Thirty-five years after her death, the witness of Sister Thea Bowman – a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, scholar, cultural advocate, and joyful daughter of the Church – continues to inspire a growing movement calling for her canonization.
Through keynote addresses, panel conversations, music, and moving testimony, attendees at the Sister Thea Bowman Conference on March 29 at The Catholic University of America reflected on how her life calls every member of the Church to live boldly, faithfully, and freely in Christ, and how her legacy challenges Catholics today to embrace a fuller, more inclusive vision of holiness.
‘Faithful and Free,’ a keynote on the life of Sister Thea
Redemptorist Father Maurice Nutt opened the conference with a keynote titled “Servant of God, Sister Doctor Thea Bowman, FSPA: Unapologetically and Unabashedly Faithful and Free,” echoing the name of his 2019 biography of his former teacher and spiritual mother.
“This is not a conference,” he told the packed auditorium. “This is a family reunion.”
Father Nutt described Sister Thea as a woman of “holy boldness” – captivating, anointed, joyful, and radically committed to truth. Born in Canton, Mississippi, Sister Thea converted to Catholicism as a child after being inspired by the witness of the Franciscan Sisters and the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. At age 15, she entered religious life, becoming the only Black member of her congregation.
“Her father warned her, ‘Baby, they may not like you up there in Wisconsin,’” Father Nutt recalled. “But ever persistent, she retorted, ‘Daddy, I’m gonna make ’em like me.’”
She would go on to earn a doctorate and teach at every academic level. Her time attending The Catholic University of America and earning a doctorate in English there, he said, was transformational – both academically and spiritually. “She was excited to be in Washington, D.C., ‘Chocolate City,’” Father Nutt said, noting the capital city’s nickname due to its large African American population. “She loved to learn, and she loved to teach.”
Among her students and colleagues, Sister Thea was known for her attentiveness and empathy. Father Nutt recalled how her compassion deepened after the suicide of a fellow student during her time at Catholic University. “It was as if you were the only person in front of her that really mattered,” he said.
Scholarship, song, and the spirit of Vatican II
Father Nutt highlighted Sister Thea’s contributions to Catholic life during and after the Second Vatican Council. She embraced liturgical reform and integrated African American culture, music, and spirituality into Catholic worship.
“She could love her friends and challenge her friends. She could love her Church and challenge her Church,” he said.
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1984, Sister Thea continued traveling and speaking until her death in 1990. “Donning her customary African garb, she would arrive in a wheelchair – with no hair due to chemotherapy – but always with a joyful disposition and a pleasant smile,” Father Nutt said.
He recounted her now-famous 1989 address to the U.S. Catholic bishops, where she spoke about being both Black and Catholic, and challenged the Church to greater inclusion. “She told the bishops she was trying to find her way back home, asking them to help her find her way back home to this Catholic Church,” Father Nutt said. “And then she invited them – yes, those bishops in all their dignity – to link arms and sing: ‘We Shall Overcome.’”
In her final days, Sister Thea was surrounded by prayer and care in her childhood home. “She died where she had been born,” Father Nutt said. “She wanted her tombstone to read: ‘I tried. I tried to love the Lord, and I tried to love them. I tried to tell their story.’”
Carrying the mission forward
Following the keynote, Father Nutt joined Catholic University President Dr. Peter K. Kilpatrick for a moderated conversation on Sister Thea’s enduring impact and the Church’s ongoing call to racial justice and reconciliation.
“You can’t love Gospel music but not sit with us,” Father Nutt said. “You have to immerse yourself in our world, our stories, our customs.”
He urged Catholic institutions to move beyond symbolic gestures. “We need Black faculty – not just working in the cafeteria or sweeping the floors. We have scholars. You need more Black professors. You need Black faculty in your campus ministry, a place of welcome for Black students, to allow them to use their gifts and share with the whole university.”
Audience members echoed those concerns. A theologian from Howard University called for the development of a “reparation theology” as a way to address structural injustice and promote healing. Others raised questions about parish closures and the future of Black Catholic institutions.
“I was falling apart,” Father Nutt admitted, speaking to the weight carried by Black Catholic leaders. “I’m only one priest. I can’t do it all. We always have to be Christian, no matter what.”
To follow Sister Thea’s example, he said, is to critique, resist, demand, and build – in love. “We are not your stepchildren,” he said. “We are your baptized children.”
Continuing the work she began
During the Q&A, Sister Oralisa Martin, a theologian and former student of Sister Thea, stood to address the urgency of the moment. “She possessed a spirituality that, frankly, the Church still needs to catch up to,” she said.
Calling for collective renewal, she added, “We need a movement. A real movement. We don’t yet know our collective power. But when we do – when we gather in the power of the Holy Spirit –we will rise.”
“Why do we want her canonized?” she asked. “Because her life – before, during, and after canonization – shows us how to be the Church.”
Now recognized as Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, she is one of seven Black Catholics from the United States being considered for sainthood.
Father Maurice Henry Sands, executive director of the Black and Indian Mission Office in Washington, D.C., noted that his office has supported Black Catholic ministry for more than 140 years through grants, scholarships and parish support. “We want to be better known,” he said.
Joseph M. Sendry, a professor emeritus in English at Catholic University, reflected on Sister Thea’s legacy on campus. “It was through her efforts that the nation – and this university –became aware that we needed to teach Black history and Black literature,” he said. “She was Gospel and she was intellect. She was song and she was analysis.”
“She inspired students to believe that literature and spirituality were not separate – they were one,” he said.
The foundations that formed her
The first panel of the conference explored the formative role of key religious communities and institutions in shaping the spirituality and leadership of Sister Thea Bowman. Titled “Becoming Sister Thea: Organizational Influence in Sister Thea Bowman’s Formation as Catholic and Religious,” the session featured representatives from the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, and Xavier University of Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies. Javier Bustamante, director of Catholic University’s Center for Cultural Engagement, served as moderator.
Sister Sue Ernster, president of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, reflected on Sister Thea’s entry into religious life during the 1950s and the challenges she faced as the only Black woman in a predominantly white, Midwestern community.
“She came during segregation. She wasn’t allowed to ride with the white sister taking her to Wisconsin. But the sisters made arrangements so she could,” Sister Ernster said, adding that Sister Thea endured that “because she felt called to serve.”
Despite the cultural constraints of the time, Sister Thea found in her community a deep commitment to prayer and presence. “We believe prayer changes everything and everyone,” Sister Ernster said. “That’s the foundation Thea witnessed and chose. But she also helped us grow.”
She noted that Sister Thea, though shaped by her time in Wisconsin, began to find her full voice at Xavier University among other Black students. “Not just Black. Not just religious,” Sister Ernster said, “but a Black religious woman, among others who could journey with her.”
Dr. Kathleen Dorsey Bellow, director of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University, described Sister Thea’s influence on generations of Black Catholic leaders. “She helped form ministers. She loved Black children and taught them, ‘Black is good. It’s God’s gift to you,’” Dr. Bellow said. “She jumped in and did all she could. And now we have to do the work.”
Father Michael Barth, the former general custodian of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity, recounted Sister Thea’s formation at Holy Child Jesus Parish in Canton, Mississippi. There, he said, she experienced firsthand the power of a faith community committed to justice and solidarity.
When Sister Thea returned to teach at Holy Child, state laws prohibited Black and white religious from living together. Parish leaders constructed a trailer behind the convent with a small gap between buildings, allowing her to remain connected to the sisters while technically following the law. “Her formation in that parish shaped how she walked with people in solidarity,” Father Barth said.
He recalled a pivotal moment in the 1960s when the city denied Holy Child Jesus Parish a building permit. In response, the Black Catholic community marched together to attend Mass at the nearby white parish. The permit was granted the next day.
“She saw what it meant to walk with people in love and courage,” Father Barth said. “And she never stopped calling the Church to do the same.”
‘She loved to help people find their voice’
The second panel of the conference, titled “Personal Encounters: Testimony from Students and Colleagues,” reflected on Sister Thea Bowman’s impact on individuals who knew her as a teacher, mentor and friend. Panelists included Sister Barbara Spears, a Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and the current president of the National Black Sisters Conference; Mgr. Raymond East, the pastor of St. Teresa of Avila Parish in Washington; and former student Ronny Lancaster. The session was moderated by Dr. Angela McRae, associate vice provost at Catholic University.
“She became my unofficial seminary,” said Msgr. East, who was ordained as a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington in 1981. “She helped form many of us in what I call a beloved community.”
Lancaster, who studied under Sister Thea in 1971 at Catholic University, described her as a magnetic, fearless educator. “We didn’t just read Richard Wright and James Baldwin,” he said. “We also listened – repeatedly – to Malcolm X. She made sure we understood the full spectrum.”
Sister Thea, he said, was a rare combination of joy and power, preparation and presence. She could disarm students with a smile – then break into song mid-lecture to drive a point home. “She made you feel okay. That was the power of her presence,” he said.
Additional reflections came from audience members and community leaders, including Sister Addie Lorraine Walker, a School Sister of Notre Dame, who was invited to speak but instead broke into song, singing “Let the Church say Amen.” She later reflected, “She loved to help people find their voice.”
Sister Jannette Pruitt, a Sister of St. Francis of Oldenburg, Indiana, shared her emotional response to seeing a photo of her children – former students of Sister Thea – on display at the conference. “She taught me, and by extension my children, to remember who and whose you are,” she said.
Eden Ingram, a 2024 graduate of Catholic University, attended the panel with her mother, Evelyn Ingram. Evelyn shared that she placed a photo of Sister Thea on the wall by her daughter’s dorm room door as a daily reminder, “so that she would be reminded each day when she left for class, that if Sister Thea could be here and succeed, she could too,” she said.
For Eden, Sister Thea’s legacy points to the importance of radical welcome. “Above all, God is most important,” she said, “but people need to feel welcome.”
The path to sainthood
The final panel of the day examined how Sister Thea Bowman’s life offers a model for holiness and a call to recognize the witness of Black Catholics in the Church. Moderated by Dominican Father Aquinas Guilbeau, CUA’s University Chaplain and Vice President of Ministry and Mission, the panel featured Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy Campbell Jr.; Father Robert Boxie III, the Catholic chaplain at the Sister Thea Bowman Catholic Student Center at Howard University; Father Maurice Henry Sands; and Dr. Jeannine Marino, the Secretary for Pastoral Ministry and Social Concerns for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
“We always need more saints,” Bishop Campbell said. “Sister Thea’s life shows us this. She opened her heart, her mind, and her soul to the faith. She prayed with every fiber of her being. And she loved – with joy and boldness.”
Panelists explored the meaning of holiness in everyday life and emphasized the universal call to sainthood articulated by the Second Vatican Council. Holiness, they said, is not reserved for clergy or religious – but is the mission of every baptized person, lived out through love, service, and fidelity to the Gospel.
Father Sands noted that Sister Thea exemplified this through her fearless witness and deep commitment to justice, especially within the Church. “She really lived out the Gospel call, ‘Do not be afraid,’” he said. “She proclaimed truth and called out racism with joy, peace, and confidence in her identity as a child of God.”
Father Boxie echoed that sentiment, drawing from Sister Thea’s own words: “Remember who you are and whose you are.” He emphasized her unique ability to proclaim truth in love and inspire others to embrace their gifts fully. “Holiness isn’t one-size-fits-all,” he said. “Sister Thea gave us permission to be ourselves – to live our holiness through the gifts God gave us.”
Panelists also discussed the formal process of canonization, highlighting both its importance and complexity. Dr. Marino explained that while the Church takes sainthood seriously, the process can be long and resource-intensive – requiring theological reviews, witness interviews, and verified miracles.
During the Q&A portion, Dr. Byron Wratee, who teaches theology at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore and a member of St. Bernardine Parish in that city, posed a question from the audience: Why can’t the “Saintly Seven” African American Catholics with open causes for sainthood be beatified together?
“It’s too legalistic and too Eurocentric,” he said. “Black Catholics bring a sense of justice and urgency. Why is this process still so cumbersome?”
Dr. Marino responded that while groups of martyrs can be canonized collectively, each individual cause must still be fully documented and reviewed. She added that Sister Thea’s cause – like those of other African-descended Catholics whose sainthood causes are underway –deserves its own path. “Her life and witness are unique,” she said.
Bishop Campbell agreed, stressing the importance of honoring each person for who they were. “We don’t want to lump them together,” he said. “We want the Church to recognize each cause individually – because each life was holy in its own way.”
Father Boxie noted that Sister Thea’s cause advanced because of fama sanctitatis – a widespread and enduring sense among the faithful that she lived a holy life. “The community recognized her holiness, and that spread her fama,” he said.
Throughout the conversation, panelists emphasized Sister Thea’s use of the arts in evangelization. “She used music, gesture, rhythm, storytelling – all to preach the Gospel,” said Father Boxie. “She reached hearts where words alone couldn’t.”
Dr. Marino concluded with a call to action: “We can do our part by continuing to tell Sister Thea’s story, promoting her holiness, and praying for her cause. Every effort counts.”
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