[NYer]

Every formation program in the diocese was handled for decades by the “Pastoral Formation Institute” or PFI, run until recently by Sister Lauren Hanley, CSJ, whose congregation has its Mother house at Brentwood, NY, in the same diocese.

Ugh! That would be the Sisters of St. Joseph, political activists and lovers of ecology. Check out their web site, if you can stomach it.

Home Page

One of my HS classmates joined this order (they weren't so radical back then) and is now Principal of Sacred Heart Academy in Hempstead. They doffed the habit immediately following the close of VCII.

[franky]

My daughter went to grammar school at St. Joseph in the mid 1960s. At the time there were many international students attending. The nuns still wore habits but it was a matter of time when they changed.

I had a Jr. High teacher in public school who graduated from St. Josephs in Brooklyn and that was 60 years ago.

She was conservative but in those days everyone in Brooklyn was conservative.

[franky]

Just reviewed their Web site. They are big on "PUBLIC STATEMENT REGARDING THE ABOLITION OF THE DEATH PENALTY" but no where to be found is a statement on abortion.

The following certainly indicates the "Order's" philosophy:

On Saturday, September 9, 2006, there will be a presentation by Dr. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Fordham University, a Sister of St. Joseph of Brentwood, NY and a noted and highly regarded theologian, writer and feminist thinker.

She has written extensively on feminism, Christology, and divine providence. Author of the widely regarded book,
"She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse", her most recent book is "Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints" (2003).