Nuns fight strip club next to convent in Chicago

WHEN Stone Park’s village government authorized a new strip club to come to town, officials did more than enhance its reputation as a “sin city” of the western Chicago suburbs.

They upset a group of nuns.

Turns out the Stone Park village board approved the project even though the club – which is still under construction and hasn’t yet opened – is adjacent to a convent that includes a complex for elderly and sick nuns, and another building for young women wishing to enter the Roman Catholic sisterhood.

“What are we trying to teach the children in the neighborhood?” said Sister Marissonia Daltoe, of the Missionary Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo – Scalabrinians.

The religious order occupies the property next to the club, which will feature partially nude performers and alcohol.

“Also, our novices, we’re trying to form them to live a religious life, a missionary life, and it’s so ironic that right behind them is this place,” said Daltoe, whose group is based in Rome, historically dedicated to aiding “migrants” and comprised of 800 or so members around the globe.

But beyond moral objections, the nuns are now raising questions about whether the rules were followed properly by Stone Park officials during the 2010 approval process.

Report from Chicago Sun-Times