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Of sheep's pluck and science exhibitions: the professional life of Mother Bernard Towers RSM (1883–1963)

2008; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 38; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/00467600802271539

1464-5130

Jenny Collins,

Religion, Gender, and Enlightenment

Abstract An examination of the professional lives of women science teachers presents an opportunity to consider ways in which women became ‘knowledge purveyors’ and to reflect on the extent to which they challenged contemporary boundaries about what science women should know. An analysis of the life of a woman science teacher who was also a ‘professed’ religious illuminates the complexity of a professional life shaped by an overlay of vocation and employment. Mother Bernard Towers's teaching life extended over the greater part of the twentieth century. As a science teacher she was influenced by changing understandings of the gendered science curriculum and the cultural and religious environment in which she lived. At the same time she challenged contemporary constraints on the teaching of science to girls, helped her pupils gain access to high‐status ‘hard’ science options and expanded the kinds of science that they could expect to know. Keywords: professional livesscience and genderwomen religious Notes 1RSM refers to the Religious Order of the Sisters of Mercy. 2Elizabeth Smyth, ‘Professionalization among the Professed: The Case of Roman Catholic Religious’, in Challenging Professions: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Women's Professional Work, ed. Elizabeth Smyth et al. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), 234–54; Elizabeth Smyth, ‘Much Exertion of the Voice and Great Application of the Mind: Teacher Education within the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph of Toronto, Canada, 1851–1920’, Historical Studies in Education/Revue d'Histoire d'Education 6, no. 3 (1994): 97–113. 3See for example Ernest Simmons, A Brief History of the Catholic Church in New Zealand (Auckland: Catholic Publications Centre, 1978), 107. Ernest Simmons both acknowledges the contribution ‘these dedicated women’ made to Catholic history and, by his failure to name even one, consigns them to anonymity. 4Kathleen Weiler and Sue Middleton, eds, Telling Women's Lives: Narrative Inquiries in the History of Women's Education, Feminist Educational Thinking (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999), 2. 5See Jenny Collins, ‘Strategies for Survival and Success: The Teaching and Religious Lives of Eight Dominican Teachers, 1931–1961’, History of Education Review 3, no. 1 (2004): 1–13. 6A necrology is a brief summary of the life of a religious, written after his or her death by a member of the community. 7Ruth Watts, ‘Science and Women in the History of Education: Expanding the Archive’, History of Education Review 32, no. 2 (2003): 189–99. 8J. Derrida, Writing and Difference (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978). 9Ian Hodder, ‘The Interpretation of Documents and Material Culture’, in Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials, ed. Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln (Thousand Oaks CA: Sage, 2003), 155–75. 10Jenny Collins, ‘For the Common Good: The Catholic Educational Mission in Transition, 1943–1965’ (Ph.D. diss., Massey, 2005). As part of this research, I interviewed 35 Catholic teachers from six religious orders. 11Women religious is a term that includes both nuns and sisters. Although the nouns sisters and nuns are used synonymously, even among religious themselves, they refer to two distinct paths of religious life. A nun lives under a ‘solemn vow’ and follows the monastic traditions of the cloister and contemplation. A sister takes a ‘simple vow’ and is engaged in active apostolate, undertaking works outside convent walls. In this paper I use the term sister and women religious interchangeably. 12Mary Jeremy Daigler, Through the Windows: A History of the Work of Higher Education among the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas (Scranton, PA: University of Scranton Press, 2000). 13In the United States there were at least three sisters for every priest. In New Zealand in the early 1900s there were seven sisters for every priest or brother. John Fialka, Sisters: Catholic Nuns and the Making of America (New York: St Martin's Press, 2003); Simmons, A Brief History of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. 14See for example JoEllen Vinyard, For Faith and Fortune: The Education of Catholic Immigrants 1805–1925 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998); Fialka, Sisters; Jenny Collins, ‘Schooling for Faith, Citizenship and Social Mobility: Catholic Secondary Education in New Zealand 1924–1944’, Journal of Educational Administration and History 37, no. 2 (2005); Marta Danylewycz, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840–1920, Canada Social History Series (Toronto: McCelland and Stewart, 1987); Madeleine Sophie McGrath, These Women: Women Religious in the History of Australia, the Sisters of Mercy Parramata 1888–1988 (Kensington: New South Wales University Press, 1989); Smyth, ‘Much Exertion of the Voice’. 15See Danylewycz, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840–1920; Anne O'Brien, God's Willing Workers: Women and Religion in Australia (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2005). 16See Daigler, Through the Window; Silvia Evangelisti, Nuns: A History of Convent Life, 1450–1700 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007); Diane Strevens, In Step with Time: A History of the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth, Wanganui, New Zealand (Auckland: David Ling, 2001); Christine Trimingham Jack, Growing Good Catholic Girls: Education and Convent Life in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 2003). 17O'Brien, God's Willing Workers. 18I have argued for this elsewhere in Collins, ‘Strategies for Survival and Success’. See also Danylewycz, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840–1920. 19See also Jenny Collins, ‘Revisiting the Foucauldian Account of Power: Constraints and Opportunities in the Leadership Experience of Dominican Teachers’, DELTA 1 & 2, no. 57 (2005). 20See for example Elizabeth Smyth and Linda F. Wicks, eds, Wisdom Raises Her Voice: Sisters of St Joseph of Toronto Celebrate 150 Years (Toronto: Sisters of St Joseph of Toronto, 2001); O'Brien, God's Willing Workers; McGrath, These Women: Women Religious in the History of Australia, the Sisters of Mercy Parramata 1888–1988; Danylewycz, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840–1920; Fialka, Sisters; Sister Mary Stephanie Glen, Divide and Share: The Story of Mercy in the South (Dunedin: The Sisters of Mercy, printed by John McIndoe Ltd, 1996). 21Jenny Collins, ‘Apprentice to Professional: The Training of Catholic Teachers 1945–1965’, History of Education Review 34, no. 2 (2005). 22 Zealandia, 9 March 1939, 11. 23Epitomised in Dr Truby King's promotion of ‘motherhood’ as a way of enhancing the strength, self‐discipline and character of the child, the moral well‐being of society and the improvement of the Anglo‐Saxon race. See Jock Phillips, A Man's Country: The Image of the Pakeha Male – a History. Revised ed. (Auckland: Penguin Books, 1996), 223. 24See Christopher van der Krogt, ‘More a Part Than Apart: The Catholic Community in New Zealand Society 1918–1940’ (Ph.D. diss., Massey University, 1994). 25 Month, 2 November 1931, 17. 26 NZ Tablet, 24 April 1919, 26. 27Katharine Massam, Sacred Threads: Catholic Spirituality in Australia 1922–1962 (Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 1996). 28Roger Openshaw, Gregory Lee and Howard Lee, Challenging the Myths: Rethinking New Zealand's Educational History (Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 1993); Ruth Fry, It's Different for Daughters: A History of the Curriculum for Girls in New Zealand Schools, 1900–1975 (Wellington: New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 1985). 29Jenny Collins, ‘Beyond the Domestic Sphere? A Home Science Education at the University of New Zealand, 1911–1936’, History of Education Review 37, no. 2 (2008): forthcoming.; Sandra Coney, Standing in the Sunshine: A History of New Zealand Women since They Won the Vote (Auckland: Penguin Books, 1993). 30In the nineteenth century many religious orders had strict rules which prevented their members from travelling beyond the convent or monastery walls. In Ireland the Sisters of Mercy were known as ‘walking nuns’ – a term which was rather uncomplimentary. 31Fialka, Sisters; M.D. Kirk, Remembering Your Mercy: Mother Mary Cecilia Maher and the First Sisters of Mercy in New Zealand, 1850–1880 (Auckland: Sisters of Mercy, 1998). 32The Sisters of Mercy, the first (and largest) religious order in New Zealand, established foundations in all four dioceses, setting up primary and secondary schools, building hospitals and undertaking a variety of social works. 33Smyth, ‘Professionalization among the Professed’, 235. 34Kirk, Remembering Your Mercy. 35See also Collins, ‘Schooling for Faith, Citizenship and Social Mobility’, 157–72. 36Jenny Collins, ‘For Faith or the Common Good? Policy Dilemmas Facing Catholic Educational Leaders in the Post‐War Years’, New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 41, no. 2 (2006). 37Kirk, Remembering Your Mercy. 39Speech by a Mr Rae at Break‐up concert (undated) cited in ‘Mercy in Westland: 1878–1978’, in Centenary Booklet Sisters of Mercy (1978), 25. 38Ibid., 115. 40A new history of the St Mary's College, Auckland will include an account of Mother Bernard's contribution to St Mary's College. See Marcienne Kirk RSM, Legacy: The Story of St Mary's College, Auckland (Sisters of Mercy, Auckland, forthcoming). 41See Collins, ‘Strategies for Survival and Success’. 42Collins, ‘Apprentice to Professional’, 27–40. 43Waihi and Thames were gold‐mining towns in the Coromandel. The Sisters of Mercy ran parish primary schools there. 45‘Mother Mary Bernard Towers’ as remembered by Sister Marcienne Kirk, n.d., ASMA. 44On 7 April 1850 nine Sisters of Mercy, led by Mother Mary Cecilia Maher, landed at Auckland with the first Catholic bishop of Oceania, Bishop Jean Baptiste Francoise Pompallier. The following day they took over responsibility for a girls' school and about eight abandoned girls. Kirk, Remembering Your Mercy. 48‘Memoirs’ 6, ASMA. 46The harsh regulations characteristic of late nineteenth‐century religious life were codified in the Code of Canon Law in 1917. This made religious life more uniform and introduced practices such as censorship of letters, traveling in twos, eating separately from ‘seculars’ and not attending the funerals of family members. See O'Brien, God's Willing Workers. 47Collins, ‘Apprentice to Professional’. 49This, according to Mother Bernard's memoirs, was the first time anyone from a religious order had sat for the Teacher's Certificate. ‘Memoirs’, 6, ASMA. 53‘Memoirs’, 7. 50Fry, It's Different for Daughters. 51Anne Marie O'Neill, ‘The Gendered Curriculum: Homemakers and Breadwinners’, in The School Curriculum in New Zealand: History, Theory, Policy and Practice, ed. Gary McCullogh (Palmerston North: Dunmore Press, 1992). 52‘Memoirs’, 7. 54‘Memoirs’, 8. There are various accounts of this story. See ‘Mother Bernard Towers: Memories’, 2, ASMA. 55Memoirs', 7. 57‘Memoirs’, 8. 56In 1903, the Marist Brothers established Sacred Heart College in nearby Richmond Rd. Mutual support also characterised relations between the Dominican Sisters and the Christian Brothers in the early foundation years. See John Paul Kane, ‘The Marist Brothers in New Zealand Education, 1917 to 1967’ (Dip.Ed., Massey University, 1972); Augustine McCarthy, Star in the South (Dunedin: St Dominic's Priory, 1970). 58‘Memoirs’, 8. 59‘Memoirs’, 8, ASMA. 60‘Memoirs’, 9, ASMA. 61There is a discrepancy between the dates in the necrology (which records Mother Bernard as principal from 1939 to 1943) and this source which suggests 1933–1943. This source is likely to be more accurate as it includes additional details about the service of other principals. ‘Mother Bernard Towers: Memories’, 2, ASMA. 62 Proceedings of the Fourth General Council of Education, Third Session, 9 June 1926 (Wellington: Ministry of Education, 1926). 63Melanie Nolan, ‘Putting the State in Its Place: The Domestic Education Debate in New Zealand’, History of Education Review 30, no. 1 (2001). 64O'Neill, ‘The Gendered Curriculum: Homemakers and Breadwinners’. 65Jenny Collins, ‘Glorified Housekeepers or Pioneering Professionals? The Professional Lives of Home Science Graduates from the University of New Zealand, 1911–1935’, History of Education Review (2008): forthcoming; Fry, It's Different for Daughters. 66 Post‐Primary School Curriculum: Report of the Committee Appointed by the Minister of Education in November, 1942 (Thomas Report) (Wellington: New Zealand Department of Education, 1944). 67E.J. Searle, The Teaching of Science in Post‐Primary Schools (Christchurch: New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 1958). 68Kathleen Weiler, ‘Reflections on Writing a History of Women Teachers’, in Telling Women's Lives: Narrative Inquiries in the History of Women's Education, ed. Kathleen Weiler and Sue Middleton (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1999), 43–59. 69Ibid. 70For an analysis of Catholic responses to the Thomas Report and an examination of policy implications see Jenny Collins, ‘Ideology and Accommodation: The Thomas Report and Catholic Secondary Education’, Education Research and Perspectives 30, no. 2 (2003): 9–25; Collins, ‘For Faith or the Common Good?’. 71(MK6) Codes have been used to protect the identity of interviewees. 72Searle, The Teaching of Science in Post‐Primary Schools. 75(MK7–8). 73Presumably Mother Bernard taught Ailsa Dallow although the annual makes no mention of it. ‘St Mary's College Annual Centenary Number 1850–1950’, 65, ASMA. 74(MK7). 78(MK10). 76‘St Mary's College Annual’, 1959, 43, ASMA. 77Michael R. Matthews, Science Teaching: The Role of History and Philosophy of Science (New York: Routledge, 1994). 79‘St Mary's College Annual’, 1960, 43, ASMA. 80(MK10–11). 81Personal communication, Sister Marcienne Kirk, 2 November 2006. 83‘Mother M. Bernard Towers’, ‘St Mary's College Annual’, 1963, ASMA. 82By the late 1950s significant relaxation in canon law enabled women religious to travel more freely and to take part in professional activities outside convent walls. Collins, ‘Revisiting the Foucauldian Account of Power’. 84Prizes were given for ‘Blood Groups' (1961)’, The Science of Our Swimming Pool’ (1963), ‘Life of the Nasturtium’ (1964), ‘Birdbrained’ (1964) to name but a few. See ‘St Mary's College Annuals’, 1961, 1963, 1964. 85Danylewycz, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840–1920, 93–4.