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Sister Ellen Leonard

A life of devotion to women’s equality

YWCA Toronto women of distinction award 2005:
religion and education

Sister Ellen Leonard, a long-time Sister of St. Joseph, has given herself to the unusual calling of advocating for women’s equality in the church and academic worlds. One of the first women hired to teach theology in Canada, Sister Leonard is a leader and a role model for women of every denomination. Ms. Leonard is the 2005 YWCA Toronto Woman of Distinction recipient for Religion and Education.

Her commitment to rethinking theological categories through the lens of women’s experience challenges her students to engage a feminist critique of patriarchal and misogynist underpinnings in mainstream theological discourse. Sister Ellen has enriched the lives of many women by demonstrating the possibility of faith grounded in their experience as women. Working within both the Church and the theological academy, Sister Ellen has led a courageous struggle to keep women’s issues on the agenda.

Born and raised in North Toronto, Sister Ellen graduated from St. Joseph’s College School and joined the congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in September of 1951. After completing her novitiate, she attended the Toronto Teachers College where she received the award for Highest Academic Achievement. Sister Ellen began her teaching career as a first grade teacher and was later appointed Principal of Holy Spirit School in Agincourt.

Sister Ellen studied for her B.A. part time while teaching and serving as principal, graduating from the University of Toronto in 1967. She later attended Manhattan College in New York where she completed a M.A. in Religious Studies. Sister Ellen was awarded her PhD in 1978.

As a member of the Faculty of Theology of St. Michael’s College and the Theology Department of the Toronto School of Theology and a member of the Graduate Faculty of the Centre of the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto, she encouraged links between faith and women’s struggles for equality and dignity in religious institutions and society. Her work within her own faith community has helped her bring together women with racial, cultural and religious differences for common purpose.

Sister Ellen is an active participant in many professional organizations and has authored three books, contributed chapters for many more and written dozens of papers for academic and theological journals, advancing her compassionate and challenging views.

Formally retired from teaching, Sister Ellen is Professor Emerita, and still offers courses, mentors and counsels students, and continues to write for various journals. Sister Ellen is a woman of deep faith and integrity, strongly alive in the Christian tradition and open to difference as a source of grace. Her personal and academic roots are steeped in a love of people and a core sense of purpose intent on justice. She lives her life in and among various communities with respect for diversity, compassion and a willingness to hold herself accountable for her beliefs and actions.

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