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In a letter supporting Chittister, she wrote:

I do not see [Chittister's] participation in this conference as a "source of scandal to the faithful" as the Vatican alleges. I think the faithful can be scandalized when honest attempts to discuss questions of import to the church are forbidden.

I am trying to remain faithful to the role of the 1500-year-old monastic tradition within the larger Church … Benedictine communities of men and women were never intended to be part of the hierarchical or clerical status of the Church, but to stand apart from this structure and offer a different voice. Only if we do this can we live the gift that we are for the Church. Only in this way can we be faithful to the gift that women have within the Church.

Time reports that 127 of Mount St. Benedict's 128 nuns signed the letter, with 35 even pledging to share Chittister's punishment. But there was no punishment.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Chittister, a nun for 50 years, feels her actions come from the Benedictine tradition of standing against blind obedience. "I was not trying to be defiant," she said. "I was honestly, genuinely committed to the notion that silence and silencing is not good for the church."

Diplomats, go home
After arriving in Kabul on Tuesday to meet with Afghanistan's Taliban leaders about the fate of detained aid workers, foreign diplomats have spent three frustrating days in Kabul only now to be told their work there is done.

While diplomats were only given short meetings, made to wait extended periods of time, and denied higher-level discussions, Afghan rulers made it clear yesterday that they will not allow access to the eight foreign workers and that the diplomats should return to Pakistan to monitor the situation. According to the BBC, the director of the Taliban consular department said, "Our meetings are finished. There is no need for them to stay any longer."

The diplomats from Australia, Germany, and the United States were given meetings with Taliban authorities on Tuesday and Wednesday, but for little gain. All requests to see the eight Shelter Germany workers (four German, two Australian, and two American) arrested on August 5 have been unproductive. Taliban rulers did allow bags of food, letters, and other items to be passed on to the prisoners.

The diplomats aren't turning tail though. They say they will stay in Kabul as long as they can. Their visas expire on August 21.

Smile, you're on Abortioncams.com
The creator of The Nuremberg Files is making fresh headlines—and enemies—with a new site along the same anti-abortion lines. Abortioncams.com allows Web users to view stills and video of anybody going in and out of abortion clinics in multiple states.

The site is another brainchild of Neal Horsley, founder of The Christian Gallery News Service, an anti-abortion rights group based in Georgia. In March, Horsley's Nuremberg Files site had a $109 million lawsuit overturned thanks to First Amendment protection.

ABC News reports that Horsley believes his newest endeavor has journalistic merit. "If they make it illegal for me to report the abortion story then the idea of a free press will have been completely overturned by judicial tyranny," he told ABC. "All I'm doing is reporting the news."

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August (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45