A Report on the Sinsinawa Dominicans Today
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[Jesus said:] “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:1-14, RSVCE A Report on the Sinsinawa Dominicans Today By Elizabeth Durack who came to a great admiration of Father Mazzuchelli, their founder, then attended a large and public showing at Sinsinawa Mound of a film about Sisters who believe in “women priests” and pantheism, causing her to feel disturbed and sad, and wonder what was going on and how it got to this point The Father Mazzuchelli Society On the front cover: this student art incorporating the Dominican motto Veritas, "Truth" was published in the September 1899 edition of The Young Eagle, the magazine of Saint Clara Academy girls’ boarding school at Sinsinawa Mound. Saint Clara was conducted by the Sisters of Penance of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, American Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary, of Sinsinawa. Although the text of the print edition is slightly more thoroughly edited, the HTML online version of this Report includes reference links to online sources that this project was primarily based upon, as well as additional graphics and other features. In some instances, the text of the book version may regrettably lack needed references which the original HTML version supplied efficiently with a link. All formats of this book including a free PDF download may be accessed at: FatherMazzuchelliSociety.org This book includes reform-oriented commentary on internal Catholic Church matters by one who loves and respects the Catholic Church, religious life and the Sinsinawa Dominican Congregation and desires others to love and respect them too. This book has not been reviewed by an ecclesiastical book censor. For lack of ecclesiastical approval, per canon 827 §4 this book should not be exhibited, sold or distributed in a church or oratory. The author has tried to faithfully represent Catholic teaching and defers to the teaching of the Church if she has said anything on religion or morals that is in error. The author has tried to be accurate with facts and regrets any unintentional errors or misunderstandings and resultant harm. Neither the Father Mazzuchelli Society nor the author profit from sale of this book which is priced in hope of producing zero royalties. Copyright © 2013 Elizabeth Durack All rights reserved. PDF Version Same as the book version except for fixing one typo DEDICATED TO Sister Francis Assisi Loughery & the revitalization of the mission of Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, the New Evangelization, and the return of Catholics who have left the Faith: "...Let us open eyes of Evangelical charity...." CONTENTS Introduction i 1 Truth and Conscience 1 2 Moving beyond the Church? Part I: "What is Eucharist to me?" 29 3 Moving beyond the Church? Part II: "Relationship with the 41 Institutional Church" 4 The scandal of Sister Donna Quinn 60 5 On whether to give honor to Almighty God, Father Son and Holy 82 Spirit, Part I: Dominican Praise 6 On whether to give honor to Almighty God, Father Son and Holy 87 Spirit, Part II: Vow Formula 7 The preaching of the non-ordained: Why not Sister homilists 99 8 Sister Francis Assisi Loughery, who spoke up for Catholic beliefs 114 Reviews of selected feminist books by Sinsinawa Dominicans I What A Modern Catholic Believes About Women (1972) by Sister Albertus 139 Magnus McGrath II The Feminization of the Church? (1997) by Sister Kaye Ashe 146 III Paul and Third World Women Theologians (1999) and Feminism and Beyond 154 (2004) by Sister Loretta Dornisch IV Awakening to Prayer; A Woman’s Perspective (2009) by Sister Clare Wagner 162 About the Author 169 INTRODUCTION I first visited Sinsinawa Mound in the summer of 2012 on an edifying parish pilgrimage to sites associated with the great pioneer Dominican missionary priest Venerable Father Samuel Mazzuchelli. A builder of churches and founder of numerous parishes, Father Mazzuchelli also founded the Dominican Sisters of the Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary, of Sinsinawa. Since then I have also read his Memoirs and grown to have a tremendous appreciation and love for him and his still-very-current message, and would like to do the little I can do to inspire others to devotion to him, and zeal for the New Evangelization. Father Mazzuchelli's mission in our lands is far from completed. When I and a friend visited Sinsinawa Mound again in January of 2013 for a large showing of a film called Band of Sisters, about religious Sisters who believe in “women priests” and pantheism, both my friend and I were told afterward by Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa that yes, they differed from the Church on matters such as “women’s ordination,” however “one must follow one’s conscience!” I said to one of two Sisters who separately told me this: “yes, but I believe in Vatican II, which says that we are obliged to form our Catholic conscience in keeping with Catholic teaching.” She did not seem to have any idea what to say. My disturbing experience that day, of trying and failing to find a Sister who believed as the Church does that the Church has no authority whatsoever to ordain women as priests, became a powerful motivation to dig deeper into what was going on at Sinsinawa. In the crowd of hundreds at the film, mostly elderly Sisters, I did not see anyone my own age or younger. I am 35. Later people said to me, “what did you expect?” Local Catholics feel that they know what the Sinsinawa Dominicans are like. But it is one thing to hear or read about what has happened with the LCWR- type religious Sisters, and another thing to have this experience. How did they get from holy Father Mazzuchelli, to this? At the end of this i A REPORT ON THE SINSINAWA DOMINICANS TODAY Introduction, I have quoted his own words on what he intended as the Sisters’ purpose. You simply must read that, but I bet you can already guess it had to do with Catholic fidelity. One of the local tragedies for the Catholic community has been a group of LCWR Benedictine Sisters near Madison who left religious life, left the practice of the Catholic Faith, and become a breakaway sect with a priestless “eucharist” that hosts “women priests” and dissident groups. Local practicing Catholic laity seem to universally understand this as something Catholics cannot support. I became aware that, outrageously, some Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters and other religious had continued giving public talks at this place, now called Holy Wisdom Monastery (HWM). When national political celebrity Sister Simone Campbell was announced as speaker at their Ash Wednesday service this year, I was motivated to organize a grassroots project of lay people’s testimonies about why Catholics shouldn’t support HWM. I brought them to HWM on Ash Wednesday and gave them to Sister Simone and the former Benedictines. Quite an interesting day! I sent the testimonies document also to the Sinsinawa prioress asking her to make sure the Sisters and everyone at their sponsored Edgewood schools (there was an obvious pattern of Edgewood folks with ties to Holy Wisdom) knew not to support HWM. I even sent this to the LCWR, pleading with them to take note of the tragedy that had happened in my area and be cautioned by the harm that had been done, and begging them to help keep Sisters Catholic and faithful. They did not reply. Just before my visit to Holy Wisdom in February, I thought it might be my last opportunity to find out what I had wanted to know for a while: whether there was any possibility that I could get a Catholic education at Edgewood College if I decided to finish my degree. My highest educational credential is a G.E.D. I visited on a Wednesday to visit the Admissions office and attend Mass, and came back also the next day because there was going to be a public talk by a priest.