Meeting Philippa Rath, OSB

Joan Chittister met Philippa Rath, OSB, a Benedictine nun from the Abbey of Saint Hildegard, on her October speaking tour on a cruise down the Rhine. Sister Philippa, an advocate for women’s ordination, recently published a book titled, Loss of self and alienation from God: spiritual abuse of women in the Catholic Church, for which Sister Joan wrote the foreword. Sister Joan also wrote about Sister Philippa’s bold voice for women’s rights in a 2021 NCR article.

This was the first in-person meeting between these two powerful Benedictine women, and it occurred at the monastery in Rüdeshiem that was founded by Hildegard von Bingen.