Free Republic

Burying the dead is a work of mercy. So, too, is voting for them, according to Sister Marguerite Kloos. Or at least that’s what she thought last year until Ohio investigators nabbed her for an act of voter fraud. This week she plead guilty to the charge of voting twice, acknowledging that she forged the signature of a deceased nun, Sister Rose Marie Hewitt, on an absentee ballot.“When the absentee ballot was received at Ms. Hewitt’s address, (Kloos) opened the envelope, forged Ms. Hewitt’s signature, voted Ms. Hewitt’s ballot, and mailed the ballot back to the Board of Elections,” according...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis reaffirmed the Vatican's call for reform of the U.S.-based Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Archbishop Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the U.S.-based nuns' group that he had "recently discussed the doctrinal assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the assessment and the program of reform for this conference of major superiors." The doctrinal congregation met April 15 with the LCWR leadership and Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who had been assigned by the Vatican to oversee the reform of the pontifically recognized leadership...

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of ApostlesLatest album, Angels and Saints at Ephesus,will be released in stores on May 7, 2013.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHXaYxfg1As&feature=youtu.be While recording for an upcoming album with De Montfort Music, the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, received news that rocked the world. "White Smoke!" Spirit Juice Studios, filming for their EPK, was there to capture the excitement. Dominican Sisters of Mary http://www.sistersofmary.org

What do the Aryan Nations, the Ku Klux Klan and the home of Spokane’s Singing Nuns have in common? They’re all on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s map of “hate groups” in the Northwest. Mount St. Michael, home to a Latin Rite or Tridentine Catholic church, school and convent north of Spokane, has been listed since 2006 by the law center as a radical traditional Catholic group and accused of anti-Semitic activities. Last week, the law center released the annual update of its “hate map” of groups around the country, which includes an interactive, easy-to-use online graphic. Mount St. Michael...

ABC News reporter David Wright chose an odd metaphor to describe criticism of the possible timing of the selection of Pope Benedict XVI's successor. Wright, speaking live from the Vatican on today's Good Morning America, reported that yesterday the Vatican spokesman had floated a trial balloon suggesting that the conclave to choose a new Pope could be moved up from its originally established date of March 15th. Continued Wright: "but in other quarters of the Church, that trial balloon is being shot down faster than an old-school nun might rap you on the knuckles." View the video here.

It seems as though MSNBC’s liberal agenda doesn't concern itself simply with secular politics. They want the Catholic Church to "lean forward" into fundamentally changing themselves to reflect liberal values. In service of this pulpit-pounding, MSNBC's Jansing & Co. program brought on two liberal Catholic women over two days. At no point did she turn to a traditionalist, orthodox Catholic to defend the church's traditional teachings. On February 14, fill-in host Richard Lui interviewed Sister Louise Akers, of the Sisters of Charity to rail against the Church, in what she views as, “the last bastion of sexism.” Lui began the...

Of all the scandals that have been pinned to Benedict XVI’s papacy, perhaps none has been more divisive than the so-called clampdown on American nuns last April.  Its no wonder, then, that sisters across America are hoping that the next pope gives them a fairer shake.  In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, the head of the largest group of American nuns shares what she is looking for in a new leader. Sister Florence Deacon. (Seth Perlman/AP) The American nun scandal came to a head last spring when the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued...

BALTIMORE, December 19, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Obama administration’s HHS mandate may force the Catholic Little Sisters of the Poor to cease their U.S. operations, according to Sister Constance Carolyn Veit, the religious order’s communications director. The Little Sisters currently provide group homes and daily care for the elderly poor in 30 U.S. cities. Sister Constance told The Daily Caller that the Little Sisters may not qualify for a religious exemption from ObamaCare’s requirement that employers provide coverage for contraceptives, sterilizations and abortion-causing drugs free of charge to female workers. “We are not exempt from the [ObamaCare] mandate because we...

The State Journal of Madison has a breathy article about a recent move by His Excellency Most Reverend Robert C. Morlino. Bishop Robert Morlino cracks down on Madison nuns for espousing ‘New Ageism’ and ‘indifferentism’ Morlino sent a memo to the priests of the diocese of Madison not to allow some loony nuns and a couple of their acolytes to have workshops, do spiritual direction, etc., at their parishes or other diocesan institutions. The memo was, of course, leaked to the press as the chancery mandarins knew it would be… or should have known.The women, who are connected to an...

The Christmas season’s consumer spending and gift-giving frenzy all evolved from the story of Jesus’ birth, which, according to St. Luke, began with Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem to register so they could pay their taxes: “[T]here went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed .“(Luke 2:1) A financial transaction tax is one way that lawmakers could solve the dilemma of how to raise revenues to serve the common good, perhaps following the example of another cast of characters at the nativity scene: the three wise men. Obviously our world is significantly larger than the...

LOUISVILLE, Ky — The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth celebrated 200 years of helping others. The order was founded in Bardstown while the War of 1812 raged on and James Madison served as president. A lot has changed over the years, but Sisters of Charity of Nazareth are still serving the poor and helpless. A recent Mass at Louisville's Cathedral of the Assumption focused on the order's work both in the U.S. and overseas.

Nuns wearing the expected black and white habits and sitting backstage of the Republican National Convention are not the only ones who have taken a political stance. A second group, supported by Sister Simone Campbell during the Democratic National Convention, have taken their own stand and are speaking out for social responsibility. The Catholic Church has found itself in the midst of a boxing match as it struggles to gain political advantage. And this time, the group leading the fight is not composed of bishops and priests, but women who are ready to speak their mind. In one corner you...

Harlem nun claims Sister Act is based on her life storyA nun who claims her life story was made into the Whoopi Goldberg movie Sister Act is suing the Walt Disney Company for $1 billion. TheWrap reports that Queen Mother Dr. Delois Blakely of New York City's Franciscan Handmaids of Mary Convent in Harlem claims her life story inspired the original film, plus its sequel and the Broadway musical based on the movie. Sister Act, she claims, used her 'actual life experiences without her permission or authorization, thereby irreparably damaging her by depriving her of the windfall of financial gain...

Okay, another question for my awesome freepers... Get this...a friend of mine recently attended a week-long silent retreat given by a congregation of nuns in the Northeast. I won't name the order. During daily Mass, the Priest allowed one of the nuns to proclaim the Gospel and give a homily. Is this allowed? I was under the impression that only a Priest or Deacon can read the Gospel and give a homily.

WASHINGTON, D.C., August 10, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A senior Vatican prelate has fired a fresh salvo in the Vatican’s effort to reform the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, with a warning that the rogue organization could be shut down if they fail to implement the reforms demanded by the Vatican. “If it can’t be reformed, then it doesn’t have a right to continue,” Cardinal Raymond Burke, prefect of the Vatican’s Apostolic Signatura, told EWTN’s Raymond Arroyo in a Thursday interview for The World Over. “How in the world can these consecrated religious who have professed to follow Christ more closely...

Sister Pat Farrel, president of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious breaks the silence in a radio interview with NPR. The world moves on and doctrine cannot remain static she says It seemed like a coincidence to many but the day after a change of guard was announced in the leadership of the Holy Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - Cardinal Levada was substituted by Cardinal Müller – nuns of the Leadership Conference for Women Religious (LCWR), the association which represents 80% of women religious in the U.S. and which is preparing a national assembly to be held...

Sr. Pat Farrell of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (a subsidiary of the Magisterium of Nuns) did an interview with the liberal-leaning National Public Radio. Carl Olson of Catholic World Report deftly dissected Sister’s interview. Let’s see the first part with my emphases and comments.[Don't forget: The LCWR's leadership claim that, since they are not clerics, women religious don't have to stand up for Magisterial teachings in their apostolates. Therefore, they think they can blur and be silent about important moral and doctrinal issues and align themselves through that blurring and silence with a secular feminist agenda or with...

A group of Catholic sisters broke bread Tuesday with the poor and homeless at Milwaukee's St. Benedict the Moor Catholic Church, part of a nine-state bus tour drawing attention to proposed Republican budget cuts and the Catholic charities they say would be harmed by them. "The current House budget is going to devastate people at the margins," said Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of Washington-based Network, the Catholic social justice lobby singled out in a recent Vatican rebuke of U.S. Catholic sisters. "We believe we need reasonable revenues for responsible programs," she said. The sisters are joining scores of faith...

<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A group of Roman Catholic nuns began a nine-state bus tour protesting proposed federal budget cuts Monday, saying they weren't trying to flout recent Vatican criticisms of socially active nuns but felt called to show how Republican policies are affecting low-income families.</p>