Sister Joan Chittister will appear on Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday” at 11 a.m. to noon Sunday, March 1. Chittister is an internationally renowned writer and lecturer and one of the most articulate social analysts and influential religious leaders of this age. The Eberly Family Special Collections Library in Penn State’s University Libraries houses The Joan D. Chittister Archive in an archival collaboration to preserve her accumulated works with Mercyhurst University in Erie and the Benedictine Sisters of Erie.
The program, “Oprah and Sister Joan Chittister: A Life of Passion, Purpose, and Joy,” will air on OWN and also be simulcast on Oprah.com, Facebook.com/supersoulsunday and Facebook.com/OWNTV. Penn State’s University Libraries will host a viewing of the program at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 1, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library on the University Park campus.
Sister Chittister is an outspoken advocate of justice, peace and equality -- especially for women all over the world, and has been one of America’s visionary spiritual voices for more than 30 years. She and Oprah will discuss new ways of looking at God, the vital force that women represent in the church and in society and the divinity of merging spirituality and science.
“Super Soul Sunday” is the multi-award winning daytime series featuring Oprah’s inspirational interviews with today’s top thinkers, visionaries and spiritual leaders that delivers a timely thought-provoking, eye-opening and inspiring block of programming designed to help viewers awaken to their best selves and discover a deeper connection to the world around them. Recognized by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with two Daytime Emmy® awards.
Joan Chittister, a Benedictine Sister of Erie, Pennsylvania, has won 13 Catholic Press Association awards for her books, as well as numerous awards for her work for justice, peace and equality, especially for women, in church and in society. In February 2015 her newest book, “Between the Dark and the Daylight,” will be published by Random House.
A founding member of The Global Peace Initiative of Women, a partner organization of the UN, she works to develop a worldwide network of women peace builders. As co-chair of this group she has facilitated gatherings of spiritual leaders throughout the Middle East, in Asia, Africa, the Far East and Europe in an effort to spread an interfaith commitment to peace building, equality and justice for all peoples. She is a regular columnist for the “National Catholic Reporter” and has been awarded 12 honorary degrees from US colleges and universities.
She has served as president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (an organization of the leaders/superiors of Catholic religious women in the US), president of the Conference of American Benedictine Prioresses (1974‑90) and was prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie for 12 years.
Sister Chittister is a Distinguished Alumna with a doctorate in speech communications theory from Penn State. She received her masters degree from the University of Notre Dame and was an invited fellow and research associate at St. Edmund's College, Cambridge University, England.
She is the founder and executive director of Benetvision: a resource and research center for contemporary spirituality located in Erie. (joanchittister.org)
For more information, contact Sister Susan Doubet at sdoubet@benetvison.org and 814-459-0314 or Jackie Esposito at jxe2@psu.edu or 814-863-3791.