The visibly religious community known as the Home of the Mother will be leaving Ave Maria University’s campus this week after allegations surfaced that Sister Maria Elena, the nun supervising the Women’s Discernment program, which helps young women determine if they have a calling to the religious life, “was responsible for immoral conduct” last year, the university announced Tuesday.
According to an initial story on community news website AveHerald.com, Sister Maria Elena was accused of having a sexual relationship with a student.
The religious group, which is based in Spain and known also by its Spanish name Hogar de la Madre, recalled the nun after learning of accusations that she had an inappropriate relationship with an adult female student in the program. The incident was not reported to the university; the superiors at the Home of the Mother also failed to follow Vatican-prescribed procedures for handling such incidents, according to the Naples Daily News.
The Home of the Mother group has been on the AMU campus since the 2004-2005 academic year — the school’s second year in Florida. Its nuns are known for their all-white habits.
The group has drawn both strong supporters and detractors in their time at Ave Maria, with some people admiring them for their evangelical fervor and others denouncing them as controlling and cult-like, reports the Naples Daily News.
Healy said the university is reviewing the future of the Women’s Discernment program on campus, which currently has about 15 young women, according to the Naples Daily News.
It appears Sister Maria Elena discerned she no longer had a vocation.
Will she have to give up her habit?
Here’s a typical day in the life of a Servant nun of this order, according to their website, the Home of the Mother:
The Servant Sisters keep silence from the time of Vespers in the evening until the following morning after prayer.
Every morning we do an hour of mental prayer with the Blessed Sacrament exposed and a half an hour in the evening. We pray the Rosary daily and, on feast days of Our Blessed Mother and the evening before, we pray it with greater solemnity. On Thursday nights we do turns of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, uniting ourselves to the sufferings of Jesus Christ in his Passion. Similarly, wherever we go, we try to introduce — or to recover in many cases — the Holy Hours in the parishes, with the conviction that God is alive, is effective, and continues to convert people. Our main task is to bring everyone, from children to adults, to adoration of the Eucharist. The Lord himself will take care of the rest. Every month we have a day of retreat and every year, Spiritual Exercises in solitude and silence.
Ave Maria, located east of Naples, was founded by uber-Catholic Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza and chairman of the Ave Maria Foundation.
What’s so different about Ave Maria?
Florida’s holy land, the town of Ave Maria
Ave Maria University: No pants for women
Ready for sex? Don’t count on condoms here
Uh, what happened to “Love thy neighbor” at religious school?
No place like these homes: Florida’s ‘most unusual’ communities
Photo: Home of the Mother Nuns at Ave Maria / HomeoftheMother.com
