Telling the Story of the Women of Providence in Collaboration

 The history of the Women of Providence in Collaboration is a story worth telling as we continue to gather for different events.  It is a story of who we are, who we have become and how we continue to evolve.  The chart that precedes this article is our congregational “tree”  It shows the member congregations from the founding of the organization through the present day.  Though our history together is brief, it is growing.  We have gathered for about twenty-seven years.

 Our story really begins with two dreamers who dreamed dreams over a number of years and a dreamer who moved it to reality.  Michelle Holland, SP from Spokane, WA and Ruth McGoldrick, SP from Holyoke, MA were in vocation/formation work in 1974.  They would meet at various conferences and would often say to one another: “Don't we Women of Providence have something in common around which we could gather?”  Over the years they talked about it.  The dream began to mature. 

 In 1978 Michelle told Ruth that she wanted to gather women of Providence before she left office.  At that particular time Ruth was not free to engage in the reality of the project Michelle had in mind.  Michele contacted other Providence communities to ascertain if there was interest in pursuing the study of the charism of Providence, exploring Providence theology and spirituality.  There was tremendous interest and the dream became reality in 1980.

 The first Providence Event was held in Great Falls, Montana in 1980.  Men and women from Providence communities were invited.  Only the women came.  There were about eighty sisters who gathered and experienced something of a new Pentecost.  They wanted to build connections with one another so they could begin to research and to articulate a theology and spirituality of Providence.  They agreed to meet again in two years.

 In 1982 they gathered at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, IN for their Second Providence Event.  It was an exciting time and one key and very important event took place there.  A Steering Committee was established to assure that the work together would continue.  The Women of Providence in Collaboration was born.  The first Steering Committee members were: Michelle Holland, SP from Spokane, Barbara Doherty, SP from St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Kathleen Popko, SP from Holyoke, Mary Joan Coultas, CDP from Pittsburgh, and Anita Green, CDP from St. Louis. 

 For ten years these women served on the Steering Committee and did some profound work for us.  Major programs were held, formation people came together, retreats were offered, summer opportunities across congregations took place, and two of the Providence Colloquiums spawned books.  The first publication was Providence: God's Face Toward The World.  The second book was On Keeping Providence. 

 It was in 1991 the presidents of the now twelve member organization met and decided that there was a need for some other structure to carry the organization forward.  It was at this time that the official national office of the Women of Providence in Collaboration  was established.  Mary Catherine Hunt, CDP from Melbourne, KY served as its first Executive Director.  During that time a Statement of Purpose and Direction, Corporate By-Laws and a Mission Statement were written.  Mary Catherine held the position of Executive Director until September, 2000.  At that time Barbara McMullen, CDP from St. Louis, MO became the second Executive Director. In 2007, Ann Margaret O'Hara, SP became the third Executive Director and currently holds that position.

 The WPC continues to explore Providence theology and spirituality in our time.  The story is not finished, but lives on as we continue to dream and work together to make those dreams come true.