Neighbors and Missionaries is a history of the Sisters of Our Lady of Christian Doctrine, a community of women religious founded by Marion Gurney (Mother Marianne of Jesus) in 1910. Believing that she was not called to ministries that involved either parochial education or health care, Mother Marianne and the women who joined her worked with the urban poor in social settlements and staffed religious education classes for children attending public schools. The Sisters of Christian Doctrine established two settlements in New York City, and later expanded their work into South Carolina and Florid ... More

Neighbors and Missionaries is a history of the Sisters of Our Lady of Christian Doctrine, a community of women religious founded by Marion Gurney (Mother Marianne of Jesus) in 1910. Believing that she was not called to ministries that involved either parochial education or health care, Mother Marianne and the women who joined her worked with the urban poor in social settlements and staffed religious education classes for children attending public schools. The Sisters of Christian Doctrine established two settlements in New York City, and later expanded their work into South Carolina and Florida. The Horse Creek Valley Welfare Center in South Carolina essentially used the model of social settlements that had been developed for urban areas, but adapted it to the rural South. In addition to offering educational and social programs, the sisters taught catechism classes and prepared children and adults to receive the sacraments. Members of the community also served in a number of parishes where they ministered to black and white Catholics. By the 1960s, settlement houses had been replaced by other types of social welfare programs, and the numbers of American women religious were rapidly decreasing. The concluding chapters of Neighbors and Missionaries explore how the Sisters of Christian Doctrine adapted their ministries to reflect the changes taking place in both the Catholic Church and American society during the second half of the twentieth century.