Anita Caspary

Anita M. Caspary, IHM (November 4, 1915 in Herrick, South Dakota – October 5, 2011 in Los Angeles, California) was the only woman in American history to hold the positions of Mother General of an order of Catholic sisters and the first president of a Christian ecumenical community. Under her leadership over 300 sisters relinquished their canonical status and formed the new Immaculate Heart Community of California. Anita Caspary, and her IHM sisters, organized the new Immaculate Heart Community as an independent religious entity. They are a religious community without any official church affiliation. The majority remained lay Catholics. In addition to her renowned leadership role with the Immaculate Heart Community, Caspary was president of Immaculate Heart College (1958-63), English professor, popular teacher and lecturer, published author and poet. Acknowledged as a transformative leader in the post Vatican II Catholic Church, she was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, February 23, 1970.

Biography

An excellent teacher, advisor, and mentor, Anita quickly was selected for graduate studies. She received a master’s degree in English from the University of Southern California (1942) and a doctorate in English from Stanford University (1948). Graduate studies introduced new worlds to Anita. Learning the art of reasoned argument, experiencing a diversity of opinions, prepared her well for the life of a college professor. One student wrote, “her observations were of great value as I plotted my life's path, and her insight into where I might fit in life was right on the mark, as it turned out.” Returning from Stanford she rose quickly in the ranks of academic leadership to chair of the English department (1950) and graduate dean of the college. She envisioned a scholarly life in English literature and Catholic intellectual life in the IHM community.

In 1957, Anita was appointed president of Immaculate Heart College. Known for excellence in the liberal arts, IHC was considered the progressive Catholic college in the west. Under her leadership and with a young and energetic faculty, IHC gained a national reputation for creativity and innovative methods. She attended the Presidents’ Professional Association Management Course for Presidents and received a certificate of participation in 1964. In 1966 she received a certificate of completion from the American Management Association’s Executive Action Course. In both management training programs, she was a rare women participant

In 1963 Anita was elected Mother General of the Immaculate Heart Sisters, and led the community in the renewal process of Vatican II. In her award-winning book Witness to Integrity: The Crisis of the Immaculate Heart Community of California she described the struggle, conflict and choice of the IHM women to form a new community. Of that period of her life, she wrote, "In many ways, we foreshadowed the contemporary (and vibrant) feminist movement within the Catholic Church." Anita had the unique distinction of being a Mother General of a congregation of Catholic sisters and a president of an ecumenical community. For this, she was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, February 23, 1970.

In the seventies, she was a sought after scholar and lecturer. She attended Harvard University’s Divinity School in the early 1970s as the first woman who received the Merrill Fellowship. From 1973-1975, she participated in Notre Dame University’s theology program. Following these positions she taught at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. She was also a visiting professor in the School of Religion at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA.

In the 1980s, she was the first director of the Peace and Justice Center of Southern CA and started the annual Wholistic Retreat for Women which continues today. In the nineties she taught courses in the Feminist Spirituality Program of Immaculate Heart College Center. At the age of 85 she was awarded a grant to teach poetry to the IHM members at the Kenmore residence and learned to use the computer. At age 95, she had completed a volume of her poetry and was anticipating publication.

“Caspary’s life extended through eight papacies and dramatic developments within the Catholic Church, including its shift from a Euro-centric to a global entity and new roles for laity and women. Recognized as one of the most influential Catholic sisters of her era and a principal participant in the debates that shaped the role of women religious in the U.S. Church, Caspary’s life and the IHM struggle of the Immaculate Heart Sisters of California with the male hierarchy forms a critical juncture in the history of the renewal of religious life for women in the Catholic Church during the 20th century.” **

Anita was a woman who loved and was loved by many. She relished visits with her family and friends; she was an avid reader and enjoyed parties. Her leadership style was inviting yet challenging. She had a natural wisdom born of a deep spirituality, suffering and joyous attitude toward life. Her unique listening skills enabled friend, family member, student, colleague and stranger to share readily with her. Her compassion for the other was evident in every encounter. Anita possessed the virtue of integrity - the ability to envision the whole person, situation or event and act with undiminished moral character. She was graced with an unusual sense of faith and purpose of her life.

Memoir

Caspary taught high school English while studying toward a master's degree at the University of Southern California. She received her Ph.D. in 1948 from Stanford University. She wrote a 2003 memoir, Witness to Integrity. In 2012, a collection of her poems, FROM THE HEART: Poems by Anita M. Caspary, I.H.M., was published posthumously.

Death

As a beloved member of the Immaculate Community for 75 years, she died peacefully on October 5, 2011 surrounded by her family, friends, and Immaculate Heart Community members in Los Angeles, California.

Notes

a.       Immaculate Heart College of Los Angeles, CA closed in 1980.

References

1.       Maloney, Susan. M. “Obedience, Responsibility and Freedom: Anita M. Caspary, IHM and the Post-Conciliar Renewal of Catholic Women Religious” U.S. Catholic Historian. Fall, 2014: 32 (4):122.

2.      Ibid. 143. “In 1969, fifty IHM sisters did not accept Caspary’s invitation to start a new community. By 1976 this group of fifty women split into three smaller communities. One group became the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Los Angeles and hold pontifical status.  These members who reside in Southern California. They do not accept new candidates. The second group, Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church have two members who live in Ojai, California and hold diocesan status with the Los Angeles Archdiocese.  They do not accept new members.  The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Wichita, Kansas are the third group. They are a diocesan congregation and accept new members.”

3.      Ibid. 122.  From 1967-2003 over 200 newspaper, journal and magazine articles report about Caspary’s role and the conflict between the IHMs and Church authorities

Sources

• www.anitacaspary.com
• Caspary, Anita M. (2003). Witness to Integrity: The Crisis of the Immaculate Heart Community of California. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press. ISBN 978-0-81462-770-9.
• Maloney, Susan M. (2008). "The First Feminist Nuns: The Immaculate Heart Community of California". In Dresdner, Lisa; Peterson, Laurel (eds.). (Re) Interpretations: The Shapes of Justice in Women's Experience. London, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 151–167. ISBN 978-1-84718-976-9.
• Maloney, Susan M. (2005). "Changing Catholic Commitments: Anita Caspary and the Immaculate Heart Community of California". In Umansky, Lauri; Block, Avital (eds.). Impossible to Hold: Women and Culture in the 1960s. New York: New York University Press. pp. 177–195. ISBN 978-0-81479-909-3.
• Maloney, Susan M. (Fall 2014). "Obedience, Responsibility, and Freedom: Anita M. Caspary, IHM, and the Post-Conciliar Renewal of Catholic Women Religious". Catholic Historian. 32 (4): 121–150. doi:10.1353/cht.2014.0029. S2CID 145074605.
• Massa, Mark. S. (2010). The American Catholic Revolution: How the Sixties Changed the Church Forever. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 90. ISBN 978-0-19973-412-2.
• "A Woman of Courage and Commitment". Anita M. Caspary Trust. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
• James Patrick Shannon, Reluctant Dissenter (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Co., 1998), 130.
• Mark S. Massa, SJ, “The Dangers of History” in The American Catholic Revolution: How the Sixties Changed the Church Forever (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 75–102;
• Mark S. Massa, SJ “To Be Beautiful, Human, and Christian—The IHM Nuns and the Routinization of Charisma,” in Catholics and American Culture (New York: Crossroad Publishing Co., 1999), 172–194.
• Lora Ann Quinonez, CDP, and Mary Daniel Turner, SNDdeN, The Transformation of American Catholic Sisters (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992), 42.
• Marshall Mercer, “‘You People Don’t Pray Right’: A Study of Organizational Power and Superordinate Goal Conflict” (Ph.D. dissertation, Claremont Graduate School, 1994),
• Marcelle Bernstein, The Nuns (New York: J.B. Lippincott, 1976), 149–154.
• Two documentary films detail the conflict: “Nuns in Conflict” (Man Alive series, British Broadcasting Corporation, 1968) and “Lamp Unto My Feet” CBS TV, 1970).