“For Ellen, wearing bright clothes and pretty earrings was satisfying and fun, but did not make any difference in her love for and commitment to God,” says Anne.Īs a religious education consultant for the Metropolitan Separate School Board (now Toronto Catholic District School Board), Ellen saw the need for a renewed theology. By 1970, she had reverted to her birth name and traded her habit for civvies. In 1969, Ellen began studying theology at Manhattan College in New York, receiving her MA the following year. “Ellen was loved as an effective elementary school teacher,” says Lawless, “but she was driven by a search for knowledge and the need for fundamental change in the church.” Inspired by Vatican II (1962-65), a gathering of the world’s bishops which aimed to renew the Church in the context of the modern world, Ellen returned to school to study theology. In 1967 she completed the courses to earn her BA from the University of Toronto. She taught Grade 1 at various schools and served as principal at Holy Spirit in Agincourt. But she was determined, and after entering the convent, Ellen trained to be a teacher at the Toronto Normal School. “Her parents were worried that Ellen was too young to make this life-changing decision,” says cousin Bill Lawless. Joseph and became known as Sister Loyola (the name she received at her Reception of the Habit on March 19, 1952).
After graduating high school in 1951, she was admitted to the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph’s College School.Īt 17, Ellen recognized her religious calling. She attended Blessed Sacrament School, followed by high school at St. “We were totally loved by both our parents and each other.”Īdventurous and athletic, Ellen enjoyed skating and skiing and took piano lessons from the age of eight, eventually earning her level 10 through the Royal Conservatory of Music. Ellen and her sister, Anne Leonard, grew up during the Great Depression, but “never felt deprived,” says Anne. The Leonards were active in the Catholic Church and lived in Blessed Sacrament Parish in the Yonge and Lawrence neighbourhood. Joseph, which for Ellen began a lifelong association with the congregation. Michael’s Hospital was attended by Sister Vincentia, a Sister of St. “When asked what she was most proud of (she would say): ‘Working with women students.’”Įllen Margaret Leonard was the elder daughter of Hugh Leonard, an insurance salesman, and his wife Mary (nee Barry), a primary school teacher. “Ellen was delighted to prepare women for ministry and encouraged them to move forward,” says Sister Mary Anne McCarthy, CSJ. Michael’s College, she spent much of her life advocating for the advancement and equality of women both in the Catholic Church and academia. As a professor in the faculty of theology at the University of St. Joseph (CSJ) for 71 years, theologian Ellen Leonard, CSJ, was one of the first women in Canada to teach in the field. A member of the Congregation of the Sisters of St.
0 kommentar(er)
