Caught this short note in the Chicago Tribune

McHenry County Board members have approved a religious order’s plans to build a retreat along Harmony Hill Road southeast of Marengo.

Members of Fraternite Notre Dame are expected to close on the property next month, said Joe Gottemoller, an attorney representing the order. The County Board voted 14-9 to approve the order’s petition. The four board members representing the area where the religious complex would be built opposed the petition.

Among Fraternite of Notre Dame’s plans for the 65 acres in Coral Township are 19 buildings, including chicken coops, barns, a beekeeper’s cottage, print shop, bakery and quarters for 14 sisters, 12 priests and 10 cloistered sisters.

Ah, then the article notes, the order is "not affiliated" with the Roman Catholic Church. Nope, and the Archdiocese of Chicago has warned against them. The particular weirdness about this group is their various professed alliances with the United Nations. Not normally something you’d expect.

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