Sisters of the Living Word Records

The Sisters of the Living Word (SLW) is a Roman Catholic community of women religious currently based in Des Plaines, Illinois. They focus their mission on advocating for the homeless, immigrants, the environment, and victims of racism and human trafficking. They were founded in 1975 when foundress Sister Annamarie Cook led a group of ninety women to branch off of the Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity (SCC) to begin a new community that would honor their shared vision for a reformed future of religious life that differed from the consensus view of the international SCC congregation.

In the early 1960s, Pope John XXIII urged religious communities to be aware of the signs of the times. In the Second Vatican Council, the bishops of the world emphasized this call to renewal. In response, the Sisters of the Western Province of the Sisters of Christian Charity began to articulate their shared vision for a new way of moving forward in their religious life.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity had been founded in Germany in 1849 by Mother Pauline von Mallinckrodt and established in the United States in 1873. They are a large international order with many houses in the American Midwest. As the Sisters of the Western Province of SCC began articulating their vision for renewal, they were united in their beliefs that the membership should have a more active participation in the government of the Congregation than was being experienced, that diversity of practice should be embraced, and that cultural differences among provinces should be recognized and should have an influence on legislation.

In 1968, then-Provincial Superior Sister Annamarie Cook led the Sisters of the Western Province in composing a Credo for Renewal document outlining these beliefs and forwarded their renewal proposal at the SCC General Chapters of 1969 and 1972, but their proposals were denied each time. It became clear that other members of the international Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity did not share in their views and vision, and would not approve their proposal for a reformed renewal. After these denials, Sister Annamarie Cook went to the new SCC Provincial Superior, Sister Angelica Hengesbach, and her General Council in 1975 and offered to lead the group who wanted to commit to a different kind of renewal.

In July 1975, a small group including Sisters Annamarie Cook and Jean Krieter and Provincial Superior Angelica Hengesbach traveled to Rome to meet with Father Ransing, a representative of the Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes. In the course of the meeting, Father Ransing observed that there were two incompatible views of religious life emerging in the Congregation of the Sisters of Christian Charity, leading to unrest and unhappiness within the Congregation. The proposed solution was for the group who wished for a reformed renewal to separate and begin a new congregation. Father Ransing gave Sisters Annamarie Cook and Jean Krieter one month to identify the members of the new group, find a bishop to sponsor them, divide the convents and schools between the parent community and the new group, and establish and name themselves as a new religious Community.

Within the allotted time, a total of ninety Sisters (eighty perpetually professed, eight temporary professed, and two novices) identified themselves as wishing to join the new group. They chose the name Sisters of the Living Word for their new community and affirmed Cardinal John Patrick Cody as their sponsor. In late August 1975, they received initial approval from Rome for all practical purposes until the formal Indult was sent. Finally, in October 1975, Rome issued the official Indult approving the establishment of the Sisters of the Living Word as a new Pious Union. The Sisters would retain their traditional vow structure, and Sister Annamarie Cook would be their foundress.

In line with their shared vision for a new religious life, decision-making was seen as a communal responsibility, and the entire membership, not just Leadership, would be involved in making major decisions affecting life in the Congregation. From the time of their founding, the Constitution Committee involved all Sisters in the writing of the Constitutions as an expression of their lived experience as Sisters of the Living Word. After many revisions over the ensuing years, the final draft was composed by Annamarie Cook with input from all members and sent to Rome in the early 1990s. The final draft was accepted, and in August 1992, Archbishop of Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin issued their final approval as a religious community in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. At this time, each of the Sisters renewed her vows as a member of the newly-approved Community.

In the first year of their foundation, the five members of the Leadership Team moved to St. Gregory Convent in Chicago. Soon after, they began renting space in a partially-used convent at St. Juliana Parish in Chicago as their central office, in lieu of a traditional motherhouse. Eventually, the community purchased a former public school building in 1985 and began extensive renovations. In February 1990, the building was opened as the new Living Word Center (LWC). They rented the west wing of the building to the Northwest Suburban Montessori School. The LWC continued to be the operational base of the community until 2021, when they closed the Center and downsized to their current offices in Des Plaines, Illinois.

In 1983, the Sisters of the Living Word adopted a process for developing a corporate stance on major issues, a practice they still uphold today. At various times, the Sisters of the Living Word have ministered in several states in the American Midwest and South, including Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas, and Florida. They have worked in diverse ministries, ranging from education to healthcare, social work, and prison ministry, and working with the abused, illiterate, elderly, and homebound. As of 2026, there are 33 active members of the community, living and ministering according to their mission statement: “To reflect and affirm the Word in the world, the Word who continually frees the oppressed and gives new life.”