by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
Inappropriate conduct by the superior of the Home of the Mother religious order that has been serving students at Ave Maria University (AMU) for several years has caused the administration and local diocese to dismiss the order from the campus.
The Ave Herald is reporting that Sister Maria Elena, the nun who was supervising the University’s program to help women discern a religious vocation, was apparently involved in some kind of “immoral conduct” last spring with a female student.
Apparently the nun responsible for the behavior was abruptly recalled to Spain, where the Home of the Mother (Hogar de la Madre) order is based, last year. However, the order did not report the incident to the University, nor did they follow Vatican-prescribed procedures for reporting such incidents.
The student, whose identity is not being revealed, was not a minor at the time of the incident.
University President Nick Healy said in an e-mail to students, faculty and staff that the university was terminating its relationship with the Home of the Mother order effective immediately.
“It was with sadness and concern that we learned that the former superior of the Hogar religious sisters on campus was responsible for immoral conduct,” Mr. Healy said in the campus-wide email. He said that the nun was “recalled to Spain in March of this year without explanation to the University or the Diocese of Venice.”
Mr. Healy went on to explain that he brought the matter to the attention of Bishop Frank Dewane of the Diocese of Venice in August. A meeting took place last week between Healy, Bishop Dewane and University Chancellor Tom Monaghan “to provide guidance as to how to determine if there are other victims and help any student who might have been harmed.” He said that the decision to terminate the relationship with the group was “made after careful consideration and in consultation with Bishop Dewane and our Trustees.”
According to the Herald, the Home of the Mother group has been on the AMU campus since the 2004-2005 academic year. Its nuns, familiar for their all-white habits, have been running the university’s Women’s Discernment program, which helps young women determine if they have a calling to the religious life. The order is a Vatican-sanctioned “Public International Association of the Faithful” but is not an approved religious order like the Franciscans or the Dominicans.
Reaction to the dismissal is causing mixed reactions on campus where some people have expressed their admiration for the zeal of the order, while others denounced them as being controlling and cult-like.
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