Nun Says a Catholic Education Allows a Feminist Viewpoint

The Catholic educational system has traditionally trained assertive, pioneering women and so has laid the groundwork for acceptance of modern feminist thought, Harriet K. Switzer, former president of Maryville College said yesterday in a discussion on women in Catholic education at the Radcliffe Forum.

The Catholic system of higher education was largely founded by women "living outside traditional roles," Switzer said to a group of about 20 women. Religious orders, many made up exclusively of women, founded every private school within the Catholic church, she said.

The theological and social revolutions of the '60s were especially traumatic for Catholic schools because students wanted freedom from rules and women demanded more active leadership roles. "There were more questions than convictions," Switzer said.

Catholic educators now strive for "education of the total person, the communication of a faith that is relevant in a secularized world and the creation of a "social awareness that compels one to action," Switzer said.

Both the vast world-wide concerns and the rigid central authority discourage reform, but Switzer does see signs change. "I think there will be women priests within 20 years, although many people say I am naive to believe that," she said.

Hard to Love

She believes that priests have the opportunity to reinterpret in a more liberal way papal pronouncements on such issues as birth control.

When asked about the future of Catholic women's colleges, Switzer said they have as good an opportunity for life in the future as any other women's colleges. The critical issues in women's colleges today are economic, she added, "financially, the fate of women's colleges seems bleak."