The Nation : Nuns Who Won Fight Over Abortion Stance Quit Order

Two Roman Catholic nuns said they have resigned from their order, six weeks after winning a fight to remain sisters despite pro-abortion views. “We aren’t nuns anymore,” Patricia Hussey said after she and Barbara Ferraro resigned from the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Both women said they will remain in the Roman Catholic Church. “For us to stand with women, we need to renounce the differences, privileges and even limitations that are part of membership in a religious community in a patriarchal church,” they said in a resignation letter. Ferraro and Hussey, who operate a homeless shelter in Charleston, W. Va., have been at odds with their order since Oct. 7, 1984, when they and 94 other Catholics, including 22 other nuns and four priests, signed a statement published in the New York Times saying there is a diversity of opinion about abortion within the Church. Catholic leaders threatened the group with dismissal if they didn’t recant their statements. All agreed except Hussey and Ferraro, and the Church repeatedly asked for a retraction.