“Despite the fact that we have come from diverse backgrounds as Christians, Muslims, Pseudo-Buddhists, Hindus and everything in between, we have learned to respect one another, to learn from one another, to grow with one another, shaping the fabrics of our lives. Although it’s time for us to depart, to walk in separate directions, travel across oceans, or perhaps just across the country, time and distance will never unravel the threads of our memories here at Loretto.”

Sheniz continues::

“Thank you, Angela, (Dean at Loretto College) for being a prime example of our potential realized and the Loretto Sisters for making us feel welcome, for thinking about us and caring for us with your prayers, kind words and sweet gestures, like the passing around of the infamous food trays during exam time.”

These words invite us to an appreciation of the tradition of Mary Ward which the Loretto Sisters have woven into the fabric of residential living for young people seeking post-secondary education while living at Loretto College. These thoughts are expressive of a consistency of care and concern that has characterized several evolutionary shifts which have occurred over time at Loretto College

In the Beginning . .

Archbishop Power visited Mother Teresa Ball in Dublin and requested the presence of Loretto Sisters in Toronto to educate the increasing numbers of Irish immigrants in the growing capital of Upper Canada. Shortly after their arrival on the shores of Lake Ontario on September 16, 1847 the Sisters opened a small boarding school and were the first women of a  religious congregation to teach in the locally emerging public school system.

The Sisters were eager to live out Mary Ward’s desire  “to prepare themselves to undertake any labour whatsoever in the education and instruction of maidens and girls ...”so responded to the growing number of local Bishops requesting Sisters to teach in their dioceses.  It was not difficult for the Sisters, inspired, as they were, by Mary Ward’s injunction to:

‘Love verity, seek knowledge not for knowledge’s sake, but for the end which it bringeth you unto, which is God; then you will be happy and able to profit yourselves and others ...’
      Teresa Ball

Our Mary Ward women pursued paths that would open educational opportunities previously denied women.

In 1912,  more than ninety years ago, the catholic University of St. Michael’s College, founded by the Basilian Fathers, was one of the four ‘arts’ colleges on the University of Toronto campus.  Our Institute leadership, after consultation with the Basilian Fathers, was able to alter a long standing principle of segregation which had prevailed at St. Michael’s and which denied women a University education in this all male catholic institution.

Thus it was that in 1912 Mother Mary Estelle Nolan welcomed young women, undergraduate students, enrolled at St. Michael’s, to Loretto Abbey College. The female undergrads were permitted to sign up for courses at St. Mike’s and at the U of T. The new arrangement allowed them to take Romance and classical languages, taught by the Loretto Sisters, at this new facility, part of the gracious Loretto Abbey Motherhouse at 403 Wellington Street. Three years later, in 1915, these pioneers in reaping the benefits of post secondary education became the first women graduates of Loretto College as part of the University of St. Michael’s College.

The gradually expanding enrollment of women at Loretto College necessitated increased space for the students. Thus, in 1918 Loretto College relocated to our Convent on Brunswick Avenue, a site closer to the campuses of St. Mike’s and U of T. In 1937 the College moved to even more spacious housing on St. George Street situated within the U of T campus, but still a little distance from St. Mike’s. Finally, in 1959, under the leadership of Mother Olga, the present Loretto College on St. Mary Street became fully integrated within St. Michael’s campus with easier access to its many resources. Records indicate that there were one hundred and nine students and eighteen sisters at Loretto College that year. I was one of those sisters.

Once an exclusive haven for young catholic women enrolled at St. Michael’s, Loretto College  now reflects a diverse female population whose appetite for learning leads them to seek instruction and knowledge from many of the faculties on the U of T campus. Indeed, a few students sometimes prefer attending one of the many excellent community colleges located off campus.

Loretto College - harbinger of Tradition. One of the young woman with whom I spoke was a former student at Loretto Abbey. Her mother came to Loretto College and Lauren Troncone, who feels steeped in Loretto, followed in her mother’s footsteps. Education for women, outreach to the marginalised, involvement in community and a concern with justice, imbibed from her life at Loretto, are the lasting ideals that have drawn Lauren to attend OISE  -  Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. Lauren is alive with the spirit of  Mary Ward and when she departs in May she will take this spirit with her as inspiration for her teaching career.

Angela Convertini, Dean at Loretto, is a graduate of Loretto Niagara and resided at The College while attending University. In her role as Dean she is eager and effective in being the Voice of Loretto, a Loretto liaison, and making Loretto more known and visible as she attends to her administrative responsibilities across the U of T campus.

Angela has embraced Mary Ward’s maxim that ‘mirth is next to grace.’ She believes in ‘celebrating the life and achievements of the young women at Loretto.’ Fusion Night was such a celebration. Fusion Night was the name given to a recent fun evening when students gathered for a multi-cultural celebration of the Arts. They performed, presented and demonstrated unusual talents in the areas of music, drama, visual arts, singing, food and artefacts from around the world..

Each year the women residents are invited to apply to be a ‘Don.’ They are assigned to a ‘floor’ and assist the Dean by making sure that what happens within their jurisdiction is in the best interests of the students. The Dons receive leadership training and learn counselling techniques the better able to give Integrity, Justice and Freedom vibrant meaning in their relationship with the young women with whom they interact.

The integration of living out the Mary Ward Vision of Justice, Integrity and Freedom  takes on concrete reality in the ordinary activities of each day and that is what gives REAL meaning to Loretto College.  The work of justice has many faces. This has been evident in the challenges and varieties of responses that have characterized the justice-minded young women at Loretto throughout the changing years. Perhaps none is more consequential, and expressive of ‘right relationships’  than the current spirit of acceptance and approval of ‘otherness,’ of nationality, of faith tradition, of diversity which currently pervades Loretto College.

In the celebration of the life of each of the residents, the uniqueness of each person and her aspirations and accomplishments are lauded and appreciated.  Inspiration comes from the young women themselves who are living at Loretto College.  Angela says: “The women at Loretto College are doing great things now -  and they will continue to do great things when they leave here.”

                                    Long live Integrity, Justice and Freedom!

Doryne Kirby, IBVM