One of three senior nuns about to be replaced as campus ministers at three Long Island colleges by rookie priests promised to fight the firing "every inch of the way."
Sister Kathy Riordan, the only female chaplain at Hofstra University, said an official of the Diocese of Rockville Centre told her this month to step down gracefully after 10 years on the job.
"They want young blood," said Riordan, who will be sacked this fall in favor of priests fresh from the seminary.
The diocese also has refused to renew the contracts of Sister Katherine Hickey of NYIT at Old Westbury, and Sister Elizabeth McGarvey of SUNY Farmingdale, leaving only one female chaplain in the Campus Parish of Long Island. [Source]
Most people don’t realize this but under canon law only priests can be assigned as chaplains, not religious or lay people.
Can. 564 A chaplain is a priest to whom is entrusted in a stable manner the pastoral care, at least in part, of some community or particular group of the Christian faithful, which is to be exercised according to the norm of universal and particular law.
Can. 565 Unless the law provides otherwise or someone legitimately has special rights, a chaplain is appointed by the local ordinary to whom it also belongs to install the one presented or to confirm the one elected.
Can. 566 §1. A chaplain must be provided with all the faculties which proper pastoral care requires. In addition to those which are granted by particular law or special delegation, a chaplain possesses by virtue of office the faculty of hearing the confessions of the faithful entrusted to his care, of preaching the word of God to them, of administering Viaticum and the anointing of the sick, and of conferring the sacrament of confirmation on those who are in danger of death.
Riordan said she always kept an open mind when she counseled students of all religions and many nonbelievers on tough issues such as abortion, gay rights and premarital sex.
The nun fears her replacements will be less available to students and that the young clerics’ more conservative views could turn troubled students away.
Of course telling the truth about things like sexual morality will make some turn away. Jesus didn’t flinch in proclaiming the truth about the Eucharist even though many walked away. Anytime you hear someone talking about having an open mind in relation to sexual reality you know they have closed their mind to the fact that there is a sexual morality. If follows as no surprise then that she refuses to step down since obedience is usually the first thing progressives lose.
3 comments
Nothing like havin’ to crowbar some ossified, boomer agitator out of a comfortable position where they’ve never had to defend their heresies. Are they taking volunteers? Can we videotape it?
Oh, yeah, and..
“Oh, The Humanity!”
*sigh* There.
I am reminded of a story told me once (when I was a naive seminarian – okay, when I was a stealth Catholic, feigning naivete for the sake of progressing beyond my first year in college seminary!) by a nun, who happened to be (and still happens to be) our diocesan vice-chancellor. She was gloating about the fact that she was deputed (presumably by the bishop) to remove a priest (who had been forced into retirement) from a rectory so that the sister (or lay woman) who had been named “pastoral administrator” – his replacement, could move in! Sister bragged about the fact that she had no trouble evicting a priest. After all, as director (directress would be the more direct term) of a housing authority, she had plenty experience. (no, she wasn’t a sister of “charity.”) Interesting how things change! I don’t know if Sister will be with us after our Bishop retires and his successor (our coadjutor) steps up to the plate. I am sure the sisters mentioned in the article can find gainful employment in the Episcopal Church.