Guided to the monastery for this reason

I am experiencing a call to form an intentional community, given the closing of parishes and the reversal of lay leadership and the lack of women's voices and presence in the leadership and governance of our Church. I will pray more fervently about this, as it will take a giant movement by the Holy Spirit to gather the community being called to such as this.

Yes, Sr. Joan, a little more love and a little less discipline would be nice.
Dialogue would help as well. An exchange between our visions of Jesus. So much of Rome's showing of Jesus seems disembodied, as if they had stopped walking behind him long ago.
Jesus sat with the people at the margins. Rome seems to sweep them away -- feminists, women priests, divorcees, LGBT, etc... So many of us are left with our spiritual hunger...

Sooo well said, Joan. Loving Witness to the Gospel is what people are hungering for. They are waiting to meet Christ!
So powerful a sentence you write: ..the number of church ministries being curtailed due to diocesan bankruptcies weakens the public presence of the Church as well as the Gospel image and social effectiveness.
Yes it takes the WHOLE Church to examine and face these numbers.
Thank you.

Amen to that Sr. Joan! You are right on target ... as always. Please keep up your honest and bold statements. We need more people like you.

Right on...and for a look on the positive side they may want to count the # of oblates and associates being attracted to a committed life by the work done by monastics and religious.

I am an oblate of Mt St Benedict Monastery. A FORMER catholic. I am one who prays with the monastics at Mt St Benedict for the WHOLE church. I walked away from Catholicism years ago because of the male patriarcial hierarchy. I'm glad I did. I traded all of that aggravation and guilt and manipulation for a rich spiritual life that is supported by many resources made available through Mt St Benedict Monastery.

Sr. Joan,

You are such a ray of hope in these times. As a cradle Catholic growing up in the late 40's - 60's I was raised in the strict tradition. If boulion soup touched my lips on a Friday I would be saying my prayers! Daily mass for many years, then I went to work for a Catholic Church in my forties.....wow! Comes the Dawn...Still work for the church because I believe in my ministry but as for a practicing Catholic I am definitely in the "drop out" number. I do try to continue to develop my spiritula beliefs, Lexio, Meditation, going to workshops (I have been fortunate enough to attend a few of yours and several of Richard Rohrs). I am so grateful to you because whenever I am ready to give up altogether I hear something from you that says to me "hang in there, stand for what you believe in, change is coming". As a woman who was in an abusive marraige and worked for abusive pastors, I continue to get stronger. I have no desire personally to be a priest but cheer for those women who do! I have met many women religious and lay women that would make wonderful priest..much better than many ordained men that I know. We need to be heard, we need balance in our church. God dosn't have favorites and that includes Men!

Peace to you and thank you for keeping up the good fight!

Joan,
Once again a sharp and beautiful look at the complex situation we have put ourselves into. A good job you were not in Rome in March last year to hear Cardinal Prefect Rode state that the way forward for religious orders and congregations was to get back into habits, re-impose a common daily order, and reaffirm obedience to Rome.
Jon

Dear Sister, I'm with you. Below is the message I sent to Cardinal Rode`

Dear Cardinal Rode`,
I read with interest about the planned visitation to the women's religious congregations in the United States. I assume, I hope rightfully so, the "visitors" will come with words of encouragement and thanks. May I suggest they do more than that. After expressing their thanks and encouragement might they not then remain silent and LISTEN to the hopes and needs of these faithful women - listen to their collective prophetic voice and then return to Rome with gratitude for the learning experience and with determination to continue the Church's ongoing renewal.
Peace in Christ,
Ronald Boccieri

Dear Sister,
I'm with you. Here is what I sent to Cardinal Rode`

Dear Cardinal Rode`,
I read with interest about the planned visitation to the women's religious congregations in the United States. I assume, I hope rightfully so, the "visitors" will come with words of encouragement and thanks. May I suggest they do more than that. After expressing their thanks and encouragement might they not then remain silent and LISTEN to the hopes and needs of these faithful women - listen to their collective prophetic voice and then return to Rome with gratitude for the learning experience and with determination to continue the Church's ongoing renewal.
Peace in Christ,
Ronald B

Sr. Joan,

How right you are! And great to read your column on the 25th of March - the World Day of Prayer for Women's ordination. It is already being celebrated around the world by many women priests. Soon our unelected leaders in Rome will realise the Holy Spirit has led the church where they are not willing to lead.

God bless you!

Blessings from Ireland!

My heart aches for the Church. The Church that is, and the Church that could be, if only the retentive males who lead it would be truly open to the Spirit.
I have a formal education in pastoral ministry, and yet, because of the dismal state of our economy and the financial state of many parishes, I cannot minister to the people of God. I suppose I could, if I did this full time job as a volunteer..but that doesn't pay the rent.
There are some good, conscientious priests who are doing their best to tend to the needs of their parishioners, be present to them, and preside at well-prepared liturgies. I admire these men, but wish Rome would see that these dedicated celibate males are not the only people who can minister capably. In fact, the demands of the Church are pushing these good men to an early grave due to increased stress, unrealistic assignments, and the demands of serving so many people. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see the Church actually welcome people to ministry, regardless of their gender or marital status? I doubt that in my lifetime this movement of the Spirit will be recognized. But there are people in our Catholic Church now who hear the Spirit in the whisper of the wind. I hope it will not take a mighty flood for Church leadership to hear the Spirit as well.

Thank you for your wisdom, Sr. Joan! As an exodus Catholic, I have chosen many authors to take along with me on my journey. You are one of the best.

Sr. Joan,
My deceased mother always said that she refused to pray for more male vocations to the priesthood because the solution to the problem was in ordaining women. Reading your weekly column gives me hope that her dream may one day come true, but I get discouraged when I see these big men in the Big Church hang on for dear life to an institution and rules so outmoded and so far away from the "Gospel and life-giving service to the poor and suffering loving witness to the poor and suffering." I hang on out of stubbornness: the Church needs to hear my voice, and they tell me that I am the church. And I hang on because of Sisters like you who continue to make a difference in the lives of all of us who believe in the original mission of Jesus. I hang on because the Church needs strong women like our sister Mary, speaking out against injustice in the world and in our own Church. Thanks.

I was a Director of Religious Education in Los Angeles CA ...now A FORMER catholic. I walked away from Catholicism when I retired in AZ. My AZ parish in retirement lost 2 priests to sex scandal, current pastor is mentally unstable and abusive to all. Bishop does nothing, A TRUE SCANDAL.
I'm glad I left. I traded all of that aggravation, sexism, and medieval strangulation for a "reformed" catholic church which encourages ALL to a rich spiritual life that is supported by many resources made available through the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America - ELCA.
The BODY and BLOOD of CHRIST is consecrated in a truely reformed community proclaiming and witnessing the WORD.
Maybe the Roman Catholic Church just got too big... like AIG.
Is it worth saving? Or should we allow it to evolve as the HOLY SPIRIT leads with reformations, Vatican III's, mega and mini Christian community/churches and be brave enough to take the lead in our families and communities seeking justice, serving the poor, and praising GOD wherever we are called.

With great thanks for being my voice. As an older woman in the church I find it so very frustrating to not being heard, so it is good to have you speak for me.

Keep on speaking out for me and all other women.

Sr. Joan,
You are a true voice of wisdom in today's Catholic church. I treasure receiving your posts, and I was fortunate enough to see and hear you speak at the Seeds of Compassion conference in Seattle last year. I am wondering, though, about something you said in this post: "The numbers that dominate the church in our day are institutional markers rather than devotional landmarks or spiritual ideals." As a frequent volunteer at monasteries (including Benedictine), I have been worrying about just this issue. It seems that, from my standpoint, the sisters are not doing enough to openly accept women of diverse backgrounds. In fact, I have witnessed the rejection of women who may have brought new thinking to the "institution." This disturbs me very much. Nonetheless, I will continue to welcome your posts and listen to your wisdom.

RC..the Real Christ not the Rules Church

Sister Joan,
Bravo for your wise insights and your summary of following the Gospel through loving witness and service to the poor and suffering! It does seem that the RC Church is obsessed with numbers and rules and in crises it resorts to old methodology such as building or remodeling buildings rather than serving and inviting people to participate.

My heart aches when I hear stories of both lay and clergy discouraging family and friends from fuller participation by pointing out exact rules of membership or even using harsh words such as excommunication. The gospel Jesus oozes with warmth and hospitality without organizational pronouncements. As an independent catholic I try to share this type of love.
May we keep on oozing.

You are a prophetic witness to what needs to be faced by the male leadership of the church if this church is to walk the walk of Jesus. People are being denied the opportunity of being sacramental recipients sharing life in small communities. The loving response to the signs of the times as promulgated by the decrees of Vatican II have been ignored/denigrated and are being replaced by the harsh punishment-oriented medieval manner of controlling "errant," uneducated children. It is so painfully sad to witness such negativity when people are suffering and long to experience our loving God. Thank you for so eloquently expressing the situation as it exists. God bless you!

Blind leading the blind

The current lack of leadership and widespread mediocrity among the Bishops in the Catholic Church in America (led by an all male celibate clergy) is best depicted by the painting:

The Blind Leading the Blind, 1568, Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples

http://www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=g&p=c&a=p&ID=1129

There are six blind men going forward one after the other. A blind guide goes first and falls in a hole with his staff. The next blind trips over the first one. The third connected with the second with a staff follow his predecessors. The fifth and the sixth don't yet know what is happening but will fall into the hole at the end.

The painting is based on Luke 6:39 from the Bible: "Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch?"
****************************************************************************
Thankfully, all is not lost. We do have a few good Bishops, but they are often "silenced" by a "vocal" minority of "SELF-SERVING" Bishops, who have apparently hijacked the USCCB, as can be read at:

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=16918

God bless,
M.Francis

Confessions in New York

"The number of episcopal cover-ups that allowed sex abusers to go on functioning at the expense of Catholic children and families leaves a public less inclined to turn their own consciences over to institutions that are apparently having trouble monitoring their own."

I wonder how many of the Parishoners will go to confession at Our Lady of the Snows Church in Queens, New York, or at the Benedictine Hospital in Buffalo,New York this Lent:

The Buffalo News
11/01/08 06:39 AM

Diocese bars priest named in suit
ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://www.buffalonews.com/nationalworld/state/story/480629.html

NEW YORK — A Catholic priest accused of seducing a distraught New York divorcee has been dropped as a hospital chaplain and barred from serving as a priest in the city.

The Rev. Elvis Elano is named in a $25 million lawsuit that details his relationship with Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn, whom he met when she came to him for confession at a Queens church.

He left two months ago to work as a chaplain at Benedictine Hospital in Kingston, living in the rectory of nearby St. Joseph’s Church.

“Father Elano has been suspended from his duties at Benedictine Hospital, where he provided pastoral care to our patients since August,” hospital spokesman Sean Casey told the Daily News.

Church officials in New York City said Elano — ordained in the Philippines in 1992 — also had been barred from serving as a priest here. But the Rev. Kieran Harrington, a church spokesman, said Elano’s departure from Our Lady of the Snows Church in Queens had nothing to do with the sex scandal.

In the lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn state Supreme Court, the 50-year-old woman said her affair with the 44-year-old priest began in March, after she told him about her divorce during confession at Our Lady of the Snows Church in Queens.

She said he began “encouraging her to engage in a sexual liaison with him to assist her in overcoming her pain associated with her husband and because it was ‘ordained by God,’ ” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also names the Diocese of Brooklyn, which includes Queens, and the Our Lady of the Snows Church as defendants, charging them with negligence for failing to properly supervise the priest.

On Thursday, the Vatican issued a new document saying that candidates for priesthood should take tests to screen out heterosexuals who cannot control their sexual urges and those with strong homosexual tendencies.

Priesthood “requires certain abilities as well as moral and theological virtues, which are supported by a human and psychic — and particularly affective — equilibrium, so as to allow the subject to be adequately predisposed for giving of himself in the celibate life,” said the document from the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Woman_Claims_Priest_Lured_Her_Into_...

Woman Claims Queens Priest Lured Her Into Sex

Updated 7:53 AM EDT, Thu, Oct 30, 2008

A woman is suing her parish priest, claiming he lured her into having sex that he said was "ordained by God." Instead, she says, he took advantage of her when she sought spiritual solace after her divorce.

Judith Rodrigues-Lytwyn filed her $25 million lawsuit in Brooklyn state Supreme Court. She says the seven-month affair left her feeling "severe stress" and "shame."

The 50-year-old parishioner charges the priest with using his collar -- and Viagra -- to seduce her.

She had gone to confession at Our Lady of the Snows Church in Queens and told the priest about her divorce from an abusive husband, when she says he began "encouraging her to engage in a sexual liaison with him to assist her in overcoming her pain associated with her husband and because it was 'ordained by God,"' according to the lawsuit.

"Elano professed his love, devotion and physical attraction to (Rodrigues-Lytwyn), stating, 'Your presence struck me like a thunderbolt,"' according to the court papers, and she was "overwhelmed" by his advances "and soon thereafter succumbed to them."

As part of the suit, filed Monday, she provided photographs of him -- one of him shirtless and kneeling next to her bed, another of the two of them embraced on a Long Island beach, and a third showing him clenching a rose in his mouth.

The relationship ended earlier this month, after she received an e-mail from the priest telling her "that he developed a rash in his groin and legs and believed it was from his sexual liaisons with others."

I often wonder why the Church never tries anything new or active in terms of communicating with its members. The sacraments and liturgical services are surely great gifts that the ordained provide for us. I am truly thankful for them, but they aren't enough. I am continually saddened by the what I see as a vacuum of communication between the ordained and the "regular" churchgoing (or not) members of the church like myself. If the church made open, fearless, regular communication with all members of the church a priority, many of the Catholics I grew up with, almost none of whom still participate in the life of the Church, might want to be a part of it again. I really want them to be. I can't help feeling like part of a broken family each week at mass.

Thank you Joan for stressing the vital importance of the Church facing its current situation squarely and openly.

For many years I have not taken seriously the pronouncements and actions coming from the Institutional hierarchical clerical church centered at the Vatican. Every time someone is silenced I read the works of that individual to see what is being proposed. I also have found the writings and actions of Sister Joan to be infinitely more nourishing to my spirit and validating of my own experience. Sister Joan speaks truth to power and to and for those on the margins as well, whether it is those who are impoverished materially, or whether it is women who are marginalized and excluded by the institutional church and often society, or those who are marginalized because of their sexual orientation. She sees and speaks to those who find themselves on the margins for many different reasons. Sister Joan is truly delivering the "Good News" for our time. She identifies the important issues for THE CHURCH and writes about what is truly relevant for our times. She keeps hope alive for those of us who have and await a different vision of what it means to be CHURCH.

I am not a Catholic. I grew up in the 1960s in a Catholic neighborhood, but I was not "included" because I wasn't the "right" religion... I was Presbyterian.

Now as an adult, married to a Catholic who no longer attends a Catholic Church, none of that matters to me. I am in awe of many readings from Catholic authors... Richard Rohr, Thomas Merton, Henry Nouwen, among others. My current goal is to read every book that you have published, Joan... I am 1/4 of the way there. I was thrilled when my college-aged daughter selected a Catholic college with the leadership and wisdom of the Sisters of Charity :) I participate in women's groups, all of which are Catholic.

The Catholic Church has so much to offer from where I stand on the outside, but it is buried under church authority.

In particular, as a women, I simply can't bear the Church's view of women...
"The Church has never ordained women. Jesus did not do it, the Apostles did not do it, nor has the Church ever accepted the reasoning put forward in its behalf. When after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the question was broached for the first time in modern times, the Church examined it, discussed it, and then formally closed the debate by solemnly upholding the two-thousand-year tradition." [Catholic Insight, Feb. 2002]

How can the membership in a church grow when half of it's membership is considered "second class"?

Witness to the Gospel

is the last item on the list for many of our "poorly educated, and not well - formed" bishops.

Over the years, they have learnt that their Career advancement depends only on their peformance as (Canon) Law Enforcement Officers, who may periodically dole out favors such as indulgences (for the Pauline Year), and medieval Mass forms (Tridentine Mass to please the Pope who as an 80-year old grew up [before Vatican II] with Latin Mass).

Their Resumes (for climbing the episcopal ladder) will only be evaluated on their numbers in:
excommunications, indexes, inquisitions, and implemenation of a number of laws.

They no longer care about how many vocations were there under their tutelage. They have found an easy and less expensive work - around by importing Priests from third world countries (like Walmart importing cheap stuff from China). These Priests (like cheap Walmart stuff) cost the Diocese a lot less too. Like cheap Walmart stuff, some of these imported Priests preach "rotten" homilies too.

For most of these Lethargic and Lazy Bishops, none of the following seem to matter:
1.Mediocre homilies by many Pastors
2.Lack of Interest in teaching Scripture in most parishes
3.Lack of interest in educating the pastors to preach better homilies
4.Lack of interst in Bishops preaching better homilies
5.Lack of interst in organizing classes in Scripture in each Parish.
6.Lack of interest in helping the youth in each Parish to study Scripture.

Most of the Bishops who are neither capable nor willing to address any of the above difficult tasks have resorted to "keeping themselves busy" by organzing Rallies agains ABORTION (ofcourse, they prefer the term "Pro-Life", though the only life they care about is that of the unborn).

For many of these "One -track / Single Issue" Bishops, that is the equivalent of MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL - something to talk about for the rest of the week, and when they meet twice a year at Conferences.

The Spiritual welfare of their Flock is conveniently ignored..

God have mercy, Christ have mercy.

Once again, Joan, you are very much on target. I've heard you speak at CTA, studied some of the videos you've been in, read many books that you've written. When I lived in Ohio I was a part of a very open, understanding, forgiving, and loving local church community. I miss it now that I'm in Oregon, but knew even then that it was a very special group to be associated with. It wasn't my parents' Catholic Church, for sure.
When will the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic church 'get it' that the church is made up of people? People of all walks and talks. We females have a voice and need to be counted and listened to. At times, it seems like we are still not counted just as the women and children weren't counted in the feeding of the 5,000.
It will take open discussion from many and all parts of the population world-wide to have an RC church be in viable and a real part of society. We all need to have a voice. Jesus walked along many of what society now would call the disenfranchised - the thiefs, the outcasts, women, lawyers... Today, our disenfranchised within the church have some different labels - LBGTQ, women, those with AIDS or other illnesses that people tend to label as our faults, homeless... There are many voices to be heard, many parts make up the Bread now days...
Keep up your speaking out. Many of us hunger to hear more. I will always be catholic, and believed that if I couldn't be part of the solution then I'd become part of the problem. Right now, I get fed within a different denomination, but miss the richness that catholicism has to offer. I keep hoping that Roman Catholic will eventually become catholic.

Whenever I think I've had enough (which is more and more often these days, I'm afraid), I think of what you said in "Called to Question". "And so why do we- I - continue to align myself w/ an institution so closed, so heretical, so sinful? Because Jesus stayed in the synagogue until the synagogue threw him out, that's why."
That has always struck a chord w/ me. And the stories like the one Jamie Manson (?) told in the Young Voices column about the St Louis worker who was excommunicated for attending a women's ordination ceremony. At the first Mass she attended w/ her 85 y.o. mother, she stayed behind her in the communion line, not wanting to create any more trouble for family and friends. Her mother received the Eucharist, turned around, broke it and gave a piece to her. And her sister and several others followed suit. Her mother told her I was the first one to feed you, and I will continue to feed you (paraphrased).
This is the heart of the church for me.
Thank you Sr Joan, for your clear voice and leadership!

Thank you Sr. Joan for your prophetic voice. The numbers are there for all to see. The donations are down, and young people are not refilling the pews as the pillars of our parishes are called back to God. It should be time to reflect and think of creative pastoral strategies. Instead we get the push to revert back to the things we did in the past (pre-Vatican II) since it supposedly worked then. The world has changed and it's not going to work, but the leadership refuses to listen or believe this fact. It's sad.

And here in Ottawa Canada an 80 year old widower is ordained a priest! A sad commentary on a man who had a deep call to priesthood but was denied its fulfillment because he was married. The pain of not being honored must have been so difficult. Just what we need now --more 80 year old clergy!
Joan's reflections are appreciated as usual. Thanks!

Your comment on cultural differences is key to understanding that a church dynamic that works in Africa is not the same one that will work in the suburbs of middle class North America. The hearts and minds of middle class North America are in a completely different space. My limited experience suggests that walking the talk of Jesus rather than talking his talk will reveal God's presence among us. To achieve this we need some degree of organisation and cohesion but not a heavy dose of hierarchies and ancient rituals and symbols whose histories are meaningful and comforting only to the cognescenti.

Another number that gets overlooked is the number of lay ecclesial ministers and aspirants who are taking the USCCB document Co-Workers in the Vineyard VERY seriously.

Thanks Sr. Joan for your thoughts. I realized that as I was reading this essay, I was kind of numb. It used to be that articles like this would get my juices flowing. I think I have given up expecting any kind of movement forward on the part of the official church. I belong to a small lay community with official canonical status which is served by a chaplain, but I also worship with an all lay group. In this group we pray together,share our thoughts on the readings, consecrate the bread and wine and then continue our fellowship afterwards. The last time we gathered, I looked around the room as we were breaking open the word and I saw so many deeply spiritual believers who have given up on the official church ... people who gave years of service, who raised their children in the church and contributed time,talent and treasure for years. Now, they are so disenfrancized that they seek out groups like the one which was gathered to satisfy their need to worship God. They speek in anger at the way the church treats women and the GLT community and about the sex abuse scandel and the bishops who were never punished. They are frustrated that the parishes which gave them life in the past, which were vibrant and alive with lay involvement, are take over by new pastors who rule with an iron fist and split the parish, with many people leaving. It made me very sad that all that energy and faith and love of God cannot find a place in the official church. maybe the Vatican should make a visit to these communities. There is much they could learn from these groups. Their numbers are increasing.

Sister Joan, what a delight to read your message. Your insights are enlighting and give hope that change will come in God's time. Being faithful to one's Baptism is a challenge, but then it is the Lord who is our source of strength and confidence. However, we need to (all of us) reflect and pray, then speak our truth as we have come to discern that truth to be.

Keep letting us hear from you. Your wisdom and voice are much needed in the Church and the world.

Sister Joan, You are right about numbers! There is so much unrest among my peers regarding the spirit and example of our church, making this a major reason for the dropouts. Here is an example of the insignificance of the voice of the faithful and the deaf ear syndrome. We in Cleveland have just experienced the "slashing and burning" of parishes by our Bishop Lennon who, two years ago, came from Boston. Here’s the story. Five years ago, under Bishop Pilla, our diocese began a very intensive discernment process called “Vibrant Parish Life”, which included parish surveys, town hall meetings, discussions within each church and culminating with numerous meetings of lay representatives and pastors within “clustered parishes” (those close enough to each other to be able to work together). These groups were charged with evaluating the strength and weakness of the parishes in their groups and to make recommendations as to which church or churches were best to merge and which might be best to close. The process was time consuming and a difficult one. However it also was a breath of fresh air seeing we lay persons consulted on such a serious matter, so integral within our lives. But the result was different than envisioned. The recommendations especially in the inner city churches were ignored. In at least three instances the churches recommended to stay open because of their outreach to the poor such as hot meals, food pantries and after school programs are on the list to be closed. When I saw the reports in the newspapers, I said, “What just happened here? What happened to the voice of the faithful? Where is Jesus’ message regarding the least among us?” It leaves me so ashamed that my Catholic church so often pays lip service to the social justice message of Jesus. Unfortunately what seems more important here in our diocese is whether or not we stand or sit at the designated time during Mass, or what type of Chalice the priest is to use... not ceramic any more… use only metal. What Church leader do I look to? I have given up. I follow Jesus and his message, and close my eyes to the institutional church which I think is losing it’s way.

Religious life is growing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Missionaries of Charity, Sisters of Life, and many other religious orders of women are continuing this beautiful tradition of service to the Church. These sisters and nuns love the Holy Father and the Church, are faithful to their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and totally dedicate their lives to Christ and His Church. Let us thank the Holy Spirit for His gifts!

Religious life is growing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Missionaries of Charity, Sisters of Life, and many other religious orders of women are continuing this beautiful tradition of service to the Church. These sisters and nuns love the Holy Father and the Church, are faithful to their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and totally dedicate their lives to Christ and His Church. Let us thank the Holy Spirit for His gifts!

Religious life is growing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Missionaries of Charity, Sisters of Life, and many other religious orders of women are continuing this beautiful tradition of service to the Church. These sisters and nuns love the Holy Father and the Church, are faithful to their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and totally dedicate their lives to Christ and His Church. Let us thank the Holy Spirit for His gifts!

The state of our Church saddens me so much! What must Christ think of the narrowmindedness of our spiritual leaders when the cry and pain of so many seeking spiritual nourishment is deafening? There is certainly much to pray about, but I pray that those women, religious or otherwise, who feel called to the ordained priesthood will soon be emnpowered to bless the Church with the lived reality of their call. We must embrace the Spirit who calls us to let go of our "man-made" constitutions and rules so that the Spirit's presence can be fully realized.
Thank you, Joan, for your HONEST and powerful refelctions!

She makes an interesting point about the sorry record of the bishops with pedophiles.

Contrast that record with the Boy Scouts. Unlike the well educated bishops, their leaders are mostly rural blue collar hicks. But they didnt waste a lot of time with therapy and post-modern psychobabble. They just kicked the homosexuals out so they wouldn't harm children. And in the process saved themselves billions.

I felt that I needed to comment. A new world is coming. When you look around the world at the financial, social, relgious, government institutions we see chaos. But this is necessary for a new world to come about. We need to hang in there, let a little more time go by and work toward the new vision.

I am always amazed at the number of people who are truly searching people, looking for a deep spirituality, following Jesus in the 21st century and longing for fellowsip. Joan, you are our treasure of insight, truth, and wisdom. Thanks

While my faith is strong, it has no relevance whatsoever to the Catholic Church I was raised in. But I found it very interesting recently, when I moved to a new apartment. It is adjacent to a Catholic Church. Since I moved here several months ago, I have been visited by many of my neighbors and have received countless invitations to attend their respective churches. Not one was Catholic. At no time has the priest or anyone from the church even said hello to me, or welcome, or made any neighborly overtures. Gossip has it that the priest is cold and unkind.

It reminded me of why I left the church years ago, a memory of cold, uncaring, self serving men in dresses who use the church as a haven for their own personal shortcomings. The pastor of this church sees me almmost daily, yet he does not acknowledge me. Except for the time he whined to my landlord that I was parking on "his" property. He then erected a barrier so I would not make this mistake again (I am elderly and disabled).

I call him 'Fr. Edifice', for to apparently amuse himself in the face of a declining congregtion, he continuously has some remodel project going on at a church that is barely 30 years old. Friends had been telling me to give the Catholic Church a chance again. I will instead continue my practice of worshipping God in nature that He created, like Dr. George Washington Carver, who said "what better cathedral than all that He has made". I am grateful for the writers of NCR for their fair and balanced reporting of the church as it really is, most especially Sr. Joan.

If you look at the places of vibrancy and growth in the Church, it's among traditionalists--those committed to the Holy Father and to the doctrinal heritage of our rich tradition. The constant clamoring for change is (with all due respect) a tired rant. The Lord has already given us all of the gifts that we already need. Now, all that wee need to do is to live the faith--the same faith that inspired St. Francis, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Francis de Sales, Padre Pio, and Mother Theresa.

At this point in history, the argument is not even really worth having. The Catholic left is in the final throes of its life of dissent. Traditional Catholics continue to have large families, while so-called progressives are contracepting themselves out of existence. Faithful Catholics are the future of the Church. We will continue to love and pray for dissenters. But, the Church of their imagination is never going to come into existence.

If you look at the places of vibrancy and growth in the Church, it's among traditionalists--those committed to the Holy Father and to the doctrinal heritage of our rich tradition. The constant clamoring for change is (with all due respect) a tired rant. The Lord has already given us all of the gifts that we already need. Now, all that wee need to do is to live the faith--the same faith that inspired St. Francis, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Francis de Sales, Padre Pio, and Mother Theresa.

At this point in history, the argument is not even really worth having. The Catholic left is in the final throes of its life of dissent. Traditional Catholics continue to have large families, while so-called progressives are contracepting themselves out of existence. Faithful Catholics are the future of the Church. We will continue to love and pray for dissenters. But, the Church of their imagination is never going to come into existence.

If you look at the places of vibrancy and growth in the Church, it's among traditionalists--those committed to the Holy Father and to the doctrinal heritage of our rich tradition. The constant clamoring for change is (with all due respect) a tired rant. The Lord has already given us all of the gifts that we already need. Now, all that wee need to do is to live the faith--the same faith that inspired St. Francis, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Francis de Sales, Padre Pio, and Mother Theresa.

At this point in history, the argument is not even really worth having. The Catholic left is in the final throes of its life of dissent. Traditional Catholics continue to have large families, while so-called progressives are contracepting themselves out of existence. Faithful Catholics are the future of the Church. We will continue to love and pray for dissenters. But, the Church of their imagination is never going to come into existence.