The Jesuits are one of the most intellectual orders in the church. Their members staff a large number of prep schools, colleges and universities world-wide. There is no precise female equivalent to their order but one of the closest is the RSCJ–Soc Sacred Heart–who are the smartest and best-educated nuns I ever met. They are still in education, but got out of their colleges and schools when the vocational crisis hit in the 1970’s. They still maintain connections with their former network of schools, however.
The RSCJ is updated. They wear civvies and are in social justice worldwide. A glance at the bios of some of their recently professed members shows that they are maintaining their high intellectual standards.
vocation.rscj.org/news/0707_youngprofessedbios.html
I don’t think that the Cecilian Dominicans and DMME’s are necessarily intellectual. They teach mainly in elementary schools and are in high demand in dioceses, meaning that the orders are under pressure to produce teaching nuns efficiently. I don’t get the impression that many are going for advanced degrees or plan to teach in colleges or universities. I don’t know how many high schools they teach in.
I think that the strongest intellects in women’s orders are now in updated branches of the Benedictines and Dominicans, in particular. Read the bios of their (few) entrants and you will be struck by the number of advanced degrees among them and the previous jobs they held with professional responsibility. These orders also do things that require brains, maturity and experience, such giving retreats and running large institutions. Several communities have members that teach at the university level, including their own colleges, like the Benedictines in St. Joseph, MN, who teach at their own college, the sister school of St. John’s University.
I think that it is in these orders that the sisters of the Jesuits can be found.
