There is something terribly wrong with the ethics of the Archdiocese of Washington and the Pastor at St. Jerome's Parish in Hyattsville in specific.They treat ill and aged nuns like 1st Century chattel (that's a "slave" to those who don't read history).
That reference is intentional on many levels not the least of which is the fact that the Washington Archdiocese seems to think it's modeled after the Roman Legions rather than the teachings of Jesus Christ and his disciples.
For decades, St. Jerome Parish School operated as the center of community life for generations of families living in Hyattsville and beyond.
The school, considered an important feeder of exceptional students to area Catholic and public high schools including DeMatha, St. John's, Gonzaga, Seton and more, attracted students from the District of Columbia, and throughout Prince George's County, Maryland.
The student body traditionally included nearly a third non-Catholics. It was a school that provided an excellent education but did not discriminate by recruiting only the offspring of the social elite.
Everyone seeking a Catholic-based moral and ethical education was welcome.
The school's reputation was built largely on the stability of the teaching staff led by St. Jerome's Principal, Sister Joyce Volpini. SND/Phd.
Last year, after 34 years of dedication to the School, Sister Joyce stepped down and handed the administration of the school to a St. Jerome alum, Ms. Mary Pat Donoghue.
Ms. Donoghue and her seven brothers and sisters all attended St. Jerome School. Ms. Donoghue became a teacher there and soon found herself promoted by Sister Joyce to Vice Principal.
In a local news article praising the school for its sense of family and stability, Ms. Donoghue lionized Sister Joyce as "the best principal in the Archdiocese."
When Sister Joyce stepped down, in part because of health concerns, Ms. Donoghue assured her that she need not worry about her future with the school and parish, and appointed Sister Joyce the student counselor for the school.
With Ms. Donoghue's ascendancy to principal, the parish pastor, Rev. James M. Stack began to spend more time and energy on school matters particularly in the context of many local Catholic parish schools downsizing, merging with other parishes or closing.
Where before, the pastor's presence at school functions amounted to little more than a nod and a wave, now he was omnipresent at school advisory board meetings, graduations, etc.
Similarly Ms. Donoghue became the Pastor's visible "right arm" at church functions across the street. It was a relationship and interest wholly different from the Pastor's past decade with the school.
In March 2010, the Pastor told the last remaining nuns at the parish, Sister Joyce, Sister Geri, and Sister Janet, they were to vacate the convent they called home for decades. He cited financial problems, specifically with the Child Day Care Center operated out of the convent under Sister Geri's direction.
His move cast a dark shadow over the Nuns. Circulating via the whisper mill were tales of financial mismanagement.
The parish faithful reacted in a way that threw the Pastor's plans into Limbo (the theological waiting room for those not quite ready for heaven and not so evil as to have earned an express ticket to Hades).
Parishioners started discussion groups calling to "Save Our Nuns" on Facebook and arranged a candlelight vigil televised by the local ABC TV News affiliate on March 23rd.
The Archdiocese reacted immediately to quell the uncomfortable illumination by television news.
The Pastor was summoned to a meeting with a representative of Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl and the head of Sister Geri's religious order.
Rev. Stack brought his financial records (which he refused for months to share with the head of the Parish Council's financial committee) to prove the Child Center was in the red and had to close. Sister Geri brought her books.
The latter proved the Child Center not only to be an important conduit for young students to the "Big School" but also a revenue generator whose income was used by the Pastor to fill in holes elsewhere in the Parish financial landscape.
The only "red" was on the Pastor's face as he was ordered to keep Sister Geri in place and the Center open.
The Pastor left the meeting with something other than charity in his heart. He openly accused the Nuns of organizing the news coverage of the situation and manipulating parish sentiment against him (and not inviting him to a parish party honoring Sister Joyce).
His angst persuaded the Archbishop to warn the Nuns that if they spoke up about their plight, they would be exiled from the Archdiocese.
They were not allowed to speak publicly to defend themselves no matter the charge or accusation.
Three months later, once the parish returned to normal due to parishioners expecting that the Nuns would be allowed to live out their lives at the St. Jerome Convent, Rev. Stack found his opening.
Ms. Donoghue's pledge to Sister Joyce that she didn't have to worry about her future with the school, proved to have a different interpretation than that of job security. She was fired as School Counselor.
No job, no place in the convent. Rev. Stack told her she was to vacate the convent by June 30th. He then told Sister Geri to pick her replacement. She too would be out. Only Sister Janet, in her eighties and retired, couldn't be forced out save by loneliness.
Now if the Roman Catholic Church is in fact an organization based the Roman Legion model, then Rev. Stack has all the right to say "The Nuns MUST GO!" as he has. He need not give anyone any reason; something he refuses to do.
But he is also an individual who prides himself in his pastoral oratory from the altar including numerous homilies about how Christians are to look upon and treat others.
Certainly Jesus acted with anger, violence and damning verbiage when chasing the sellers of sacrificial animals from the temple and causing a barren fig tree to shrivel when it yielded no fruit to slake his hunger.
But these Nuns did no wrong. They did as they swore to do: to teach, to guide, to build a community of caring Christian souls.
One is fighting cancer and one is struggling to overcome a crippling and painful infection in her spine. Rev. Stack assures anyone within earshot that the Nuns will return to their order's "Mother house."
What he doesn't say is that the "Mother House" was torn down years ago, the land sold and only a cemetery is left to house the Sisters.
He also forgot to mention that when he retires he has ownership and the keys to a $300,000 house in New Market, Maryland?
SIC: CNW