Thesis (J.C.L.)--Catholic University of America, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-69).

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Duquesne University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Abstract included in electronic submission form. Includes bibliographical references (p. 166-179) and index.

This thesis describes the formation of religious communities (orders, congregations) and their development in the world and in our country. They are described with a view to their charitable activities. It further deals with the persecution of the church in general and the persecution and the life of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo with regard to Prague in the period of 1945-1989. This section is divided into six particular periods according to the importance of the influence of the state on the activities of the church and the Congregation. Each of these periods is divided into two parts. The first part illustrates the development of the relationship between the state and the church generally. The second part describes the relationship between the state and womens` orders and with the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in particular. The thesis utilizes relevant literature and archives. Archival documents come from the National Archives in Prague, mostly from the funds of the State Agency for Religious Affairs, the Military Historical Archives and the archives of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in Prague. The thesis is closed with some thoughts of the role of religious communities in today's world. Key words...

Holy Cross College, Woollahra, was established in the newly formed parish of Holy Cross by Cardinal Moran and the Parramatta Sisters of Mercy in 1908 as a select high school for middle class Catholic girls in the northern section of the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. Moran made it clear, and it was obvious that the sisters agreed, that the primary purpose of the College was the imparting of the Catholic Faith integrated with a suitable middle class education equal to, but preferably excelling, that provided by the secular state schools. This thesis is informed by two questions: Why did Holy Cross College close in 2001? Did the College achieve the objectives of the founding pioneers of the school, including Cardinal Moran? This strongly contextualised thesis demonstrates that for almost a century Holy Cross College was a microcosm of a complex world, one which was influenced by many factors, at local, state, federal and international levels. These factors, in the early days, included the rapid response of Catholic educators to Peter Board’s ‘New Syllabus’, the first wave women’s movement; and the dubious rationalising argument of Cardinal Moran to extract aid for Catholic schools from the state, which remains an ongoing problem for Catholic education in Australia. While the College in the 1920s was enjoying a growing reputation for highly successful music and academic tuition, it was challenged, through to the 1950s, by such factors as: Pope Pius XI’s call to Catholic Action as interpreted for the Archdiocese of Sydney by Archbishop Kelly; participation in the various public displays of Catholic faith; the rigours of the Great Depression; and the dangers of being in an especially vulnerable location during World War Two. The community of the College which inhabited this complex ‘mini’ world was strongly bonded by common goals and values for the first fifty years of the school’s existence. This was a community which aspired to the fullest possible development of the spiritual, intellectual, cultural and physical attributes of girls through a Catholic education inspired by the Mercy Vision, but always constrained by the reality of finances, staffing, physical resources, and imposed authority. The somewhat idyllic existence of the College with its relatively small numbers and homely atmosphere was disrupted in the 1960s when Holy Cross was selected by the Sydney archdiocesan educational authorities to be a regional school. This study reveals the increasing complexity of the various levels at which authority was exerted over Holy Cross College as a regional school. Regionalisation was a central element in the Sydney Archdiocese’s wide ranging plan to cope with the enormous strains on the Catholic educational system caused by such post-war challenges as the influx of Catholic migrants and the implementation of the Wyndham comprehensive secondary education scheme. There followed the success of the state aid campaigns and the challenges of Vatican II Council, movements which impacted upon the personal and communal lives of the women religious who staffed the College, as well as their students. Also impacting upon the College was the cultural revolution and the second wave women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Throughout this study the geographical setting of the school in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs and the region’s socio-economic characteristics are explored and emerge as significant factors in both the creation and maintenance of a unique school culture and the decline of Holy Cross College in the 1990s. Finally this decline is mapped in terms of the erosion of the College’s unique identity, which was forged by religious, cultural, geographical, political and pedagogical forces, and eroded by a complex of factors including demography, centralised authority, class, and international economic downturns. It is concluded that the founding sisters and Moran would have mixed and nuanced responses to the question: Did the College achieve the objectives of the founding pioneers?

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Policy and Curriculum Studies in Education, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

Current state: The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo is the largest congregation of nuns in the Czech Republic. Its charism living mercy in contemplation is still valid. Religious sisters mainly care for sick people, the aged and the needy people, as they were serving them in the beginning of their history. The topic of this paper 'Education and care of nurses Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo operating in the Czech Republic' is original and has not yet been treated to such extent and with this focus. Some works have been written and published, but they cover our topic only partially. This study is a compilation of information, enriched with memories of those sisters who remember the early days. The aim of the thesis: The first aim of this thesis is to map education and care of nurses of The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in the Czech Republic in its historical development with emphasis on health care and social facilities. The second aim is to compare education, care and status of religious sisters in the health-care team in each historical period. Methodology: In this thesis qualitative research was employed. There were two procedures of data collection used: exploration of written documents and narrative interviews. The research file for narrative interviews consists of ten persons. All respondents are women, members of The Congregation of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo, who attained appropriate education for the profession of a nurse and carried out this job in a hospital. Respondents were segmented into three groups according to respective historical periods. The first historical period starts with the arrival of religious sisters from France to Prague in 1837 and finishes in 1948. The second historical period follows up the previous one and ends in 1989. The third historical period spans the time from 1989 till the present. The total number of recorded and assessed interviews is ten. Narrative interview were recorded on a voice recorder and consequently transcribed into the written form and further processed. To analyze the text we used open coding, performed by the paper-and-pencil tests. Findings were interpreted using 'card sorting' technique. Results: Education and care of nurses of Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo have always met the requirements of concrete times. Specific aspects of care for the sick and the needy was also influenced by other factors. Among others the development od medical science and political situation of individual historical periods. The care of Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo has always been based on their dedication and the vow of mercy. Conclusion: This is a compact work, describing education and care of nurses of Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in contexts of different historical periods and in broader connection with the history of nursing care.

The thesis The Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo on example selected institutions of social care 1948-1989 is focused at three institutions of social care for mentally handicapped persons, in which The Sisters of Mercy of St. Borromeo worked during the communist régime. The aim of the work is not only to compile the history and development of the three researched institutes of social care from the available primary sources but also to analyze and compare the information found in the conclusion. In the final analysis, we follow mainly the beginnings of individual institutes, then the lives of sisters and inmates in all examined institutes, and in the end we focus on the termination of the work of nuns in individual institutes. The first of the examined places is the institute of social care in Hrabice, where nuns worked from 1949 to 1989. The second of the researched institutes was located in the years 1953 to 1983 in the village of Komorní Lhotka. The third research institute was located in the town of Česká Kamenice, where nurses worked there from 1953 to 1980. All three constitutions are connected by their position, they were located in remote places or in places where there was no strong religious community. Although the beginnings of individual institutes and communities of nurses were...

The dissertation deals with the historical activities of the Congregation of the Sisters of Mercy of St. Charles Borromeo in České Budějovice between the years 1850 - 1956. The thesis is especially based on the study of archival materials. Each chapter comprehensively describes the history of the three branches where the religious Sisters performed their activities. The branches are listed in chronological order of when they were established in the city. A public hospital is mentioned first, followed by an institutional complex of orphanages and schools at the former Vienna gate, and the group is concluded with an asylum for elderly people in need established in 1888. Particular attention is paid to the circumstances concerning the establishment of each branch, its background, ordinary and extraordinary days that were mostly mentioned in local chronicles; and two local superiors who had a major impact on the development and character of the community are also mentioned in the dissertation. Besides the observation of the beginnings and subsequent unprecedented development of community activities within the city frame, the text also includes an independent final chapter focused on events associated with the definitive end after the year 1948. Orientation in the topic and logical sequence of...