The content and methods of the education of girls in Catholic schools have changed to serve the new demands societies place on women. It is, however, worth remembering that Christian women have long served God, and humanity, through their lives. In Mulieris Dignitatem (1988), Pope John Paul II not only hails St Teresa of Jesus and St Catherine of Sienna, but also Monica, mother of Augustine, Olga of Kiev, Matilda of Tuscany, Hedwig of Silesia, Birgitta of Sweden, Joan of Arc, Rose of Lima, Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Mary Ward, amongst others. In the Letter to Women for Beijing Conference (1995) thanks is given to the host of women through whom the “great works of God” have “throughout human history been accomplished.” Others, such as Radford Ruether (1985/1996, p. 175) had recovered for history, the many women mystics, prophets, ministers, healers, church founders, and apostles “who have carried out their vision of redemptive community, inclusive of women.” Miriam, the priest and prophet; Deborah the judge; Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles; Perpetua and Felicitas, martyrs are all Radford Ruethers' (1985/1996, p. 175) “foremothers of WomanChurch.” Saints of the early Church such as Saint Monica remind us that women have long-lived diffi cult and challenging lives.1 Their courage, intelligence, and spirituality led not only to sanctity but also to social change, as with Middles Ages heroine, Saint Catherine of Sienna who, amongst other things, managed to persuade Pope Gregory XI to return to Rome from Avignon (Curtayne, 1929, p. 93) and was made a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Studies of the medieval “mothers of the Church” (Borresen, 1993) also attest to this female attitude to change. Lieblich’s (1994) account of the lives “of devotion and defi ance” of the four Catholic religious sisters, and their associates, is as much about nuns as it is about political activists.
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Darmanin, M. (2007). Catholic Schooling and the Changing Role of Women: Perspectives from Malta. In: Grace, G., O’Keefe, J. (eds) International Handbook of Catholic Education. International Handbooks of Religion and Education, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5776-2_22
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