Joan Chittister has served as Benedictine prioress and Benedictine federation president, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women.
16 Facts About Joan Chittister
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Joan Chittister's father died when she was very young and her mother married Harold Chittister.
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Joan Chittister described her step-father as a violently abusive alcoholic.
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Joan Chittister was educated by Sisters of St Joseph, and later attended St Benedict Academy in Erie, Pennsylvania.
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Joan Chittister earned a bachelor's degree in English at Mercyhurst University, graduating in 1962, a master's degree in communication arts from the University of Notre Dame, graduating in 1968, and a Ph.
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Joan Chittister is an elected fellow of St Edmunds College at the University of Cambridge.
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In 1971, Joan Chittister was elected president of the Federation of St Scholastica, a federation of twenty monasteries of Benedictine women in the United States and Mexico, established in 1922.
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Joan Chittister was a prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, for 12 years and is a past president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
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Joan Chittister serves as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, an inclusive international network of spiritual and community leaders.
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Joan Chittister says that women's ordination has never been her primary focus.
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Joan Chittister has won 16 Catholic Press Association awards for her books and numerous other awards for her work, including 12 honorary degrees from US universities.
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Joan Chittister writes a column for the National Catholic Reporter, "From Where I Stand".
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Joan Chittister was one of two nuns prohibited by Church authorities from attending the first Women's Ordination Worldwide conference on June 30,2001.
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Joan Chittister has authored over 50 books and over 700 articles in numerous journals and magazines including: America, US Catholic, Sojourners, Spirituality, and The Tablet.
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Joan Chittister is a regular contributor to the National Catholic Reporter and HuffPost, appeared on Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul Sunday in March 2015 and in May 2019, on Meet the Press with Tim Russert and Now with Bill Moyers.
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Joan Chittister is the executive director of "Benetvision", a publications ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie.