The Catholic Church now has a few words about some alleged nuns who showed up at a Trump rally in October: We don’t know her.A few weeks before the election, as then-President Trump campaigned in Michigan, he made the pretty reasonable assumption that a group of cheering women dressed in full habits were nuns. Reveling in his recovery from COVID-19 after receiving the drug Regeneron, Trump called out the women directly: “The next morning, Sister, I woke up, and it was like God touched my shoulder.” The crowd roared, and photos of the gleeful women quickly circulated.
But, just like so many other times during his presidency, Trump was wrong. On Wednesday, the National Catholic Reporter reported that these women were the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary—and that they aren’t associated with the Catholic Church at all. In other words, they’re not really, officially, nuns."The Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary are not, at present, in full communion with the Catholic Church and thus have no canonical standing within the Church," a spokesperson for the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, told the National Catholic Reporter. Two other organizations for communities of Catholic women in the U.S. also told the outlet that the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary weren’t associated with them. The National Catholic Reporter also couldn’t find the group in an authorized directory of Catholic institutions.The Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary do, however, have a website. They describe themselves as based in Hartland, Michigan, where the group says they want to “restore and preserve the traditional Dominican conventual life in the United States.”The website lacks much detail, but it does include some idyllic photographs and a donation page. Women can be seen reading, playing music, and showing off a neat diorama (complete with some winged figures walking alongside school children). In a few photos, a flag used by groups that don’t accept the pope’s validity can be spotted, according to the National Catholic Reporter.It’s unclear why the Catholic Church is setting the record straight now, especially given the fact that plenty of verified nuns aligned themselves with the Trump administration. (One even spoke at the Republican National Convention.) But an expert told the National Catholic Reporter that fake clergy can cause real problems."If people present themselves as religious with no recognition by the church, it's a misrepresentation and can cause scandal on the part of those who believe that they are legitimate and recognized religious in the church," said Sharon Euart, who leads the Resource Center for Religious Institutes.A VICE News request for comment to the Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, through their website, was not immediately returned. The National Catholic Reporter was also unable to get a comment from the not-nuns.
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