Sister Caroleen Hensgen, who in 1967 became the first woman superintendent of a Catholic school system in the United States, has announced her retirement.
Sister Hensgen, 75 and a member of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, will retire next June after 24 years as head of the Catholic schools for the Diocese of Dallas.
The Dallas diocese has begun a nationearch for her successor.
Until this school year, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia had never had a black nun serve as a school principal. Now it has three.
Sister Marilyn Hopewell was named principal of Holy Child; Sister Mary Norbert, of St. Elizabeth’s; and Sister Barbara Boynton, of St. Ignatius of Loyola.
All three schools have predominantly black student populations.
