Mercy sisters say St. Meinrad did not respond to overtures

National Catholic Reporter, July 12, 1996

The Sisters of Mercy attempted to conduct a dialogue with officials at St. Meinrad School of Theology prior to the May 1995 firing of theology professor Sr. Carrnel McEnroy but received no response, according to the head of the orders U.S. province.

Mercy's U.S. provincial leader, Sr. Teresa O'Connel, sent a statement to NCR refuting claims made by St. Meinrad Archabbor Larnbert Reilly that charges made in a federal lawsuit filed by McEnroy against the school are "incorrect" and "irrelevant."

"It is false to assert that Sr. Carmel 'fails to address the religious ramifications of her dismissal" or that she ,chose not to address the matter within appropriate church channels,'" O'Connel wrote, referring to a letter from Reilly about the suit.

The suit, filed May 22 in U.S. District Court in Evansville, Ind., alleges that the St. Meinrad, Ind., seminary engaged in a pattern of sex discrimination against women professors since 1981. It alleges breach of contract and of good faith, and demands reinstatement, compensatory and punitive damages and a jury trial.

O'Connel said her congregation made "futile attempts" to initiate dialogue with St. Meinrad officials prior toMcEnroy's firing. St. Meinrad officials did not respond to the congregation's pleas, O'Connel said.

On April 12, 1995, the congregation's central leadership in Dublin sent a fax to St. Meinrad's president and rector Eugene Hensell, who signed McEnroy's 1992 tenured contract.

"We are concerned for one of the sisters of our congregation, Carmel McEnroy, who is in danger of losing her post in St. Meinrad's because of signing the open letter requesting the continuation of the dialogue on the ordination of women. We fail to understand how signing this letter as a private individual would warrant such a far-reaching response," the fax stated. "Carmel is a valued member of our congregation, and our hope is that this matter can be resolved with charity and justice."

O'Connel said Hensell never acknowledged the letter."

Sr. Elizabeth Manning, the congregation's Ireland provincial leader and McEnroy's superior general from 1991 to 1994 also sent faxes on April 7, 1995, to then St. Meinrad Archabbot Timothy Sweeney, Archbishop Daniel Buechlein of Indianapolis and Hensell, O'Connel said. Manning wrote that she thought that at a U.S. seminary, McEnroy, would be allowed academic freedom ... a prized and cherished feature of educational institutions in Ireland and Western Europe."

Citing the first directive of the congregation, which calls members to commit themselves "to promote the dignity of women, enabling the oppressed to become agents of their own liberation," Manning said she could not ask McEnroy to remain silent. "I ask you to challenge the accusation of "dissent, leveled against her," Manning wrote.

According to O'Connel, Manning received no response to this correspondence.

Hensell and Sweeney also failed to respond to an April 30, 1995, letter from nine Mercy sisters of the Ballymahon community urging McEnroy's reinstatement, O'Connel said.

The sisters described McEnroy as "a woman of the highest integrity" who "has always searched for the truth and has consistently displayed great courage in speaking it." The sisters said McEnroy was a tenured professor under a contract including "clear specifications of academic freedom and private rights." The issue, the sisters wrote, was one of justice.

In her statement to NCR, O'Connel asked: "Had this been a male professor, would the archabbot have communicated with his provincial, as he did in other instances?"

O'Connel refuted Reilly's claims that McEnroy's removal ,twas a church matter and was handled according to church law." Church law, O'Connel said, "provides due process and (McEnroy) was denied that process." McEnroy received her contract from St. Meinrad, not from the church, O'Connel said.

"It is regrettable that the new archabbot endorsed his predecessor's action instead of reaching out to Sr. Carmel and her community in a just and healing manner," O'Connel wrote. "Now she is asking the civil court for the justice denied her by St. Meinrad under the guise of "church raw, She had no other recourse."

O'Connel said McEnroy "continues to have solid community support."