NYT Smears Deceased Saintly Nun in Racially-Charged Piece

CV NEWS FEED // In an article about the reportedly incorrupt body of Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, the New York Times suggested that her legacy was being “promoted” by a “largely white movement” to make a political and racial point. 

Sister Wilhelmina was a holy African-American nun who passed away in 2019 at the age of 95. She founded the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, a contemplative Benedictine order based in rural Missouri and renowned for its award-winning music.

A few months ago, her body was discovered to be fully intact and preserved, although she was buried without being embalmed. Many Catholics have begun to discuss the possibility of her future sainthood.

As CatholicVote reported in May:

A traditional nun known for her piety and love for the Traditional Latin Mass, the Sister Wilhelmina has attracted a following of Catholics from across the Midwest, drawn to this Missouri rural town to witness the apparent miracle themselves.  The Church has yet to verify Sister Wilhemina’s case as an authentic incorrupt body and a formal cause for her canonization has not been opened.

“I became a nun because I was in love with the Lord,” Sister Wilhelmina was once quoted as saying.

However, a Saturday New York Times article on the apparent miracle conveyed a sharply different tone.

“Others question why Sister Wilhelmina is being promoted so eagerly by a largely white movement within the Catholic Church,” wrote the Times. “Almost all of the 64 women who make up the Benedictines of Mary are white.”

The Times quoted “Shannen Dee Williams, a historian at the University of Dayton and author of a book about Black Catholic nuns,” who “said she hopes that Sister Wilhelmina is not ‘being used to counter the reality of what Black Catholicism is in the United States.’” 

“She said Sister Wilhelmina’s beliefs did not make her representative of most Black Catholics, who tend to be more liberal on social issues,” the Times continued. “Dr. Williams noted that more than 70 percent of Black Catholics say abortion should be legal, for example, a higher level of support than Catholics in general.”

In response to the article, education freedom advocate Steve McGuire posted a poll on X (formerly known as Twitter), asking why Sister Wilhelmina is being “promoted.”

Only 4% of respondents felt that it was part of an effort to “misrepresent Black Cath[olic]s.” 

One X user said that the Times is “deeply confused by the fact people legitimately believe in their religion vs. using it as a skinsuit for political causes.”