Chronological Facts Concerning the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John (2009-2014)

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June 6, 2009: Cardinal Philippe Barbarin (the ordinary of the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John), in conformity with the Congregation for Consecrated Life,] asks Sister Alix Parmentier, the Prior General of the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John, to resign. He names Sister Johanna as Prior General for six years and asks her to nominate a new council. This decision was due to the discovery of serious dysfunction in the government of the sisters as well as the abuse of power.
June 7, 2009: A letter is signed by 30 sisters to express their explicit opposition to the Cardinal’s decisions.
August 2009: Following Sister Johanna’s naming of a new Novice Mistress, 50 novices decide to leave Saint Jodard (diocese of Lyon).
November 2009: Due to many instances of disobedience towards the new Prior General, Bishop Jean Bonfils, emeritus Bishop of Nice, is named Pontifical Commissioner. 4 sisters who were very influential in the government of the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John (one of whom was Sister Alix Parmentier) are asked by a directive from the Vatican to live in separate monasteries outside of the Community and to no longer have any influence upon the sisters.
February 2011: Nomination of Bishop Henri Brincard as the new Pontifical Commissioner.
June 29, 2012: Sisters who opposed the Church decisions and left the Community of the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John found the “Institute of the Sisters of Saint John and Saint Dominic” in the diocese of Cordoba, Spain.
July 2012: 70 novices leave the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John to join the Institute of the Sisters of Saint John and Saint Dominic.
January 2013: Pope Benedict XVI dissolves the “Institute of the Sisters of Saint John and Saint Dominic.”
May 2013: Of his own initiative, the Prior General of the Brothers of Saint John revealed that the founder of the Brothers of Saint John and Sisters of Saint John, Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, “had committed acts contrary to chastity with several adult women whom he accompanied at the time”.
July 1, 2014: Bishop Brincard writes a letter that conveys the decisions specified in a letter written on April 26, 2014, by the Papal Substitute Bishop Becciu. The letter] specifies that the sisters who had left the Community of Saint John can form an association of lay faithful with a view to becoming a religious institute and that 4 former sisters were excluded from religious life one of whom is Sister Alix Parmentier.
August 2014: In accordance with the permission granted by the Vatican, the sisters who had left the community of the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John found the community “Maria Stella Matutina” in the diocese of Saint Sebastian, Spain.
April 2015: Sister Paul-Marie Moulin is elected as Prior General of the Contemplative Sisters of Saint John.
February 2016: Sister Alix Parmentier passes away in Spain.