Historian and Holy Apostles professor emeritus, Sr. Dolores Liptak, RSM, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 13th triennial Conference on the History of Women Religious (CHWR) on June 24. Sr. Liptak, a Sister of Mercy of the Americas, contributed to the original organization of the conference in the 1980s and has remained a member. The first conference was held in 1989 in Minneapolis. Since then, triennial conferences have sought to enhance networking while sharing research on vowed women.
When first organized, Sr. Liptak recalls that the CHWR had a small number of people happy to get together and share their specializations and their roles as women religious. In 2016, the Global Sisters Reports stated that there were more than 400 members from around the world.
Sr. Liptak, who earned a doctorate in American History, was a member of the faculty at Holy Apostles from 1998 until 2014. She taught American Church History to such notables as our current President-Rector, Fr. Peter Kucer, MSA (M. Div. 2001, MA in Theology 2002); author and EWTN radio host Fr. Wade Menezes, CPM (M.A. in Theology 2000, M.Div. 2000, H.D. 2024); Provincial Superior of the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception and EWTN host Fr. Chris Alar, MIC (M. Div. 2013); and Ave Maria radio host, pastor, and exorcist Fr. Daniel Reehil, VF (MA Theology 2013, M. Div. 2013), to name a few.
In addition to teaching and contributing to the CHWR, Sister was the first to organize and computerize several major archives: the Carmelite Monastery in Baltimore, MD; the Visitation Sisters in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC; the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception in Stockbridge, MA; and the Connecticut archives of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.
Sr. Liptak has used her expertise as a historian in the editing of several books, including Pioneer Healers: The History of Women Religious in American Healthcare, and Marvels of Charity: History of American Sisters and Nuns. Additionally, she is the author of Hartford’s Catholic Legacy.