November 11, 1927 - June 22, 2018
Sister Anne Brotherton, SFCC, passed away on June 22, 2018, in Augusta, Georgia, at the age of 90. Anne was a long-time faculty member at the Jesuit School of Theology, her tenure lasting from 1978 to 2000. In 2011, JST awarded Sister Anne a Doctor of Divinity degree honorus causa.
Sister Anne joined the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in 1950 and transferred to the Sisters For Christian Community in 1975. She received a doctorate degree in Cultural Sociology from Fordham University while teaching at City University of New York. Her most celebrated publication was The Voice of the Turtledove: New Catholic Women in Europe (1992), which united voices of Catholic women demanding their rightful place in the Church and in church ministries. Throughout her long career, Sister Anne worked for nonviolence and peace and equal rights for women in our Church.
Sister Anne was a beloved professor at JST, teaching systematic theology and running the Field Education Program. Luis Calero, S.J., Professor of Anthropology at Santa Clara University, offered this reflection on Sister Anne’s work at JST, her mentorship of future leaders of the Church, and her prophetic call to discipleship. In Professor Calero’s words, she was
"a dedicated mentor who stubbornly insisted that the only way to do Christian theology was through prayerful reflection on the experience of the people we were called to minister—many of whom were poor, uprooted, and marginalized. Her time in Berkeley was, I believe, the height of her professional and spiritual career as she trained generations of Jesuits as well as other men and women in ministry from different denominational backgrounds. Through her intelligent, elegant and personable manner, she helped shape the culture of our institution as she invited us to academic rigor without losing sight of people’s daily struggles. The test of our learning was the degree to which we were sensitive and responsive to the needs of the people of God."
Anne is survived by her brother, Richard Lenz Brotherton and his wife, Ann Lawless Brotherton, and numerous nieces and nephews. Her funeral Mass was held at St. Mary-on-the-Hill Catholic Church in Augusta, Georgia, where she is also buried.