Fifty-nine Thousand Nuns Oppose the Bishops on Health Care
By: Deal W. Hudson
“Don’t mess with the nuns!” is a comment I’ve heard over the years from cradle Catholics who were taught by them. The question now arises whether the undecided Catholic members of the House will be influenced by the 60 nuns, each a leader of their religious order – who signed a letter to members of Congress urging passage of the Senate health care bill now before the House.
These 60 leaders claim to represent 59,000 nuns, and they make it perfectly clear they support the embattled president of the Catholic Health Association, Sr. Carol Keehan, who announced her support of the bill a few days ago.
The letter calls the Senate bill “imperfect” but simultaneously claims it is “the REAL pro-life stance, and we as Catholics are all for it.” The sisters call the bill “pro-life” in spite of the fact that thousands of the unborn will be aborted with the 7 billion dollars of federal money being given to community health centers, if the bill becomes law.
What the sisters extol is medical coverage for the uninsured; the end to denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions; support of pregnant women; as well as investment in preventative care and “community health centers that largely serve poor women and children.” These are the same health centers that the bishops insist will spend federal money on abortion.
These 60 sisters not only reject the bishops’ concerns about the Senate bill but also call them “false claims . . . the Senate bill will not provide taxpayer funding for elective abortions.”
The 60 sisters, and presumably the orders they represent, thus join organizations like the Catholic Health Association, NETWORK, Catholics United, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, Catholics for Choice, Catholic Democrats, and publications like Commonweal, America, and the National Catholic Reporter in dismissing the Catholic bishops’ publicly stated position that federal funding for abortion is contained in the Senate health care bill.
Like the sisters in their letter, and Sr. Keehan in her statement, most of these groups fail to mention explicitly that they reject the bishops’ analysis of the health care bill. Is that a sign of respect or merely a refusal to deal with the bishops’ one-page fact sheet directly? Commonweal should be credited for offering a comprehensive, if tortured, refutation to the bishops’ position, but the sisters don’t reveal whose analysis they are relying upon.
A few days ago, I described Sr. Keehan’s betrayal of the bishops as an example of the failure of the USCCB’s qualified support for the health care bill. But the spectacle of 60 leaders of women’s religious orders points to the corrosive effect of the “seamless garment” approach to social ethics and public policy.
You can make all the arguments you want about the original intent of Cardinal Bernardin’s now-famous 1983 speech announcing a “consistent ethic of life,” but in practical political terms the seamless garment became nothing more than a convenient excuse for Catholic politicians to ignore the slaughter of the unborn and all its attendant effects on cultural and family life.
There are thousands of women religious at this very moment who are deeply embarrassed and troubled by the publication of this letter. These sisters can be found at places like the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, MI or the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, TN.
I can tell you with certainty that none of the sisters from NETWORK called Mother Assumpta Long (Ann Arbor) or Mother Anne Marie (Nashville) to ask either of them to sign that letter.
The dividing lines in the Church are, sadly, all too clear, and the effort of women religious, Catholic academics, Catholic journalists, and Catholics representing the medical profession to pass a health care bill with abortion funding will be, for lay Catholics, a wake-up call, a déjà vu moment of Obama being honored by Notre Dame.
Catholics in the pews are being made more and more aware that something has gone wrong in many of our venerable Catholic institutions and religious orders.
For those who are interested, here is a list of the religious who signed the letter:
Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA
LCWR President
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Joan Chittister, OSB
Co-Chair Global Peace Initiative of Women
Erie, PA
Sr. Mary Persico, IHM
President
Congregation of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Scranton, PA
Sr. Susan Hadzima, IHM
Councilor for Missioning and Community Life
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
Scranton, PA
Mary Genino (RSHM)
Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary
Western American Province.
Nancy Conway CSJ
Congregation Leadership Team
The Congregation of St. Joseph
Debra M. Sciano, SSND
Provincial Leader
Milwaukee Province, School Sisters of Notre Dame
Josephine Gaugier, OP
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Holy Rosary Mission Chapter Prioress
Adrian, MI
Kathleen Nolan, OP
Adrian Dominican Sisters
Office of the General Council
Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA
President
Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
La Crosse, WI
Corinne Weiss
Servants of Jesus Leadership Team
Saginaw MI
Adrian Dover OP
Prioress
Dominican Sisters of Houston, Texas
Rose Mary Dowling, FSM
President
Franciscan Sisters of Mary
Leadership Team
Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(from Mary Martens, BVM, Administrative Assistant)
Beatrice Haines, OLVM
President, Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters
Huntington IN
Joan Saalfeld, SNJM, Provincial
Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary
U.S.-Ontario Province
Jo’Ann De Quattro, SNJM
Sisters of the Holy Names
U.S.-Ontario Province Leadership Team
Sharon Simon, OP
President
Racine Dominicans
Maryann A. McMahon, O.P.
Vice President
Dominican Sisters of Racine, WI
Agnes Johnson, OP
Vice President
Racine Dominicans
Pat Mulcahey, OP
Prioress of Sinsinawa Dominicans
Pam Chiesa, PBVM
President
Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Patricia Anne Cloherty, PBVM
Leadership Team, Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Gloria Inés Loya
Leadership Team
Sisters of the Presentation, San Francisco
Gloria Marie Jones, OP
Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Congregational Prioress and Council
Mary Litell
Provincial Councilor
Sisters of St. Francis of Penance and Christian Charity St. Francis Province
Theresa Sandok, OSM
Servants of Mary (Servite Sisters)
Ladysmith, Wisconsin
Sr Claire Graham SSS
General Director
Sisters of Social Service
Encino CA
Margaret Byrne CSJP – Congregation Leader
Teresa Donohue CSJP – Assistant Congregation Leader
Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace
Sr. Carmelita Latiolais, S.E.C.
Sisters of the Eucharistic Covenant
Joan Mumaw, IHM – Vice President
On behalf of the Leadership Council
Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Monroe, Michigan
Sister Clare of Assisi Pierre, SSF
Sisters of the Holy Family
New Orleans, LA
Sister Marla Monahan, SND
Provincial
Sisters of Notre Dame
(St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, KY
and St. Charles Care Center in Covington, KY)
Vivien Linkhauer, SC
Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill, United States Province
Greensburg, PA
Dolores Maguire
Sisters of the Holy Faith
Northern California LCWR Region XIV
Sr. Mary Elizabeth Schweiger, OSB
Subprioress
Mount St. Scholastica
Atchison, KS
Marianites of Holy Cross
Sr. Suellen Tennyson, MSC
Congregational Leader
Barbara Hagedorn, SC
Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati
Mt. St. Joseph, Ohio
Francine Schwarzenberger OP
Dominican Sisters of Peace
Denver, Colorado
Sister Maureen McCarthy
School Sisters of St. Francis
U.S. Provincial Team
Milwaukee, WI
Eileen C. Reid, RJM
Provincial Superior
Religious of Jesus and Mary
Washington, DC
Sister Cecilia Dwyer, O.S.B.
Prioress
Benedictine Sisters of Virginia
The Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes
Sister Joann Sambs, CSA
General Superior
Sisters of St. Francis
Tiffin, Ohio
(from Sr. Mary Kuhlman)
Sr. Helen McDonald, SHCJ
Province Leader
Society of the Holy Child Jesus
Leadership Team
Sisters of the Precious Blood
Dayton, OH
The Leadership Team of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Third Order of St. Francis
Sister Jane Blabolil, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Michelle Wronkowski, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Dorothy Pagosa, SSJ-TOSF
Sister Linda Szocik, SSJ-TOSF
Sr. Gladys Guenther SHF
Sisters of the Holy Family
Congregational President
Fremont, CA
Sr. Dorothy Maxwell, Councilor
Sisters of St. Dominic
Blauvelt, New York
Sheral Marshall, OSF
Provincial Councilor
Sisters of St Francis
Marilyn Kerber, SNDdeN
Canonical Representative, Ohio Province
Sisters of St. Louis, California Region
(from Sr. Michele Harnett, SSL)
Ruth Goodwin, OSF
Sisters of ST. Francis of Philadelphia
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Leadership Team
Sr. Joanne Buckman, OSU
Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland
Perhaps a campaign to call these people to express the disappointment of Catholics at this deadly moral equivalence would be helpful. A published list of contacts (phone number, e-mail) might be helpful to get the ball rolling.
From what I can tell these “sisters” are all without habits and perhaps to much part of the world to hold strictly to the Catholic faith. I am in agreement with those who believe that perhaps we need a smaller church. I suspect some of this may well be driven by financial interests in supporting their “social justice” causes and keeping their communities afloat.
I continue to be astonished at the disuntiy that is allowed to prevail in the Catholic religous community.
God Bless these dedicated Sisters, who are out there working in the trenches with the poor and alienated, they serve all and are a voice for the voiceless. Not simply caring for only the wealthy in nice safe neighborhoods. While the bill is a total slap in the face to the dedicated Democrats who fought hard to get Obama & CO elected, its a start. Thank you again Sisters and Associates of your orders who continue to be a voice for the voiceless and oppressed in our neighborhoods and in America.
The sisters that support the bill are misinformed, misguided, and wrong on so many levels. Support of this bill is not a support for the poor, etc. It is the total opposite. It will create more poor and hurt more people healthcare-wise, will pay for abortions, if not in this bill it will in later additions to their program. I am not wealthy and hating the wealthy is ridiculous and a idiot ignorant liberal tactic which is an excuse for the lazy and whiny and govt parented not to get off their backsides and work their way out of their uncomfortable situations. Should be uncomfortable enough not want to stay in their own situations. Moochers never change.