Public and Parochial: How the Sisters of the Precious Blood Shaped State-Funded Education in Ohio

Abstract:The Sisters of the Precious Blood came to West Central and Northwestern Ohio to minister to immigrant Catholics who began arriving by the 1830s. Many communities were predominately German Catholic, and religious sisters were considered best equipped to teach. As villages formed their own schools, many were attached to Catholic parishes, including some that benefited from common school funds. Consequently, many Sisters of the Precious Blood served as teachers in publicly-funded educational institutions. When schools expanded and merged in the early twentieth century, some Precious Blood Sisters found themselves in more diverse communities, with an increasing number of non-Catholics in the classroom. Some questioned the employment of sisters in state-supported schools, and court cases ensued. A test case against the school board in Fort Recovery required the Precious Blood Sisters' testimony. Although the court decided against the school board and required modification of the sisters' presence, they continued teaching in Ohio's public schools until the mid-1990s.