Steadfast Charity

Steadfast Charity covers the history of the Sisters of Charity of Halifax during the years 1972—2002 as the congregation met the challenges of Vatican II and created new models for living vowed religious life. New ways of praying, of being community, of giving service, of understanding the vows—all required trust, openness, risk and a willingness to let go of security. As the congregation responded to the call to renewal, little did the sisters realize how much would change.

In this book, Sisters of Charity Mary Sweeney, Martha Westwater, Elaine Nolan and Julia Heslin explore these times by examining the life and practices of the sisters and by contextualizing decisions that were made by the governing bodies during those years. They tell the story of an organization and its evolution as a part of the “Church in the Modern World.” The authors offer an inside view of a congregation which, in navigating its transformation through a time of upheaval in the Church and in the world, remained faithful to its purpose, as stated in its Constitutions: “to give joyful witness to love.”