Heidi MacDonald
Heidi MacDonald grew up in Prince Edward Island and then attended Mount Saint Vincent University, St. Mary's University, and the University of New Brunswick. She has been a professor of Canadian History at the University of Lethbridge since 1999, and was chair of the Department of History from 2005 to 2009. She currently has two areas of research, youth during the Great Depression and women religious in Atlantic Canada. Her work has appeared in a number of historical journals and her article "Who Counts and Why? Nuns, Work, and the Census of Canada, 1871-2001,” Histoire Sociale/Social History, vol 86 (November, 2010): 369-391, was awarded the Canadian Historical Association’s Canadian Committee on Women’s History Hilda Neatby Prize for best article on Canadian Women’s History published in English in 2010.
Bio last updated April 30th, 2018.
Articles by Heidi MacDonald
Habits of Community
By Heidi MacDonald
October 1, 2013
Historian Heidi MacDonald sees a loss of community behind the disappearance of religious congregations
PS: But, in fact, as you say, urbanization and the growth of a robust number of women religious seem to go hand in hand In the last of our three conversations on consecrated life in Canada, historian Heidi MacDonald considers the demographics of congregations of women religious during the past 160 years and traces their precipitous decline to a disturbing loss of community in society at large HM: I see feminism and women religious' work and organization as very connected HM: Well, women religious, vowed women, are meant to be contemplative first, right? Then they have apostolates PS: You said something that really struck me and I thought it was a very brave thing to say, but you said that feminism, if I'm quoting correctly, was delayed in Quebec because of the strength of at least the superiors and the leadership among women religious PS: The sort of sidewalk view would be that religious life, particularly the life of women religious, equals subservience, so therefore does not equal a feminist ideal HM: Well, I would think that could be an attraction to a woman considering religious life today: that she would have the opportunity to contribute in a way that suited her, in a way that she most wanted to contribute HM: It's a controversy, but there are lots of congregations where a few people still wear a habit, and so within congregations it's tolerated, in my experience