Sister Mary Luke Tobin dies; played role at Second Vatican Council

Published: 2006-08-28

NERINX, Ky. (CNS) -- Loretto Sister Mary Luke Tobin, who played a leading role in the U.S. renewal of religious life and was one of a handful of female observers at the Second Vatican Council, died at the Loretto motherhouse in Nerinx Aug. 24. She was 98 years old. Sister Tobin donated her body to science. A memorial service is to be held at the motherhouse Oct. 7. An ardent ecumenist and advocate of church renewal, peace, social justice and women's rights in church and society, Sister Tobin was president of her order from 1958 to 1970 and was head of what is now the Leadership Conference of Women Religious during Vatican II. She was one of only 15 women worldwide invited to attend the council's last two sessions as an auditor, and she was part of the commission that drafted "Gaudium et Spes," the council's Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. Only two other women were members of commissions that drafted council documents. Born in Denver May 16, 1908, Ruth Marie Tobin joined the Loretto community and took the religious name Mary Luke when she professed her vows in 1927.

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