Outrage over Vatican request for $1.1 million to fund sisters investigation

Pass the hat! I'd contribute to this important effort!

The only folks who are "outraged" over this are the sisters being investigated and their supporters and the bishops who are in league with them. Fortunately, nothing will come from these protests.

But bishops are responsible for the care of souls within their dioceses. If they'd been doing their job in the first place - i.e., encouraging sisters to live a distinctive vocation while maintaining at least some fidelity to the Church - then this whole visitation wouldn't be necessary at all. If you neglect the change oil light in your car, you end up paying more for your neglect. The Bishops neglected the sisters losing their numbers, and they neglected the sisters' abandonment of their previous apostolates, and they neglected the sisters' descent into questionable orthodoxy. Why shouldn't the Bishops pay for their neglect?

I guess the only real question would be whether the costs the recent visitation of seminaries and houses of formation was also offset by the US bishops.

I am outraged over (almost) the entire Church. I am outraged over the pedophia and how it has been and is being covered up. I am outraged over the bishops building their very expensive palaces while demanding more and more funds from their "flock" to pay for the extravagances. I am outraged that the bishops are continually asking for money for the poor of their flocks and for schools while closing Catholic schools and yet building multi-million dollar palaces in the same breath.

I am very displeased that many of our nuns have chosen to not wear habits and adopt a lesbian lifestyle. At the same time, people wonder why there are no longer enough nuns...Really! And, is there any misunderstanding as to why we do not have enough priests, as well?

50-60 years ago, our country and the US Church had rather high moral standards and we were all much more satisfied/happy with our lives. Not to say there were no problems in the Church or in the publiic arena. There were issues but not of the multitude and degree we see today.

Coincidence or not, the Church has attempted to modernize itself and become more relevant to/for the members/community. Well, it certainly has. The icing on the cake was, in MY OPINION, Vatican II, apparently so well attended by Satan and his minions.

Shame on the Vatican, on our bishops and nuns (only the many responsible) for leading us into this era of Godlessness.

Thank God for The Divine Mercy. We need His Mercy more than ever.

I would also like to add my outrage over this. Sending letters to our local bishops and leting them know that we are against finacially supporting this may also be needed.

If the bishops were required to contribute to the investigation a certain amount for each nun they count in the annual statistics they supply to The Official Catholic Directory, we might finally learn how many nuns there actually are in American convents.

Many (most?) nuns are counted (at least) twice in the Directory's totals: once by the bishops in whose dioceses their motherhouses are and again by the bishops in whose dioceses they live and work. Thus, the oft-repeated but never substantiated figure of 59,000.

http://GerelynHollingsworth.com/

But Sister Marionette (that's French for PUPPET) Millea told the media last July that "private donors funding the study did not wish to be named," didn't she? So where is all THAT money they've already taken in going? Rode and Levada's GOLDEN PARACHUTES? Or did OPUS DEI, EWTN and the LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST back out of the deal to GET THOSE NUNS who refuse to wear habits and live in convents?

FOLLOW THE MONEY!!!! Time to hold the USCCB accountable DIOCESE BY DIOCESE for every dime they send to that Vatican witch hunt account. As Nancy Reagan once admonished America: "JUST SAY NO!"

American Catholics would do much better to send those $1.1 million dollars to www.soar-usa.org and take care of scores of aging sisters who basically worked for room and board for decades in Catholic schools and hospitals. But for those sheep who choose to keep being fleeced, EARMARK your donations by check - specifically telling them this may NOT be used to fund the apostolic visitation of American women religious.

Nice job, bishops. USE these women during their prime to build your empires and then throw them under a bus in their golden years...

I love how NCR really tries hard to unite the people of God... by forstering real hate for the Apostles' successors, because, IF you are Catholic, you are to believe that that is what our bishops are ("If", I said). Otherwise, no matter how much you want to go around it, you're just not Catholic. Period.

NCR does a great service to the Pilgrim Church...

There's no "opt out" of certain aspects of the Church. It's a "take all/leave all". You might like polyester or silk, but you take the hierarchical structure as it is... with its imperfections and all.

If you don't like what you see, what on Earth are you doing here? I'm sure there are plenty of options that suit your taste in other Christian denominations.

Come the time when we all stand before the Eternal Judge, I guess we'll see who was right...

I just read on National Catholic Reporter that the Vatican (= corrupt patriarchy run rampant) plans to tax American Catholics $1.1 million for the investigation of our beloved American nuns who are working in a variety of missions because the American church finally decided to stop exploiting them. TNCATH,I am not a nun and I am not a bishop AND I am outraged. We exploited them in our churches, schools, and hospitals. Now we are investigating them because they, in faithfulness to their vows, have continued to serve the people of God when we could no longer afford to pay them a decent wage.

Those who would put the sisters back in habits and traditional convents--put them in their place--are guilty of crass sexism. They are a vibrant voice in the church today and deserve to be listened to. Instead, the Vatican, fearful of the wisdom of these women, wants to silence them. I really believe that the nuns I know are beyond intimidation by a bunch of Vatican clerics who wear swishy dresses (cassocks or whatever).

In a world where many, many people do not have food, drink, shelter, education and medical care, this is an ABOMINATION of the greatest magnitude! I am appalled at this unconscionable request. How much human misery and suffering would $1.1 million alleviate?

Now It is time for American Catholics to stand up to patriarchy and oppression! Why the investigation? Because bright, energetic, service-oriented American women, who have taken vows to serve the least among us, are threats to the ecclesiastical hierarchy because they threaten generations of male, patriarchal domination of American religious women.

Here is the patriarchal kicker. If the Vatican assesses the ever kowtowing and subservient American bishops, then the bishops will assess the American dioceses. Then, the dioceses will assess the parishes. Guess what? The parishes, whether we contribute or not, will have to pay their assessment OUT OF THE OFFERTORY COLLECTIONS! The bottom line is that we pay whether we agree with the Vatican witch hunt or not.

We can stop this utter patriarchal foolishness. Yes, we can. We are church! We are the people of God!

Tell your pastor how you feel and put him on notice. Tell your pastor, “I will stop contributing anything to our parish until you assure me that none of my contributions will go to the diocese and to the Vatican Witch Hunt.” In the memo section of your check to the church, write "Not for Investigation of Nuns." This becomes a pious bequest under Canon Law and creates bookkeeping nightmares!

Let justice roll down like a mighty river—NOW!!! We are the people of God!!!!

Rise up people of God. Let justice roll down like a mighty river!

In case you all forgot, the Vatican just wrapped up a major "investigation" of American seminary's, largely as a response to the sex abuse crisis. So please don't be a revisionist historian and make it seem like the womens religious orders are being singled out.

Ah, the Vatican prelates who do not have roots in our American culture do not understand the depth with which all Americans abhor 'taxation without representation'. It stimulated a rebellion against a king who ruled by 'divine right' once already. Be careful -- it may do so again!

The only thing worse than asking for the funds is if they attached indulgences to it as well. If you ask me, the nuns should be investigating the Vatican.

Some commentators here have suggested that if each US religious women currently under investigation contributed eighteen dollars, that would make up the $1,100,000.

I find a much holier use for those eighteen dollars each to be subscribing to the reverend Sister Joan Chittister's monthly, going as it does at precisely eighteen dollars, and finding it far more edifying spiritually and strengthening morally than anything now creeping this way from Rome with hand outstretched rather than arms embracing.

H. Res. 441
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
September 22, 2009.
Whereas the social, cultural, and political contributions of Catholic sisters have played a vital role in shaping life in the United States;

Whereas such women have joined in unique forms of intentional communitarian life dedicated to prayer and service since the very beginnings of our Nation's history, fearlessly
and often sacrificially committing their personal lives to teaching, healing, and social action;

Whereas the first Catholic sisters to live and work in the United States were nine Ursuline Sisters, who journeyed from France to New Orleans in 1727;

Whereas at least nine sisters from the United States have been martyred since 1980 while working for social justice and human rights overseas;

Whereas Maura Clark, MM, Ita Ford, MM, and Dorothy Kazel, OSU were martyred in El Salvador in 1980; Whereas Joel Kolmer, ASC, Shirley Kolmer, ASC, Kathleen McGuire, ASC, Agnes Mueller, ASC, and Barbara Ann Muttra, ASC were martyred in Liberia in 1992;
Whereas Dorothy Stang, SNDdeN was martyred in Brazil in 2005;

Whereas Catholic sisters established the Nation's largest private school system and founded more than 110 United States colleges and universities, educating millions of young people in the United States;

Whereas there were approximately 32,000 Catholic sisters in the United States who taught 400,000 children in 2,000 parochial schools by 1880, and there were 180,000 Catholic sisters who taught nearly 4,500,000 children by 1965;

Whereas today, there are approximately 59,000 Catholic sisters in the United States;

Whereas Catholic sisters participated in the opening of the West, traveling vast distances to minister in remote locations, setting up schools and hospitals, and working among native populations on distant reservations;

Whereas more than 600 sisters from 21 different religious communities nursed both Union and Confederate soldiers alike during the Civil War;

Whereas Cath olic sisters cared for afflicted populations during the epidemics of cholera, typhoid, yellow fever, smallpox, tuberculosis, and influenza during the 19th and early 20th centuries;

Whereas Catholic sisters built and established hospitals, orphanages, and charitable institutions that have served millions of people, managing organizations long before similar positions were open to women;

Whereas approximately one in six hospital patients in the United States were treated in a Catholic facility;

Whereas Catholic sisters have been among the first to stand with the underprivileged, to work and educate among the poor and underserved, and to facilitate leadership
through opportunity and example;

Whereas Catholic sisters continue to provide shelter, food, and basic human needs to the economically or socially disadvantaged and advocate relentlessly for the fair and equal treatment of all persons;

Whereas Catholic sisters work for the eradication of poverty and racism and for the promotion of nonviolence, equality, and democracy in principle and in action;

Whereas the humanitarian work of Catholic sisters with communities in crisis and refuge throughout the world positions them as activists and diplomats of peace and justice for the some of the most at risk populations; and

Whereas the Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America Traveling Exhibit is sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in associ ation with Cincinnati Museum Center and will open on May 16, 2009, in Cincinnati, Ohio: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,

That the House of Representatives-

(1) honors and commends Catholic sisters for their humble service and courageous sacrifice throughout the history of this Nation; and
(2) supports the goals of the Women & Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America Traveling Exhibit, a project sponsored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in association with Cincinnati Museum Center and established to recognize the historical contributions of Catholic sisters in the United States.
Attest:
Clerk.

H.RES.441
Title: Honoring the historical contributions of Catholic sisters in the United States.
Sponsor: Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] (introduced 5/14/2009) Cosponsors (67)
Latest Major Action: 9/22/2009 Passed/agreed to in House. Status: On motion to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution, as amended Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 412 - 0 (Roll no. 720).

Link to website: http://www.lcwr.org/what'snew/HR441.pdf

Link to those who voted yes: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll720.xml

Link to Cosponsors: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HE00441:@@@P

If the Nuns that are under scrutiny were acting like religious rather then Secular workers, if many of the communities werent producing women who were out right supporters of distorting the priesthood, or undermining the bishops,

NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING.

If the church wasnt losing people, because of the poor Cathechisis being taught by the Parochial administrators, and the Nuns who primarily run catholic schools (the more modern orders, no habits, etc),

NONE OF THIS WOULD BE HAPPENING.

We depend on our Nuns for ALOT and its been stated by the supporters who are against the visitation. But, we cannot exist when they are working against the very pillars of the church, which despite what they think, has nothing to do with gender at all.

Quit supporting women priests, teach the faith as its in the catechism, and support your diocesan bishop. You do that, the church will flourish.

Just what are you investigating?

You can get tickets for about $999.00 US.
You can spend the night at my home for about $5.50 US a night...[ Non profit ]. This includes the one meal a day I eat.

You can car pool for gas.
The local library has provisions for cheap scans...etc.

That would be about $14,000.00 US...for Twelve people.

For another say $200.00 Us dollars...you can take a few kids for a "Visitation" with these Sisters.... [ Money, better spent, I think...please, can I go? ].

As always, just my thoughts.

How can we account for the dwindling numbers of women religious in the United States? Strong Catholic women who have leadership gifts are considered second class citizens. They are treated differently from Catholic men who also are gifted in leadership. The Vatican seems to have no understanding of the struggle for gender equality in the United States. Many religions encourage both women and men to pursue leadership roles. Catholic women who feel called to leadership are leaving their church and are being welcomed in faith traditions that recognize the gifts that God has given to them.