Catholic University-related Resources

Sister Thea Bowman Committee Report (2021) In fall 2020, The Catholic University of America took a major step forward toward fulfilling its commitment to embrace and reflect the racial and ethnic diversity that enriches our Church, city, and nation. The Sister Thea Bowman Committee was formed to study all facets of University operations and make recommendations concerning racial equality to the University leadership.

The committee is named for an alumna of the University who today is on the path toward recognition as a Catholic saint. During her life, Sister Thea Bowman provided an outspoken witness to what it meant to be Black and Catholic. In fall 2021, the committee released its report, complete with numerous recommendations for meaningful change.

Lecture by Dr. Rachel Swarns, author of bestselling book, The 272: The Families Who were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Church, co-sponsored Office of the President, Department of History, Center for Cultural Engagement, Schools of Arts & Sciences, Canon Law, Theology and Religion. Feb. 1, 2023).

Play, Fr. Tolton: From Slave to Priest by St. Luke Productions, cosponsored by  Office of the President, Ciocca Center, Center for Cultural Engagement, Alumni Relations, Campus Ministry, Rome School of Music, Drama and Art and the Busch School of Business  (Nov. 19th and 20th, 2023).

The Black American Experience in Brookland, sponsored by the Staff Leadership Council, CommUNITY Committee, Department of History, Center for Cultural Engagement and Bowman Coordination and Implementation Team. (Feb. 23, 2023)

Fr. Christopher Kellerman, S.J. spoke about his book: All Oppression Shall Cease: A History of Slavery, Abolition and the Catholic Church, sponsored by the Center for Cultural Engagement (Nov. 2, 2023).

Documentary Screening of A Place at the Table: African Americans on the Path to Sainthood, with a Panel Discussion, sponsored by Center for Cultural Engagement and the Bowman Coordination and Implementation Team, (Nov. 29, 2022).

The Sister Thea Bowman Lecture Series on Social Justice, sponsored by the Department of  Information Sciences, with Dr. Bharat Mehra:  "A Voice from Intersecting Margins to Further Social Justice Scholarship and Advocacy in Library and Information Science." (Nov. 20,2022).

Lecture by Dr. Anika Prather and Dr. Angela Parham  about their book The Black Intellectual Tradition: Reading Freedom in Classical Literature sponsored by the Institute for the Transformation of Catholic Education (Nov 10, 2022).

Lecture by Dr. Shannen Dee Williams, Associate Professor of History at the University of Dayton, who presented her research to members of the Catholic University community Feb. 10 during a lecture entitled, “The Real Sister Act: Why the Stories of Black Catholic Sisters Matter.” (February 2021). Dr. Williams is the author of Subversive Habits Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle.

University Honors Sr. Thea Bowman with Street Naming on the naming of a Catholic University street after Sister Thea Bowman. (May 2022)

Blogpost by Shane MacDonald, Special Collections, Mullen Library, "Sister Bowman Goes to Washington," March 23, 2020.

Other Resources

Sister Thea Bowman addresses the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, June, 1989.

Sister Thea Bowman page at the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, of which she was a member (Contains a range of resources).