Teresa Kearney and the Little Sisters of St. Francis in Eastern Africa: A Revolution of Tenderness

This dissertation narrates the story of Teresa Kearney between 1903-1957 and the Little Sisters of St. Francis in Eastern Africa between 1959-2023 to argue that this story embodied the theological themes of mission, accompaniment, and charity to the peripheries that resound through Pope’s Francis theology of a revolution of tenderness.
The dissertation will be guided by three questions. Firstly, how did Kearney’s story embody the themes of mission, accompaniment, and charity to the peripheries? Secondly, how do the Little Sisters of St. Francis extend Kearney’s themes of mission, accompaniment, and charity to the peripheries? Finally, how does Pope Francis echo Kearney’s themes of mission, accompaniment, and charity to the peripheries?
Through archival research, interviews, and historical data on Kearney and the Little Sisters, the work is divided into six chapters. The first chapter introduces the entire dissertation by introducing Kearney, the history of Uganda, the literature review, the rationale of the study, and the organization. In the second and third chapters, this project narrates Kearney’s story by locating these chapters around Kearney’s workplaces in Uganda. The second chapter narrates Kearney’s mission at Nsambya. Then the work locates Kearney at Nkokonjeru in the third chapter as she formed the Little Sisters, humanized what she called the lesser brethren (lepers), and separated the Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa from the Franciscan Sisters of the Abbey. The fourth chapter reflects how the Little Sisters institutionalize Kearney’s work through its Superior Generals from 1959 through 2023. The fifth chapter examines how Mother Nasimiyu, one of the Little Sisters Superior Generals, advanced Kearney’s legacy of women empowerment through expansion, service to the poor, education, promotion of unity, and Kearney’s beatification Cause. The final chapter considers the pastoral and theological implications of Kearney’s story to the contemporary Church through the prism of Pope Francis and his theology of a revolution of tenderness. This theology is understood through the four themes of ecclesiology, mission, existential peripheries, and Franciscan spirituality that underline Kearney’s story.
To understand the concreteness and workability of Pope Francis’ theology of a revolution of tenderness, the Church must narrate stories such as that of Kearney and the Little Sisters as people who have or are epitomizing Pope Francis’ theology.

本论文详述了特蕾莎·基尔尼（Teresa Kearney）1903年至1957年间的生平事迹，以及圣方济各小姐妹会（Little Sisters of St. Francis）1959年至2023年间在东非的发展历程，旨在论证：上述故事所承载的传教、陪伴与面向边缘群体的慈善三大神学主题，与教皇方济各（Pope Francis）的“温柔革命”神学思想形成了深度呼应。

本论文围绕三大核心研究问题展开论述：其一，基尔尼的生平如何具象化传教、陪伴与面向边缘群体的慈善这三大神学主题？其二，圣方济各小姐妹会如何延续并拓展基尔尼所倡导的传教、陪伴与面向边缘群体的慈善理念？其三，教皇方济各如何呼应基尔尼的上述三大神学主题？

本研究依托针对基尔尼与圣方济各小姐妹会的档案调研、访谈及历史史料，全书共分为六章。第一章为绪论，系统介绍基尔尼生平、乌干达历史脉络、相关领域文献综述、本研究的研究缘起与篇章架构。

第二、三两章以基尔尼在乌干达的工作场域为叙事主线，详述其生平轨迹。第二章讲述基尔尼在恩萨姆比亚（Nsambya）开展的传教工作。第三章则聚焦基尔尼在恩科孔杰鲁（Nkokonjeru）的活动，记述她创立圣方济各小姐妹会、将她口中的“卑微同胞（麻风病人，lepers）”予以人性化关怀，以及推动非洲方济各传教修女会（Franciscan Missionary Sisters for Africa）从修道院方济各修女会（Franciscan Sisters of the Abbey）中独立出来的完整历程。

第四章探讨1959年至2023年间，圣方济各小姐妹会如何通过历任总会长（Superior Generals）将基尔尼的理念制度化，使其成为组织的核心传承脉络。

第五章则聚焦该会总会长之一的纳西米尤修女（Mother Nasimiyu），论述其如何通过组织扩张、服务贫困群体、兴办教育、促进社群团结以及推动基尔尼的宣福列品案（beatification Cause），传承并发扬基尔尼的女性赋权精神遗产。

第六章以教皇方济各及其“温柔革命”神学为分析视角，探讨基尔尼的生平故事对当代教会的牧养价值与神学启示。这一神学思想可通过贯穿基尔尼生平的四大核心维度加以阐释：教会论（ecclesiology）、传教理念、生存性边缘地带以及方济各灵性主义（Franciscan spirituality）。

为了深入理解教皇方济各“温柔革命”神学的具体内涵与实践可行性，教会应当讲述基尔尼与圣方济各小姐妹会这类已然或正在具象化其神学思想的人物与组织故事。