Sister Clare Fitzgerald

Sister Clare Fitzgerald SSND is a prominent Catholic motivational speaker and educator. Over the past few years Sister Claire has visited the Valiant campus for Character Formation activities and retreats. On this particular evening Sister Claire will share the celebration of Advent with the Valiant community.

Sister Clare Fitzgerald is a native Bostonian and the third eldest of an Irish family of six children. She received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from the College of Notre Dame in Maryland, earned her Master’s Degree at Catholic University in Washington, DC, and was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy by St. Louis University. In addition, she has received honorary doctorates from Notre Dame College, Manchester New Hampshire, and the College of Notre Dame, Baltimore, Maryland.

Sister Clare has taught at all levels of education, and served for nine years as Chair of the American Studies Department at Fairfield University, and for twelve years as the founding Director of the Catholic Leadership Program, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, at Boston College. Internationally, she had lectured and presented workshops on Catholic education and the future of religious life throughout the United States, Canada, Guam, Puerto Rico, and England. Recent lecture engagements include St. Andrews’s College in Scotland and the University of Cambridge in England.

Sister Clare is member of the Northeast Province of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, and has distinguished herself by not only effective but also generous and outstanding service to communities of all faiths. She has served as the Representative to the Provincial and General Chapters of the SSND, as well as Provincial Leader of the Northeast Province. Her national leadership positions are numerous, and include President of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, and the Appointee to the Vatican Commission on the Study of Religious Life.

In 1986, 1992 and 1997, Sister Clare received the National Catholic Educational Association’s highest commendation for distinguished service to Catholic education and the Church. In 1994, she received the prestigious William H. Sadlier Dinger Award for distinguished contributions to Catholic education and leadership, and, in 1998, received the C. Albert Koop Award for her commitment for excellence and scholarship in the training of Catholic Education Leaders in the United States.