A groundbreaking Catholic archive center will soon make its home in Ohio.
The Women Religious Archives Collaborative (WRAC) Heritage Center in Cleveland will document the history of an oft-ignored part of the church: Catholic sisters. The center will preserve the stories of sisters from more than 75 congregations who dedicated their lives to service across the country.
The organization plans to break ground on the multi-million dollar repository within the next month. It’s one of the first efforts of its kind to capture the history of women religious, said Sister Susan Durkin, executive director of the WRAC.
“Sisters in the Catholic Church have always been an overlooked group of women,” Durkin said. “Due to a lot of circumstances, their histories have been under cover.”
Shaping U.S. history
The Catholic sisters played a critical role in American history, Durkin said. She added nuns were often among the first to be called upon to serve as the country was being settled. They innovated infrastructure to take care of the poor and needy.
“Sisters have been there to create hospital school systems. Originally, a lot of the orphanages that were very much needed back in the day and a lot of the social services, particularly very successful ones that you see today, were begun by Catholic sisters,” she said.
Throughout history, nuns have established numerous colleges for women, advocated for school integration during the Civils Rights movement and led anti-war protests. They have a long history of speaking truth to power, Durkin said.
“Sisters have been huge contributors to social justice issues. So it's really about not just creating spaces that we can help people, but it's really about being a voice and an advocate. And using our clout, if you will, to be able to to raise those issues to people that matter.”
Ohio sisters
Around 42 congregations have already agreed to contribute to the archive. It will feature women from around the U.S. including Ohio nuns from Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Tiffin and Toledo, among others.
Durkin said she’s found inspiration from many of the local orders in Ohio, including Sister Ignatia Gavin, who is credited with helping to found the Alcohol Anonymous program. She worked with local doctors in Akron to aid those suffering from alcoholism, at a time when they could not be admitted into a hospital.
“Often it is attributed that tokens that people receive and coffee that is served in a meeting goes back to Sister Ignatia,” she said.
Durkin said Ohio sisters have also been farmers, part of real-life “Sister Act” choirs and ministers of hope in wartime.
Leaving a legacy
Catholic women religious institutions across the U.S. are facing aging populations and declining membership, after booms to religious orders in the 1950s. In a 2024 survey, the National Religious Retirement Office found 80% of all women religious are 70-years-old or older.
The new heritage center is aimed at preserving their history as religious sisters, whose way of life has become increasingly rare. The center will have a space for public exhibits on sisters’ legacies and bring researchers together to uncover more stories of Catholic sisters.
“[The public] can learn a lot about our life, how faith motivates that service and how we can become successful when we are inspired and when we work together with others,” she said.
There’s so much to learn from the women’s contributions, Durkin said. She believes the archive will ensure those lessons survive for the next generation.
“Our world today is in such need of hope,” she said. “And of remembering that we are put here to be of service to one another. I think that's what these stories inspire.”
