Joan Chittister

Session: Women and War: Caught Between Peace and Power

Joan Chittister has been one of the church’s key visionary voices and spiritual leaders for more than thirty years. A Benedictine Sister of Erie, Pennsylvania, Sister Joan is an international lecturer and award-winning author of more than 35 books.

She is the founder and executive director of Benetvision (www.benetvision.org ), a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality located in Erie. Currently she serves as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a partner organization of the UN, facilitating a worldwide network of women peace builders, particularly in Israel and Palestine. In March she was an organizer of “Making Way for the Feminine for the Benefit of the World Community,” a conference held in Jaipur, India.

A regular columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, Sister Joan has received numerous awards and recognition for her work for justice, peace, and equality. Seven of her books have received awards from the Catholic Press Association, including her 2005 best seller, Called to Question: A Spiritual Memoir. Her 1990 book on monastic spirituality, Wisdom Distilled From the Daily, is considered a classic in contemporary spirituality. Her most recent books include Welcome to the Wisdom of the World and The Gift of Years.

She has served as president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization of the leaders and superiors of the over 67,000 Catholic religious women in the US, president of the Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses (1974-90), and was prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie for 12 years. Sister Joan received her doctorate from Penn State University in Communications Theory.