Meet Sister Ellen

Sr. Ellen Leonard Helps Women Find their Voices

Sister Ellen Leonard: a woman of her time. She has gone through great changes and herself been an agent of change. With her community's support, she has grown and developed. Meet someone who:

• Went from teaching Grade 1 to teaching theology at the University of St. Michael's College
• Writes books as well as articles for religious journals
• Immersed herself in the many serious "ism's" of our time including ecumenism and feminism.

Let's find out how all this came about.

The Sister Connection

"I entered the world under the watchful eye of Sister Vincentia," is how Ellen describes her birth in 1933 at St. Michael's Hospital, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto.

There were so many other connections to the Sisters. Her mother had attended the Sisters of St. Joseph's boarding school. Her aunt, Sister Ignatia, was a member of the order. Ellen herself attended St. Joseph's College School, where the teachers impressed her with "their kindness, competence and dedication." She felt called to join them as a Sister of St. Joseph of Toronto in 1951, upon finishing high school. The next step after her novitiate: teacher training.

Large Classes

"When I started to teach, we had large classes. I had 51 children in Grade One," Ellen remembers. For the next 14 years of her life, Ellen taught at the elementary level, serving as school principal during the final four years. Evenings and summers she pursued university studies. Then came the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) and Ellen's life changed radically.

The First Big Change

"Vatican II brought a shift in our understanding of our vocation. I experienced this shift in a dramatic way in my own life. I exchanged my religious name, Sister Loyola, for my baptismal name, Ellen. I set aside my habit and veil. I moved from the big motherhouse to a small community of six sisters. I left elementary education for the study of theology."

The Vatican Council had directed the religious communities to return to their roots. The earliest Sisters of St. Joseph lived in France in small groups within their neighbourhoods. And so Ellen lived in a house with five other Sisters: "Living in community, we pray together. There are the yearly retreats. We celebrate the great feast days. These are a part of the rhythm of my life."

Study and Research

In 1969, the study of theology took Ellen to Manhattan College in New York. She prepared to help Catholic teachers and parents teach the new programs in religious education.

This work as a resource teacher in Religious Education showed her the need for renewed theology as well. Her congregation supported her entry into the doctoral programme at the University of St. Michael's College, where she completed her PhD in 1978.

"I really fell in love with theology," she says of this time. In 1969 St. Michael's had joined with six other colleges to form the Toronto School of Theology. When Ellen began to teach theology at the University of St. Michael's College, her students included seminarians, sisters, lay women and men preparing for a variety of ministries in the church. Students from the other colleges added ecumenical flavour.

Sister Mechtilde O'Mara CSJ described Ellen's influence on others in this way: "Many of her Sisters, delighted with her presentation and appreciative of her insights, have followed her courses in Christology, Sacraments and Religious Life at the University of St. Michael's College Faculty of Theology. We are proud of what she has accomplished and even more of who she is."

Ecumenism: bringing the churches together

Her work at the college brought her into contact with other churches. She attended the World Council of Churches Assembly in Vancouver in 1983 and in Canberra, Australia in 1991.

"As Sisters of St. Joseph called to the apostolate of unity, we can rejoice that God is inviting the whole human family to a greater unity…" she wrote in a message to the Sisters upon her return from Vancouver.

The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops appointed her as a Catholic participant in the Roman Catholic-United Church National Dialogue from 1975-1984 and to the Churches' Council for Theological Education from 1992 to the present.

Feminism: a transforming grace

Her next blessing was feminism.

"I met women from all over the world. Feminism has been for me, in Anne Carr's words, 'a transforming grace.' This grace was communicated to me by other women, especially my students and colleagues. I also experience women-church among the women with whom I live as a Sister of St. Joseph. I am committed to affirming the gifts of women in whatever ways I can, by teaching, writing, and personal contact."

She helped set up the Catholic Network for Women's Equality (CNWE).

Writing and Teaching

The following years were busy, productive ones. As well as teaching, Ellen wrote three books on individuals involved in the modernist movement in the early twentieth century: George Tyrrell and the Catholic Tradition; Unresting Transformation: The Theology and Spirituality of Maude Petre; Creative Tension: The Spiritual Legacy of Friedrich von Hugel. She published in many magazines including The Month, The Way, The Ecumenist, Horizons, Grail, and The Canadian Catholic Review.

Retired - and working hard

In 1999, Ellen retired from full-time teaching at the University of St. Michael's College. As a professor emerita, she still teaches courses, counsels and mentors students, and writes for various journals. The year 2002 brought the celebration of her 50 years with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto.

Ellen's reflections on this occasion:

"My membership in the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph during the past 50 years has given me the opportunity to develop my gifts and to share them with others through my ministry of theological education. I am grateful for this rich ministry and for the sisters with whom I live in community who continue to inspire me. I love being a Sister of St. Joseph!"

You can email Sister Ellen at ellen.leonard@utoronto.ca

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To read more Sisters' Stories, please see Meet A Sister