Off the Record

death wish By Diogenes | October 24, 2009 10:57 AM

LifeSite News reports that Dominican Sister Donna Quinn serves as a Chicago-area abortion clinic "escort," that is, she guides women seeking abortions into the clinic doors while providing a bit of reassurance to silence any last-minute hesitations induced by pro-life activists in the vicinity. If a pregnant woman chooses to abort, Sister Donna's going to make sure that choice gets exercised.

And what about the pertinent Dominican religious superior? Why, she's going to bat for Sister Donna's right to choose the choice she has chosen:

Sr. Patricia Mulcahey, OP, Quinn's Prioress at the Sinsinawa Dominican community, said in an email response to LSN that the nun sees her volunteer activity as "accompanying women who are verbally abused by protestors. Her stance is that if the protestors were not abusive, she would not be there." Though Sr. Mulcahey claimed that her sisters "support the teachings of the Catholic Church," she declined to comment on Quinn's public protest of Catholic Church teaching.

See a contradiction here? Well you're wrong. It might look a little odd at first glance, but in reality this is an example of the healthy and fully renewed religious life called for by the Second Vatican Council. As for the Holy See's investigation into the leadership of women religious, we have it from a sister writing in Commonweal that it's preposterous to think there's a problem in need of fixing:

The implicit accusation underlying the doctrinal assessment of the [Leadership Conference of Women Religious] is that its leaders are not Catholic enough in the church’s eyes. Having lived, worked, and prayed with these women for decades, I find this suggestion both insulting and absurd.

And Sister Donna Quinn, O.P., agrees with you one hundred percent.

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Sound Off! Comments

• Posted by: hartwood - Oct. 28, 2009 8:55 PM ET USA

  As Frasier would say,"What fresh hell is this"? There are a number of new religious orders that are growing,for the sake of the Church,I hope it is not the O.P.s

• Posted by: peggyann - Oct. 27, 2009 10:39 AM ET USA

  When will these "catholic" sisters, priests, politicians open their eyes to the total pride and selfishness with which they operate. No wonder at all for so many Catholics to believe the Church has run amok and is filled with liars, perverts and thieves. Lord have mercy. His heart must be aching for someone to speak out in Truth. To clean things up. To hear a very loud voice crying out for forgiveness. Let us pray in one voice, with Mary our Mother. Help us. Forgive us. Save us.

• Posted by: michaelwilmes - Oct. 26, 2009 4:49 PM ET USA

  I had an opportunity to deal with Sister Mulchahey (former Superintendent of Education, Archdiocese of Omaha) regarding what my wife & I felt was entirely inappropriate sex ed material in our local Catholic school. Her inability to correctly deal with Quinn comes as no shock to me. Her attitude about the sex ed material was as ambivalent.