IMMACULATE HEART OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, SISTERS OF

(IHM, Official Catholic Directory #2930); a congregation with papal approbation whose official title is The California Institute of the Sisters of the Most Holy and Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IHM).

This community, which follows the Rule of St. Augustine, dates its foundation from April, 26, 1924, when what had formerly been a province connected with the original motherhouse in Gerona, Spain, became a pontifical institute in its own right. At that time there were 100 professed sisters, whose chief work was in Catholic education on the elementary, secondary, and college levels. The sisters staffed educational institutions in various parts of California, although most of their work was done in and around Los Angeles, where the motherhouse is located. As the community expanded during the next 40 years, schools and convents were erected in Texas and Arizona. Missionary work with the native children on government reservations in Canada was inaugurated in the 1940s.

Some 30 years after the break with the governing body in Spain, the members of the congregation voted to include hospital work as one of their specific aims. Subsequently they opened medical hospitals in Apple Valley (1956) and West Covina (1962), and a convalescent hospital in Salinas (1956), all in California. About the same time a retreat house for married couples was opened in Montecito, Calif.

Two sisters whose work was outstanding in the growth of the community were Mother Eucharia Harney, Superior general (1939–51), whose administration provided new vigor to the congregation; Mother Regina McPartlin, superior general (1951–63) who was responsible for the expansion of the apostolic work of the sisters. By the mid-1960s, there were 600 professed sisters, most of them engaged in teaching in 68 grammar schools, eleven high schools, and one college (the Immaculate Heart College), which was closed in 1980.

In response to the Second Vatican Council's call for renewal of religious life and under the leadership of Mother Humiliata (later President Anita Caspary) (1963–73), the IHM sisters entered a period of prayer and reflection culminating in a Chapter of Renewal in 1967. Specific aspects of the renewal led to disputes both within the community and between the IHM sisters and the local ordinary, Cardinal James Francis McIntyre. With no satisfactory resolution of the disputed issues, in 1969 more than 300 sisters voted to become a non-canonical community of religious persons, the Immaculate Heart Community. About 50 sisters chose to continue in the traditional, canonical structure, retaining the name Sisters of the Immaculate Heart.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the Immaculate Heart Community numbered about 175 members, single and married, female and male, from several Christian denominations. The members were involved in public and private education, law, social work, parish ministry, retreat work, and health care. The Sisters of the Immaculate Heart had about 20 members engaged in retreat work and education. Both groups maintained their headquarters in Los Angeles.

[m. sharples/

m. egan]