Research 19th century American communal utopias and you will not find any normally with relationships to the Roman Catholic church. An unfortunate oversight by the many researchers who cleave towards the free love of Oneida, the ethnic communes of the Amana, Bishop Hill. The Catholic-based commune of St. Nazianz, Wisconsin needs inclusion into the American versions of heaven on earth.
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1903 was a significant year in France for the Catholic Church. The church officially separated from secular government – catholic schools were no longer public schools, public monuments could not be religious in nature, and no taxes would go to the church. While there was not the level of anti-clericalism seen during the Revolution, that spirit still remained. Several religious orders became pressured to leave France for Canada or America. So the story of Catholicism in Jordan gained a second chapter.
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In a recent post, I took a look at some of the present monastic institutions operating in the State of Oregon. Driving on the busy Farmington Road – Oregon Highway 10 – takes you past the looming structure of the motherhouse for the congregation of the Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon. Like other Catholic stories here in Oregon, theirs begins in Germany – or at the time, Switzerland and the Hapsburg-dominated Duchy of Baden, both a long way from their eventual home in the rural Marion County hamlet of Jordan.
Sequoias line the entry road on the west side of the large grass field – the lawn brings memories of a Tualatin Valley losing more and more of its agricultural heritage every year. The Order today boasts on its ground’s schools ranging from preschool through high school, a care home for the elderly along with a memory care center. Everything has a beginning. The story underlying the Sisters is both unique and fascinating.
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