Sister Gladys Anyanwu happily guided a class of first graders at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens through a lesson on the meaning of Lent one morning, encouraging the children to sing about their love for Jesus.
The presence of a nun like Sister Gladys in front of a classroom is becoming a rare sight. As the number of nuns in the United States has dwindled, so too has the number of nuns teaching in Catholic schools.
According to a 2024 report from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA), only 1.5% of teachers in Catholic schools in the United States are nuns — a far cry from 1920, when they accounted for 92% of all teachers. By 1970, the number had dropped to 48%, and by 2000, it was just 7%, the report shows.
The low number leaves many schools with the task of promoting the faith in children without the expertise of women who have devoted their lives to Jesus. That includes the Diocese of Brooklyn. Ted Havelka, director of enrollment management and financial assistance for the diocese, said he didn’t know the exact number of nuns teaching in diocesan schools, but acknowledged “it’s an ongoing challenge we’re having.”
By one estimate there may be as few as 25 nuns currently teaching in the diocese.
However, it’s less of a problem at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Academy, where Sister Gladys teaches kindergarten and is the religion instructor for first and second grade.
Principal Lorraine Pierre said she is a valuable member of the staff.
“Sister Gladys not only teaches religion to the lower grades, but she also does the choir, and she has such a nice way with the children,” Pierre said.
Sister Gladys, a member of the Sisters of the Compassionate Heart of Christ, a religious community founded in Nigeria in 2004, said she loves teaching and gets a kick out of the kids’ reactions to the nun’s habit she wears.
“The students are very happy when I’m dressed like this, in my habit,” she said. “Some of them ask me, ‘Are you married to Jesus?’”
Her students expressed their love for her, as well.
“All the other teachers talk about everything else and don’t talk about Jesus, but she does,” said second grader Yahni Mathieu, noting that having Sister Gladys as a teacher is helping him get closer to Jesus. “I want to get close to him because he gives us life.”
Sister Gladys came to the United States from her native Nigeria five years ago and began teaching at St. Francis of Assisi a year later. Prior to her current job, she worked as a teacher’s assistant at the academy, helping another sister with a kindergarten class. Sister Gladys said her role extends beyond the classroom.
“We are trying our best to evangelize just as Jesus encouraged us that wherever we go, we should evangelize, and that’s what we are doing here with these children,” she said. “It’s not just teaching. It’s ministering God’s presence in the people we see here.”
Sister Gladys is the only nun who teaches at St. Francis of Assisi, and Pierre noted she wouldn’t mind seeing more sisters in her classrooms.
“I think it brings an element of the Catholic identity,” she said. “It brings that element in for sure.”
Despite the dwindling numbers of nuns, all is not lost, according to Sister Gladys.
“Back in my country, … we’re having rapid vocations back there. So I’m sure in the future it might come back,” she explained. “When we have vocations, definitely we will have the nuns in the classrooms.”