One of Our Sisters Visits the Halls of Academe

Sr. Joanne Gonter traveled to the 35th annual Appalachian Studies Association conference at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She presented on March 25 as part of a panel titled "The Wide Reach of a Cloistered Order from 1848 to 2008: The Sisters of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Wheeling." Dr. Joseph Mannard (first photo, center) a friend of our monastery thanks to his research here, was the panel chair, and Dr. Barbara Howe (r) from West Virginia University was part of the panel as well. Sister's paper was titled "The Closing of Mount de Chantal Visitation Academy, Current Locations of the 1848-2008 Records, and Continuance of the Academy's Alumnae Association." She shared the disposition of some of the Mount's treasures, including one of the chandeliers that is now in the Corning Glass Museum, and some of the beautiful paintings and the organ.