Cardinal Rodé defends apostolic visitation of US nuns

The column by Maureen Dowd to which Archbishop Dolan refers is insightful and well-written and contains not a trace of anti-Catholicism. Is it not possible to disagree with Dowd without trying to tar her with the brush of bigotry? She is a first-rate columnist and deserves better.

The Vatican is putting a positive spin on the visitation.

OK, but why the secrecy?

Hmph. If the visitation is supposed to be helpful to the religious women, why weren't they part of shaping the procedure, and why aren't the results being shaared with them?

If Cardinal Rode "hopes to encourage vocations and assure a better future for woman religious," then why did he not include cloistered nuns? They, too, are struggle with minimal vocations and and aging memgership?

Why, if the purpose of the visitation is "to encourage vocations and assure a better future for women religious," didn't the dear Cardinal say this from the beginning and hold an open forum with religious leaders on how this "problem" might be addressed. Does he think that he can gather all the information he thinks is necessary and then decide how to fix it!!
A perfect example of the top down leadership that is strangling church growth and vocations. As Einstein said, a problem can't be solved using the same type of thinking that caused it.

Until C Rode's above statement that the results of this "project" would be made "public", my understanding from what I have read prior to this was that the Sisters would not have access to any of the results. What are we to believe? What assurances are there that the Sisters will truly be informed and have access to what the Vatican receives?

" ... Rodé, head of the Vatican office overseeing religious orders, said he requested an apostolic visitation of women's religious orders in the United States to help the sisters and to respond to concerns for their welfare."

In this year of the priest I think it would have been more appropriate for Rode to call for an apoltolic visitation of bishops and their diocese because it would show 'concern for their welfare.'

Good spin Rode. But that's all it is.

These concerned "American Catholics -- religious, laity, clergy and hierarchy -- " His Eminence cites, does anyone at the Vatican ever notice if they are always hearing from the same reactionary "usual suspects"? If the Cardinal has twenty regular American contacts, does he ever make an effort to see if there are other points of view?

The dreaded encounter in the business world comes to mind: "Hi, I am from corporate headquarters and I am here to help."

These women are heroes. They should be teaching the bureaucrats about ministry.

The Vatican should be more honest. There is a fifth column among the nuns who dissent from Catholic teaching & do things like escort women to abortion clinics. Nuns who do this kind of thing need to be expelled from their orders. What is so difficult about understanding that? In particular, the LCWR should be no more!

I applaud Benedict for at least doing something. JPII was a Nero figure who allowed the Church to fall into anarchy. You can't have an insttution without the rule of law. There are penalties the Church can enact and She should not be afraid to use them, excommunication, interdict, silencing, expulsion from orders, firing, defrocking of priests, assigning bishops a patch in the desert to govern, etc.

The absence any recognition by Rome or Rhode of the magnificent work being done by Women religious who labor inspiring among the poor, homeless, hungry, or at positions of influence among organizations devoted to a compassionate society, naturally casts doubt on Rome motivation. Because they have found new energy by the words of Vatican II can only anger the laity who find inspiration in their leadership skills, even in the face of the repressive actions of many bishops. We are a devoted and loving community of Church faithful who are completely, looking for a path forward, not backward. We are not interested in Bishop or cardinals acting like prison guards.

Cardinal Rode is either lying or is incompetent. If his "visitation" was in aide of women religious it would have been developed hand in hand with the "subjects" and have their advance input into the design and method of implementation. The "afterworks" - dessemination, implementation of results etc. would have been fairly well worked out also in advance planning in consultation. There seems to be no sign of a "cooperative" or "inclusive" dimension which, would have been most professional, pastoral (if not patriarchal) and conducive to success.

So...!?

".... said he requested an apostolic visitation of women's religious orders in the United States to help the sisters and to respond to concerns for their welfare."
What a crock !! And the reason for keeping the results secret is ???????
Why isn't he interested in helping the conservative and cloistered orders? Isn't he "concerned for their welfare"?

NCR:
The very reasons given by the Cardinal for 'his' investigation
of the 59thousand nuns in these US of A. are the reasons why an
investigtion of the hierarcy be conducted by Lay persons.
JR

Does he have the same "concern" about the congregations of women religious in Europe? [even if not fueled by statements from "religious, laity, clergy and hierarchy -- about the welfare of religious women and consecrated life in general."

Once upon a time Maureen Dowd was a respected journalist, but today she is an angry old woman and I guess life has not been good to her or something. Why do people still take her seriously, just because it's New York? It's too bad.
There are people that consider growling and slinging stupid caricatures around as smart but they should be ignored. You try one of today's "blog sites" and you get fed up with this stuff. There are so many real women writing smart good things, editors should wise up.

Now take a deep breath Cardinal Rode and settle down. We're counting our money and holding it close and we have a right to be sure you are doing this right. You are following a long line of men that never cared.

One world terrifies the Holy See more than "heresy," "Satan," "sin," "sex," or anything else. That word is TRANSPARENCY. Who pounded at Vatican gates demanding these bullying efforts? Names? dates? Secrecy of proceedings, procedures, and results? They must think that we are as dumb and gullible. Big mistake they've made.

How'd I'd love to believe that Rode and his ecclesiastical friends know in their heart-of-hearts, that they're hawking hooey. But when their egos are so embedded in the ecclesiastical game, how can they know how they appear to others?

Has it occurred to anyone in the Vatican, as it has to me, that the way the Church treats women might have something to do with the lack of religious vocations? Certainly if religious women in the US had been included in planning this visitation Card. Rode's response would have been more convincing. The irony of this being a year to celebrate priest and investigate women religous is certianly not lost on many. Believe me there are many wonderful priests - even Bishops, but to deny the ill affects of the clergy abuse scandal on the health of our Churc is of 'ostrich' proportions.

Dolan's impotent attack on Maureen shows a lack of knowledge of American history. If he thinks her defense of the nuns contained "every anti-Catholic caricature possible", he needs to go on the Internet and/or read some Know-Nothing tracts from the good old days.

What needs addressing as the main cause of the irrelevancy and future demise of the Catholic Church is the betrayal of the entire Catholic population by the Popes after the Second Vatican Council. Remember the Catholic Population was so steeped in hope that the Church was finally going to address the real problems of Catholics. We were all betrayed by the Hierarchy and especially John Paul ll who pushed us back to despairing that anything approaching real needed change would ever happen again. So why ever trust the Vatican again? When did the Church ever start caring about Nuns and what they thought so long as they were good obedient girls? Remember this is a Hierarchy that thinks "Peace and Justice" on a communities web page make them suspect!!

Let the Catholic Lay people and Nun's investigate the Vatican. And then we will learn something about making the Church more relevant and closer to the mandates of Jesus.

We've got our eye on you Rode! I'm happy that the NCR has been noticed by Rode and that we won't let him get away with any nonsense. Can't hide under that copa Rode!

Sorry, you just can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.....

I can give Cardinal Rode some (little) benefit of doubt. This isn't the investigation which really bothers me, it's the one coming from Cardinal Levada and the CDF. In that respect I wonder if Cardinal Rode isn't running interference for Cardinal Levada in a sort of Good Cop/Bad Cop ploy.

Would the women's religious orders in the United States be able to concurrently do a "self study" visitation in cooperation with each other, and come up with recommendations themselves? This might help put the final apostolic visitation's recommendations in a new light particularly if there were points of agreement or substantially different perspectives.

His defense is as credible as his criticism of Moureen Dowd's column. Her article though typically cheeky was not anti-catholic. He is just peeved (too mild?) that the idiocy and hypocracy has been exposed to the light of the general public and seen for what it is.

Now...someone has to get Rode's defense out into the public sphere,in the manner in which it deserves.

This try at justification makes clear the different world views held within the Church, by good people on all sides. The top down version says" We see the problem, We will fix it for you. You comply and all will be well." Another view says, " If you see a problem, discuss it with us and we will all work to come to a better understanding and who knows, maybe even a solution, if there is a problem." Lets pray with compassion for them all.

Still no mention or coverage by NCR of the SIN-SIN-awa Dominican sister who escorts women to abortions. NCR won't allow readers to see or hear anything that might disturb their fantasy world of dissidence as truth. Dissident women religious (of which there are many) need to be cut at the root of the tree. NCR is the Pravda of Catholic journalism.

If the US hierarchy asked for the visitation, then I wonder why so few of them are willing to pay for it. And why don't the US bishops step up to the plate and defend the visitation themselves? If they are just letting Rode do their dirty work, then there is nothing helpful about what he is doing. It is just an underhanded way to put these women in their place. What Rode does not like is the independent, resourceful, effective way the US nuns carry out their mission despite being hamstrung by the Vatican. What Rode and the Vatican want are submissive, obedient women who do the bidding of the male hierarchy. They do not like self-reliant, competent women running their own show. Too bad! They should have thought about that years ago when they refused to pay sisters for teaching in their diocesan schools. Because of that refusal and among other reasons, the nuns were forced to learn independence, and learn it they did. Now they can't be pushed around by the Vatican and the Vatican doesn't like it. If Rode and the Vatican know what's best, they won't push these nuns too much. They might find that they push most of the US church into a schism. We love our nuns and we will defend them. And Dolan with his "intemperate and scurrilous" remark! Grandstanding is so pathetic to watch, especially by those who like red as much as he does. He makes no such remarks about the position Cardinal Law has in the Vatican! His failure in that regard is just as intemperate and scurrilous.

If the visitation is such a great idea why doesn't Rome pay for it? Why are we getting stuck with the bill and no report back to us on what is going on? No transparency?

To quote the article "Cardinal Rodé insisted that the apostolic visitation is a response to "concerns expressed by American Catholics -- religious, laity, clergy and hierarchy -- about the welfare of religious women and consecrated life in general." I'd love to know what lay catholics and those other organizations who have concern with the welfare of the nuns are. i think that the nuns pre vatican had a lot of problems within their ranks but Now??? What is this concern?? Those Congregations today that i know are vibrant, involved, and doing very relevant work of the gospel.

The Cardinal has written: "...this dicastery will formulate no conclusions or plan of action, if any, until the final report of the Visitator has been evaluated." Thus, I am not sure where the fear of 'secrecy' comes from. The Cardinal is waiting until he has something to say before he says anything. It seems that too many religious/religious orders are being too secret themselves, and afraid to be visited for fear of what might be seen of them. Surely the very ones who claim to stand at the margins and critique the Church are themselves open to critique? And this, not least of all from the same Church which they have served and in whose name they continue to minister? Why is it that everything the Vatican or the Church does is open to such strong (and usually negative) reaction, while nothing that is done by the investigated religious is open to any outside critique? In light of a 2/3 drop in numbers in 40 years, religious themselves must begin to ask, and be asked, "what went wrong? What is going wrong? If what we believe and how we live is true, what must we change to at least survive in order to continue?" If any insitution, company, family, association, club or industry faced the same iminent extinction, I would hope and expect that, to the degree they felt they still had something to offer, they would look for an outside assessment of where they were, are, and will be and how this has happened, to find appropriate ways to change, grow and, if nothing else, at least stay around! Why so much fear and so much anger at an opportunity for honest critique and assessment?

Will the Holy Spirit have room to breathe???