Commentary: A tale of two nun organizations

I haven't been watching the Vatican visitation of women religions in the United States very closely.

I do, however, have a fixation on numbers and statistics, so this email forwarded to me caught my eye this morning.

You see, in the mainstream media, it is often claimed that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) represents 95% of women religious  in the United States. 

This is disconcerting, because the LCWR doesn't exactly always agree with Rome.

This email from a sister at the other organization which represents women religious in the U.S. (The Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious - CMSWR), paints a slightly different picture:

The LCWR represents approximately 80% of women religious in the USA. CMSWR represents 20% (about 10,000 women religious). We represent 80% of new vocations; LCWR 20% of new vocations.

I don't trade stocks on the market, but even I know a smart buy when I see one. Talk about expanding market share.

Update: Dominican sister caught volunteering at abortion clinic censured by congregation

Last week I blogged about the outrageous episode of Dominican Sister Donna Quinn's volunteer work at an abortion clinic being exposed.

I urged AmP readers to take action and email her superior, Sr. Patricia Mulcahey, OP. No doubt in part because of your efforts, Sr. Mulcahey has now responded on behalf of her congregation:

From Pat Mulcahy, Prioress of the Sinsinaw Dominicans On Behalf of Council Members, Erica, Howard, Jo, Liz, Mary Ellen, Sue, Tere

Public Statement of the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation

"Several months ago the leadership of the Sinsinawa Dominicans was informed that Sr. Donna Quinn, OP, acted as a volunteer escort at a Chicago area clinic that among other procedures, performs abortions.

After investigating the allegation, Congregation leaders have informed Sr. Donna that her actions are in violation of her profession as a Dominican religious. They regret that her actions have created controversy and resulted in public scandal. They are working with Sr. Donna to resolve the matter appropriately."

Congregation leaders offer the following statement on behalf of members of the Congregation:

"We as Sinsinawa Dominican women are called to proclaim the Gospel through the ministry of preaching and teaching to participate in the building of a holy and just society. As Dominican religious, we fully support the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding the dignity and value of every human life from conception to natural death. We believe that abortion is an act of violence that destroys the life of the unborn. We do not engage in activity that witnesses to support of abortion."

This response is a start, but it is still lacking.

It is clear that the congregation and Sr. Mulcahey are under great pressure, otherwise they probably would never have taken any action against Sr. Donna. Consider Sr. Mulcahey's email response to LifeSiteNews when Sr. Donna's activities were first coming to light:

"[Sr. Mulcahey] in an email response to LSN that [Sr. Donna] sees her volunteer activity as "accompanying women who are verbally abused by protestors. Her stance is that if the protestors were not abusive, she would not be there.""

Evidently Sr. Mulcahey has since re-examined her insane defense of Sr. Donna's activities at an abortion clinic, but she still has to eliminate this sort of language from her new defense: "[Sr. Donna] acted as a volunteer escort at a Chicago area clinic that among other procedures, performs abortions."

... "among other procedures"?! This sort of verbal hedging about what goes on at abortion clinics is something I'm used to hearing from ... abortion clinic workers, not religious sisters!

Nonetheless, as I wrote, it's hard to imagine Sr. Donna ever being ordered to cease her scandalous activities unless someone paid attention, and you (and many others) had demanded that something be done about it. So well done, papists.

Now let us continue to pray for the conversion of these sisters' hearts.

Outrageous: Nun volunteers at abortion clinic - and what can be done about it

Not only has this dominican nun been volunteering at abortion clinics for "at least six years", but her religious superior is actually defending her choice even now that it is under public scrutiny!

"A Dominican nun has been seen frequenting an abortion facility in Illinois recently - but not, as one might expect, to pray for an end to abortion or to counsel women seeking abortions, but to volunteer as a clinic escort.

Local pro-life activists say that they recognized the escort at the ACU Health Center as Sr. Donna Quinn, a nun outspokenly in favor of legalized abortion, after seeing her photo in a Chicago Tribune article.

... Sr. Donna Quinn, OP, is renowned in the Chicago area as an advocate for legalized abortion and other liberal issues.

... Sr. Patricia Mulcahey, OP, Quinn's Prioress at the Sinsinawa Dominican community, said in an email response to LSN that the nun sees her volunteer activity as "accompanying women who are verbally abused by protestors. Her stance is that if the protestors were not abusive, she would not be there." (LSN)

My father, Canon Lawyer Ed Peters, lays out at least three provisions in Canon Law which could be grounds for Sr. Donna's dismissal from the religious life.

Action items:

• LifeSite news is asking for individuals to respectfully express concern to the Prioress of the Sinsinawa Dominicans - Sr. Patricia Mulcahey, OP at Spatmul@aol.com.
• I think it is also appropriate to contact the local bishop to make sure he is aware of this scandal. I believe the Sinsinawa Dominicans are in the Diocese of Madison, WI. Their communications director can be contacted at brent.king@straphael.org

Alert: How you can help Dominican Nuns overflowing with vocations!

I've been corresponding over the past couple of days with a Dominican Sister of the Mary, Mother of the Eucharist community in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I have had the privilege of knowing several sisters in this thriving young order during my time in Michigan, and since then as well. I will never forget the sight of their young professed sisters walking along the sidewalks of Ann Arbor in their white habits, often with a backpack full of school books for whatever class they were attending.

Now for the wake-up line: this religious community has grown by 2500% in the last 13 years.

You read that right. This explosion in vocations is unparalleled in my experience, and now I would be thrilled to see the AmP community support the necessary costs of providing for the needs of this flourishing order.

I'm going to rewrite in my own words her description of some of the upcoming events and opportunities for support she has brought to my attention:

"The 4th Annual “A Pledge of Future Glory Gala Dinner and Golf Tournament” will be held in Vienna, VA, on October 5th. These events provide assistance to help fund the growth of our community. We have grown from four Sisters in 1997 to ninety-nine as of 2 weeks ago, when our 17 newest Sisters entered (as recently covered in an article on CNA - which includes a YouTube video as well).

As you can imagine, there are significant costs associated with such growth – the main 2 costs being the building of our Motherhouse, and the education and formation of our young Sisters.

The name of our golf events comes from the title of our ongoing “A Pledge of Future Glory” mission advancement campaign, with an overall goal of raising $25 million for the burgeoning needs of our community (and the name of the campaign comes from St. Thomas Aquinas’ prayer “O Sacrum Convivium” – we are Dominicans, after all!).

Our website has a registration page for the event and also has a link to a PDF brochure. We also have online donation capabilities, for those who might not be able to attend the event, but who would like to help the cause! Every gift helps us!"

If you want to support a culture of young, orthodox vocations to women religious communities in the United States, you simply couldn't support a better group of sisters than these Dominicans.

Especially as the Vatican attempts to reform the older female religious communities in the United States through an extensive (and often resisted) visitation, now is the perfect time to support the joyfully-faithful sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, to help them remain and become an even brighter shining example of a life lived totally for Christ and his Church.

Picture: Post-Christian Sisters

From the Catholic World Report facebook page (which you should join!):

Ann Carey argues that many of the problems with women religious in the US today - which have necessitated the apostolic visitation announced by the Vatican earlier this year - can be directly traced to the pervasive influence of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

I got distracted at first from reading the article by the accompanying photo:

Yikes.

Photo: Largest nun veil ever?

I can't remember ever seeing a bigger veil than this....

Source.

Interview: 3 Priorities for Promoting Vocations (especially among young women)

This is the sort of person one should listen to on this topic, a member of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia (commonly known simply as the "Nashville Dominicans"), which are the powerhouse vocations community for religious sisters in the United States:

There are three high priorities in fostering vocations to the religious and priestly life, said a Dominican sister with 15 years of experience in vocational work.

Sister Catherine Marie Hopkins is now the executive director of the Dominican Campus in Nashville where the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia own and operate Overbrook School, St. Cecilia Academy and Aquinas College.

Recently named a member of the U.S. bishops' national advisory council, Sister Hopkins suggests the three highest priorities in fostering vocations: education, sacramental devotion and youth ministry that exposes young people to both prayer and evangelization.

Her personal vocation story, briefly:

Q: You worked for 15 years as vocation director for your order. What was the key to finding your own vocation? Did your own experience help you to aid other women in discerning theirs?

Sister Hopkins: The key to finding my own vocation was the realization that God had the plan and I just needed to discover exactly what that plan was. It began with inner turmoil at the thought that God could ask such a thing of me, but I very quickly found out that if he were calling, everything that I needed in order to respond would be provided by him as well.

That brought me tremendous freedom and my turmoil was replaced by a very strong attraction. [Read on.]

Also do checkout their daughter community, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

I had the privledge of studying with some of these young women. I also came across them many times on the campuses of other, secular institutions. They are such a public, living witness in their full Dominican habits, rosaries, smiles and backpacks full of books!