Joan Chittister


Sister Joan D. Chittister, , is an American Benedictine nun, theologian, author, and speaker. She has served as Benedictine prioress and Benedictine federation president, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

Biography

Early life

Chittister was born on April 26, 1936, to Daniel and Loretta Daugherty. Her father died when she was very young and her mother married Harold Chittister. Although Joan Chittister describes her step-father as an abusive alcoholic, she remained sufficiently attached to him that as an adult she chose to retain his surname.

Education

She was taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph, and later attended St. Benedict Academy in Erie, Pennsylvania. Chittister holds a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D. in speech communication theory from Penn State University. She is also an elected fellow of St. Edmunds College, Cambridge University.

Career

In 1971, Chittister was elected president of the Federation of St. Scholastica, a federation of twenty Monasteries of Benedictine Women in the United States and Mexico, established in 1922. She was a prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, for 12 years and is a past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. She serves as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women,, an inclusive international network of spiritual and community leaders. With this organization, she works to bring a spiritual perspective to conflict resolution fueled by pressing economic and ecological crises across the globe.
Chittister says that women's ordination has never been her primary focus. Her books deal with monasticism, justice and equality especially for women in church and society, interfaith topics, peace and others. She has won 16 Catholic Press Association awards for her books and numerous other awards for her work, including 12 honorary degrees from US universities.
She writes a column for the National Catholic Reporter, "From Where I Stand".
Penn State University holds the Joan D. Chittister Literary Archives.
A biography of Sister Joan was released by Orbis Books in October 2015, Joan Chittister: Her Journey from Certainty to Faith by Tom Roberts.

Recent publications

Joan Chittister: Essential Writings a compilation from her best writing from books, articles and speeches, was published by Orbis Books in August 2014.. In 2019, Dear Joan: conversations with women in the church, editor Jessie Bazan was published by Twenty-third Publ.