “Transforming society through contemplation, justice and compassion,” it set the following vision and direction for the next four years.
Vision:
Grounded in Gospel values and the prophetic witness of Angela Merici, the congregation will go forward seeking to be a caring presence in the world.
Directions:
• They commit to work for peace, justice and care of the environment in their common home.
• They commit to meeting the evolving challenges related to the care of their sisters.
• They commit to the work of fulfillment and legacy through processes of education and planning.
The Ursuline Sisters’ congregation, originally called the Company of St. Ursula, was established in 1535 in Brescia, Italy by St. Angela Merici. The sisters spread throughout Europe and set up foundations in France. They have served in the Diocese of Cleveland since 1850, and are dedicated to transforming society through contemplation, justice and compassion. Education has always been the primary ministry of the Ursuline sisters, with a special emphasis on families, women, the economically poor and the, powerless. They continue to adapt their educational ministries to meet the changing needs of the Church. In addition, they serve in prison ministry, pastoral ministry, chaplaincy and ministry to the elderly and sick.
Three weeks after arriving in the diocese, the sisters – led by Mother Mary of the Annunciation Beaumont – established Ursuline Academy for 300 pupils. Later, using the charter for this school, the sisters established what now is known as Beaumont School, a secondary school for girls. With its roots dating to 1850, it is the oldest all-girls high school in Greater Cleveland.
After St. Patrick Parish was founded in 1853 in what now is the Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland, the sisters established a parish school and inaugurated a diocesan school system. In 1968, St. Patrick and St. Malachi (also in Cleveland) schools merged to form Urban Community School in Cleveland. St. Wendelin School merged with UCS in 1976 and the sisters formalized their sponsorship of UCS in 2006.
The congregation opened Ursuline College, one of the first colleges for women in Ohio, in 1871 in Cleveland. The college moved to its current Pepper Pike location in 1966.
The Ursuline boarding and day school moved to a site on Lake Erie and became known as Villa Angela. In 1941, after those schools closed, Villa Angela Academy (1878-1989) continued as an all-girls high school. In 1989, it merged with the nearby all-boys St. Joseph High School (1950-1989) in Cleveland at the St. Joseph campus to form the coeducational Villa Angela-St. Joseph High School. The Villa Angela Heritage Center, which recognizes the history and traditions of Villa Angela, is located at VASJ.
The sisters also became part of the diocese’s Cleveland Latin American Mission team at the mission in El Salvador, providing uninterrupted service until 2014. On Dec. 2, 1980, Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel and lay missionary Jean Donovan, along with two Maryknoll missionary sisters, were abducted and murdered in El Salvador during the country’s civil war.
The Ursulines remain active in many ministries throughout the Diocese of Cleveland, including parishes, health care, social justice and social services.
Click here to learn more about the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland. Their residence, Merici Crossings, is in Pepper Pike and the congregational offices are in Mayfield Heights.