Sinsinawa Dominicans Upholding Catholic Teaching - I Don't Think So!!!!!

The other day I put up a post about my dealings with Sr. Donna Quinn & the Sinsinawa Dominicans. In the post I included the statement they issued. Here is part of that statement:

"We as Sinsinawa Dominican women are called to proclaim the Gospel through the ministry of preaching and teaching to participate in the building of a holy and just society. As Dominican religious, we fully support the teaching of the Catholic Church regarding the dignity and value of every human life from conception to natural death. We believe that abortion is an act of violence that destroys the life of the unborn. We do not engage in activity that witnesses to support of abortion." (emphasis mine)

DON'T YOU BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only do they not support the teaching of the Catholic Church in the area of abortion, they do work to support abortion. & that is not the only area of Catholic teaching they are working to undermine.

Let's go over to the Peace & Justice section of their website since that is where you would expect to find anything about opposeing abortion/Pro-life. If we read the intro it would seem they do uphold Catholic teachings.

"When we authentically preach the Gospel, this commitment to justice follows. . . .

As we look around our world and we reflect seriously on the Gospel, we are challenged to work to bring our reality into closer conformity with Gospel demands. That challenge means working toward the elimination of everything in our society that does not respect and sustain the basic dignity, fundamental rights, and decent quality of life for all persons."

So let's see what they consider needs to be eliminated. Here are the justice committees they have:

* Alternative Investment Advisory Committee - "to use our resources for socially responsible investments"

* Shareholder and Consumer Action Advisory Committee - "to see the relationship between our investments and our corporate voice"

* Ecology Committee

* Restorative Justice Committee

* Faith and Resistance Working Circle

* Antiracism

* Women's Network (The 1 you would expect to especially deal with abortion & you would be right. But wait until you see how.)

Before I get to the Women's Network I would like to look at some other things, starting their corporate stances for investment. You would expect there to be a stance about abortion, but no, there isn't. Nuclear weapons, opposing the death penalty, & Iraq are there.

Gee wouldn't you think that they would see investing in companies that are Pro-life or working to change companies that support abortion? Guess they don't see the killing of over 3200 babies a day as that important.

As for their Action Alert list, again Iraq, immigration, climate change, School of the Americas & other issues, but nothing about abortion.

1 more stop before we get to the biggie, & that stop is Peace & Justice resources, a page of links to sites to help you work for Peace & Justice.

3 groups in particular grab my attention.

1st there is a link to NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby as they bill themselves. let's see what 1 of the things they have lobbied for is. On 12 August 2009 LifeSiteNews had the following story, NETWORK's Sr. Campbell Backs Ryan-DeLauro "Planned Parenthood Bailout Bill. Sr. Simone Campbell is their executive director. So they have a group they endorse that claims to be Catholic yet supports funding abortion.

The 2nd is Sisters Online. There is plenty else I will say later, for now all I will say is they have an action alert calling on people to ask the US House to approve the Pelosi version of ObamaCare. Nothing about ensuring it protects the unborn or doesn't have death panels, just a call to pass it. Under Empower Women they praise abortion supporter Hillary Clinton. & it promotes UNICEF which the Vatican quit supporting back around 1996 since it promotes abortion. As I said, stay tuned for more later.

Finally we have Amnesty International. As LifeSiteNews reported on 20 August 2007, It's Official - Amnesty International is Now An Abortion Lobby Group - Catholics Boycott... In it they quote from a 17 August 2007 statement: "Amnesty International committed itself to strengthening the organization's work on the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and other factors contributing to women's recourse to abortion and affirmed the organization's policy on selected aspects on abortion (to support the decriminalization of abortion, to ensure women have access to health care when complications arise from abortion and to defend women's access to abortion". (Emphasis mine) LifeSiteNews, C-FAM & LifeNews have had a multitude of reports on AI's pushing for abortion. & you can find plenty of corroborative evidence on AI's own website.

This alone should be enough to demolish the claim "We do not engage in activity that witnesses to support of abortion." let alone any claims to support Catholic Teaching on abortion

But I haven't gotten to the biggie yet, Women's Network. What we find there will not only put the final nail in the coffin when it comes to abortion, it will show how they also work to undermine other aspects of Catholic Teaching as well.

Let's start with their membership list. I am sure that no 1 will be surprized to see Sr. Donna Quinn's name listed. Actually, you have no idea who are the religious or they laity as they don't use Sr., Miss, Mrs or even Ms.

Next the Vision statement: "The Sinsinawa Women’s Network includes those who are willing to work toward a feminist vision of inclusivity and justice for all peoples and respect for all creation."

1 of the goals states that they will "provide educational opportunities in eco-feminist principles and feminist theology". (emphasis mine)

I will get to some of the other aspects but I want to focus in on 1 aspect of feminist theology to start with. Wikipedia has the following under their Feminist theology entry: "Christian feminism is an aspect of feminist theology . . . . Their major issues include . . . . reproductive rights ". (I will get to some of the other aspects later.

I am sure by now everyone recognizes the term "reproductive rights" & is aware of what it includes. But for those who don't it includes the right to legal or safe abortion & the right to control one's reproductive functions (birth control).

By now it should be clear to anyone that the statement put out by Sinsinawa is disingenuous at best. & I would be bold enough to say an out & out lie.

I am not going to go into detail here, but I want to look a little more at feminist theology & Sisters Online to show that this is only 1 part of the dissent to Catholic teaching that they promote. Another of the other issues are promoting is women's ordination to the Catholic priesthood. This is another Sr. Donna biggie & 1 that the Dominican who called me last week said they were told not to discuss. & the only reason for that would be because they support it. If they were opposed to it then they would be willing to uphold Catholic teaching in this area. Next we have the search for a feminine or gender-transcendent divine. This is basically trying to recreate God into something different from that which we find in the Bible. In other words, a heretical view of God that is more that of gnosticism that authentic Catholicism.

& no, I didn't forget Sisters Online. Again I just want to mention a couple of things. Basically they are a New Age, Gaia worshipping group. & it also promotes the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) who is upset because they are being investigated by the Vatican for their dissent from Catholic teaching. Another group they are buddy buddy with is Call to Action that promotes abortion & women's ordination. (As an aside, 1 of their other affiliates are another hotbed of New Age & dissent, the Sisters of Saint Francis here in DBQ.)

Well, anyone out there who wants to say that the Sinsinawa Dominicans are faithful Catholics is either on the same dissenting wavelength they are or has skipped straight to this sentence without reading the rest of the post. For the rest of us, I think it is pretty clear that Sr. Donna is not the exception to the rule but a prime example of the mindset of the Sinsinawa Dominicans. (a few of the elder nuns excepted) & what I have shown you is only the tip of the iceberg.

It is clear that the Sinsinawa Dominicans do not think that protecting the unborn from being murdered by abortion is either a human rights issue or an social justice issue. If it was as important as they claim it is then they would not be so silent on the issue.

They would do well to remember what Pope John Paul II said: "Just as a century ago it was the working classes which were oppressed in their fundamental rights, and the Church very courageously came to their defence by proclaiming the sacrosanct rights of the worker as a person, so now, when another category of persons is being oppressed in the fundamental right to life, the Church feels in duty bound to speak out with the same courage on behalf of those who have no voice. Hers is always the evangelical cry in defence of the world's poor, those who are threatened and despised and whose human rights are violated".7

Today there exists a great multitude of weak and defenceless human beings, unborn children in particular, whose fundamental right to life is being trampled upon. If, at the end of the last century, the Church could not be silent about the injustices of those times, still less can she be silent today, when the social injustices of the past, unfortunately not yet overcome, are being compounded in many regions of the world by still more grievous forms of injustice and oppression, even if these are being presented as elements of progress in view of a new world order." (Evangelium Vitae par 5, emphasis mine)

By their support of groups who push for abortion it is clear that they are not "working toward the elimination of everything in our society that does not respect and sustain the basic dignity, fundamental rights, and decent quality of life for all persons." If they were there would 1st of all be a whole section devoted to Pro-life. & you wouldn't see them linking to the groups that are pro-abortion either.

Any claims to being against abortion/Pro-life by the Sinsinawa Dominicans as a group are disingenuous at best, & an out & out lie in actuality. (Note: This does not mean that there are not a few Pro-life sisters. I am sure many of the elderly members, if they are aware, are just as scandalized as the rest of us. But they are unable to speak out as they do not have any power to speak up publicly. This is all the more reason why the upcoming investigation is striving to protect them by providing the opportunity to speak out without their identities being made public.)

If I ever get the chance, I will try to get back & look more at feminist theology or Sisters Online. This post is already pretty long & if I go on any more it will become a novel. But if I don't get a chance to go more in depth, I suspect Mr. Scampers at The Heresy Hunter also has them in his sights & will get to them down the road.

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PS: I think that they have also earned a dishonorable mention in my "Know Your Nun" series. The good news is I have 3 real groups of Dominican nuns I can think of off the top of my head to use as examples. & with how low this group has sunk I will be using all 3.

So if you will excuse me, I need to go & clean up after wading through this cesspool.