It’s not often, but occasionally, an interview subject comes back to the Followers of St. Francis column, well overdue for a follow-up conversation. In the case of Sister Margaret Carney, OSF—a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities—I noticed that she was last profiled in 1986. So much has happened in her life since then that I had to ask, “Sister, is it time for an update?”
Fortunately, she agreed that it was, and I was blessed with nearly an hour of dialogue with a Franciscan sister who has accomplished much and surprised many while remaining as down-to-earth and relatable as ever.
Like many vocational stories, Sister Margaret’s begins with her family and place of upbringing. But also akin to those stories, her early life is full of distinct variables and unexpected turns that, with God’s grace, have led her to where she is today: a successful author, president emerita of a major Franciscan institution of higher learning, and gifted speaker on Franciscan spirituality and leadership, with some much-needed emphasis on the example and role of St. Clare of Assisi.
Growing up near Pittsburgh in a large Catholic household, a young Margaret also encountered various religious sisters, including the Sisters of Mercy and, later on, Franciscan friars and sisters.
While in high school, Sister Margaret got involved in a Franciscan network of students from across the country, an opportunity that not only opened her eyes to the Franciscan way of life, but also a chance to make connections with other young people that she never would have experienced.
Like many other schools of its kind, at the Franciscan high school Sister Margaret attended, Third Order Franciscan priests were an active presence for spiritually engaged students. “The priests were dynamic, and they cared about us,” she recalls. “We had retreat days when we traveled to big national conferences of young Franciscans, and so they really lit the fire.” And once lit, that fire would remain burning in Sister Margaret’s heart throughout her life and calling as a Franciscan sister.
Next Stop, St. Peter’s Basilica
Life after high school sped up rapidly for Sister Margaret, beginning at Duquesne University, where she studied education and later earned a master’s degree in theology. While pursuing her master’s degree, Sister Margaret also taught undergraduate students, an early but telling connection between her and higher education.
With such a full workload, it might come across as a bit surprising, but Sister Margaret added a second master’s degree to obtain while still immersed in theology at Duquesne, this time in Franciscan studies at St. Bonaventure University. “I was never a full-time student,” she says. “I was always working so it took me years to complete the two master’s degrees.”
By the mid-1980s, Sister Margaret had both master’s degrees under her belt and so set her eyes on another academic milestone: a doctorate in sacred theology, with a focus on Franciscan spirituality. The only issue? She would need to become the first female to complete the doctoral degree at the Pontifical University of St. Anthony, also called the Antonianum, in Rome. “Let me say it was extraordinarily difficult in the beginning—especially the huge cultural differences in their educational style,” Sister Margaret says. “I was not very proficient in [Italian] at the beginning, which made things very hard.”
But her experience quickly warmed as her Italian improved, and before long, Sister Margaret found the faculty to be quite supportive and the Franciscan sisters who housed her “were phenomenal. They treated me like one of their own, and I got to make many, many friends in that congregation. One other thing: Did you know every day that my bus stop was right at St. Peter’s Basilica?” Judging my own midwestern college commutes, I can certainly appreciate the change in locale for Sister Margaret.
Rapid Change
Gaining her doctorate in 1988 opened even more doors for Sister Margaret, now at a worldwide level. And despite her love and connection with people and cultures from around the globe, it would be a place already very familiar to Sister Margaret—St. Bonaventure University—that would hold the key to the door God wanted her to walk through. She joined the university in 1997 as a professor and member of the school’s Franciscan Institute, an academic icon in the world of the Franciscan intellectual tradition. Sister Margaret became the institute’s dean two years later, but there were more changes to come.
Following a major scandal around the men’s basketball team, which involved an ineligible player, the university president resigned, with many questioning who would fill his seat. After a year of an interim president’s service—and having served as the interim vice president—Sister Margaret was named to the school’s top post. She went on to serve from 2004 to 2016 and focused on improving mission integration, delivering an improved curriculum cycle, and increasing diversity in all sectors of campus life.
“In the year I was vice president, what I saw was that our students would go on mission trips and come back and say, ‘We talk a lot about this Franciscan stuff, and I don’t know if I understand it, but I want to keep doing this for the rest of my life,’” Sister Margaret says. Upon listening to and learning from the students, Sister Margaret pushed hard for leadership skills in the Franciscan tradition to be a key component of education at St. Bonaventure.
After stepping down from the presidency in 2016, Sister Margaret has remained active, giving talks and lectures for Catholic higher education and other organizations. In 2021, she wrote Light of Assisi: The Story of St. Clare (Franciscan Media), which explores Clare’s connection to St. Francis, her life, and the many extraordinary contributions she made to the Franciscan world after his death.
With all of her accomplishments amid unexpected turns in life, it’s fitting that a phrase that Sister Margaret holds dear also champions perseverance and tenacity: “Let us hold on to the words, the teaching, and the life [of Jesus]” (Early Rule of St. Francis).
