Novus Ordo Nuns vs. the Cold & Global Warming?

Novus Ordo Nuns vs. the Cold & Global Warming?

Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D.  

What you see above is a coalition of the Catholic Sisters of the Upper Mississippi River Valley campaigning for the Democrats in Duboque, Iowa, before the first caucuses in that State.

These old nuns are giving a silent blessing for their campaign to place billboards in strategic locations throughout Iowa, southwest Wisconsin and western Illinois. The leftist sisters are braving the Iowa cold and wind to promote what they consider to be the most important issue Catholics face today. 

What would that be? Certainly it is not Morals. Would it be against the sin of homosexuality that is propagandized favorably everywhere today? Absolutely not. Would, it be, per chance, the question of abortion. which is the murder of innocent children? No. Or would it be the decline in Church attendance and Catholics' general ignorance of doctrine? No, again. These are considered secondary issues for sisters who follow the mold of Francis and the post-conciliar Church.

These sisters consider environmental issues to be the most crucial matter the Church faces today, and to prove their point they quote Francis’ Laudato Si'. For the modern post-Vatican II nun, what could be more important than “the cry of the earth and the cry of those who suffer from the effects of climate change”? (1)

The plan for billboards was initiated by the Catholic Sisters for a Healthy Earth Committee (CSHE), founded in 2010 and made up of representatives from what they claim are all Catholic Sisters based in the Upper Mississippi River Valley. (2) The sisters' committee explained the high motivation for their “Care for our Common Home” message: “In his recent encyclical Laudato Si', Pope Francis calls us to take action to care for our common home.”

The “Care for our Common Home” campaign officially started in September 2015 during Pope Francis’ visit to the United States. Even before that, however, the sisters were collaborating on other billboards with social messages, including one promoting the welcome of all immigrants in 2012.

Lobbying: Vote Democrat !

Officially, this new campaign calls for care of the environment through supporting legislation to reduce carbon emissions, to develop clean energy policies and to provide financial assistance to developing countries. The billboards are to make sure delegates, potential presidential candidates and voters will remember this “critical issue.”

Since the Republican candidates normally repudiate these concerns, the nuns are essentially telling Catholics: “We – along with Pope Francis – support the Democratic platform. And so, dear Catholics, vote Democrat!” Unfortunately, this is exactly what most progressivist Catholic clergy, sisters and people are doing these days.

When the billboards are posted in the chosen places, the nuns appear to hold prayer services. Above, we see jolly, rosy-cheeked Joy Peterson with ear muffs, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, leading a prayer service at the Duboque billboard site. The almost 50 sisters who were with her could muster only a small group of supporters.

And what kind of service did Sister Joy lead? Please don't expect that she was praying the Rosary or singing any “outdated” Catholic hymns. The refrain of “Sacred the land, sacred the water” from “Sacred Creation," written by an like-minded ecological Franciscan brother, carried the theme. These nuns frenetically insist on promoting ecology, but never say a word about the social Reign of Christ, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, attention to the Four Last Things, etc.

Then various nuns read quotes from Francis' encyclical:

* “The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.”

* “We need only to take a frank look at the facts to see that our common home is falling into serious disrepair.”

* “Today we cannot help but recognize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach, which must integrate justice in the discussions of the environment, to hear the cry of the earth with the cry of the poor.”

The prayer petitions followed. Here is a sample of the stirring pleas:

* “We pray that the agreement from the Paris Climate Conference will truly help us to care for our common home and each other.”

* “We pray for the next steps along the journey that governments and others must take. We ask that God will guide them in fulfilling their commitments justly and in raising their ambition to meet the needs of the world.”

At the conclusion of the service, Sister Joy prayed: “May all who pass by this billboard be moved to work for the good of our common home.”

What we are seeing is a commitment by Catholic nuns not to spread the teaching of the Catholic Church and convert all peoples, as mandated by Our Lord. Their commitment is to strengthen, heal and renew the earth. They are “right-sizing” their convents and institutions to reduce their carbon footprint while they address the needs of the poor and marginalized, including homosexuals, lesbians and transsexuals.

Amid their busy schedules to “save the planet earth,” they find time in the U.S. to canvas for the platform of the Democratic Party. We have seen the Nuns on the Bus registering new voters for the Democratic Party; now we have the “Earth as Our Home” message that includes the Pope Francis billboards and eco-prayer services.

The sisters call all this "a work of healing and prophetic witness, a work of the spirit and social and ecological justice." (3) We call it another rotten fruit of Vatican II.

1. “Sisters' billboards promote care of the environment,” The Catholic Messenger, January 14, 2016. See here
2. Catholic Sisters who collaborated on the billboards include the Clinton Franciscan Sisters, Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin; Benedictine Sisters of Rock Island, Illinois; Sisters of Mercy of the West-Midwest Region; Notre Dame Sisters of the Central Province; Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, LaCrosse, Wisconsin; Sisters of Humility, Davenport; Sisters United News; and Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Dubuque Franciscan Sisters, and Visitation Sisters, all of Dubuque.
3. The Well Spirituality Center, Spirit Earth, Spring 2015, vol. 9, p. 7, see here.