WASHINGTON -- A Roman Catholic nun threatened with expulsion from her religious order for signing an abortion-related advertisement denied Wednesday a Vatican statement that she had retracted her signature.
But Sister Margaret Farley, a professor of ethics at Yale University and a member of the Sisters of Mercy order, said, 'I'm still assuming my case is closed.'
Farley is one of 24 nuns threatened with expulsion from their orders by the Vatican's Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes after they joined 53 other Catholics in signing the statement.
The 'Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion,' which appeared in The New York Times in October 1984 -- at the height of the presidiential campaign debate on the issue -- argued, 'A diversity of opinions regarding abortion exists among committed Catholics.'
The Vatican's CRIS has demanded the signers retract their statement and furnish a statement that they are in accord with the church's teaching that abortion is absolutely wrong.
Farley's case became public after John Carroll University, a Roman Catholic school in Cleveland, announced it planned to give her an award during April ceremonies marking its centennial.
The Cleveland diocese sought clarification of Farley's standing from the Vatican, and it in turn issued a statement saying:
'Sister Margaret Farley has retracted her signature from the Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, which appeared as an advertisement in The New York Times on Oct. 7, 1984. This affirmation was confirmed to us in a letter from Sister Helen Amos (the order's president) of the Detroit Province of the Sisters of Mercy which said: 'Sister Margaret's position is in accord with the teaching of the church.' Cardinal Jean Hamer (head of CRIS) acknowledged that this retraction was acceptable in a letter of 12-14-85.'
In a telephone interview, Farley said: 'My statement is that this is not accurate. It is not an accurate description of what has gone on.
'What I did, what the (order's) leadership did, was to clarify my position. And that was accepted as sufficient.'
Farley also said she had not asked the initiators of the original ad, Catholics For a Free Choice, to withdraw her name.
Francis Kissling, executive director of Catholics For a Free Choice, said that while seven cases, including Farley's, have been announced as closed, not any of the 24 sought to have their names withdrawn.
'There have been no retractions; there have been no withdrawals,' she said.
'I think that the situation with Sister Farley shows that there has been an awful lot of wishful thinking in the Catholic community about a quiet settlement of this situation,' she said.
'Indeed, CRIS is not likely to want this to be settled quietly but needs to make public statements about the sisters in question,' she said.
Farley said she understood leadership of her community is again in contact with the Vatican in an attempt to clarify her situation.
A second advertisement is scheduled to be published Sunday, March 2. The second ad was spurred by several events directed at dissenters from the church's position on abortion, including the excommunication of the Catholic executive director of Rhode Island's Planned Parenthood.
That ad, expected to be signed by more than 1,000 Catholics, will express solidarity with the original 97 signers and argue that 'reprisals' by church officials represent an 'abuse of ecclesiastical power (and) have a chilling effect on the right to responsible dissent within the church.'
