Nun’s belief ends up getting her muzzled by Cincy Archdiocese

Louise Akers

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By Mary McCarty, Staff Writer 11:27 PM Saturday, September 5, 2009

How do you reward a Catholic sister for nearly 40 years of service to the cause of peace and justice?

If you’re the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, you tell her to shut up.

Look closely at this photo of Sister Louise Akers, 66, who joined the convent fresh out of Springfield’s Catholic Central High School. Does she look like a dangerous woman, or what?

This is the same woman outgoing Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk has banned from teaching at archdiocesan parishes and institutions because she supports the ordination of women.

Mind you, Akers has never misrepresented the teachings of the church. She simply had the audacity to voice her own support for the ordination of women, very publicly, for the better part of 30 years.

“It’s a difficult, pain-filled moment for me,” Akers said. “After 40 years of ministry, this is what happens.”

Akers will keep her job as coordinator for the Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation for the Sisters of Charity in Cincinnati. “My teaching is a significant part of my work, but a small part,” she said.

With her white hair and benign expression, Akers reminds me of another dangerous woman from the same archdiocese — Sister Dorothy Stang. Archbishop Pilarczyk has strongly encouraged Stang’s order, the Sisters of Notre Dame, to pursue canonization for the 73-year-old nun martyred in the Amazon.

Stang’s niece, Jeannie Richardson Erling of Dayton, is deeply upset about Akers: “It’s ironic. He’s telling Sister Louise to be quiet, but Aunt Dorothy was not inside the box at all.”

Stang’s lifelong friend, Sister Joan Krimm, works closely with Akers; both lead their respective order’s peace and justice offices. “Sister Louise has always been a loyal woman of the church,” Krimm noted. “She’s an excellent teacher. She has to be hurt deeply because she loves the Church deeply.”

Akers said Pilarczyk investigated the matter after receiving complaints from “extremely conservative pre-Vatican II Catholics” about her name being listed on the Web site for the Women’s Ordination Conference (womensordination.org). Akers serves on an advisory committee for the organization, which has launched a letter-writing drive on her behalf.

Akers said she held a “very cordial” private meeting with Pilarczyk on Aug. 10 in which he asked her to retract her support for women’s ordination. “It’s not that I won’t do it — I can’t do it,” Akers said. “It would be a lie.”

In an interview with Dayton Daily News reporter Tom Beyerlein, Pilarczyk and Dennis Schnurr, the archbishop in waiting, said that the ban on married male priests is a matter of church law, which conceivably could change, but that it’s a teaching of the Catholic church that women can’t be ordained as priests.

“It’s a teaching,” Akers acknowledged, “but it’s not an infallible teaching. It’s a significant concern for many, many Catholics. I’ve been overwhelmed by the positive response from people from all over the world. A former student thanked me for my stance and said, ‘Perhaps this is your best teaching.’”

It’s impossible to know how many women and young people have left the Catholic Church, or failed to consider becoming a member, because of its repressive stance. I worry what will happen with the next generation of women — the next Dorothy Stang or Louise Akers — if they’re given the message, “Dangerous women need not apply.”

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