Religious group kicked off Ave Maria campus for 'immoral conduct'
By Leslie Williams Hale
Naples Daily News
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Ave Maria - A group dedicated to calling women to religious service
has been ordered off the Ave Maria University campus after one nun in
the group was accused of "immoral conduct."
The superior sister in the Spanish religious group Home of the Mother
was recalled to Spain in March, according to the university, after
she was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a female
student. According to an initial story on community news website
AveHerald.com, Sister Maria Elena was accused of having a sexual
relationship with the student.
University President Nicholas Healy would not confirm that detail,
but said the university is simply referring to it as "immoral conduct
between the religious sister and a female student."
The unidentified student was not a minor at that time, Healy said,
and she is still enrolled at the university.
Sister Maria Elena was, prior to her removal, a teacher at Donahue
Academy, the primary school in the town of Ave Maria.
Healy said the university has no reason to believe the nun had any
inappropriate contact with students at Donahue Academy, but he said
the school has, regardless, notified parents of the incident. Another
nun who belonged to Home of the Mother is listed on the Donahue
website as a teacher, and will have to be replaced, Healy said.
Donahue Headmaster Dan Guernsey deferred all comment to the
university.
The purpose of the religious group, also known by the Spanish name
Hogar de la Madre, was to help women at the university determine
their religious calling. Since August 2004, the small group of nuns
headed up the religious discernment center for female Ave Maria
students interested in the religious life.
Healy said the group is currently serving 16 students, though
membership fluctuates as students enter and leave the group.
Four Home of the Mother nuns lived in Ave Maria, with two priests
overseeing their work. They were overseen by the Diocese of Venice,
which is the case with any nuns or priests performing religious work
inside Southwest Florida.
A diocese spokesman declined comment on Wednesday.
According to an e-mail sent to students at the university on Tuesday,
the nun was recalled to Spain by her group in March "without an
explanation to the university or the Diocese of Venice." In August,
the e-mail states, someone alerted Bishop Frank Dewane at the diocese
about the reason for the nun’s removal from Ave Maria.
Healy said Wednesday the delay in learning about the reason for
Sister Maria Elena’s removal was a "major reason" the entire group
was ordered off campus. He said if Home of the Mother had informed
the university more promptly about the concerns, "it’s possible" the
group would have been allowed to stay on campus.
"Last week Bishop Dewane met with (university founder and Chancellor)
Tom Monaghan and me to inform us of what had happened, and to provide
guidance as to how to determine if there are other victims and help
any student who might have been harmed," reads the e-mail from Healy.
He said the decision to "terminate" the university’s relationship
with the group was made with Dewane and with the university’s
trustees. Healy sent a second e-mail on Wednesday to inform students
of the procedure for reporting any incidents, and said no other
students had come forward by Wednesday afternoon.
Home of the Mother is not a religious order on the level of the
Benedictine Sisters or the Franciscans, but is regarded as a "Public
Association of Faithful" by the Vatican. The apostolic group, founded
in 1982, has just two communities in the United States, both in
Florida. The other -- soon to be only -- community in the U.S., is
located in Jacksonville.
According to the website AveHerald.com, the group "has drawn both
strong supporters and detractors in their time at Ave Maria, with
some people admiring them for their evangelical fervor and others
denouncing them as controlling and cult-like."
More at:
http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2010/sep/08/religious-group-kicked-ave-maria-immoral-conduct/
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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