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PDF versionGlobal women religious: the new Catholic leadership
'A hope-filled story buried under the tale of clergy sex abuse and episcopal cover-up.'
May. 24, 2010
800 women religious congregation heads gathered in Rome May 7-11. Faces of other conference women religious below. Photos by Tom Fox
Before the women of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious sat down for business last August in New Orleans, they crammed into buses and spent a half day visiting their local sisters who were attending to the needs of the dislocated and dispossessed of the 2005 hurricane and floods. The women came to offer solidarity, give encouragement, and check out the fruits of the more than $8 million raised through their efforts for a number of local ministry projects.
When women religious leaders from throughout Asia and Oceania gathered last October outside Bangkok, Thailand, to reconnect, share stories and generally lift each other’s spirits, they took time during their meeting to learn more about the two Vatican investigations of their sister religious across the globe, in the United States. The women from Australia and New Zealand had the most information and shared it with the Asians. Once informed, the entire group sent a brief letter off to their U.S. sisters as a sign of support and solidarity.
Earlier this month, when some 800 international women religious congregation leaders gathered in Rome (see story on Page 1), they talked about ways wealthier congregations could assist poorer ones, many of them located in impoverished Africa, India and Pakistan. Later, women worked together on a declaration outlining their intentions to strengthen the Union of International Women Religious General Superiors, under whose auspices they met, to more quickly share common challenges and local needs.
In one session, Sr. Pat Murray, a Loretto sister from Ireland and executive director of the Solidarity With Southern Sudan project, spoke about how 19 religious congregations, including both men and women, have for the past two years pooled resources to provide assistance in one of the most destitute locations on earth. The group now trains teachers and health care workers. In the process, they hope to set an example showing how people can cross languages, nationalities and cultures to build a peaceful society. In war-torn southern Sudan, the presence of this unique interreligious group offers example and hope.
NCR: February 3-16, 2012
Subscribe to NCR to get all the news and special features that aren't always available online. In this issue:
- US News: Bishops Host Conference on Immigration
Conference fields advocates' questions on law, policy
- Special Section:Deacons.Serving as parish administrator; roles of wives; and more
- Study: Black Catholics are more engaged
New study by Notre Dame researcher about parish involvement in America
On another day, a Congolese African woman religious combined the conference’s themes of mysticism and prophecy as she spoke about the courageous work of African women religious, more than 200 of whom have been slaughtered by local militias. Given a chance to flee in the face of marauding gunmen, the women repeatedly chose to stay with the villagers. Her talk highlighted the raw courage of inspired women religious, adding new spiritual resolve to those who listened.
Later that woman, Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Liliane Sweko explained that her vision of consecrated life has been hugely shaped by the writings of Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. Sandra Schneiders and Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister. She said she only regretted that all of Chittister’s works have yet to be translated into French, the common language of many of the women religious of West and Central Africa. 
However if U.S. women religious have inspired Sweko, she now was inspiring them with her earthy stories of selfless love. And coming from the Philippines, Religious Sister of Cenacle Judette Gallares was equally inspiring in a talk in which she used the example of Lydia, an early Christian convert, as someone who helped transform lives by refusing to live by traditional norms that excluded women’s gifts.
The above are but a few furtive glances behind the curtains of a magnificent and underreported church story. It is a hope-filled story still mostly buried under the now widely reported tale of clergy sex abuse and episcopal cover-up.
The core of this 21st-century church story is the emergence of the global sisterhood of the sisterhood. It is the story of women religious congregations and their leaders coming together in solidarity across national, cultural and linguistic lines in common cause. It is a story of women who are increasingly connected, electronically and spiritually, driven by the call of the Gospels and teachings of the Second Vatican Council. It is the story of women religious who, by choice and necessity, have stopped competing for vocations and mission placement and are instead working together, in traditional habit or local dress, to bring solace to the suffering of the world. It is the story of women, marginalized within their own institution, teaching other women how to overcome prejudice and live beyond it. It is the story of self-generative spirits having decided to set their own Christian courses. It is the story of how education empowers and how scriptural and theological studies have liberated women across the globe. It is the story of nurturers, using intuition and knowledge, to respond to God’s creation, now under mindless attack. It is, actually, an old story set in a new century: women religious responding yet again to the joys and hopes, sorrows and anxieties of the people of God.
This story could not have attained a shape (nor could it be gathered to be told) without the Internet. The world’s most remote missions now have dedicated Web pages. Some of the most isolated religious can stay in contact with their sisters in faraway places through e-mail. Ideas and experiences are readily shared online or in meetings. Plans become forged. More than 600,000 women religious globally are now networked together.
What has emerged, without intention and seemingly by the default of a paralyzed episcopacy, is a parallel leadership structure within the church. These prayerful women have pondered their souls and their congregation’s constitutions and, empowered by each other, are reaching farther than they ever might have imagined. 
They live without illusion. They know they have no official place at the males-only table around which decisions are made. So, instead of feeling weakened, they have learned the art of self-empowerment. Rich in determination, they get on with their work, often unrecognized by those in official leadership, who should be showering the women with accolades.
Instead, of course, the U.S. women face twin Vatican investigations.
The reality of their standing within the church was dramatized at the global women religious meeting this month. While, canonically, leaders of all 800 women religious congregations represented in Rome report to Slovenian Cardinal Franc Rodé, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the prelate sent word he was “unable” to attend the once-in-three-years gathering, taking place some three miles from his office. On the women’s schedule for the last day, a program planned for years, was an audience with Pope Benedict XVI. However, he canceled, having decided to visit Portugal, which included a well-publicized visit to the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima.
What keeps their situation from being downright tragic are the women themselves and their faith-filled understanding of the biblical dynamic of great strength emerging from the powerless.
To pay attention to the ministries of our church’s women religious is to hear an increasingly clear articulation of what it means to be a Christian in the 21st century. These women are claiming their experiences as sacred callings, and in so doing, are encouraging the rest of us to live out our Christian vocations, whatever hardships these might involve.
[This is the editorial from the May 28, 2010, issue of National Catholic Reporter. In the print issue, this editorial is titled: "Strength emerges from the powerless."]
The strength of the church
The strength of the church lies in these women, I always thought so.
Long live the LCWR!
Long live the LCWR!
Hope for the future!
Hope for the future!
NCR Editors, thank you for
NCR Editors, thank you for this “analysis and synthesis.” It is so right on. The burden of Christian Church culture is that male-defined dominion theology defrauds Mother Love and cheats children of their natural inheritance. Only Mother Love, the unique prerogative of “religious” women can correct for this defect in church, in society.
If one seeks guidance into the future, where should one look? into the eyes of children. One comes to own what the eyes take in, so we should be concerned about what others see in us. There is a stronger power than eye sight and that is, love. If love is the lens through which all actions are perceived, then the only image a child gets from us is love. If a child doesn’t experience love in every aspect of the parent-child relationship, in peer-to-peer relationships, in cultural relationships, then the child will become something other than a loving person. Societal dysfunction stands in judgment against modern culture.
A child’s genetic software (DNA) is an inheritance of nature; the default-settings of a child’s software are programmed by nurture. If the experience of nurture is other than love, the child’s default-settings will be something other than love and the child will become something other than a loving person. Parents need to guard jealously the nurture a child is exposed to, in family, in school, in church. Except love motivates all actions of parents, schools and churches, the child will experience something other than love and come to be motivated for reasons other than love. Once default settings are neurally programmed, they are difficult to change.
Only love is sustainable, durable. If love is dysfunctional in adults, it becomes dysfunctional in the upbringing of children. Today’s cultural environment fails in its vision of love and so children take from it motives other than love. So, the question is, “how can culture reprogram the nurture of love as its default setting? by development of personal conscience, and accepting responsibility in being "my brothers' keeper."
Historically the treatment of children in societies has been less than loving. Parents have less than altruistic motives in producing children and in rearing them. Young men and women are inadequately prepared to act responsibly as parents. Children are trafficked for self-consumptive pleasures. Gross motives of cultural exploitation become everyday child experiences. Human life fails in its potentials for good because it fails in its responsibilities of love.
Jesus stood a child before his apostles and said, “Unless you become as one of these, there is no place for you in my kingdom.” And what did Jesus see in the eyes of a child, innocence, trust, guilelessness, expectation, goodwill, vulnerability. He rightly assessed the inheritance every child receives from nature by birth. And he knew from experience how a child’s nature is trashed by cultural misdirection and violence. Parents fail in love; churches fail in love; schools fail in love. The uprightness of upbringing fails except in experienced love.
If we want to be persons who do not prejudice the default settings in a child’s upbringing, then we will be motivated by love in all that we do. Only by being motivated in love will we be trustworthy, guileless, eager, innocent and strong against cultural hazards. Programmed in love, we also, as adults preserve the child’s trademark disposition of innocence — the Christian trademark — Love.
These two men certainly
These two men certainly showed their disrespect to the women religious who have done and are doing the difficult and wonderful work that keeps the Catholic Church growing all over the world.
Dare we call out Cardinal Rodé & Pope Benedict XVI on their fear of intelligent, caring, strong, religious, full of faith women?
Yes, resoundingly YES!
Agreed, Agreed. Under what
Agreed, Agreed. Under what circumstances could I expect to promote Roman Catholicism when these two men behave as snobs, or as fearful quasi-intellectuals? I have learned that it is not for me to be embarrassed by the rudeness and overtly sinful behavior of the heirarchy. But under no circumstances could I defend these men and their ilk against any level of criticism from within and outside of the Roman Church. Which gathering would Jesus be attending?
It will only be through the work of these women and other consecrated religious such as they that the true work of the Church will be carried on. I am convinced that Rome has forgotten what that work is; that those in Rome either are unable to hear the voice of the living Christ -- the Holy Spirit -- or they blatantly ignore it.
Aldus
Of course Bene and Rode
Of course Bene and Rode blatantly ignored this important conference. Don't forget, they are above absolutely every human on earth--and are accountable to no one---unfortunately even to Jesus Christ because they do not seem very concerned about their own relationship with Jesus or their own salvation given their moral decay on this earth.
I keep praying that the laity would wake up, stop providing money to the RCC, and create a new Church in the footsteps of Jesus not the clerics. God alone knows the serious level of sinfulness on the cleric's and hierarchy's part, but we can't wait around for God's justice on them. We, the laity must take over our Church, not allow clerics to have any temporal authority and truly make them "the servants of the servants of God"-- something they all have clearly forgotten. But I dream on........
Yes, but . . . but . . . but
Yes, but . . . but . . . but . .. they are only women.
Just intelligent, caring, strong, religious, full of faith women, that's who!
Bravo for the sisters across
Bravo for the sisters across the world who are bonded by their true understanding of the Gospel message in spite of patriarchal pressures for submission. I believe the religius sisters around the world, and the laity are the true church of today. The patriarchal hierarchy is more and more irrelevant. What a great time to be alive.
Yes, you are right---the
Yes, you are right---the hierarchy is totally irrelevant! Let's remember that God will take care of them and their totally moral decay. "The roads of hell are paved with Bishops and priests"....some poet said!
"The road to hell is paved
"The road to hell is paved with the skulls of bishops."
St. John Chrysostom
God Bless everyone of them.
God Bless everyone of them. Their's is a TRUE VOCATION.
I can't help but think that
I can't help but think that the Pope and Cardinal avoided the meeting of these women because the sisters have vastly more moral credibility than the bishops or the pope, and the press would surely comment on the obvious contrast. If the church is going to pull out of this crisis, I suspect it will be because religious women lead the way.
I fully agree. Now that we
I fully agree. Now that we have learned that the bishops are only independent contractors the future of the Church is even more in the hands of religious women. I only fear that the bishops will push back as more women challange the authority of Rome's independent contractors.
Thank you for this editorial.
Thank you for this editorial. This is how women are in the world. What matters is that God's work gets done. Just doing it. In many ways because they are marginalized by the institution, women have more freedom to follow "prophetic" obedience.
It's the Pope and Cardinal Rode's loss that they cannot engage these women as equals in building the Kingdom. The women will leave them far behind. It's about time that these women are honored and recognized - even though that is not what is most important to them.
It isn't that they cannot
It isn't that they cannot meet with these women - it's that they will not!
Lay religious are the best of
Lay religious are the best of the best to bring the Good News to the edges of creation; wherever or however our sisters and brothers are found.
Why do I never hear about the
Why do I never hear about the amazing work of brothers? Or priests who work in horrible conditions just to bring the sacraments to all? How about the many bishops that care deeply for their flock, work hard for their betterment, and are great shephards (almost all of them are. Very few actually fit the profile often given by the National Catholic Reporter)?
The reason is because there's an agenda here.
Dear Brett, The agenda of the
Dear Brett,
The agenda of the NCR, as I see it, is a Holy Catholic Universal Church that actually adheres to the teachings of Jesus. Is that the agenda you speak of? As for the "all most all Bishops who deeply care for their 'flocks', name one who actually listens! And as for the "flock", I'd rather be a thinking Catholic who reads the paper and understands the nature of "coverup".
Barb
Brett - I often wonder the
Brett - I often wonder the same re: religious brothers and priests and your run-of-the-mill diocesan priests. i want to hear stories about them as well. i cannot think of a single woman religious of my aquaintance who does not have close to at least some consecrated religious men and their ministries. Jean, a woman discerning religious life
Dear Jean, of course you're
Dear Jean, of course you're correct regarding the invisibility of religious brothers in this hierarchical church. They ARE laity like religous women and laity are at the bottom of everything. We "should be" the listeners, the obeyers, the financial supporters, but never the speakers, the challengers, the prophets. I can think of two instances in the recent past when a religious brother was elected "superior general" of his order (made up of religious priests as well as brothers) but the curia disallowed the election because someone ordained cannot be made to obey someone in the laity.
With reference to priests and bishops, the idea is not simple. Those who rock the boat get the same type of treatment: marginalization. Roy Bourgeois, MM won't be officially heard from because of his support for women in the church. I know of several priests in my Archdiocese who were "on track" to become bishops but because of their theological and social justice words/actions were sidetracked. You may have heard of the book, THE BEST CARDINAL SOUTH AFRICA NEVER HAD about Bishop Hurley. Perhaps you also know of retired and sidelined Bishop Tom Gumbleton being persona non grata in several dioceses due to his stance on non-violence and bishops' intransigence regarding bishops' sex abuse scandal we all deal with. Some of us know these things and respect the people behind them. Officially though the clerical culture of the church ignores, chastises and silences them by a variety of means.
I mention the above to support your idea that SOME male clerics are not respected, but you should realize that ALL women (lay as well as religious) are not and won't be until we learn empowerment from each other. Right now the people who are in the forefront of this movement are religious women as noted in this great essay by Tom Fox. We women (laity all - vowed religious and "simply" baptized) have much with which to gift and support each other. Let's get on with it.
I can easily name one... my
I can easily name one... my own Archbishop Wilton Gregory.
Nothing of the above is new
Nothing of the above is new or surprising, but it is saddening. What happened to Christ; he seems to have diminished or disappeared in the Catholic Church. Could it be because Christ never was consecrated a bishop?
I am a lay woman....Srs.
I am a lay woman....Srs. Sandra Schneider and Joan Chittister also influenced me. These two sisters along with other theologians both men and women have kept me Catholic as I have, in the last few decades of my life, come to a completely different understanding of what it means to be "CHURCH"; a process that began after a less than Christian member of "Catholics United for the Faith" reported me to the pastor of our parish and finally to the Bishop of our Diocese. I repeat what I have written in a previous response. For as much as these women religious are coming together in solidarity to perform their prophetic and mystical missions, in ways outside of the institutional clerical hierarchy, I hope that they also reach out to the religious women, the lay women, many of whom have talents and skills that could be used as well in aleviating the suffering of this world. We need many hands in healing the wounds of the world, the suffering has never been greater. The poor have always been with us, but now for those of us who "see" the pain and suffering, it is being brought to us instantly via our hi-tech communications. If the oil spill at our shores, the volcano which is disrupting our air travel, the many catastrophic earthquakes and the disturbed weather systems along with the recent global financial meltdown isn't making us question how we live our lives, I do not know what will bring us together. These women religious are one of the few groups of people who are working with people who have been impacted and who are suffering from the consequences of our free market economies. Or we can continue to "fiddle while Rome burns" and then we all will wind up suffering from the consequences. I find what is going on with women religious a "hopeful" sign of the times and the manifestation of the power of Holy Spirit working to bring about the changes that are needed. It appears to me personally, that the Holy Spirit works through those who are willing and humble enough to be used by the power of that Spirit....those who offer their mind, heart and hands and not power and control.
It is ashame and speaks
It is ashame and speaks multitudes that the Pastor of the Universal Church and the Prefect of the Congregation could so easily absent themselves from such a clearly important event.
At last many may have a
At last many may have a reason for staying Catholic!
Ouch. Buried in paragraph
Ouch. Buried in paragraph 14: the news that both the Pope and his Cardinal-in-charge of the Congregation disrespected/dismissed the significance of this group.
On the other hand, the real news involves all the good work being done under the radar by sisters around the globe. Donate directly to these convents rather than through diocesan collections.
Absolutely! That's where my
Absolutely! That's where my money is going. Thanks be to God that we at least have women with courage and the message that needs to be proclaimed. They are doing the work and always have been. They just haven't gotten the respect or recognition from the "Institutional Church" that should go to them for building and preserving our Church. God bless them all.
As the Hierarchy continues
As the Hierarchy continues it's century old mission of accumulating wealth and power at all cost to others including its own reputation, it is these women who have again for centuries kept the light burning, the doors open and food on the table for all in need. The leadership of the Church lies with those who continue Jesus' mission and it is not Cardinal "so and so" or Pope "who knows who" It is these Women who are the true leaders., along with the other lay, clerical and religious brothers who do the same.
No More Vows to the Pope!!!
Thank You Sisters.
God bless the sisters who
God bless the sisters who will be the salvation of the church, the people of God. The hierarchy has relegated the Church to be irrelevant.
The Holy Spirit is at work,
The Holy Spirit is at work, spiraling to gather the woman Spirit, the Spirit of Sophia to wake up the Feminine Spirit to begin the work to renew the face of the Earth.
congratulations sisters and leaders of each Consacreted congregations, let us march ahead in unshakable faith in God. We can heal our Mother Church and Mother Earth, wounded by the sinfull patriarchal mindset.
The online tag line reads in
The online tag line reads in part:
buried under the tale of clergy sex abuse and episcopal cover-up
I continue to be astonished that the NCR and some other usually very frank publications wade blithely into acceptance of the myth that the LCWR (and other) congregations of women religious haven't been and are not now part of that very tale!
SNAP has in its experience many, many, examples of abuse by nuns. Yet at the same conference in New Orleans cited in the article, abuse survivors were once again excluded from a seat at the table.
SNAP also has in its experience (and I in my personal experience) examples of religious sisters who were derelict in their duty to report other offending parties to the proper authorities. For example, had my 8th grade teacher gone beyond saying "just try and stay away from him" about the abusive monsignor in 1972, he might not have been offending right up through 1984, when he was finally prosecuted. And I know of several girls who would not have been molested. Do I hold her responsible for failing to protect them? You bet I do!
The cover-up wasn't just "episcopal." It was happening at the grass-roots, and in parishes, the good sister from "Doubt" notwithstanding. And let us not forget, shall we, that even that sister appeared to be ready to step back once the offender was sent to exploit kids at some parish other than the one where she was the school principal.
This recent tendency to say "well, if the women had been in charge the abuses wouldn't have happened" is not just baseless. It has already been proven demonstrably false.
Women congregatons have been every bit as "corporate" in their responses to abuse survivors as have been the Jesuits or the Christian Brothers. I can name a woman Diocesean chancellor, successor to one of her sisters in the same role, from a Diocese that touts its "No More Secrets" program in PR. She then refuses information on the assignment histories of deceased priests for whom the Dioceses has admitted culpability, citing "personnel" privacy issues!
Clericalism can as easily be clothed in a veil or wimple, or a pant-suit and congregation pin and cross necklace, as a Roman collar and/or cassock.
And it was. And is.
We each are co-responsible
We each are co-responsible for the Church and its life, according to Benedict xvi. Then we each are co-responsible for any harm done to any part or portion of the Body of Christ. The rape of children and molestation of young by clergy, or lay religious, or the lay employee or minister has underscored in ways that are breathtaking the co-responsibility of any of us even in our innocence. Any solution is no longer a clerical solution. The solution must involve the People of God who then speak as one with the Spirit.
Greg, I agree with you, I
Greg, I agree with you, I certainly do.
Anyone who enabled or covered up the sexual abuse of a child should be held responsible be they bishop, priest, minister,seminarian, nun, sister, seminarian, imam or rabbi. Of course they should be held responsible.
Of course we know what happened to the few individuals like Sister Grace Canning in the Boston Archdiocese and Sister Joan Scary in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia when they dared to speak up.
Until former Boston, Massachusetts Archbishop Bernard Cardinal Law is removed from his plum position at St. Mary Major in Rome, no amount of words decrying the sexual abuse of children and the cover up orchestrated by the bishops coming from the Vatican will impress anyone.
Actions speak louder than words.
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Victims' Advocate
New Castle, Delaware
maureenpaulturlish@yahoo.com
HOLDING CLERGY AND CHURCH LEADERS ACCOUNTABLE BEFORE THE LAW
Professor Marci Hamilton and Sister Maureen Paul Turlish on NPR's Radio Times on WHYY in Philadelphia, April 12, 2010
http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/2010/04/12/holding-clergy-and-church-lead...
__________
CHURCH LEADERS ARE SPINNING THEIR WHEELS
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Published in the National Catholic Reporter on May 4, 2010
http://ncronline.org/blogs/examining-crisis/church-leaders-are-spinning-...
__________
CHURCH'S ACTIONS AREN'T WINNING TRUST
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on May 10, 2010
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/93255779.html
__________
Are the priests and bishops going to take Pope Benedict XVI at his word? Are they going to protect children from evil? Are they going to win back the "absolute" trust of their flock?
In Pennsylvania, there has been no movement in responding to the 2005 grand jury recommendations, but there has been a well-financed lobbying effort to see that the statute-of-limitation bills never even get before committee.
As long as bishops are perceived as putting out a "Do as I say, not as I do" message for public consumption, trust isn't even on the table for negotiation. It's nonexistent.
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
New Castle, Delaware
__________
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A WEEK MAKES
Sister Maureen Paul Turlish
Published in the National Catholic Reporter
March 29, 2010
http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/what-difference-week-makes
Dear G Bullough: Surely
Dear G Bullough: Surely religious women were among the abusers. I have seen some few names listed on the site of clergy and religious found guilty. Nevertheless, their numbers are miniscule relative to clergy. You cannot but acknowledge that fact as we have to acknowledge your fact. We have not lost total faith in the priesthood because of the few sick or evil and the complicit administrators and hierarchy. Why should we lose faith in all religious women for so much less. Why should we condemn them in their rebirth of mission as if all are as guilty as the few, the very few. Face your demon for what it really is.
I don't see any demons in Mr.
I don't see any demons in Mr. Bullough's comments. In the Louisville archdiocese, the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth had to deal several years ago with abuse of children in their care at an orphanage decades ago. No doubt other women's religious orders and congregations have had abusive members within their ranks, as well. What's good for the gander is good for the goose. If the LCWR has not invited survivors of abuse (sexual or otherwise) to their meetings, then the group should reconsider its refusal to do so.
I don't get the impression that Mr. Bullough has lost faith in professed women religious anymore than in the ordained, diocesan or religious.
I think the LCWR can only help itself in the long run by inviting sexual abuse and other survivors to its meetings to tell their stories. "Telling one's story" is very important in the healing process.
(I might add that anybody familiar with my comments at NCROnline/elsewhere should know by now that I'm no defender of the clerical culture, the Vatican, B16 and JPII, episcopal arrogance and coverups, ad nauseum. I'm a socio-political liberal-to-moderate guy, a Vatican II Catholic, and virtually constant critic of the institutional church.)
The LCWR and the religious
The LCWR and the religious orders collectives. When they sin against abuse survivors, their sin is collective. I therefore do not distinguish between the leadership who persist in the sin, and the collective who fail, as a body, to hold their leadership to account.
And I fail to see how, even if I bought your "miniscule" assertion, how that excuses any organization's choice of self-protection over justice!
Dear G Bullough, I'm sorry
Dear G Bullough,
I'm sorry for the pain and suffering in your life at the hands of some in the institutions, yet turning around to "oppress the oppressor" really is a non-solution.
SNAP being barred from LCWR, as I understand it, was because SNAP wanted to come in and call all the shots, wield their "lawsuit" threat, and have no dialogue about their presence at the gathering of a group they were accusing. If SNAP really is about helping to heal the hurt, then let them deal with people--clients as well as accused--as human beings, and not let their organization be used as a pawn for money hungry lawyers.
My community has been "victimized" by SNAP--their lawyers who advertised millions of dollars in payouts to anyone who would come forward and "confess" horrible acts done by the sisters, and this in a poverty-stricken area. Then they put words in peoples' mouths--lies--stolen from another case they had prosecuted in Canada.
There certainly ARE people who have suffered at the hands of hurtful, wounded women religious, women who themselves were/are held captive by a negative patriarchal system of power-over. But I challenge you--and all of us--to find ways of healing for all, and not more name-calling.
Ah, (Sister, I assume)
Ah, (Sister, I assume) Sheila...
So when it is your religious community being held to account, it is not justice but rather "victimization" by big-bad SNAP and the lawyers who help survivors.
Did it occur to you Sister, that perhaps you should re-examine your assumptions?
Is it possible that you are, in fact, in denial as so many of us associated with male and female religious were for so long?
The "way" to healing, Sister, is certainly not ongoing denials and claims that one's own community is the exception to the problems. Nor is it Church institutions, from the Vatican to the Dioceses to the Orders, playing the victims.
Yes, SNAP expects to be met at least half-way. That is anathema to religious institutions who are used to setting the terms upon which they will deal with outside entities. They are just too used to the sort of deferential "Yes, Sister" and "Yes, Father" that was part of the chain of exploitation in the first place.
Yes, SNAP gets loud when doors get slammed in its collective face.
THAT, Sister, is also part of the "healing" you so earnestly desire. It is about refusing to continue to be "good victims" and to "play nice" with the institutions who wounded them.
While I as a survivor's advocate recognize that some of the perpetrators of abuse were, as you put it "were/are held captive by a negative patriarchal system of power-over." But, Sister, that frankly is not the survivors' problem to deal with. They have their own issues. On top of that, it comes across as a bit of excuse-making.
Pious words about "healing for all" sound nice, but they are, like the f-word (forgive) all too often a self-serving trap which seek to get the survivor to stop making the clergy or religious uncomfortable with their own, or their institutions, complicity the fact of which they have yet to come to grips.
I am not a SNAP member; we have our differences. But I will acknowledge that in my experience SNAP is generally far more direct, forthright, and honest than ANY diocese or religious order with which I've had experience over the past decade of advocacy.
G Bullough et all Your
G Bullough et all
Your ranting is really getting OLD. Get a life and get over it already. You obviously have a chip on your shoulder like all the others who claim to have suffered for over 40 years and now are suddenly "opening up". How convienent when there is a financial claim to make.
I do have feelings for those who have been abused and pray for them daily especially for their healing but all this belly aching seems to be a desire for publicity or for money or both. As a nurse I have seen and dealt with patients who were physically and sexually abused and have gotten them help and it was heart breaking to see them in this condition, but rather than ranting and raving over this I did something that was constructive for them.
If you are having that much difficulty then get psychotherapy.
Whether or not you like it not every religious or priest is / was an abuser.
I think that there is no
I think that there is no question that the subjugation of women and women's orders to the power of the hierarchy is evident throughout the history of the church. And the impact on the issue of the abuse of children is evident. I do not believe that just having women in charge of things would solve all evils. But I do know that equality would ensure a difference.
Let me tell you a story--another story common in this church of ours. My parents were very bright, very well educated, and very involved parents during the 1950s. We had our own pedophile priest who was moved to another parish, then another diocese. My parents asked us if anything had happened to us or to others we knew, and once satisfied that we were not involved in knowing anything at any level, they simply related concern regarding what had happened with him being moved. They didn't shrug it off--they looked worried but unable to conceive of what to do next but to try to make it look like something the church had to do to protect the institution. In other words, even though their instincts were that this was not right, they made no other move other than to talk to us and talk to other parents. More so the sisters--often involved and implicated in cover-ups more or less of their making. DOUBT struck a lot of nerves with Catholics because of its truth.
It was a different time and there were different societal beliefs. There were few if any child protection laws until the 1960s. No one--including professionals--were certain of how to proceed even with the child in front of them saying something had happened to them. It's easy for us to be judging everything now than to admit the complicity of all of society toward the protection of institutions. I happen to think we have gone overboard now in assuming that institutions are always at fault, but that is a different issue than this. And this is a different time. The church needs to own its past--our past--and deal with it. But it makes no sense to compare religious sisters' issues with that of the male hierarchy and clerical culture, as you so frequently do. Women's hands were always far more tied than men's, while they tend to be more responsive--and more on the frontlines--with families and children.
There is no DOUBT in my mind that there would still be many problems and cover-ups in the church even if women were equally in charge, but I do believe that ones involving and supporting families and children would have more prominence in the direction the church took as an institution. And that is long overdue. I think you would find much of society breathing a sigh of relief if they felt that this huge church was even listening to women and certainly if it were to involve them as real partners in governing. There are problems in any homosocial institution and authority that warrant the involvement of the other sex.
To G. Bullough: No doubt you
To G. Bullough:
No doubt you have "an axe to grind" with LCWR...for someone who makes such
strong statements, you better get your facts straight. Give me a break!
LCWR is not a Religious Congregation nor does it give "corporate responses".
..Religious Congregations are not part of the clergy...they are part of
the laity..so much for "Clericalism" There is no doubt in my mind that
you are a survivor of sexual abuse and for that I am truly sorry. You can
feel sure that you are part of those for whom we pray daily for healing. I am
also sorry that your 8th Grade teacher was so callous in her response to
you. I know that religious woman have abused. And although you do not say exactly how LCWR offended, you say that "SNAP has experienced many,many ex-
amples of abuse by nuns and yet, again no seat at the table". Again, no seat? or again, more examples? I'm sure your experience with LCWR was not the best,and I'm not defending the abuse of nuns, but "comparisons are odious"
and while it may be your opinon, I don't think the magnitude is comparable...
And by the way "Doubt" was a movie and any likeness was purely coincidental
Sisters, How can we, as lay
Sisters,
How can we, as lay women in this Church, join you in solidarity?
We can join our sisters
We can join our sisters through associate commitment to the many orders of the world. As an associate of the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I am proud to share my time, talent and support to these prophetic visionaries of our Catholic Faith. These women have gentle hands, a backbone of iron, nerves of steel, and the courage of a lioness. I agree with another responder - send your donations to the Order, not the Vatican.
God Bless their courage - they are truly the hands and face of Christ around the world!!
In reply to your question
In reply to your question "Sisters, how can we as lay women in this Church, join you in solidarity?" Virginia, I am proud to encourage you to be in solidarity with the poor in your locality - in action and not just in words - prayers. This is one profound way of being in solidarity with those good sisters. In doing so you can be sure that you are infact one of the sisters/daugthers of mercy, charity, of the poor.....this is solidarity in faith and action.
Some women are doing it but quietly.
I suggest that NCR has not
I suggest that NCR has not published a more important and revealing editorial/news article in its illustrious history. In the end, as it was in the beginning, it is the women of the Church who will be best able to recognize the Church. Nothing new there.
Those two chauvinistic men, I
Those two chauvinistic men, I think, are literally running scared!!!
5-24-10 Eight hundred leaders
5-24-10 Eight hundred leaders is a fraction of 600,000 women religious globally. Six hundred thousand is a fraction of more than a billion Catholics worldwide. A billion Catholics is a fraction of the world population of well over six billion people. The sisters have yet to understand that they are a small part of an institution that has run its course; they are a small part of an Axial Age religion. We are in a post-Axial Age faith phenomenon. Educated, experienced people will limit support for their endeavors because the sisters do not adequately rank with other groups who understand and employ more effectively the means to improve our world. But if the sisters themselves experience a necessary and sufficient faith metamorphosis, they could be a significant force working with those who are implementing appropriate change for 21st century people and planet. So, it’s not the world joining the sisters; it’s the sisters joining the world. From all the evidence that I see, this appears to be almost impossible for the sisters to envision much less implement because they are so attached to their vision and charisma (gift or power believed to be divinely bestowed). This commitment is an essential part of an Axial Age religion mentality. But the world is beyond such a mindset in large measure and moving rapidly in a new historical age.
Those 800 women are a small
Those 800 women are a small fraction, but they also represent 800 communities. That is a great majority of the 600,000 women religious that you speak of... but, even if you want to try to make them miniscule, that is okay, because the prophets were always small in number too. Their voice was ignored and ridiculed, and they were persecuted for their pursuit of truth. These women are standing on the edges where God is calling them. I pray for the day that we are set free in their radical commitment to the mission of Jesus.
5-25-10 Greetings to theway.
5-25-10
Greetings to theway. With all due respect, may I suggest that you read my piece again? You are saying one thing. I am saying quite another. If you read Raindrop’s piece and my response you might increase your understanding of the points we are making. Thanks.
Dear Marie
Dear Marie Rottschaefer:
Would you care to enlighten us further about your comments? What is this Axial age that you speak of? You speak like a highly skilled surgeon talking to his own colleages! Put it in terms that are universal and understood by many educated persons not familiar with this particular notion of Axial and post Axial age! I could search but this is in context with women religious. Thanks!
5-25-10 Greetings Raindrop.
5-25-10
Greetings Raindrop. For close to four years I have been working on the project with writing online to NCR. Part of the problem is a large and probably changing group of people who read and post to NCR. It is understandable that you are not familiar with the idea of ‘axial’ and ‘post axial’. How many times have I written about this? But it is new to you. And that is just fine. Two books I would recommend are: Loyal Rue’s Everybody’s Story: Wising Up To The Epic Of Evolution and also Religion Is Not About God (with a long subtitle). These books are by now probably very accessible from the library or you might get them from an online bookstore at a most reasonable price. So glad to meet you; wish I had met you in 2006. Thanks for having the interest to ask!
P.S. I believe that I put this post up on 5-25-10 the same day that I responded to theway. I don’t know why it would be rejected, and it was queued, so I’ll give it another try. The references are quite old, 2005 and 2000 respectively as I remember.
Really
Really
Thank you for naming this
Thank you for naming this exciting reality which has been evolving and maturing in global religious life for several decades. I have often thought that the woeful cry that religious life is dying out, is myopic and misses the bigger picture which you rightly identified as the "sisterhood of the sisterhood."
It is my experience as a woman religious today that connections between women of different communities are often stronger than the connections within each one's "home" community. The truth is that the public usually doesn't distinguish one community from another; but they can and do admire "sisters" and are eager for more information about a commitment which fuels both ministry and prayer.
The fact that many sisterhoods have nearly as many lay associates as vowed members also has important implications for religious life of the future.
In addition to challenging the NCR and other religious media to prioritize a continuing focus on this flow of good news in the church today, let it be a clarion call to encourage women religious of all communities to TELL THEIR STORIES --if not from the rooftops at least on the internet where it is so easy for individuals with passion to find an audience. Part of the reason why this story is not told is a false sense of humility in both individual sisters and their administrative leaders. This article reaffirms the urgent need to trade false humility for authentic communications efforts -- a "true ministry of interpretation" -- by individual sisters and their local, regional, national and international networks.
The need is great. The time is right. The curia and church bureaucracy may be threatened but the People of God need some good news for a change.
These wonderful women!
These wonderful women!
What I have just read is
What I have just read is nothing new, from my elementary school sisters to the ones I meet today; they are all very strong women. Even those who might be considered weak within their own congregations are exceptionally strong women. Whether it be a sister with a walker in her 90s who looks at me with her steely gray eyes and asks if I am praying (yes I am Sister, but only for you not to notice me.) And, the continued conversation I had with her hearing about pioneering schools in the backwoods of Idaho. Or, meeting two sisters in street clothes in Seattle, with somebody trying to “help” them and their receiving the “help” with good cheer. As I say a quick “good morning sisters” and the helper’s head does a quick double take. I can only remember kind and gracious, strong women of Sisters of Charity of Halifax, Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary and the Sisters of Providence. All who have made my life better. A few of the male clergy need to remember what many sisters told them when they were little: “Don’t be so full of yourself.” It did me good.
You ARE the glorious saints
You ARE the glorious saints of the church!!! Alleluia!!!!
In regard to the action of
In regard to the action of the Cardinal and the Pope, to quote from a song by "The Talking Heads" (how appropriate!):
".....same as it ever was ....same as it ever was ....SAME AS IT EVER WAS!"
Benedictine Sisters have had
Benedictine Sisters have had a powerful influence on me throughout all my life. As an adult I have also come to know members of many other orders and have been astonished by their wisdom and the power of their apostolates. How unfortunate that they, along with many knowledgeable lay women, do not have a seat at the table where Church policies are made. And as for Sisters covering up sexual abuse by priests, the roles Sister played in many parishes, at least in America, before Vatican II, was clearly defined. She did
what Father decreed she would do. I doubt if it would have occurred to many Sisters to blow the whistle on him to his Bishop or anyone else. It smacks of the same reason many rape victims in the past did not report it. Unfortunately, I believe that many people, including my own excellent Catholic parents, would have wondered how the Sisters would dare to spread such a tale about Father!
God Bless the sisters out
God Bless the sisters out working in the vineyard for our Lord!
Dear Virginia, The stories of
Dear Virginia,
The stories of the sisters shared in that gathering were about solidarity in serving the poor in their mission areas. You asked how the women of this church can be in solidarity with the sisters I praise you for your response to be in solidarity and I suggest that you start locally. Serving the poor in your locality not only in words but in action and you can be sure of being one of the sisters/daughters of charity, mercy, or the poor. I know women who are doing solidarity work quietly. Solidarity in locality is solidarity internationally.
Would this wonderful story be
Would this wonderful story be known to the laity if it wasn't for NCR? If anyone reads about this positive, hopeful message in your diocesan paper, let me know, because I'd like to commend that editor. Maybe even his bishop!
"it is the story of....it is
"it is the story of....it is the story of...it is the story of....it is the story of..."
Breezy and over-stating. zzzz
There is such joy in those
There is such joy in those faces. The pictures tell the story. I don't think I have ever seen such a smile on the face of a cardinal.
These women are living the
These women are living the gospel and are the best role models that the Church has to offer. Brava Sisters!
Re: the LCWR. The sisters
Re: the LCWR. The sisters in this group were mistaken when they refused to allow SNAP members [victims of abuse by priests and religious] to speak to their general body. I think they might have believed the slander created by a few anti-SNAP bishops: that SNAP encouraged victims to go after big bucks, to lie about their abuse at the hands of religious etc. The victims I know have no need to lie; they have chilling stories to tell. And what they want much more than money is respect and a willing ear. They want to be certain that the religious orders now have policies in place to prevent further abuse. This is surely not too much to ask.
It is heartening to read about the solidarity among sisters. I hope this soon extends to a warm welcome to all victims of abuse.
Sally Butler OP
Brooklyn NY
Spot on, Sister Sally! You
Spot on, Sister Sally! You understand survivors' motivations and objectives perfectly!
Survivors do not want to be dictated to. They don't want advice, however well-meaning, about "forgiveness" and how to go about their own healing.
They wish to be treated as adults, and adults with a vested interest and a stake in seeing personal and corporate accountability by clergy and religious.
"What has emerged, without
"What has emerged, without intention and seemingly by the default of a paralyzed episcopacy, is a parallel leadership structure within the church."
http://www.ucanews.com/2010/05/26/time-for-asia-to-rise
Don't a lot of these sisters
Don't a lot of these sisters support abortion?
No, a lot of Sisters do NOT
No, a lot of Sisters do NOT support abortion.
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