Chicago Nun Volunteering as Abortion Clinic Escort

[Pro_Life_News]

By Kathleen GilbertHINSDALE, Illinois, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Dominican nun has been seen frequenting an abortion facility in Hinsdale, 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…

Full article…

 

[canadianguy1143]

lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/oct/09102302.html

A few years back some Catholic Bishops or Cardinals mentioned that “participating” in abortions doesn’t just involve the abortionist and the woman receiving the abortion but anyone who helps to arrange this.

In light of that, could it be said that this “Nun” is participating and thus Excommunicated?

 

[buffalo]

No one has to wonder why the Vatican is investigating nuns in America.

I believe she has excommunicated herself.

 

[Cider]

She has been doing this for 6 years and no one in her order or the Church has done anything about it?

disgusting

 

[kristie_m]

AIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

seeing stuff like this just makes my head spin!!!

 

[Angel_Face]

*Oh my goodness, this doesn’t make any sense!!! *

 

[Ana]

She doesn’t where a habit, and she doesn’t respond to Sister. Says a lot about her and how she feels about her vocation.

 

[Fitz]

If her order is not challenged by the Vatican, her soul will most certainly be judged by God and meanwhile we need to pray for her. I think she is bringing scandal to the Catholic church.

 

[JimG]

She doesn’t where a habit, and she doesn’t respond to Sister. Says a lot about her and how she feels about her vocation.

I suppose we can be glad that she is not wearing a habit while escorting women into an abortion clinic.

She is a member of the National Coalition of American Nuns–NCAN–which opposes the Catholic Church position on abortion, homosexuality, contraception, and the ordination of women.

With nuns like this, who needs enemies?

Seems to me that the Vatican is way too late in instituting an investigation into the orthodoxy of some U.S. religious orders.

And where has the bishop been all this time? None of this activity is a surprise.

 

[Neil_Anthony]

It’s just so outrageous. It shows exactly why American nuns are being investigated.

 

[Holly3278]

I don’t think I have ever been quite so sickened in my entire life. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us!

 

[Rocketman]

wolf in sheeps clothing for sure. satan has his arms wrapped around this one. Jesus save her!

 

[GraceSofia]

What a betrayal of Christ’s Church. How can she still be a nun?
That’s not a rhetorical question, I really want to know why she isn’t thrown out?
How does her order live? From the donations of the faithful? Who feeds and shelters them?

 

[DOShea]

This stuff exists because those in charge of her allow it, and nothing else. If any of them were NOT allowing it, I find it hard to believe in 6 years they would continue to allow her to try and find her own way. At some point you have to come to terms with the person isn’t going to find their own way and either boot them out or take some steps so it doesn’t appear like you don’t care.

If sister wants to gamble with her eternal life, that’s up to her. But she is being selfish to the extreme by continuing this in the full view of the news cameras, while across the entire world Catholic parents and Catechists are trying to instill the Catholic Church teachings to their kids. Every one of those kids sees things like this sister, or priests doing illicit things with wild abandon like no one at that chancery is watching, and the seeds of doubt are cast.

Maybe we need to re-institute anathema, at least for a while.

 

[Secret_Square]

I happen to live near a Dominican convent and my first thought upon reading this article was “Oh my gosh, I hope she’s not one of ‘our’ Dominican Sisters!” (She isn’t; she belongs to an entirely different community.)

Years ago my mom and I talked kind of in jest about the kind of person we would most “love to hate” – someone who would combine all the qualities that we found most irritating, disagreeable or downright despicable. My mom said that for her it would be a cigar-smoking neo-Nazi. I said that my least favorite person would be a lesbian ex-nun who ran an abortion clinic.

Well, it appears that “Sister” Donna is the first real life person to at least partially fulfill two out of my three least favorite criteria. (She isn’t an “ex” nun, at least not yet, and she doesn’t actually RUN the clinic; and I refuse to speculate on the first criteria.) So as you can see, she pushes several of my biggest buttons, and the fact that ANY religious order would tolerate this for 6 + years just makes we want to retch.

But… for that very reason, I made it a point to say some extra prayers for her after I went to confession today – sort of an extra penance

Also, if St. Dominic could successfully fight the Albigensian heresy and establish devotion to the rosary, and St. Catherine of Siena could talk the pope into moving back to Rome from Avignon after all those years, maybe they could pray a few of their wayward spiritual daughters back into the fold… I hope.

 

[JReducation]

May I chime in as a religious myself? Thank you.

There are a couple of issues here.

1. Sister has excommunicated herself. That is a given, because of her active participation in the abortion process. We must pray for people like this that they will have a conversion experience.
2. If LS is correct, she said that she remains a Dominican for the sisterhood. There is a serious problem here. If you are a religious, you are bound by the vows, regardless of your sins. In other words, you go deeper and deeper the more you disobey. Again, we have to pray for her. Even though in her mind she may be a Dominican because of the sisterhood or companionship or whatever, the fact is that she is in vows.
3. The prioress of the congregation has some moral responsibility here too. I’m a Franciscan, but if I understand Dominican tradition, the Prior or Prioress, is the first among his brothers or sisters. Dominic set it up this way to make sure that someone took care of the community. This means taking care of the material and spiritual needs. This begs the question, what action has this prioress taken to help her sister? She has a moral responsibility for her sisters.
4. You cannot easily dismiss a religious in perpetual vows from a religious community. Canon law is very strict on this. You have to collect the proof and the dismissal must be made by the superior with the council, not over the council. What has been done or what will be done in this case, is beyond all of us to know. If the person backs down, the case is closed. But they are owed this due process of law.

**Can. 694 §1. A member must be held as ipso facto dismissed from an institute who:
1/ has defected notoriously from the Catholic faith;
2/ has contracted marriage or attempted it, even only civilly.

§2. In these cases, after the proofs have been collected, the major superior with the council is to issue without any delay a declaration of fact so that the dismissal is established juridically.**

All that being said, Sister is very wrong in what she’s doing, from an objective perspective and that’s all that we have to go on right now. On the other hand, let’s not be quick to jump and say that all of our sisters are out of control. That would not be fair either. We have some wonderful women religious who are intelligent, generous, prayerful, dedicated and sometimes misunderstood.

Let’s keep a balance in our head. In the meantime, may the Holy Spirit guide Sister and her Prioress to some quick resolution.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[JaMc]

May I chime in as a religious myself? Thank you.

There are a couple of issues here.

1. Sister has excommunicated herself. That is a given, because of her active participation in the abortion process. We must pray for people like this that they will have a conversion experience.

. . .

1. You cannot easily dismiss a religious in perpetual vows from a religious community. Canon law is very strict on this. You have to collect the proof and the dismissal must be made by the superior with the council, not over the council. What has been done or what will be done in this case, is beyond all of us to know. If the person backs down, the case is closed. But they are owed this due process of law.

**Can. 694 §1. A member must be held as ipso facto dismissed from an institute who:
1/ has defected notoriously from the Catholic faith;
2/ has contracted marriage or attempted it, even only civilly.

§2. In these cases, after the proofs have been collected, the major superior with the council is to issue without any delay a declaration of fact so that the dismissal is established juridically.**

. . .

I would say she has clearly “defected notoriously from the Catholic faith.” Moreover, I would say, if her superiors are aware of this, they should be excommunicated immediately as well. This is a terrible scandal.

However, this is the same Diocese where a priest openly defies the Archbishop on a number of occasions, publicly supports a pro abortion candidate, from the pulpit of a protestant church no less, and only receives a slap on the wrist, so I am not surprised…

 

[JReducation]

I would say she has clearly “defected notoriously from the Catholic faith.” Moreover, I would say, if her superiors are aware of this, they should be excommunicated immediately as well. This is a terrible scandal.

…

You cannot excommunicate a Major Superior because of the sins of his or her subjects. The rules of religiosu life do not allow this. The founders were very careful when they wrote their rules to separate the sins of the subject and the major superior. The Dominicans follow the Rule of St. Augustine. The Rule of St. Augustine prohibits the excommunication of the major superior, because he or she is unable to control a subject. This would be a sin against justice. The only thing that a Major Superior can do is to gather the evidence, present it to the council of the community. The council has to agree with the major superior. Prior to taking this defintive step toward dismissal, the Major Superior has to follow the steps in the rule that refer to disciplining a religious who is in sin. Every rule has different steps.

St. Augustine requires that the superior give the religious three counselings. If that does not work, then the superior is to go back to the religious and give three more counselings with two witnesses. If that does not work, then the superior must write three letters. If that does not work, the superior can then begin the process of gathering all this information and bring it to the council. If the council votes in favor of the superior, then the religious is dimissed. If the council votes agains the superior, the superior must obey the council and follow whatever directions the council gives.

This can take years.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[JaMc]

You cannot excommunicate a Major Superior because of the sins of his or her subjects. The rules of religiosu life do not allow this. The founders were very careful when they wrote their rules to separate the sins of the subject and the major superior. The Dominicans follow the Rule of St. Augustine. The Rule of St. Augustine prohibits the excommunication of the major superior, because he or she is unable to control a subject. This would be a sin against justice. The only thing that a Major Superior can do is to gather the evidence, present it to the council of the community. The council has to agree with the major superior. Prior to taking this defintive step toward dismissal, the Major Superior has to follow the steps in the rule that refer to disciplining a religious who is in sin. Every rule has different steps.

St. Augustine requires that the superior give the religious three counselings. If that does not work, then the superior is to go back to the religious and give three more counselings with two witnesses. If that does not work, then the superior must write three letters. If that does not work, the superior can then begin the process of gathering all this information and bring it to the council. If the council votes in favor of the superior, then the religious is dimissed. If the council votes agains the superior, the superior must obey the council and follow whatever directions the council gives.

This can take years.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

Thanks, Br. JR - your perspective and experience is certainly a huge asset to CAF. We can only hope and pray, then, that her superiors are taking these steps. However, are there not any sort of other steps that can be taken if the Superior and the Council fail to act, or worse, are complicit in the activity?

If excommunication is not an option, could Cardinal George tell her religious community that, (if they are not doing so already) if they do not begin taking the steps necessary to stop her from doing this horrible thing, they are no longer welcome in his Diocese?

 

[MercyMia]

Wow, these poor women at the abortion clinic…not only have they been led to the sin of murdering their own baby but they are being led in by the soft arm of a woman who calls herself a Catholic nun so they will have a false sense of apporval from God.
I really need to pray for everyone involved.