Ex suora cattolica, ora Religiosa protestante : gli Unionisti la respingono

NY Minister Blocked by Unionists

By Sean O’Driscoll (irisvoice.com)

A PROTESTANT minister has been blocked from taking up a post in a hardline Unionist area of Northern Ireland after it was discovered that she was once a New York Catholic nun.

The Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Robin Eames said this week that he was “deeply disappointed” that the Reverend Mary Ellen Dolan could not serve in a parish near Portadown, previously the scene of violent sectarian clashes during the annual marching season.

Dolan, whose name strongly suggests an Irish Catholic past, had been appointment as rector of St. Saviour’s and Kilmore parish but a significant number of parishioners said they would reject her posting.

She agreed with church authorities that she might not be able to fully serve in a parish where she was not welcome.

Dolan served as a nun in New York, France and Zaire in central Africa. While working in war-torn Zaire, the sight of poor women producing too many babies and getting into difficult labor forced her to reconsider Catholic Church teachings on birth control.

After it became clear that the church would not move on what it believed was a fundamental teaching, she left her ministry in 1979.

She married in New York in 1982 and divorced four years later while working as a Catholic nurse with the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent.

She later joined the Episcopal Church, the global version of Britain’s Angli-can Church, and earned a reputation in Rhode Island and other areas as a very hard worker.

Archbishop Eames said that was sad that someone of Dolan’s caliber was not welcome by some parishioners.

“I am sad and disappointed. Having reviewed the situation with others in the Diocese and parish I did not feel that I could further the app-ointment where her ministry could not be fully exercised. She is highly qualified and had excellent recommendations from her bishop,” he said.