In the Company of Change

Filmmaker Morgan Atkinson returns to the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville forty years after his first documentary about the community. Using the life of Sister Martha Buser as a lens, the film traces the sweeping changes in American religious and cultural life over six decades. When Martha entered the community in 1949, the Ursulines numbered nearly 600 sisters; by her death in 2023, fewer than 40 remained, with a median age of 85.

Yet Atkinson insists the film is “not a requiem for the Ursulines — rather a clear-eyed look at many faith-filled lives and one in particular.” It’s a tribute to Sr. Martha, whom Atkinson interviewed from 1985 through 2023, and who became his spiritual director and close friend. Father James Martin, S.J. calls her “one of the most creative, most life-giving and most prayerful people I’ve ever met,” and the film a tribute “not only to her but to an entire community of holy women.”

Fifty years ago Ursuline College and Bellarmine College merged to form a co-educational college that is now Bellarmine University. The university and the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville have launched a year-long celebration of the merger’s anniversary, featuring events celebrating the legacy of Bellarmine’s enduring Ursuline bonds. Information about the merger will be displayed on Bellarmine’s campus throughout the coming academic year.

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