Fact Sheet about the LCWR 50^th Anniversary Celebration

The following information may be helpful background material for preparing materials publicizing LCWR jubilee events.

When is the LCWR jubilee?

LCWR will officially open its 50^th anniversary celebration at its annual assembly in Anaheim, California from August 19-22, 2005. The celebration will close at the annual assembly in Atlanta, Georgia from August 18-22, 2006.

What will the jubilee celebration include?

• At its 2005 annual assembly, the LCWR members will collectively enter into a year of jubilee that will commemorate the contributions of US women religious, particularly leaders, during the last 50 years and look ahead at the future of religious life. The LCWR members will celebrate the closing of this year at their August 2006 assembly.
• The anniversary is being commemorated in a variety of ways throughout the United States in LCWR’s 15 geographic regions. (A list of tentative plans of some of those regions is included in this media packet.)
• LCWR is investigating ways of celebrating the vital role women religious have played in shaping US social, religious and civil history with a possible exhibit or other creative ways of telling the history of women religious in the United States.
• Ongoing projects to assist women religious in their leadership roles.

How many women religious are there today in the United States?

According to the 2004 Official Catholic Directory there are 71,486 women religious in the United States.

How many orders of women religious are represented in the membership of LCWR?

The members of LCWR are the leaders of approximately 450 orders.

Leadership Conference of Women Religious

8808 Cameron Street – Silver Spring, MD 20910

301-588-4955 – www.lcwr.org