Religion: No Mercy for the Sisters

Fired from teaching jobs, New Hampshire nuns sue the bishop

For Roman Catholics in the placid seaside town of Hampton, N.H., this September is not a season for returning to business as usual. Sacred Heart School, normally filled to its 233-student capacity at this time, has been hit with a boycott by angry parents; enrollment is down 44%. Sacred Heart’s troubles result from an extraordinary dispute between four local nuns and their diocesan bishop. The clash has important implications for nuns’ rights elsewhere in the U.S., as well as for the tradition of U.S. churches’ immunity from government review.

The turmoil at Sacred Heart began Jan. 28, when Principal Honora Reardon and three fellow Sisters of Mercy, Catherine Colliton, Justine Colliton and Mary Rita Furlong, were presented with dismissal notices from the school superintendent of the diocese of Manchester. Without providing specifics, the memorandums maintained that the nuns had displayed unacceptable “cliquishness” and “lack of cooperation” with the parish priests and staff, that their contracts would not be renewed, and that they should consider resigning.

The four, all independent-minded women of Irish descent who wear civilian clothes and have unquestionably been somewhat at odds with the parish’s predominantly French Canadian clergy, decided to fight. “I won’t quietly fold my tent and go away,” snapped Sister Catherine. Under the contracts that they had signed along with the lay teachers, the nuns insisted, they were entitled to an explanation of the charges and a public hearing before the parish school board.

The sisters’ stand elicited sympathy from parishioners. Angry parents formed Save Our Sisters (S.O.S.). The group drew 700 supporters, including more than 100 from across the country. “It isn’t just a priests’ church any more; it’s also the people’s church,” says Lou Downey, mother of six Sacred Heart graduates. When Diocesan Bishop Odore Gendron refused all comment on the matter, 75 families pulled their children out of the school. The four sisters, taking a legal step that church historians say is exceedingly rare, filed a civil suit demanding their rights under the faculty contracts.

Last April, a county superior court judge sided with Bishop Gendron’s argument that church-state separation forbids court involvement in the inner workings of a diocese. Undeterred, the nuns appealed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, which heard arguments this month. It is expected to rule before the end of the year. Meanwhile, the nuns are taking a brief vacation and awaiting the court’s ultimate decision, or the diocese’s change of mind. Amid such an unseemly, if significant, dispute, the education of Sacred Heart’s students is suffering. Says Michelle Simeone, 10, a former Sacred Heart pupil now enrolled in public school: “I loved my school, and the nuns felt like my relatives. They were nice, and the discipline was good for me. I wish I was still there, and if the nuns come back I’ll come back. It’s just not fair.” –