Memories - Friends

Eulogy

(This is the text of the eulogy delivered by Vicki Frankel at Sister Jane's Funeral Mass, celebrated in St. Ignatius Church in Winnipeg. The celebrants were Father Paul Roy, Father Fred Olds, and Father Dominic Kerbrat.)

I would like to begin by thanking Jane's family, especially Cheryl and John who are present as well as Father Paul, for the privilege of speaking today.

Many of you have known Jane for longer than I have, and during different stages of her life's journey. Each of you no doub will have your own special memories of Jane, Sister Jane. Like some of you, I came to know Jane in one context and over time we slowly began to know one another in other ways.

Jane loved life and lived it fully in so many ways. She had a sharp and curious mind, a great sense of humour, and an appetite for good conversation. She read voraciously - art history, Middle-East politics, Ireland, other cultures, and the great religions of the world. Jane love Oprah, and she loved baseball, and lobster, and a good cup of coffee. She loved the ocean of her childhood and the prairies of her adult years. Garth Brooks, Celine Dion, Barbara Streisand, and Shania Twain all made music that was sweet to Jane's ears. Jane loved America, her country of birth, and she loved Canada, her adopted country. But I think it was Ireland that gave her back her soul. Jane loved to bake - especially cookies and apple pie for her friends. And these were often given to the recipient in a fancy container chosen by Jane. Returning from Ireland or a trip home to Manchester, Jane always returned with mementos for others. Those she loved were never far from her heart.

Jane would not like it to be said that she was a perfect person. She had a temper that she was quick to lose when she perceived an injustice. But she was honest, direct, respectful of others, caring to a fault, a loyal friend, a good sister to her siblings, and loving neice to her aunt Mary. Jane was tremendously giving and compassionate. She gave of her heart and soul to anyone who would allow. She always made time to listen to others. I noticed that whenever we had been out together and I dropped her off on Main Street outside of Our Place - Chez Nous, people on the street always smiled and greeted her, and Jane always took time with each of them. Everyone in that part of the City knew Jane and she knew each of them by name.

Jane loved her friends and her family. She was especially grateful to her friends for their support in the past several years of her life while she fought health and other personal battles. Rene, and Aline and Gary enjoyed many special moments with Jane. Fred and Yvonne became friends and Yvonne travelled with Jane to Ireland. Jane described Jackie and Nelson, Robert and Linda, and Gerry, and Doreen as really decent people who gave generously of themselves to her. Jackie travelled with Jane to New Hampshire last summer. And Jane valued contact with her childhood friends in New Hampshire, especially Cathy. She found their love and support especially meaningful in the past year. Jane was especially grateful and close to Barbara and Leonard at Our Place - Chez Nous. Barbara lovingly took Jane to hospital when she saw how unwell she was last week. Jane spoke with gratitude of others who helped her along her way - her physicians and other health care providers, of Father Dominic and Father Olds and of Tony, and of Cynthia who each gave generously to Jane.

In hospital, a week ago yesterday, when I shared with Jane that her family was on the way to Winnipeg to be with her, I asked her if there was anything that she would like me to tell them. Her reply was three simple words: "I love them." Jane recently told me that from all her troubles the past few years, one very good thing had happened, and that was that she felt more connected with and love by her family. As I sat with Jane and her family at the hospital the last few day of her life, I witnessed their love for her. Jame loved and felt loved by her Aunt Mary, who was like a mother to her. She took joy in traveling home for the wedding of her cousin and namesake last summer. Jane was very grateful for the closer friendship that developed between herself and Cheryl the past few years. She valued her friendship with John and Thomas, and recently very much enjoyed a telephone discussion with Bill. She looked forward to a trip to Manchester in the coming fall, and travel to Ireland again next year.

And there is more about Jane. She lived a life of personal commitment to social justice. When she entered Holy Cross as a novice almost 30 years ago, Jane knew that her vocation was to minister to the poorest of the poor. She believed in the right of every individual to be treated with dignity and respect and kindness regardless of race or religion. By the way she lived her life and vows, Sister Jane McDonald demonstrated that one ordinary person could move mountains and accomplish extraordinary things for other people. One rather small person with a very large heart and passion of live made a difference in the lives of so many others. On Canada Day, two years ago, Sister Jane was recognized as a "Citizen Who Makes a Difference." As the Lieutenant-Governor presented Jane with a special plaque in front of several hundred Canadians celebrating our country's birthday, journalist Gordon Sinclair described Sister Jane as the "Mother Teresa" of Winnipeg. Jane raised the profile of the needs of the poor and homeless in Winnipeg's inner City. Indeed, she raised the bar on what can be done by one person with faith and determination.

Sister Jane worked tirelessly for the people of Our Place - Chez Nous, the drop-in center she began in 1987. She believed that they deserved a warm, clean, comfortable place where they would be be genuinely accepted and respected. And she raised money for this, penny by penny - through her ability to persuade others of the need, and because others came to respect her mission and understood its importance. Sister Jane deeply loved and respected all of the people she came to know there. She was a spiritual light in the lives of the people of Our Place - Chez Nous, and she will continue to be a guiding light in their lives.

It was the centrality of social justice in her life that resulted in Jane's deciding to go public with her personal abuse issues during the past year. Jane did not want or ask for any kind of punishment for the harm, the abuse that was done to her by those she had trusted as young novice and consecrated religious in Holy Cross. But she wanted to be believed and to receive compassion. She wanted acknowledgement of the wrong that was done to her so that no one else would be hurt again, and so that other victims would feel safe in coming forward. And indeed other victims contacted jane after they learned of her story. Her own honesty and her faith, and perhaps her naivete, led her to think that she would be believed. Jane found the courage to set aside her fears about coming forward because she really believed that the truth would help others. She felt disappointed, betrayed and heart-broken that she was not believed by those she had trusted, when her cries and pleas for compassion and assistance were ignored within her Congregation. Jane asked out loud: "where is the justice in this?" An individual who devoted her entire adult life to service to God and her Congregation through social justice. In the past week or so of her life, Jane found some small solace in knowing that some members of her Order reportedly acknowledged her truth.

While Jane's belief in those she had trusted in her religious life was sorely shaken, her faith in her God remained absolute. She told me in the past week that she believed that the Creator would take care of her, that her faith was as strong as it had ever been. Jane lived the life of a true Christian and she died a Christian, strong in her beliefs and her faith in her God.

I thought it would be fitting to close with some of Jane's own words, which I have taken from an album she put together following her trip to Ireland. She quoted Garth Brooks:

I am coming home.
I can see your rolling fields of green,
And your fences made of stone.
I am reaching out,
Won't you take my hand?
I am coming home, Ireland.

Under a photo of herself looking out over a beautiful Irish valley, Jane wrote:

I find myself trembling before the majesty of God that surrounds and fills me...
Everywhere you look, north or south, east or west, there is something beautiful to behold.

And under another photo of lake country in Ireland Jane wrote:

Ahead, the road narrows, winding, leading us deeper into this beautiful, God-filled land.

Beside another photograph, Jane quoted from the Eight Century Celtic prayer for protection on a journey, which is perhaps fitting today as her soul journeys home:

I draw to myself today
Strength of heaven,
Glory of sun,
Brightness of moon,
Radiance of fire,
Swifness of lightning,
Speed of wind,
Depth of seas,
Stablility of earth,
Firmness of rock.
I draw to myself today
The guiding power of God,
God's might to uplift me,
God's life to look before me,
God's ear to listen to me.

Finally, I quote from Jane's own notes on her last day in Ireland:

Most of all Ireland what have you been? What have you yielded of yourself to this poor emigrant child of yours who came knocking on your door? You have given back life to me. You have given back trust to me. You in your selflessness have given my soul back to me.

I came here poor and broken in spirit. Opposite to who you are. Your history has not broken you. Those who left your soil for generations left with the light gone from their eyes. Is it because of them that you knew how to welcome me? Was my healing born of the great tragedy that you suffered for generations at the hands of others? Was I to know compassion, gentleness and hospitality because of all that you have had to endure? You welcomed me home so that I could go home.

I trembled before the majesty of God that surrounded me. Who am I to have been given the privilege of being given this gift to behold and to carry in my heart for as long as I live? Each view, each rolling hill, each seascape returned me to me. My roots, my family, my history, my people, my spirituality. Each has brought me home so that I can go home! May this life that has been given to me bless me and all those that I meet both here and abroad. I leave with your blessing.

Go neiri an bother leat -- May the road rise to meet you ...

Have no doubt dear friends and family of Sister Jane. She was a truly just and Christian person whose faith in her God was with her to her last breath. Jane as you are welcomed to the loving arms of your Creator, "May the road rise to meet you, and may the wind be at your back."

(Vicki is a social worker and therapist. Her own religious background in her childhood was Anglican. She does not seem to be a religious person, and she had difficulty speaking directly about God. She referred to God as Jane's God, which is a conventional and respectful way to talk about a friend's religious beliefs.)

Nomination

(This is a letter written by Jackie Gushuliak May 22, 2002 to Gordon Sinclair. Jackie was one of Jane's closest friends and she worked with Jane at Chez Nous. Gordon Sinclair is a journalist and columnist working for the Winnipeg Free Press. In May 2002 he wrote a column inviting nominations for a special award by the "Celebrate Canada Committee". The Certificate announcing the award was presented by the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba on Canada Day, July 1, 2002.

Dear Mr. Sinclair:

In response to your column, "People who Make a Differnce", I wish to nominate Jane McDonald, the founder of Our Place/Chez Nous at 676 Main Street.

Jane has devoted most of her life to working with the poorest of the poor in our society. In 1987 She founded a drop-in center, Our Place/Chez Nous, in an old restaurant across from the CPR station, and five years ago moved across the street facing Thunderbird House. As you are well aware, this area of town is one where prostitution, poverty, loneliness, destitution and abuse of every sort is a part of everyday life. A lot of people who have those problems have no family ties anywhere. There is a lot of mental illness on the street - people who have fallen through the cracks.

Our Place/Chez Nous is a drop-in center where people come in for tea, coffee and sometimes a light snack but it is not a soup kitchen. Everyone who enters the building knows that he/she will be safe, respected and protected. However, Jane has made it clear that two very important rules be followed at all time - people must be sober and must respect the rights of other. If someone enters that has been sniffing or drinking, Jane will very gently ask he/she to please come back on the next day the center is open.

Jane has created a very special atmosphere at Our Place/Chez Nous. When visitors come they are shocked by the peacefulness and sobriety that exists in the room. People are sitting, chatting with each other, playing crib or board games, making puzzles, reading the paper or a book or just plain relaxing. One a month one can do some shopping at "The Bargain Basement". Most of the articles are donated, but Jane feels it's important to have a sense of self-worth, so things are sold for 5 cents to a dollar.

Celebrations are not rare. Jane makes sure that Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day (she's Irish), Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, etc. are fun days for anyone who drops in. Christmas however is the time when Jane expends a lot of energy. She orders food, prepares stockings with a small gift attached, has Santa come to distribute the gifts, has volunteers come to sing carols, etc. - everyone shares and everyone has a great time.

In the past two years, the Center has only been open Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9 am to 4 pm, instead of the four days a week as it was previously, because Jane has been recovering from breast cancer. Through all her treatments (and there were were many) she was determined to keep the Center open. She is [...] stronger and hopes to return to 4 days a week in September. In the meantime, she has invited people to teach arts and crafts and the response has been terrific. She hopes to expand this area more next year. Also she is striving to hire professionals to give workshops to further the education and learning opportunities for the poor.

Watching Jane work with the poor is so touching. She is calm, quiet and so respectful of others. She never preaches but rather guides and directs. She is very knowledgeable about various resources in the area and directs people to the proper places. She is so compassionate and truly cares about the health and well-being of every individual that walks through the door. She has taken people for their cancer treatments, been at their bedsites and they neared death, prayed with them, and sat and listened to many very sad stories. She has been surrounded for years by people who have suffered so much abuse of all kinds. Her mission is for Our Place/Chez Nous to be a refuge for those who are most poor and vulnerable in our society. Jane has truly made a difference!

Yours truly, Jackie Gushuliak

P.S. I have been a part time volunteer since 1988 and now I volunteer every Thursday all day. More info? Call [phone number]

In the News

Facing the Media

Jane's story was covered in the newspapers in Winnipeg and nationally. The reporters covered the fact that there was a lawsuit, and the core of Jane's story. The stories were sympathetic to Jane and fair to Holy Cross and the Church generally. Many Catholics resent the media's coverage of the American Church's problem with sexual abuse. Many Catholics complain that the media sensationalize the issue or cover it in order to attack and discredit Catholicism. The reporters involved with this case addressed the story as a case of errant individuals engaged in unusual practices, contrary to Church teachings. They did not imply that the Jane's story was typical of the experiences and activities of female religious. There was concern over the obligations of Religious institutes to members like Jane who were estranged from their Congregations because of their complaints about other Sisters in the Congregation.

I have reproduced some stories to comment on how the story was presented in the media and how Holy Cross responded. I remind readers that these are copyrighted stories. I ask viewers not to copy them from this site.

Winnipeg Free Press, June 11, 2002

Leah Janzen, a journalist employed by the Free Press wrote a story that was published on June 11, 2002. She interviewed Jane in person and she had the Court material that had been filed at that time. I have not copied or reproduced this story.

Globe and Mail, June 25, 2002

This article appeared in "Canada's National Newspaper", The Globe and Mail, June 25, 2002. It has been copied and reproduced on Rick Ross's Cult awareness web site. It was written by Krista Foss. She interviewed Jane in person and she had the Court material that had been filed at that time. Her presentation of the story was calculated to be entertaining and engaging, but seemed to get to the core of the story of Sister Wilfort's practices.

The novice nun, the holy retreat and the barefoot apostle of love

Winnipeg -- When Jane McDonald first met Superior Jeanne Wilfort, she was a charismatic innovator from the Canadian wild West who never wore a habit, gave presentations in her bare feet and represented the antithesis of a dour and conservative servant of God.

As an impressionable novice from New Hampshire, Sister McDonald was so taken by the funky nun's blending of psychology and spirituality that she eventually got herself assigned to the experimental retreat called Maisons de Croissance (Homes for Growth) that Sister Wilfort founded in Manitoba in 1977.

For the next 20 years, Sister McDonald struggled with what she says she experienced there.

In a recent sworn affidavit filed in Winnipeg courts, she alleges that Sister Wilfort's unorthodox therapy included hugging and affection between female community members and even lying down with each other in order "to be surrounded by love."

On several occasions, according to Sister McDonald's affidavit, the senior nun climbed into Sister McDonald's bed where she took her own clothes off, ordered the younger woman to undress and performed an escalating variety of sexual acts which she said were "sacred" and "God's healing" and part of a "special and secret" relationship they shared.

It was these actions which led Sister McDonald to believe the elder nun was leading "a sort of cult, operating within the Congregation," her affidavit states. Sister McDonald left Homes for Growth in 1980.

Rocky Pollack, the lawyer representing Homes for Growth, warns that none of these allegations have been tested in court.

"My client treats it very seriously, and we will deal with the matter in court," he said. "These allegations are at a very preliminary stage."

The Superior-General of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, to which Sister Wilfort belongs, did not respond to phone calls; neither did the order's Montreal-based lawyer.

Sister McDonald's application to remove the six-year time limit on lawsuits alleging breaches of fiduciary duty was filed in early April and her affidavit in late May, and neither has had any legal response from the named parties.

Today, three years after disclosing her allegations to Holy Cross superiors, Sister McDonald says she finds herself isolated in her own congregation and is considering leaving the order altogether.

Her lawyer, Anthony Dalmyn, says Sister McDonald may have been the victim of a psychotherapy cult and what is known in some legal circles as cult abuse.

Homes for Growth was a product of the seventies and the Roman Catholic Church's shift from education to other less institutional forms of ministry. Sister Wilfort was trained in Personality and Human Relations (PRH), a brand of humanist psychology founded by French educator André Rochais in 1970.

Sister Wilfort founded Homes for Growth along with a member of the Winnipeg-based Oblate Fathers, Raymond Beauregard, who is now dead. The centre was supported financially by Oblate Fathers and the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

A spokesman for the Oblate Fathers said yesterday he did not know much about Homes for Growth other than it was a "place where people went to journey with their personal lives" and that some Oblate members were involved.

When Homes for Growth was established, Sister Wilfort was the provincial superior in Western Canada for the Sisters of the Holy Cross, whose headquarters are in St. Laurent, Que. Later she was regional superior in Manitoba.

Homes for Growth would expand to include seven houses in and around Winnipeg during the 1980s.

The Homes for Growth house in Lorette, Man., about 20 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg, was Sister's Wilfort personal domain. It was there that she took sole responsibility for the religious formation of Sister McDonald, who was then 28.

Private counselling sessions were held in her bedroom, Sister McDonald alleges.

"She said that I had an evil mother and that I had to suck her spiritual goodness," according to Sister McDonald's affidavit. "For the first few episodes, I would not remove my underpants. After the first few episodes, I agreed. She pulled me on top of her and said that now we could be really close and this was much better."

Sister McDonald said she did not realize then that what she alleges happened to her was sexual violation because it was presented "within the context of religious formation and personal counselling."

She alleges that when she finally stopped complying, Sister Wilfort flew into a rage and physically struck her. After that, she says, she was systematically cut off from opportunities and advancements in Western Canada within the order.

Sister McDonald says in the affidavit that, three years ago, she disclosed the allegations to her Holy Cross superiors. She says she was told that Sister Wilfort's conduct was intended to be therapeutic and had beneficial effects.

In the spring of 2001, there was a Vatican-ordered investigation by a member of the Grey Nuns. But Sister McDonald has never been told what was discovered or whether anything would be done.

"The whole thing in religious life is about forgiving and forgetting," the soft-spoken Sister McDonald said in a recent interview. "And I don't know how to communicate to people that forgiving and forgetting happens only when you really remember and speak about it."

Sister McDonald, now 50, is recovering from a recent battle with breast cancer. The isolation she felt left her fighting depression and unable to trust others, especially those in authority.

But her faith has never been shaken, she said.

She wants to see Homes for Growth disbanded and the nearly 70-year old Sister Wilfort, who left Manitoba this past fall, removed from the order.

"I felt like I've been betrayed by the congregation . . . she is a very powerful leader, and she has been for 30 years. It is easier to dispose of me than to deal with her," she said.

Catholic New Times

This story was published in a Canadian newspaper published in Toronto, the Catholic New Times, May 18, 2003. A copy can be found online at the FindArticles service. It was written by Kevin Spurgaitis. He interviewed Jane by telephone from Toronto, and he had the Court material filed at that time. The story was criticized in a letter to the editor, by the Communications Co-coordinator of the Canadian Religious Conference. The Catholic New Times responded to the letter. I have included the letter and the response.

The Catholic New Times is a liberal publication. It tends to criticize the hierarchy and to promote unorthodox and eclectic ideas and practices. Some parts of the story appear, typically, to bait the ecclesiastical authorities. The irony is that CNT, as a liberal paper, would probably have been supportive of Sister Wilfort's ideas about spirituality and relatively tolerant of any departures from Church rules relating to sexual morality by any consenting adults involved in this affair. The letter to the editor by the Canadian Religious Conference picks at a few flaws in the reporter's presentation of Canon Law issues but does not come to terms with the issues of substance. Notably, the reporter had accurately quoted the text of the Indult in this article. The CRC did not address the questions of whether the Sisters of Holy Cross were justified in treating Jane as being out of the Order when she had not signed the document accepting the Indult, and whether the Sisters of Holy Cross were demonstrating "equity and evangelical charity towards the member who is separated from it." I give the Catholic New Times credit for addressing the complex issue of support for a member of a Religious Institute who has expressed a desire to leave her Congregration, but has not accepted an Indult or been expelled from the Congregation in accordance with the norms of Canon law.

I have one comment on the story itself. The reporter said Jane's suite looked down on "garbage" - he used the quotation marks in the story. In fact Jane had a view of garbage bins in the alley behind her building from her window.

Desolation Angel

"... Sincerely, Sister Jane."

Sister Jane McDonald was only 28 when she uprooted herself from New Hampshire in the late 1970s, to head out West. The wide-eyed novice was assigned to the experimental retreat called Maisons de Croissance or Homes for Growth, in Lorette, Man., southeast of Winnipeg. The sanctuary, created by Sister Jeanne Wilfort, was a product of the Roman Catholic Church's 70s shift from education to other less institutional forms of ministry. However, McDonald still tussles with what she says she experienced there.

"I was a city girl who just loved the spirit of the West and the people of Winnipeg," she remembers.

A soft-spoken McDonald remains faithful even in desolation. Disillusioned with ecclesiastical livelihood, the would-be excommunicated oblate must now start life over at 51. No stipend, no income, no sick benefits, no insurance--just depression, a debilitating illness and isolation from her order.

Illness and isolation

The sister's sullied narrative does not begin with her breast cancer, originally diagnosed in January 2000 and again in December the same year. However, it has been compounded by the illness that has now spread to her lung. Like most patients under the intense treatment, McDonald is hit hard with the physical and emotional side effects of weekly chemotherapy sessions. Chemotherapy not only targets cancerous cells, but healthy ones as well, harming the gastrointestinal tract, reproductive system and hair follicles The consequences are often unpleasant and severe--hair loss, nausea, as well as infection leading to fever, chills, throat irritation, shortness of breath, chronic pain and lethargy.

Susceptible to chemo-related infection, she is now imprisoned by simple routines, such as the habitual washing of hands and peeling of uncooked fruits and vegetables. In this antiseptic lifestyle, she must spend the majority of her time in virtual isolation, limiting the number of people to whom she exposes herself. "I've been pretty much plagued with infection all the way through," says McDonald. "It's been a real long haul."

Cancer is also a financial burden. Chemotherapy drugs are generally paid for by the Manitoba government The province's Health Services Insurance Fund provides payments to hospitals, community health centres, personal care homes, insured services, and individuals claiming reimbursement of therapy expenditures. However doctors often prescribe 'supportive care' medications not covered under a provincial plan. And although private insurance policies, with employers, take care of prescription drugs, McDonald is officially unemployed. Additional over-the-counter medicines such as pain relievers, anti-infection mouthwashes, anti-depressants and anti-diaretic pills, remain an out-of-pocket expense.

With only $106 sitting in the bank, money--for the first time--has become an issue for the disenfranchised oblate.

She is only bolstered by the personal charity of friends in Winnipeg. Her 'digs' are humble, up two flights of stairs, with a bedroom window view of "garbage" in her inner-city neighbourhood. With no other tenants around, there's no one to call out for help. With no taxi service out of the 'high-risk' part of town, getting to and from her therapy sessions is hard. The sister now finds herself 'needy' after swearing to a life of servitude.

"It's difficult dealing with solitude; although it has been a part of my ministry, this is a very different kind of poverty."

Vicky Frankel, a Winnipeg psychotherapist, social worker and an advocate of McDonald, looks in on her during those difficult days. "She is emotionally up and down, day-to-day, like lots of people dealing with cancer and physical abuse," she says. "Her faith is very helpful to her in these times because she doesn't have much of a life now. She has dreams of a life."

Our Place

In her present condition, McDonald is relegated to doing household chores --the biggest feat: fixing supper. Resolved not to compromise her service to the poor, though, she continues her pet-creation of Our Place/ Chez Nous, which provides refuge to more than 5,000 of the city's marginalized peoples--the drug users, the alcoholics, the prostitutes, the mentally iii and now herself. "I give Our Place whatever energy I can now." Not a "showy project," the drop-in centre, run from a main street storefront, has earned McDonald an award by the Lieutenant Governor. The West Winnipeg ministry, which started in 1987, has always existed on the periphery of the Holy Cross order. It has survived on little more than a blessing from the congregation.

"I really took it to heart; it's something I wanted to do all my life, but people did not embrace it."

Alleged Abuse

Wilfort was Mother. Nuns and laypeople were her children, it is alleged. On several occasions at Homes for Growth, according to McDonald's signed affidavit, Sister Jeanne Wilfort allegedly climbed into McDonald's bed where she took her own clothes off, ordered her to do the same and performed shared, sordid sexual acts. The senior nun practised her own made-up model of regression psychology at a retreat that resembled a stringent "cult." Because it was allegedly presented "within the context of religious formation and personal counselling" or "God's healing," McDonald says her recognition of the sexual violation was initially foggy. And whenever the sisters and laity rejected their superior's unorthodox therapy, she says Wilfort quickly became erratic, kicking and slapping them in the washroom during impromptu "repossessions." McDonald's personal experience lasted over a six-month period, according to the sister. And then one day it stopped.

"She was love personified, but would have tantrums and become physically abusive if she felt people weren't receiving her love."

Meanwhile, members of her congregation, she alleges, stood by idly. McDonald repeatedly pleaded her case to Holy Cross superiors and the Archbishop of Winnipeg, but she was told that Wilfort's conduct was strictly therapeutic and had beneficial effects. Eventually, the Vatican ordered a special investigation into her claims by a former superior of Quebec's' Grey Nuns, but the report has yet to surface.

McDonald, on the other hand, was young, enthusiastic and idealistic. Giving the "best years" of her life, she set out for a life in the Holy Cross community--one teeming with Gospel and prayer. "She did such profound damage to my belief in self. It's the worst kind of abuse to deal with," she says. "This has been a nightmare ... I've given four years of my life, to the detriment of my health to get any sort of response."

Homes for Growth still operates in the province, although Wilfort, who was once the order's superior in Western Canada, is rumored to have left her duties there. Her whereabouts now are undisclosed. Neither the Sisters of Holy Cross, nor their lawyers, could be reached for comment despite repeated phone calls and e-mails from CNT.

"They need to acknowledge my endeavors, apologize for this abuse."

Black sheep of the order:

The sister has been allegedly ostracized by the pack ever since she ceased to follow Wilfort, who is billed as a beloved, charismatic leader. She says she was systematically cut off from opportunities and advancements in Western Canada within her order. Forced to live on the fringes of her order, McDonald resided in a private, one-bedroom apartment for many years before seeking sanctuary above Our Place.

A personal life within the congregation is non-existent, she says. Friendships with other sisters are absent. Opposing the order at every turn, she used to attend clergy meetings, but was never really welcomed into the fold.

"I refuse to officially leave the congregation because I truly believe God called me to Winnipeg. My ministry to the poor is a real gift and I wasn't meant to give it up."

Rejecting indult, receiving dues:

Priests and nuns in this process of dispensation are stripped of their status and downgraded to membership in the laity. An indult, an exemption from religious obligation, is presented to and granted by a bishop, only after a lengthy probationary period.

It is reported that 90 per cent of North American dioceses initially deny pension benefits to priests who resign, no matter how long they have served. The number of priests applying for dispensation skyrocketed after Vatican II. Although it was once a relatively simple procedure, lasting no longer than three years, it is now granted sparingly, with restrictions that are interpreted and enforced differently by each diocese. Dispensation from clerical status, what used to be called "laicization," has been described as a canonical mystery.

Signing the indult, however, means severing any chance of financial benefits along with McDonald's 30-year-old ties to her order. The indult granted to the sister upon request, references the original document signed upon one's final vows, which stipulates no payment for services rendered to the congregation, even when one begins a new life outside the church.

According to Canon Law, article 702, "whoever lawfully leaves a religious institute or is lawfully dismissed from one, cannot claim anything from the institute for any work done in it." However, the institute is to "show equity and evangelical charity towards the member who is separated from it."

McDonald maintains she has not habitually neglected the obligations of consecrated life; obstinately disobeyed lawful orders of Superiors in grave, matters; diffused teachings condemned by the church or publicly adhered to materialistic or atheistic ideologies--any of the reasonable grounds for dismissal. She just wants help starting over.

"Religious congregations will provide for pedophiles for the rest of their lives. They are responsible for some kind of remuneration (to the dispensed). I have no social security; I've never paid into it."

Seismic scandals within the church have opened the floodgates to sexual abuse claims. McDonald's story is not rare. Abuse by the hands of female figures is a scenario that has been played out at convents, Catholic schools, churches and orphanages. And during the last decade, at least a dozen lawsuits against nuns have been filed in the U.S. alone. These cases make up less than five per cent of all abusers.

Although female clergy are not conventional predators, their misconduct has been reported, according to A.W. Richard Sipe, a former Benedictine monk and psychotherapist who has scrutinized church sex abuse for more than 30 years. The author of Sex, Priests, and Power: Anatomy of a Crisis says society's comfort with intimacy between women and children enables female abusers to "initiate contact far more easily without suspicion." Experts report that most abusive nuns tend to be "severely disturbed." Some are even paranoid schizophrenics, suffering from hallucinations and delusions.

Despite McDonald's confidence betrayed, her vows of chastity broken over the knee, she has been vilified by members of her order, sources allege. "The Sisters of Holy Cross see Jeanne Wilfort as leader and visionary, and Jane as a nut," says Anthony Dalmyn, a Winnipeg-based lawyer who originally filed McDonald's case.

In April 2002, McDonald filed an application to remove the six-year statute of limitations on lawsuits, alleging breaches of fiduciary duty. Her affidavit was signed in late May. However, the civil suit has been held, "bogged down at the extension stage." A judge is still to determine the credibility of the case. And a cancer-stricken McDonald is not physically fit to sit down and submit herself to the interrogation of Holy Cross's lawyers at this time, according to Dalmyn.

McDonald's objective is mere compensation, the removal of Wilfort from monastic life altogether--and an apology, only then will she sign the indult. She says this public airing of grievances is her only recourse after years of whistle blowing within the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. If not for the order's veneer of secrecy surrounding the affair, the sister says she would perish thoughts of dispensation and litigation.

Dalmyn insists McDonald's vocation--her calling to a dedicated religious life--has been severely undermined. He says: "She did choose a life of poverty, but she has been marginalized by sisters in the order because of her claims of abuse. She didn't receive the educational opportunities that allowed her to make her way through life both inside and outside the clergy."

Sincerely, Sister Jane

Survivors of church sex abuse have been described as "martyrs of this age." McDonald may have lost her religion, but not her faith.

"I don't know a whole lot, but I do know God is love, that's all, that's everything."

And although members of Holy Cross now address her as Miss McDonald in sparse correspondence she remains defiant, signing, "... Sincerely, Sister Jane."

Letter to the Editor - published June 15, 2003

As an organization working to bring about the Kingdom of God, the Canadian Religious Conference (CRC) appreciates CNT's commitment to reporting on issues of justice and peace.

However, we are very disappointed by the article "Desolation Angel," published on page 13 of the May 18, 2003 edition. While we support the freedom of the press to publish articles on any topic it sees fit, journalists must make every effort to be accurate and fair in their reporting.

The story of Sister Jane McDonald is certainly sad and unfortunate. The reporter seems to have very little knowledge of religious life. The article would have been less confusing and disturbing if it would have had good editing. We find it shocking that a Catholic newspaper would publish such misinformation about religious life.

It would take too much space to address each one of the errors in the article, so we will point out some of the major ones.

Religious and priests should not be lumped together. The situation of diocesan priests leaving the priesthood is quite different from religious leaving religious life. As a religious, McDonald is not a member of the clergy and at this time, there are no "female clergy."

The statement "would-be excommunicated oblate" is unclear and misleading. Excommunication is very serious. If you are excommunicated, it means that you are not allowed to receive the Eucharist and are no longer considered a member of the Catholic Church. One cannot be excommunicated for leaving a religious community.

Religious congregations are a form of Christian community. Parishes are also Christian communities. It may not be ideal, but just as everyone who belongs to a parish does not necessarily have friends in the parish, not every religious has friends in the congregation. The term "ostracized by the pack" makes congregations sound like packs of animals and is insulting to all religious.

Departures from religious communities are sensitive issues. The reasons are often very complex. There is a defined process in place that facilitates departure and is clear about the rights of both the member and the congregation. Once an individual has signed the necessary documents, she is not "downgraded to membership in the laity," she simply ceases to be a religious. A religious is not superior to a layperson. All baptized Christians share the common call to holiness.

The articles' lack of clarity about Sister Jane's situation raises many questions. Perhaps the main problem with the article is that it only uses one source: Sister Jane McDonald, a person who is in pain and suffering, her lawyer and an advocate. Her congregation is in the awkward position of not being able to respond due to ethical and legal reasons.

Some light could have been shed on the painful subject of leaving religious life if the reporter had also interviewed a neutral source, such as the Canadian Religious Conference or the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. This would have at least given some general information about the process of dispensation and maybe would have prevented some of these inaccuracies from being printed.

We pray for the healing of Sister McDonald and for all who are touched by this situation. In the future, we hope that you will make an effort to be more diligent in your editing and more accurate in your reporting.

Christina Parson

Communications Co-coordinator
Canadian Religious Conference

CNT Response to the letter

CNT apologizes for the inaccuracies printed in the above mentioned article and we are indebted for the sororal correction by the CRC. In retrospect we missed an opportunity to consult with a natural ally in this somewhat ambiguous minefield of ecclesiastical policy and governance. Time constraints and the sheer volume of material in our biggest issue of the year, while factors in our imprecision, are no excuses for our failures here.

As written in the article, attempts to contact Homes For Growth, the Sisters of Holy Cross and their legal representation over a one-month period were futile. Phone calls and e-mails were not returned. The whereabouts of Sister Jeanne Wilfort, remain "unknown."

The process of dispensation was thoroughly researched, but various text sources cite its ambiguity. As written in the article, dispensation has been described as a "canonical mystery." It is also stated in the article: "Although it was once a relatively simple procedure, lasting no longer than three years, it is now granted sparingly, with restrictions that are interpreted and enforced differently by each diocese."

As for the article's purported lack of clarity, the alleged abuse was not vividly depicted out of respect for the claimant, Sister Jane McDonald. The reporter chose to celebrate the nun's ecclesiastical life, contrasting it with her current woes--"no stipend, no income, no sick benefits, no insurance --just depression, a debilitating illness and isolation from her order."

COPYRIGHT 2003 Catholic New Times, Inc.

New Hampshire Union Leader

There were two stories about Jane in The New Hampshire Union Leader, both written by Kathryn Marchocki, a writer on the Union Leader Staff. She interviewed Jane by telephone and she had the Court material that had been filed at that time. Both articles are in a fee-for-service archive. They can be located by searching for the name Jeanne Wilfort, making sure to search the year 2003. The search engine brings up these excerpts and a message that advises that you can "Click for Full Story (x words), $2.50".

The Union Leader has been covering the story of the sexual abuse litigation against Roman Catholic clergy and religious who were active in the diocese of Manchester. Some Manchester priests were criminally charged and convicted - as in Boston and elsewhere in the United States. Some priests and religious were in fact opportunistic pedophile predators. Some of the other cases are more controversial. For instance this story in Wall Street Journal cases doubt on the case of Father Gordon MacRae. BishopAccountability.org collects and collates information about claims against priest and religious across the United States. It has a page for the Manchester diocese. Jane's story is not in that archive, and there are no stories about the Sisters of Holy Cross in that archive.

Catholics in New England have accused the Union Leader of anti-Catholic and anti-religious bias. They covered a story about sexual exploitation of youths by individuals acting under the cover of their clerical status, the reassignment of the offending priests, court cases, and the management of the situation by the Bishops.

To ex-nun, 'therapy' was abuse

Published on June 2, 2003, Page Number: B1

As a young nun, Jane McDonald was told she was special and her old wounds needed healing.

In private bedroom counseling sessions, the Manchester native said her charismatic religious superior presented herself as "pure goodness" whose caresses would banish the "evil mother" of McDonald's youth and restore her to wholeness.

Today, McDonald calls it sexual abuse.

Sister Jane McDonald, 51; had filed sex assault lawsuit

Published on August 2, 2003, Page Number: A6

Sister Jane McDonald, C.S.C., died July 29 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. She was 51.

McDonald, a Manchester native, joined the Roman Catholic religious congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1972. She did her religious training in Franklin and other novitiates in New England and New York.

In the mid-1970s, she was one of several religious sisters who followed Sister Jeanne Wilfort, who was provincial superior of the Western ...

Essays

Meet Sister Jane

(By Tony - April 6, 2004)

A little over two years ago, in the early months of 2002, I started a court proceeding for a woman who ran a drop-in center at Higgins and Main, in the very deepest, poorest, most alcohol and drug addled part of Winnipeg's inner City core. (I am, by the way, a lawyer by day). Sister Jane was, at that time, 50 and had been a Catholic nun since she 20. She was living alone, without the support of her religious congregation, and she had terminal cancer.

She had been raised in New Hampshire and joined her congregation as a young woman just at the time that memberships in the Catholic Religious Orders was plummeting. Soon after she joined her Order, she accepted an invitation from a Canadian nun, a self-styled visionary reformer, to move to Edmonton and then to Winnipeg to be part of an innovative spiritual commune.

It didn't work for Sister Jane. The project tried to fuse transformational psychology with Catholic spirituality but it seems to have lost its connection to the Scriptures and the traditions of the Church. It became the leader's personal project, and became whatever the leader wanted it to be. Jane found that her leader was controlling and grandiose. Jane swore in Affidavits that the leader introduced a purported therapy in which she initiated naked hugs which progressed to other sexual acts. Jane submitted sometimes but started to resist and react, which angered her leader, who disciplined her within the close confines of their communal life, and expelled her from the commune. She was then marginalized in her own Order because of her alienation from the leader and the rest of her Sisters who were connected to the commune and the project.

Sister Jane had remained a member of her Order, but had started to live on her own. She received a little support to find a building and start a drop-in place but she had to recruit a board and to find funds for operating expenses and her own needs from a very early stage. She made friends, and her friends supported her and her ministry.

When she found that she had cancer, she sought some support from her superiors in the Order. In that process she described her personal experiences in the new movement, and she found that she was getting very little support. The Archbishop of Winnipeg listened to her and helped her by paying for her trip to Ireland, and with some other needs, but he did not intervene in the affairs of Jane's autonomous Religious Congregation.

When I met Jane, her cancer was in remission and she was trying to understand if she could continue in that Religious Order, or if she had to leave. We started Court proceedings to recover compensation for the harm caused by illegal acts, her cancer came back in the winter of 2002-2003 and she died last summer. Her ministry was curtailed by her illness, and it closed for a while after she died. Her friends have been trying to revive it.

I visited her last spring, before her last hospitalization. Her ministry was based in an old three story bank building. The drop in was on the main floor and she lived in a suite on the upper floors. It was a small apartment, with a little chapel or prayer room. It was small oasis for her in a tough area of town and Jane lived with anxiety and fear.

When I had been discussing her evidence with her, I had tried to understand what she did at a drop-in. Did she provide a social service? Counselling? Teaching? Referrals to other agencies? Some kind of therapy? She explained it as living out the Church's preferential option for the poor. I recognized that as an articulation of liberation theology, but I don't think I started to understand it until later. What she did was to be present for people and to listen to them, providing them with a safety and respect. The theologian Rowan Williams, in his book "Christ on Trial, How the Gospel Unsettled our Judgment", wrote:

God's transcendence is in some sense present in and with those who do not have a voice, in and with those without power to affect their world, in and with those believed to have lost any right they might have had in the world. God is not with them because they are naturally virtuous, or because they are martyrs; he is simply there in the fact that they are 'left over' when the social and moral score is added up by the managers of social and moral behaviour.

What strikes me about Sister Jane's work is that she was able to carry on while she herself was deeply wounded. I think I have only been able understand the value of her ministry as I have begun to experience my own pain and powerlessness over the events and the people in my life, and when I have needed to have people listen to me.

Last week Vicki told me that Sister Jane had seen that I was going through some changes - as I certainly have been. I was simply moved to tears that she had the compassion to see me clearly while I thought I was ineffectually trying to help her.

Remembering Sister Jane

(By Tony - May 18, 2004)

Sister Jane's drop-in Center, Our Place/Chez Nous, operated in an old bank building at the corner of Main Street and Higgins Avenue. When Jane was sick, the Center was frequently closed. When Jane died, her friends and supporters on the Board of directors of the non-profit corporation were left with a decision to sell the building, or to try to carry on Sister Jane's work.

They have carried on. Jane's therapist and friend Vicki Frankel helped the Board to reorganize itself. The Board members trained themselves to work in the drop-in Center, and they found and trained more volunteers. They raised money, and they kept the doors open. The Archdiocese of Winnipeg has been recognizing their work, and Sister Jane's work in taking collections and publicizing the work of Chez Nous in its internal newsletter in May 2004.

On Sunday May 16, 2004, Chez Nous held an open house to unveil a plaque in memory of Sister Jane. I arrived late and missed the unveiling. The Archbishop of Winnipeg was there, which meant a lot to Jane's Catholic friends who saw it as supportive of Jane and her calling to work with the poor. I spoke with some of Jane's friends about how they were handling work with addicts and street people, and how they managed their safety and emotional boundaries with needy and sometimes dangerous people. I looked at the comfortable old furniture, the posters, the pictures of visitors and volunteers. Again, I was moved to realize that while Chez Nous offers little in the way of financial support, it tries to provide a safe respite from the street, with respect and love. I realized again that Sister Jane, from her own pain and confusion, had been true to her calling and true to the Gospel message of loving the poor.

I wasn't able to stay long because I found myself breaking down into tears. I don't think it was honest grief for Sister Jane, although I believe that her life and death were painful and sad. It was a more personal grief, of a self-pitying kind.

Jane's case also marked some turning points in my life. When I met Jane in late 2001 I was a few months past a series of surgical procedures and a diagnosis - incorrect as it happened - of colo-rectal cancer. I had started to go to Church again, after years of skepticism and anger at the Church. I was rejoicing in not having cancer, and in having had an explanation and an end to years of GI tract problems. However, my son was growing away from the family, and my wife was becoming desperately sad about Dave and angrily disappointed that I was more skeptical than ever about her favoured spirituality - the New Age. As I worked on Jane's case, I read about questionable Alternative therapies and human growth movements. Some books and articles directly indicted my wife's parents, friends and counsellors. For instance Singer and Lalich's book "Crazy Therapies" had a chapter on Neuro-Linguistic Therapy which was one of my mother-in-law's strong interests. My wife and her parents, and perhaps her own personal New Age counsellor did not like my research into cults and quack therapies. My wife became convinced that my skeptical attitude to her beliefs and activities was the main cause for our son's estrangement and rebellion and our daughter's emotional problems during her childhood and mid-teen years.

Visiting Chez Nous this past Sunday brought that sharply and painfully into focus. I don't blame my decision to take Jane's case for the changes in my own life. I think working with and for Jane has helped me, then and now, to understand what I believe in, and to accept that life comes with pain and loss.