Australian Woman Head of Knighthood Order

The Record » First Australian woman installed as head of knighthood order

After 20 years as a dame of the Queensland chapter of the legendary Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, Dr Monica Thomson adds a black cape and a gold mantilla to her hooded robes to distinguish herself as the new chapter leader.

Her robes were blessed during the installation by Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge. “I am very proud to be the first woman in Australia, and the seventh worldwide,” Dr Thomson, 65, mother of three sons and grandmother of eight, said. “I was one of the original members when our chapter was formed and I hope to carry on the good work during my term as lieutenant.”

Knights and dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre are devoted to building up the faith and practice among members, and sustaining the spiritual, charitable, and social works of the Church in the Holy Land including Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.

In 1888, Pope Leo XIII authorised the order to give women similar honours to men.

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Saint Katharine Drexel

From Philly Burbs:

She was an assertive Philadelphia debutante who dreamed of changing the world and had the family fortune to make it happen.

In a time before women could vote, she built more than 60 schools and founded Xavier University for blacks in the segregated South.

Katharine Drexel became a nun only after founding her own religious order to control how the money was spent. And 11 years after being named a Catholic saint, she is to take her place among the most famous women in American history.

Drexel will be inducted this weekend into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y.

Members of her order, based in Bensalem and founded in 1891, were overjoyed this week at the news, hoping it will allow Drexel’s life mission to inspire a new audience. The sisters will travel this weekend to Seneca Falls for ceremonies in the birthplace of the women’s suffrage movement.

“I think she would accept this award only if it gave her an opportunity to draw more attention to her mission for justice and the cries of the poor in our society today, especially among people of color and among the Native American communities,” said Sister Suchalski, president of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.

Ireland: Magdalene Investigation

From The Irish Times:

The Government should set up a statutory investigation into allegations of torture and degrading treatment against women committed to Magdalene Laundries.

 

It should also punish the perpetrators and provide redress to the women who suffered, the United Nations Committee Against Torture has recommended.

 

In a report detailing its "concluding observations" on Ireland's record of protecting the rights of those in detention, the committee has also strongly criticised the State's "inadequate" response to alleged reports that it cooperated with rendition flights.

 

The report, which was published this morning following two days of hearings before the committee in Geneva last month, also criticises the conditions in Irish prisons, the treatment of asylum seekers and the State's failure to prosecute anyone from evidence gathered in the Ryan report into abuse of children in residential institutions.

 

In a series of recommendations regarding the alleged committal of women to Magdalene Laundries, the committee says it is "gravely concerned" at the failure by the State party to protect the girls and women. It criticises the State for failing to regulate or inspect the laundries, where it is alleged physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment were committed. These may have amounted to violations of the UN convention against torture, according the report.

More on the Magdalene Laundries:

• News item from the Telegraph
• Interview with survivor Mary Norris
• Blog on the Magdalene Laundries
• Wiki on the Magdalene Asylums

Ursuline Academy Closes After 130 Years

From Press Democrat:

The nine Ursuline nuns from Brown County, Ohio, who got off the train in Santa Rosa in 1880 to organize the “Select School for Girls” under the auspices of St. Rose Catholic Church expected to have 40 students in their first semester.

They had come to Santa Rosa at the behest of the Rev. John Conway, pastor of St. Rose, who had assured the Sisters their boarding school would overflow with students.

The first semester, two students enrolled. Undaunted, the Sisters persisted. Their aim was a quality education for young women.

Blessed Angela of Foligno

Speech made by Pope Benedict XVI and translated and reproduced at Catholic net:

Today I would like to speak to you about Blessed Angela of Foligno, a great medieval mystic who lived in the 13th century. Usually, one is fascinated by the heights of the experience of union with God that she attained, but perhaps too little consideration is given to the first steps, her conversion, and the long path that led her from the beginning -- the "great fear of hell" -- to the goal: total union with the Trinity.

Tribute: Magdalen Female Penitent Asylums

From the blog "Over Thy Dead Body":

On a boulevard separated by a roadway from surrounding graves lies a memorial erected to the memory of those woman and girls once held at the Magdalen Penitent Asylum of Lower Mecklenburgh Street, Dublin. Some have claimed the stone stands over a mass grave; however, the Catholic order of the Sisters of Charity, who were once charged with the responsibility of operating some of the Catholic Magdalen Asylums in Ireland, vehemently deny this assertion, saying it is only a memorial.

The Magdalen Female Penitent Asylums have a notorious history. In the mid 19th century these institutions were founded all over Europe principally for the detention of prostitutes undergoing reform. In Ireland separate asylums were operated by both the Church of Ireland and the Catholic church. In these women-only 'homes' inmates were 'strongly discouraged' from leaving, in fact many of them were forcibly confined, and were sometimes detained for life. They were forced to work without pay in the laundries which adjoined the residences, thus the asylums are often referred to as the 'Magdalen Laundries'.

US: Crusading Dominican Nun Rebuked

From the Chicago Tribune:

For decades, Sister Donna Quinn has championed the rights of women to use contraception, seek ordination and end unwanted pregnancies.

The Dominican nun has picketed for abortion rights in the nation's capital, petitioned the pope to select a female archbishop and escorted women into abortion clinics.

But as the Vatican turns up scrutiny of the nation's nuns and America's Roman Catholic bishops refuse to support universal health care if it covers abortion, Quinn has put her crusade on hold.

Raised on Chicago's Southwest Side, Quinn expressed her calling to serve the church when a visiting priest asked her seventh-grade class who wanted to be ordained. The boys chuckled when her hand went up. After graduating from Visitation High School in 1955, Quinn joined the Dominican Sisters in Sinsinawa, Wis.

In 1974, she returned to Chicago where she helped start Chicago Catholic Women. Six years later, she became a leader of the National Coalition of American Nuns, a national organization with a similar mission of advocating for women's rights.

Ireland: Magdalen Women

From the Irish Times:

Five women who had been in Magdalen laundries met the secretary general of the Department of Justice Sean Aylward and assistant secretary James Martin for a two-hour meeting today. Compensation for the women and a State apology were among topics discussed.

Mary Smith (57), Marina Gambold (nee Fitzgerald) (74), Maureen Sullivan (62), Maureen Taylor (57), and Kathleen Legg (74) were accompanied by Steven O’Riordan, director of the film `The Forgotten Maggies’. It was shown last July at the Galway Film Fleadh and at up to 15 other venue around Ireland since then.

Another meeting between the officials and the women is to take place in two to three weeks' time.

Fake: Shroud of Turin

From Yahoo News:

Scientists have reproduced the Shroud of Turin - revered as the cloth that covered Jesus in the tomb - and say the experiment proves the relic was man-made, a group of Italian debunkers claimed Monday.

The shroud bears the figure of a crucified man, complete with blood seeping out of nailed hands and feet, and believers say Christ's image was recorded on the linen fibres at the time of his resurrection.

Scientists have reproduced the shroud using materials and methods that were available in the 14th century, the Italian Committee for Checking Claims on the Paranormal said.

The group said in a statement this is further evidence the shroud is a medieval forgery. In 1988, scientists used radiocarbon dating to determine it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

Agentina: Catholic Bishop Defends Dignity of Women

From Catholic News Agency:

Addressing the more than 40,000 faithful gathered outside the cathedral for a Mass honoring Our Lady of Mercy, the patroness of the archdiocese, Archbishop Luis Villalba of Tucuman in Argentina said the Church defends the dignity of women and denounces attacks against them.

Speaking in his homily, the archbishop explained that the Virgin Mary “is the archetype of authentic feminine promotion” as well as “the new beginning of the dignity and vocation … of each and every woman.”

He went on to say that “woman, as man, is made in the image of God,” but that “equality of dignity does not mean being identical to man. This would only impoverish woman and all of society by losing the unique richness and values that are proper to femininity.”