Barbara Doherty (December 2, 1931 – August 17, 2020) was an educator and theologian. A

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pr ...

, she was a member of the

Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods are an apostolic congregation of Catholic women founded by Saint Theodora Guerin (known colloquially as Saint Mother Theodore) at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, in 1840. Mother Theodo ...

. She was president of

Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College (SMWC) is a private Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. Originally a college exclusively for women, it is now coeducational. It is the oldest Catholic college in Indiana a ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

from 1984 to 1998. Other posts have been as director of the Institute of Religious Formation at

Catholic Theological Union Catholic Theological Union (CTU) is a private Roman Catholic graduate school of theology in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the largest Catholic graduate schools of theology in the English speaking world and trains men and women for lay and ordai ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, president of the Indiana Conference of Higher Education, and on national boards of the

Leadership Conference of Women Religious The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) is one of two associations of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States (the other being the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious). LCWR includes ov ...

and the

Women's College Coalition The Women's College Coalition (WCC) was founded in 1972 and describes itself as an "association of women’s colleges and universities that are two- and four-year, public and private, religiously affiliated and secular." Leadership *Chair: Ann McEl ...

Biography

Doherty was born on December 2, 1931. She attended Providence High School in Chicago, where she met the Sisters of Providence. After graduation, she entered the Sisters of Providence novitiate in 1951. In 1953 she professed final vows and took the religious name of Sister Vincent Ferrer. (Doherty later returned to using her birth name.) Doherty held bachelor's degrees in Latin, English, and history from

; a Master's degree in Sacred Doctrine from

Saint Mary's College (Indiana) Saint Mary's College is a private Catholic women's liberal arts college college in Notre Dame, Indiana. Founded in 1844 by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the name of the school refers to the Virgin Mary. Saint Mary's offers five bachelor's deg ...

; and a doctorate in Theology from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. She also received honorary doctor of letters degrees from

Indiana State University Indiana State University (ISU) is a public university in Terre Haute, Indiana. It was founded in 1865 and offers over 100 undergraduate majors and more than 75 graduate and professional programs. Indiana State is classified among "D/PU: Doctor ...

and Dominican University. During the 1940s and 1950s, Doherty worked with the

Friendship House Friendship House was a missionary movement founded in the early 1930s by Catholic social justice activist Catherine de Hueck Doherty, one of the leading proponents of interracial justice in the period prior to the mid-20th-century civil rights mo ...

and on

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

's Skid Row. In 1963 she began work with the formation of new sisters in her congregation, and in 1964 she was named Mistress of Postulants. In this role she helped guide the congregation through the transitions required for women religious by the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

. In 1982 Doherty was on the steering committee to found the

Women of Providence in Collaboration Women of Providence in Collaboration or WPC is an association of congregations of North American Roman Catholic religious sisters with "Providence" in their name. It initially grew out of an idea by Sister Michelle Holland, SP (Spokane, Washington ...

, an association of religious congregations related to

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

. Doherty has studied and lectured in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

and has lectured on various non-Christian religions including

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

and

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. Doherty served as coordinator of the Office of the Shrine of

Saint Mother Theodore Guerin In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

for the

from August 2007 until January 2011. She died on August 17, 2020. A virtual funeral has been planned for August 26, 2020.

Works

* ''I Am What I Do: Contemplation and Human Experience'' (1981) * ''Make Yourself an Ark'' (1984)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doherty, Barbara Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods 1931 births 2020 deaths 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns 21st-century American Roman Catholic nuns Fordham University alumni Saint Mary's College (Indiana) alumni Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College alumni Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College faculty Women heads of universities and colleges American women academics