Mary Collins (September 16, 1935 â May 2, 2024) was an American theologian and Benedictine nun. She was a founding member of the North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL), an ecumenical and inter-religious association of liturgical scholars who collaborate in research concerning public worship, and went on to serve as president of both NAAL and the North American Liturgical Conference. She was also elected the tenth prioress of the Mount St. Scholastica Monastery in Atchison, Kansas.
Mary Collins was born in Chicago, Illinois on September 16, 1935, to Lauretta (LaCosse) and Homer Collins and had two brothers. She graduated from Mount St. Scholastica College and entered the Benedictine order in Atchinson, Kansas in 1957.
Collins taught high school before entering Catholic University of America (CUA) where she earned a doctoral degree in sacramental and liturgical studies. After completing her doctorate, she taught religious studies at Benedictine College and the University of Kansas and then returned to CUA in 1978 as associate professor of religious studies. In 1983, she became chair of the CUA Department of Religion and Religious Education.
In the mid-1970s, she was a founding member of the North American Academy of Liturgy (NAAL), an ecumenical and inter-religious association of liturgical scholars who collaborate in research concerning public worship. She went on to serve as its president (1986) and also served as president of the North American Liturgical Conference. She was also a member of the International Commission on English in the Liturgy and directed its Psalter project.
Collins has been classified as among the "first generation of Catholic reconstructionist feminist theologians." In 1983, she joined Mary E. Hunt, Diann Neu, and others to found the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER), a nonprofit organization that describes itself as "committed to theological, ethical, and ritual development by and for women."
On June 13, 1999, Sr. Mary Collins was elected the tenth prioress of the Mount St. Scholastica monastery in Atchison, Kansas and left CUA. She served in that role until 2005. She also served the Federation of St. Scholastica for twelve years as first councilor and consulted on or wrote many of their documents. Collins was also a frequent book reviewer for the periodical Benedictines and for the Journal of Religion.
Collins died at the Mount St. Scholastica monastery on May 2, 2024.
Collins was invited to give the 1987 Madeleva Lecture, the third in a series that continues to be hosted by the Center for Spirituality, Saint Mary's College, in Notre Dame, Indiana. She presented "Women at Prayer," which asserted that a patriarchal ecclesiastical church had dismissed or suppressed women's experiences, and then highlighted the practices of several contemporary women whom Collins described as "unashamed Godseekers who have not been afraid to trust and to give expression to their experiences of God." In 2000, she was one of sixteen past Madeleva Lecturers who developed and signed the Madeleva Manifesto, a critique of the patriarchal structure of the Catholic Church.
In 1993, she received North American Academy of Liturgy's Berakah Award, which is given to liturgists or persons of an allied vocation in recognition of distinguished contribution to the professional work of liturgy.
Collins received the Michael Mathis Award from the Notre Dame Center for Pastoral Liturgy in 1995.
In 2000, she received the Jubilate Deo Award from the National Association of Pastoral Musicians in recognition of a substantial contribution to the development of pastoral liturgy in the United States.
In 2014, Marquette University awarded her an Honorary Degree: Doctor of Religious Studies.