The "Latest News" section on the main page of the web site of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles (click on this post's title) has a couple of items on the Sisters of Bethany, who are losing their home because the Archdiocese is selling their convent to pay the cost of settling the molestation-coverup lawsuits.
Also on that page, by the way, is an unrelated photo with this caption: "Dancer carries the lectionary during opening prayer service of the Religious Education Congress, 2005. Photo by Sr. Nancy Munro, CSJ."
Anyway, the one item is a notice from Sister M. Anncarla Costello, S.N.D., the Archdiocese of L.A.'s Vicar for Women Religious, which fingers Sister Angela (of the Sisters of Bethany in Santa Barbara) by name and which introduces a letter from Mother Luz Elena Ordonez Quezada, C.V.D., superior general of the Sisters of Bethany. The Archdiocese posted Sister Anncarla's notice on Sept. 21, but the notice's internal evidence dates it at Sept. 14.
The other item is a Sept. 11 statement by the Archdiocese.
Mother Luz's letter is dated Sept. 13. She says her Order has decided to "return the house in Santa Barbara" [to the Archdiocese].
A commenter or two has said at this blogspot that Mother Luz's letter apologized for the behavior of the Sisters of Bethany in Santa Barbara. But that is not precisely what her letter says:
"In my name and from our congregation I express all our pain and hurt for the sad events, because we are church, daughters of the church, and anything that hurts or injures our Mother Church, injures all of us in general."
"I express all our pain and hurt" does not sound like a typical apology. And "for the sad events" is so general that it certainly can be read to encompass the whole situation, including the Archdiocese's (mis)handling of it.
Would the Archdiocese be nicer to the Sisters of Bethany in Santa Barbara if they were liturgical dancers, pastorettes or something equally trendy?
Let's pray for the Sisters of Bethany during this sad time.