Thomas GAUNT and Thu T. DO, eds. New Faces, New Possibilities: Cultural Diversity and Structural Change in Institutes of Women Religions. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2022. Reviewed By Laura M. LEMING, University of Dayton, Dayton, OH 45469.

This edited volume, brings into one place data culled from quantitative and qualitative studies conducted at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) over the last 25 years.   It takes a big step to paint an accurate picture of both the peril and the promise that congregations of women religious face in this first quarter of the 21st century. 

Why are Catholic Sisters important?  They built and tended Catholic culture in the U.S. and we now are in a time when U.S. Catholic culture is tenuous at best. While they are no longer as visible as in the 20th century when religious life experienced unparalleled growth, there is still a stream of women choosing to dedicate their lives to tend the people of God.  Each year 100 to 200 women enter religious communities.  More mature than women joining in the past, they are also more likely to stay.  They bring a greater diversity of experiences of church ministry and higher levels of education than was true of the older sisters in their communities, many of whom literally grew up in their congregations.  New members represent the peoples of the world in that almost 40% have at least one parent born outside of the U.S.  In this way, they have a surprising continuity with the sisters who first came to the U.S.  Those women were immigrants but most came from European countries.   Like some new members today, they had to struggle in a new culture.  But earlier waves of women religious were creating structures, both in the church and in their congregations, that newer waves of young religious are now needing to evaluate and sometimes leave behind. 

What are the perils and how can we frame the promise of women’s religious life in the US today, as presented by Gaunt and Do? 

Peril: Demographic trends that can’t support the governing structures in place.
     Promise:  Eagerness among younger members to create new collaborations and models of leadership that will sustain religious life as a continuing wellspring in the church
     Peril: Inability to overcome racism in the church more widely and in religious communities in particular. 
      Promise: Ongoing communal work around racism.
    Peril: Barriers to achieving true interculturality to arrive at models of church and new canonical possibilities that allow greater flexibility.
     Promise: Rapidly changing demographics without doubt will lead to more rapid change in the next 10 to 15 years. The experiences of new collaborations and the global reach of congregations will change the face of religious life and make room for new contributions to the church’s mission. 

Especially noteworthy are the ways that qualitative data was included so the reader gets to hear real sisters reflecting on their own realities.  A chapter is dedicated at the end of the two main sections to highlight the personal testimony of women religious, the first on newer members, and the second on changing structures.  However, three of the four women tended to emphasize the promise, while one concentrated more on the perils of racism and interculturality. Her voice is crucial in her own experience of racism and wondering whether religious congregations are committed enough to the heavy lift of achieving true interculturality rather than paying lip service.  This left me with an overall impression that there’s much more to be said and more voices to capture.  The penultimate chapter, in outlining option for canonical restructuring and collaborations ends with Pope Francis’ naming consecrated life as “the church’s perennial dawn” (homily Feb. 2, 2018).  There is much in these studies that hints this could be true, but also much to suggest that before dawn, a dark night must be navigated.