Education: Plain-Clothes Women

North Dakota's Protestants, who wanted to oust 75 Roman Catholic nuns teaching in the state's public schools, thought they had won the battle. They got a law passed forbidding public-school teachers to wear religious garb (TIME, July 12). They hoped that this would be enough.

But the Catholic Church had faced such laws before (in Canada and Mexico) and knew just what to do. Rather than allow schools to close for lack of teachers, said Bishop Vincent J. Ryan of Bismarck last week, nuns would be told to wear 'respectable secular dress. Some of the law's sponsors solicited support [by claiming] that...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!