Witness to Integrity: The Crisis of the Immaculate Heart Community of Los Angeles

Witness to Integrity is a first-person account of the historic dispute between the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters (IHM) and James Francis McIntyre, the Cardinal Archbishop of Los Angeles. Former Mother General of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters and president of the Immaculate Heart Community, Anita Caspary, IHM, tells her story of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters’ motivations and struggles in their claim for authority and freedom to live a Christian life in accordance with their consciences. The conflicts that lead a part of the Immaculate Heart Sisters’ Community to become an ecumenical community are described with vividness.

Anita Caspary’s personal narrative reflections provide in-depth details of the story that has captured media attention in books, television documentaries, and plays. In addition, the use of original sources from the Immaculate Heart Community archives that have not been open to the public assists in producing new insights and correcting inaccuracies and myths.

Chapters are ＂The Accusation,＂ ＂Memories of a Catholic Girlhood,＂ ＂Background and Beginnings,＂ ＂Called to be a Nun,＂ ＂Teacher, Professor, and Administrator,＂ ＂The Sixties and the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart,＂ ＂Cardinal James F. McIntyre,＂ ＂The Archdiocesan Visitations,＂ ＂The 1967 Chapter of Renewal: Creating the Vision,＂ ＂Embracing the Vision,＂ ＂The Cardinal’s Response to Renewal,＂ ＂The Vatican Visitations,＂ ＂A Test Case for the Vatican,＂ ＂A New Life for Religious Women,＂ and ＂The Immaculate Heart Community.＂

Anita M. Caspary, IHM, PhD, was president of the Immaculate Heart College from 1957 to 1963. She was Mother General of the Immaculate Heart Sisters from 1963 to 1969 and president of the Immaculate Heart Community from 1970 to 1973. She is the author of several articles about the challenge of the Roman Catholic hierarchy by the Immaculate Heart Sisters and has taught in the graduate level for the last three decades. Currently, she writes and teaches poetry at the Immaculate Heart Community in Los Angeles, California.