Long fascinated by the life of the Ursuline congregation in his hometown of Louisville, award-winning filmmaker Morgan C. Atkinson explores the challenges that face the order in an era of declining vocations in his new documentary “In the Company of Change.”
Atkinson uses the life of Sister Martha Buser as a lens through which to view changes of the past 60-plus years in the religious and cultural landscape of America. Rare, evocative film footage captures a bygone era in the life of the Catholic Church. When Martha entered the community in 1949, the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, Kentucky numbered almost 600 sisters. When Sr. Martha passed away in 2023, fewer than 40 sisters remained. Their median age is 85.
However, the new film “is not a requiem for the Ursulines,” Atkinson says, “rather a clear-eyed look at many faith-filled lives and one in particular.” It’s something of a tribute to Sr. Martha, whom Atkinson interviewed numerous times from 1985 through 2023. Over the years, they developed a close friendship, and Sister Martha became Atkinson’s spiritual director.
This is Atkinson’s second film about the sisters. “A Change in Order,” released in 1987, looked at how the congregation was impacted by the 1980s cultural shifts. “Why would a modern woman choose the life of service and faith?” Atkinson wondered at the time. Revisiting the Ursulines some 40 years later Atkinson found the Louisville Ursuline membership dropping significantly but the remaining members searching for new ways to continue living their charism in a meaningful way. This search became one of the major themes of his documentary. Today, the Louisville Sisters minister in Kentucky, and in Peru, South America. Their ministries include social services, education, parish/pastoral/spirituality/cross-cultural ministries, presence and prayer.
Father James Martin, S.J., who knew Sister Martha well, says of the film: “Martha Buser was one of the most creative, most life-giving and most prayerful people I’ve ever met. Like so many Ursulines, she taught not only how to pray, but how to live as a Christian and a Catholic. This beautiful documentary is a tribute not only to her but to an entire community of holy women.”
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