Sister Joan Chittister

Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, PhD, is one of the most articulate social analysts and influential religious leaders of our time.

For more than 30 years, she has asked the most critical questions impacting the global community. Courageous, passionate, and charged with energy, she is a sought-after international speaker and clear voice across all religions. She has received widespread recognition for her work for justice, peace, and equality, especially for women in the church and in society.

A member of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pennsylvania, Sister Joan is the author of more than 50 books. Her most recent books include Desert Spaces, The Sacred In-Between, and The Way of the Cross. She is also a regular online columnist for both the National Catholic Reporter and the Huffington Post.

Sister Joan appeared with the Dali Lama at both the First Emory (University) Summit of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding and at the conference Seeds of Compassion. She was the coordinator of The Rising Great Compassion, an interfaith retreat for monastic women at Dharma Drum Mountain Center in Taiwan.

Sister Joan serves as co-chair of the Global Peace Initiative of Women, a partner organization of the United Nations that facilitates a worldwide network of women peace builders. She is also the animating force behind Monasteries of the Heart, a web-based movement sharing Benedictine spirituality with contemporary seekers, and the executive director of Benetvision, a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality.

What People are Saying About This Person

“Joan Chittister has been one of America’s key visionary spiritual voices for more than thirty years.”
—PBS

“A prophetic voice that is desperately needed in our troubled time.”—Karen Armstrong, author

“In over 50 years as a Benedictine nun, Sister Joan Chittister has emerged as a powerful and uncomfortable voice in Roman Catholicism and in global politics. If women were ordained in the Catholic Church in our lifetime, some say Joan Chittister would be the first female bishop.”
—American Public Media