Marie Pauline Brenner

M. Rebecca Brenner, OSF (born Marie Pauline Brenner; 15 December 1906 – 6 August 1978), was an American religious educator who helped establish sociology as a discipline in Catholic secondary education. Based in Chicago, she was a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis.

Biography Marie Pauline Brenner was born in 1906, the daughter of Aquilin and Rosa Brenner. Aquilin had emigrated from Steinbach, Bavaria in 1874. Rosa (Weber) Brenner emigrated from Sulz, Switzerland in 1884. They married in 1890 and settled in the St. Paul area of Minnesota. In 1926 at the age of 20, Marie joined the School Sisters of St. Francis, a religious order with a focus on teaching. The order had been established in Schwarzach Germany during the reign of Otto von Bismarck. Their first school was opened in Wilmette, IL in 1877. Brenner taught at Alvernia for fifteen years, from 1937 to 1952. She was known for encouraging her students to open their minds to the needs of the world and to their potential as women. Through interviews with priests and social workers, five reasons or circumstances are responsible for this "falling off." Among the reasons are their lack of education and proselytizing by Protestant religions.

In 1952 Brenner moved to Milwaukee to teach at Alverno College where she set up their program in sociology. As in Chicago, she encouraged students to engage in critical analysis of social issues in her classes at Alverno. At the same time she continued her own education at Marquette University, Catholic University of America, and St. Louis University. In 1966 she went back to high school teaching at St. Joseph Convent High School which closed in 1966. After her studies, Seng joined the School Sisters of St. Francis and chose the name Sister Angelica. Inspired by Brenner, her mentor, she led a group of Sisters who protested against the Illinois Women's Club of Chicago based at Loyola University's downtown campus, because the Club did not allow black members. They were the first group of Catholic women religious to play a leading role in a public demonstration on racial segregation in Chicago.