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PDF versionLCWR begins next step in reexamination of religious life
Aug. 01, 2011
Providence Sr. Marie McCarthy
Religious life for the majority of U.S. sisters is at a crossroads. An aging membership and a decline in new vocations have communities probing what to do next to sustain their ministries and their way of life. These women sense a new era is emerging and they have decided to embark together on a new way of discerning that future.
When more than 600 sisters gather in Southern California Aug. 9-12 for the annual assembly of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, they will set aside discussions on strategic planning and talks about mergers and consolidations. There won't be workshops on recruiting new members or on financing retirement. Gone will be the breakout sessions that often follow keynote addresses at their national meetings.
Instead, these leaders of the 334 congregations in the Leadership Conference will sit together in silence, discovering what God is calling forth for religious life today. They will have no expectation of a particular insight or result. Rather, they will spend time in collective contemplation to explore where religious life in the United States may be moving.
"We sense that something new is emerging," said St. Joseph Sr. Carol Zinn, a member of conference's executive committee, "but we certainly don't yet know what it will look like."
St. Joseph Sr. Carol Zinn
The sisters hope this contemplative process will "open us to a deeper place within ourselves" so "we can create with God the future God intends," said Marie McCarthy, a Sister of Providence of St. Mary of the Woods and a member of the Leadership Conference's Contemporary Religious Life Project, which is spearheading the five-year contemplation process.
It is an outgrowth of a call in August 2000 by the then-conference president, Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. Nancy Sylvester, for women religious to enter into contemplation for "fostering the transformation of religious life."
In response, the conference has developed a process they've used at their regional meetings over the past year. But the assembly in Garden Grove, Calif., will be the first time all the leaders of the member congregations will engage in the process together.
A few religious communities, including the Providence Sisters and the Mercy Sisters, have adopted contemplative models for their chapter meetings and Leadership Conference officials see such contemplative discernment gaining momentum as the critical next step in the evolution of religious life.
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St. Francis Sr. Pat FarrellSr. Pat Farrell, a vice president of the Sisters of St. Francis in Dubuque, Iowa, and the Leadership Conference's president-elect, said the challenges facing communities today, including a membership whose median age is about 75 and fewer new vocations, helped propel this shift to contemplation.
"We are fewer. It's time to loosen our perceptions of who we are and listen attentively to what God is calling us to do now," she said.
Most congregations in the U.S. were established in the 19th century by small groups of women religious to serve the health and education needs of immigrants. They built the Catholic school system from elementary through college and established Catholic hospitals across the nation. Their communities grew as more women joined them in these apostolic works.
After Vatican II, their ministries broadened to address numerous other pastoral and social concerns. Today, sisters are lawyers and theologians, scientists and artists, spiritual directors and hospital chaplains, leaders of nonprofit organizations, advocates for immigrants, and outreach workers to the homeless and imprisoned.
However, with diminished personnel and more financial resources being dedicated to the care of frail, elderly members, the communities acknowledge that it is time to take a fresh look at who they are and what they are called to do.
"What's less clear today than in the past is where we need to go next," said Farrell.
What makes this moment so unique, she added, is that congregations recognize "it's time for us to try to find our way into the future together."
This solidarity among women religious, growing since the Leadership Conference of Women Religious began in 1957, has strengthened as congregations worked collaboratively over the past two-and-a-half years to respond to the Vatican's apostolic visitation of U.S. women religious communities.
Now they are probing their future together and in that process experiencing a resurgence of hope, said Most Precious Blood Sr. Mary Whited, a former conference president.
Most Precious Blood Sr. Mary Whited
Collective contemplation
The contemplative process developed by the conference appears simple at first — reflect silently on global events of the past two years and how these events shape the mission of U.S. women religious, consider what new realities might be emerging and what responses to these realities are being called forth, then share those insights in a word or phrase with one another.
The depth of the experience, however, belies the apparent simplicity. It's a suspension of rational Western thinking as the participants drop into what Zinn calls "a contemplative way of seeing what God sees."
McCarthy added that the process allows "whatever wishes to emerge from within to do so."
What results, according to Whited, is a dialogue among participants that "goes far deeper instead of wider, embracing the breadth of movement of the Spirit."
McCarthy said this form of contemplation, though similar to Centering Prayer or mindfulness meditation, differs in two ways: It begins with a specific focus and ends with a sharing of insights.
"Sharing together from this place of depth without a programmed endpoint is part of the power of the experience. There is space left for us to notice the 'something new' that our God may be doing in our midst."
Just days after participating in the process during her community's chapter meeting, McCarthy enthusiastically attested to its power.
There was, she said, a new way of interacting, a kind of contemplative dialogue where the women were able to "hear one another in our differences" instead of getting caught up in the defense of opinions and ideas.
"We were able to re-look at everything so we can determine what needs to be repositioned for the sake of God's mission in the world."
For these Providence Sisters, that repositioning will include a realistic assessment of all their ministries in terms of financial sustainability and alignment with the congregation's core mission.
"If we have to let go to ministries or adjust lifestyles, we will do it," McCarthy said, because there is new clarity and renewed commitment flowing out of their contemplation together.
In a speech before the Sisters of St. Joseph in LaGrange, Ill., last October, author and spiritual director Judy Cannato said that a contemplative stance allows participants to be "free from the grip of fear and enter into a centered space that allows us to see with less anxiety and more clarity." (Cannato, an associate of the St. Joseph Sisters, died May 7 at age 62).
This contemplative process is not about self-evaluation or strategic planning, though both have important roles to play in decision-making, Whited said. Rather, it precedes and guides decisions by "going deeper to deal with what's underneath the realities and to look at the mystery."
She sees this contemplative process as the next step in the reexamination of religious life that began with the Second Vatican Council 40 years ago. "It is now time to stop and evaluate all the transformation that has happened since Vatican II and to determine what the Spirit is calling for now."
Model for the world
This contemplative process, the sisters assert, has potential far beyond religious communities. It can offer individuals, institutions and political entities a new way of resolving differences through collaboration and peace instead of competition and conflict. And it can help people stay in dialogue with one another in the midst of such differences so they can forge a new vision together.
"We have learned a great deal over the years about managing diversity and living together with polarities," Farrell said. That wisdom, coupled with a deepening access to the Divine, might very well be the unique gift women religious are about to offer the church and the world, she said.
McCarthy points out the growing interest in meditation across all sectors of American society and believes it's a sign of the times, one that garners great hope for the future of the entire planet. "This is not just a New Age fad, but a real experience of opening up to a new place," she said.
One manifestation of this shift is the increasing number of lay men and women who are affiliating with religious communities, not primarily as financial supporters but as integral partners in living out a community's spirituality and apostolic mission.
Called associates, affiliates or companions, they become imbued with a community's specific charism and explore with the sisters new ways of manifesting that spirituality within their own professions and personal lives.
These partnerships extend the sisters' ministerial reach, but also draw more and more laity into the communities' discernment process.
For example, when the Sisters of Mercy held their chapter at St. Xavier University in Chicago last month, along with the 120 official delegates, there were 120 non-elected participants. These included associates and companions as well as sisters. Both delegates and participants engaged simultaneously in the faith-sharing and discernment process.
It was a powerful example of a new form of collaboration and interdependence, said Sr. Joy Clough, a delegate and past president of the Mercy Sisters' Chicago Regional Community.
She added, "We don't know yet where religious life is heading in its practical form, but it will be there. How it will look and function in relation to the church and the world is the unknown."
Members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious hope that through their contemplative process, a new Spirit-led vision will emerge.
[Monica Clark is an NCR West Coast correspondent. Her e-mail address is mclark@ncronline.org.]
The new that is emerging is
The new that is emerging is the end of the liberal LCWR model of religious life that emerged in the 60's. Vatican II said we should read the signs of the times. I guess people are just selective in what signs they want to read.
"I guess people are just
"I guess people are just selective in what signs they want to read."
Could that possibly include you?
The sisters tried poverty,
The sisters tried poverty, that has failed to give permanent commitment. They should persue money this time and become wealthy as some orders did in the m iddle ages.
The "new" you're suggesting
The "new" you're suggesting is far from promising more indicative of women running away from the world rather than working to change it. If a running away is the "new" version of Catholicism God help all of us!
I never knew that the job of
I never knew that the job of a nun was to change the world. Social activism was never part of the vocation and it should never be. Who made them executors of social change? Is that explicit in their religious orders? Religious orders should exits to exalt the Greater Glory of our Lord, not to become leaders of a political movement. Catoholicism is not a political party or ideology. If the "old" nuns forgot that then God help all of them. Thank the Lord that the "new" are doing what the "old" forgot to do long ago.
Two of the largest, most
Two of the largest, most urgent, most pressing problems of our time are good, affordable education and good, affordable health care. As I was growing up, I'm 60 now, the dynamic sisters of the time worked to provide...hold on, hear it comes...education and health care. Perhaps, it would be easier to seek peace and justice if our children were educated and healthy.
Hey Gerard: No orthotoxic
Hey Gerard: No orthotoxic caveman could have said it better. Club in hand, chomping at the bit to be the first to bash LCWR women-religious you reveal only a truth about yourself.
Clearly your prime mover is the use of God to put women in "their" shut up and shut out "place" in a church that desperately needs active modern women to lead the church out of the dark morass it is in into the light and love of Jesus.
Christ will lead his Church
Christ will lead his Church through his vicars, thank you. No need for aging women to take over.
Father Dearest: You are in
Father Dearest: You are in error. There is great need for women of all ages in the Church Jesus founded. What there is no need for however is the failed moral leadershp of aging sexist men that arrogantly form younger sexist men to continue their sick sexist tradition of leading Christ and his church astray.
Yeah Father: Like your hate
Yeah Father: Like your hate words that diminish women of any age have anything to do with Christ. It is obvious you don't know or tell Christ what to do.
Fr John, it needs to be
Fr John, it needs to be asked" "who are his vicars"? Of course, his priests (although we have created enormous problems for ourselves for unquestioningly affirming all our priests). What is wrong with allowing the Spirit working through any group within our church?
Or are you saying: "just not possible"? Or that "the Spirit has made it clear God does not do that"?
Lumen Gentium: 27. Bishops,
Lumen Gentium:
27. Bishops, as vicars and ambassadors of Christ, govern the particular churches entrusted to them (58*) by their counsel, exhortations, example, and even by their authority and sacred power, which indeed they use only for the edification of their flock in truth and holiness, remembering that he who is greater should become as the lesser and he who is the chief become as the servant.(169) This power, which they personally exercise in Christ's name, is proper, ordinary and immediate, although its exercise is ultimately regulated by the supreme authority of the Church, and can be circumscribed by certain limits, for the advantage of the Church or of the faithful. In virtue of this power, bishops have the sacred right and the duty before the Lord to make laws for their subjects, to pass judgment on them and to moderate everything pertaining to the ordering of worship and the apostolate.
Dear Father John: Would that
Dear Father John:
Would that our bishops observed Lumen Gentium: 27. You see, bishops have been very selective ("cafeteria" bishops) in what they observe that came out of Vatican II. Certainly, they got this part of Lumen Gentium: 27 "make laws for their subjects, to pass judgment on them and to moderate everything pertaining to the ordering of worship and the apostolate". The revised Roman Missal enforcement is one glaring example.
How arrogant of you Father.
How arrogant of you Father. We don't need you or your vicar pedophiles. You are part of the problem in our church. That's right, our church, not your church.
AUTOPOESIS ========== The new
AUTOPOESIS
==========
The new contemplative model of the LCWR Sisters in communion with each other is consistent with nature's autopoetic way of self-reflectively discerning the Symbiotic Spirit (Eucharistic) within, future-directed in advancing the trajectory of Divinity Consciousness (Omega).
The religious orders that are
The religious orders that are growing have an old fashion sense of community with a new direction in reaching out to the laity. Contemplation among the LCWR delegates may help them understand what works, what hasn't worked and what needs to be done before it is too late. God bless them all.
Unfortunately many of these
Unfortunately many of these communities that draw so many new members essentially are escaping from the world and going into something new. Their new members frequently don't stay very long and tend to have many problems personally and socially. They frequently are kept minimally educated. Go to church or diocesan events and you will notice that they are the ones who seek to kiss the bishop's ring or walk in couples, never alone, and they have their "companion"sister with them all the time. They are controlled in a style similar to the Legionairies. Individualism is highly frowned upon and self punishment advised. Is this what Jesus would want or call people to join. I think not.
Poorly educated? Look how
Poorly educated? Look how many Ann Arbor or Nashville Dominicans have advanced degrees. Many left successful careers in business and law. One of the novices in Ann Arbor was number 2 in her class at Harvard! I guess that is poorly educated when compared to all those LCWR sisters with their "degrees" in "pastoral studies and spirituality."
What's the survival rate of
What's the survival rate of the Ann Arbor Dominican Sisters? It's hard to track the numbers, but if you see the pictures of posutalants or novices, there are about 20 members in the group. However, when you see the group of Sisters professing final/perpetual vows, it's only 5 or 6. Again, I don't have the exact #'s, but that's a survival rate of either 25% or 33% -- not too great!
Also, where are these Sisters working? I've yet to see them in inner city/urban, non-white schools. They seem to flourish teaching white, middle to upper middle class students.
So, apparently you think that
So, apparently you think that white middle class kids shouldn't get a real Catholic education?
25-35% is normal rates for
25-35% is normal rates for ordination of younger (college aged) diocesan seminarians. Since discernment is only possible AFTER entering, that seems to make perfect sense. You don't enter postulancy/seminary because you are definitely called, you entered because you think you may be called.
Every Catholic adolescent/young adult is morally required to ask themselves if God is calling them to a higher state by living out the evangelical counsels. Part of the crisis is that so few Catholic families have taken the evangelical counsels seriously and even actively denied that an ecclesial vocation is a higher calling...
This was a very informative
This was a very informative and inspiring article. I live and pray with the hope that the LCWR process will yield much positive energy for the church in this country.
Amen! Praying with you during
Amen! Praying with you during your "upper room" assembly for a new Pentecost!
This contemplative
This contemplative discernment process sounds very hopeful. Also, the fact thay laypersons are joining with the religious to participate in this way of "knowing" the world and how to participate in it. It will be very interesting and instructive to see where the process leads.
It is interesting that this
It is interesting that this continues--------for what? I still believe in our religious woman of today. They are still doing wonders. They know the poor and work with them. Do any other leaders in the church live and work with the poor? YES YOU CAN!
What a wonderful, faithful
What a wonderful, faithful and feminine approach. I agree that this opens women religious up to the creative power of God and offers hope for the future.
The answer for most of the
The answer for most of the orders would be;go back to habits , live In community, go back to a prayer life , listen to the Holy Father ,and obey the Church ! If all this is done,I'll bet their vocation start growing again . The orders that are following those simple rules are growing like crazy!!!!
Where is the research that
Where is the research that supports this? Or is this just wishful thinking on your part?
No, this is not wishful
No, this is not wishful thinking; it is fact. Check out this report from Georgetown's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, the most respected U.S. center to do this kind of research:
http://nrvc.net/study_overview/?return_url=study_overview
"The orders that are
"The orders that are following those simple rules are growing like crazy!!!!"
What does this statement really mean? Does "growing like crazy" refer to numbers? What numbers? Is this an example of the kind of statements coming out of "the most respected U.S. center to do this kind of research"?
By the way, I have never heard of this "most respected U.S. center". And in whose eyes is this center "most respected"?
Not necessarily the
Not necessarily the answer---In God's house there are "many mansions" I'm sad that you cannot see what a beautiful and creative way this is to discern what the Spirit is leading these women to do...
As one former principal heard
As one former principal heard when he suggested "all we have to do is go back"..go back to what?
Funny how those who actually "lived the good old days" rarely saw anything good about them. The church goes forward...not backwards...faith isn't about running and hiding...it's about growing and seeking the way of adults not mindless children.
Nonsense. Go back to the
Nonsense. Go back to the middle ages and leave everyone else alone.
Should we go back to
Should we go back to witch-burnings as well? Perhaps a new, New-Age Inquisition? My dear Anonymous, there is no going back. One cannot bathe in the same river twice. I can understand the nostalgia for what appear to be simpler days. We are in a difficult time of transition. Running backwards to hide under habits and cassocks will only retard everyone.
Vatican II has been
Vatican II has been followed....Today there is no simple answer as all of us are in a changing society....Going backwards is not the answer. We must pray to hear the Spirit speaking in these times.
God bless the sisters. May
God bless the sisters. May they hear the Holy Spirit's gentle voice and follow in peace.
JR
A lot of widow women would
A lot of widow women would like to see the sisters welcome them into their community, to serve in whatever capacity they can - not under vows, but just a safe place to live and work in some capacity to serve the community. They could be self-supporting and even make a monetary contribution over and above the cost to house/feed them. It certainly would make good use of buildings owned by communities so they would not have to be sold. Retirement places for widows is so very expensive. This would allow the sisters to continue with their own ministries, as well as add people capable of contributing money and services. I hope you bring this discussion to the table at your meeting.
Thank you for this wise and
Thank you for this wise and constructive comment. These women do wonderful work and contribute greatly to the life of the Church and in their area communities — widows and other non-vowed single women would be a productive addition to their orders. Too many people who comment in these forums fail to understand that the LCWR mission reaches outwardly to meet people in the real world, as did the Lord himself, and is vastly different than habited, cloistered orders, in both style and purpose.
.
A great idea! Many of us
A great idea! Many of us will never be able to retire because we stayed home to raise children and our husbands died young. We live a spiritual life alone. Living in community would give many the ability to contribute to community and to pay what they can afford financially, while having a comfortable home. Widows would not be alone and lonely.
Maybe contemplation will bring this idea to the forefront.
After being widowed at age
After being widowed at age 51, and discerning next steps for my life, I embraced a form of consecrated life that is being rekindled in the Church today (see Pope John Paul's document Vita Consecrata #7). At the time I knew the Wheaton Franciscans for nearly 20 years and had been an associate with the community for 16 years. Through prayer and reflection, I came to know and understand my expression of vowed life, as a widow, as a gift of the Spirit. This is not something one simply wants to do. It is a particular charism that one comes to understand and embrace with particular vows. It has a theology all its own. I worked with a team of Sisters and Associates (my Covenant sister and brothers) to discern (name, claim and proclaim) my way of life. Bishop Joseph Imesch blessed and supported my decision to live this ancient yet new vocation. The Wheaton Franciscan Council affirmed my call. My vows were not "received" by the provincial as would be the case for Sisters professing vows to the religious community. My vows were witnessed by the community.
After 11 years of living deeply this way of life, which is one of prayer and service, I know and understand it as a call that gives expression to specific charisms that I treasure--Franciscan charism, Mother Clara Pfeander's charism, and Widowhood charism. Marriage is a form of consecrated life. Sister Death consumates this union/oneness in Christ. Many years ago widows founded religious order. Today, widows and widowers can join heart and hands with already established orders and be of service. There are many ways such women and men might commit themselves. I suspect there are others who would be willing to embrace a life of prayer and service, and the charism of a religious foundress, to be of service to God's people in whatever way the Spirit leads them. I am in ministry with the Wheaton Franciscans, in Wellness Services, where I provide supportive care for our Sistes who live at the motherhouse. I also offer spiritual direction through Tau Center. Currently, I reside in my own home and live five miles from the motherhouse.
Blessings ~ Alice
Have you heard about a new
Have you heard about a new group of widows who are invoking the intercession of Mary, "Star of the New Evangelization" to bless their efforts to establish a new religious community of "consecrated widows" titled; "Apostolic Widows of Cana"? They are emerging as one of the "untapped reservoirs" or "hidden treasures" in the Church. The Widows of Wisdom Era - (W.O.W.E.) Perhaps this might be one of the solutions or one of the new forms of Evangelization that Pope John Paul II writes about in his Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Ineunte -2000.
widowsofcana@gmail.com
"Members of the Leadership
"Members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious hope that through their contemplative process, a new Spirit-led vision will emerge."
Let us hope so since the last 45 years for LCWR congregations have been nothing short of a disaster in the destruction of ministries, silliness, incompetence, questionable to heretical beliefs and impending doom. With the average age of LCWR being 75 - the end is looming. Contemplation and meditation are both part of the Catholic tradition. Unfortunately I am extremely skeptical, and I fully expect that this is just another New Age gimmick of a group that long ago lost its way. The only thing missing to confirm that skepticism is an explicit reference to qi.
If they really want to know what religious life will look like in the future, they might want to google CMWS.
I googled CMWS and found it
I googled CMWS and found it stands for Common Missile Warning Systems or Cambridge Medical Writing Services or Coin Meter Washer Service. Which one of these did you mean?
Hmm. Google CMWS and
Hmm. Google CMWS and get
Connie Mack World Series
ATRCM/CMWS - a passive missile warning system to protect against infrared seeking missiles
Center for Marine and Wetland Studies
Coin Meter Washer Service
I am not young any more so admit to being behind the times. But, I had to laugh when these came up in the context of a search for what may inspire future women religious. Help? I am obviously confused.
Indeed indeed CMSWR Mea
Indeed indeed CMSWR Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa - I suppose you'll have to look that up too. :-)
Rome calls this process an
Rome calls this process an Apostolic Vistiation and the sisters call it contemplative prayer. All in all, it is about trying to understand each other and the future for religious life.
As Rome reminded the sisters when the Visitation began, they too were concerned about the few vocations and the ageing of these great communities. But the sisters got upset about the suggestion even though it is very true.
I hope that they will also learn from communities that are growing with young people. Conservative Catholics aren't that bad and while this may mean some changes in their community life, it might keep their communities alive into the next century. Younger people are looking for religious symbols and traditions that give them life. In our day, women don't need validation as much as they need a purpose to dedicate their entire lives to God through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Most progressive women wouldn't even consider such an idea and so it is natural to think that those types of women who are interested in the religious life would be more conservative in their perspective. This is just common sense. The sisters today were children of the post war where they were not validated by anyone in authority. We live in a different time period and it is time to recognize that.
I just hope that in their busy schedule all of the sisters will find time before the Blessed Sacrament and ask Jesus wants does He want for them and for the church.
When I was young and a
When I was young and a "returnee" to the Church, I grasped every prayer card and possible novena, studied the mystics and saints, reveled in the piety of the Church and doted upon every devotion.
I respect that aspect of my immature religious and spiritual growth; I needed this grounding and it proved to be an unshakable foundation. I think every Catholic needs a similar basic training...according to personality type. However, I was not called to stay in that mode of Catholicism. I lived and learned soooooo much more beyond that time. Most of our vibrant, fellow-catholics have moved on, too.
Our sisters-religious have been living this life for 2000 years and have an enormous Catholic maturity. They need a true "break out", a breaking of _their_ glass ceiling. Our brothers-religious, whether hierarchical or parish-bound have refused to seek the Holy Spirit for the good of all. The Holy Spirit has been bound and gagged and ostracized. The men are afraid.
In recent years, the term
In recent years, the term "Conservative Catholic" has become an enormously capacious umbrella - capable of sheltering a vast array of groups with burgeoning numbers under it.
However, something about that umbrella is deeply concerning: its capacity to prevent the raindrops of independent, lateral thought (that is, independent from the Magesterium) from ever reaching those who take refuge under it.
Here, an story from a Bar Mitzvah that I read some time ago - perhaps a parable for the Church of today:
Two boys are having their Bar Mitzvah in an influential Shul. Both, in turn, have received their aliyah to the Torah and have duly read their allotted portion. After their portion, each is given a few minutes to give their interpretation to the passage that they have read.
The First dutifully, correctly and in context quotes from the Talmud, the Kabbalah, the Zohar, and from the recent sermons of the local Rabbi. After he has finished, he receives polite applause from the adults, and then sits down.
The Second appears to totally disregard the entire existence of anything to do with the vast corpus of Jewish Sacred Literature. After he has finished, he receives thunderous applause from his peers - both boys and girls alike. He then sits down.
What usually happens in Judaism?
After the Shul service, the first is approached by businessmen, bankers, lawyers, accountants and the like, all eager to enrol him in their company's employ. A few, even offer him a scholarship to try to woo him.
As for the Second: the Service is barely over when all the Rabbis in almost indecent haste swarm all over him to try to woo him into their alma mater Yeshiva. One Rabbi was heard to say:
"He is the future of our people!"
Another:
"So creatively true and faithful to the Jewish Tradition! He will be able to successfully address issues for our people that will arise after we die of which we as yet know nothing!"
And another:
"He is perhaps the next Rambam!"
Now translate that into a Church context and ask yourself the question: What would normally happen under the "Conservative Catholic" umbrella?
The First would be summoned to an audience with the Bishop and invited posthaste into the nearest Conservative Seminary and then a College in Rome - to be fast-tracked into the Episcopate.
The Second ..... any guesses?
And we wonder why the Jewish people seem to so miraculously survive - generation after generation. And with such acute and excellent Rabbis!
Some women's orders are
Some women's orders are booming with Vocations. They generally belong to Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. These aging groups in the LCWR are dying off; if the Spirit is indeed guiding them it must be His intention to assure that no more generations will know of what they are doing now.
Loyalty to the Church's teaching and discipline (yes that means habits) is key. There is no good fruit that can be born apart from that.
Many blessings upon this
Many blessings upon this endeavor, Sisters. You continue to lead and inspire us in searching for and listening to the Spirit's direction in your dedicated lives. Thank you
Would you please tell me why
Would you please tell me why all these women religious are spending all of this money, not to mention the damage to the environment by the plane fuel to sit in silence in California? Can't they sit in chapel from whence they hail?
No doubt the sisters already
No doubt the sisters already sit at home in silent prayer every day . This is simply an even bigger community with whom to sit. There is a union formed by God as people sit and there is tremendous power ... that of the Lord ' s love embracing the whole of creation . It will be a source of blessing for all the world .
Judas wanted to save money and scolded the use of the precious ointment lavishly poured all over Jesus who said , " Leave her alone ..."
If indeed they have any repenting to do leave them alone to do it . Seems there are many who are without sin seeing as all those stones are flying about aimed at women religious .
I never heard of any Divine promise as to the permanent existence of religious orders or congregations - all due respect to Benedictines et al
Regarding these new but actually retro groups of sisters they have no guarantee either of permanence . Only time will tell .
How easy it is for those who never led life in the convents of sixty years ago to think it was so ideal !
In the earliest days of the church every man and woman was considered as given completely to God . Could it be that way again ? Is that where God is trying to lead us ?
I like to think of their trip as contributing to the economy . Think of all that coal needed to make the electricity to enable us to write our comments !Not to mention the dreadful illnesses that befall the miners ! Yet on we go !
And if it is an error in judgment to gather and travel by plane , so be it .
If God can give us room to make mistakes we might try to do likewise regarding the brethren and the sisters , too .
Don't you get it? It's only
Don't you get it? It's only a waste of money when bishops do it! It only damages the environment when big corporations do it! It's only abuse when men do it! Women religious, at least LCWR ones, are incapable of sin! Religious in habits are still bad because they are like the evil bishops, but LCWR modern religious are great and by the hundreds of young women joining their groups each year you know they will flourish until Christ returns (that is, if you actually believe in all that Jesus legend).
The Sisters have done so much
The Sisters have done so much for the world for so many years. I wish them God's blessings during their conference. As I look back at the nuns I have known and been educated by in my lifetime, I see unprecedented sacrifice, love and commitment to all of God's people. I like the idea behind their conference. May the Holy Spirit guide them and give them strenth and courage.
But now they seem embarrassed
But now they seem embarrassed about all the work their predecessors did in schools, hopsitals, missions, etc. They look down on young women who want to be teaching sisters as collaborators with an evil regime. These liberal sisters claim credit for the work their predecessors did on one hand while on the other saying it is demeaning work that is beneath their dignity. They can't have it both ways.
I have to disagree that
I have to disagree that Religious Sisters are embarassed by the work of their predecessors. Many Sisters have been ousted out of their ministies in schools, hospitals and missions. Those who wish to continue teaching in Catholic Schools cannot get teaching positions; though well qualified to teach.
As the nuns gathered in
As the nuns gathered in silence to hear what the Lord would say to them, they heard a voice "You should have thought about a 401K, back in the day when you went your own way. What else do you expect me to say to you today?!" - The Lord.
What a wonderful idea!
What a wonderful idea! Listening to the still voice of God! I hope this message is carried all over the world. We need to quiet ourselves and center ourselves in order to listen.
May Jesus Christ Be
May Jesus Christ Be Praised!
Where are you getting the idea that these misguided religious are 'listening to the 'Voice of God'? They are 'contemplationg' the last two years and what that means for their future. The problem is that they are expecting great changes to come from within their ranks, whereas it needs to come from the Incarnate Word Who has a 'joint mission with the Hoy Spirit'. One does not hear from them any emphasis on Jesus Christ; it is all about them and their fluffed-up foolishness. The tree is known by the fruits. These women are reaping what they have sown.
Yes, may Jesus Christ indeed
Yes, may Jesus Christ indeed be praised. However, it must be said anon the only idea I am getting is that perhaps you are the misguided here. Perhaps you are in need of a place to project. Try God. Listening to the voice of God is the remedy.
In the meantime please note the Roman Patriarchy of the RCC is reaping what it has sewed. The long term consequence of feminine oppression is desertification.
Change is always difficult.
Change is always difficult. I wholeheartedly applaud the manner in which the women religious of this country have handled, and are handling, what is before them. It seems that, even though everything is always changing, lately, the changes are at the deepest levels of creation. The earth s changing, the weather is changing, governments are changing and spiritual life and its expressions are changing. This is true all over the world. I truly admire the courage our women religious are showing. They are handling things with the true spirit of Christ. I have every confidence that the appropriate answers will come from a contemplative approach.
I do not want to ignore the pain that has been and is being experienced. To meet it with love and compassion is, indeed, the supreme response.
Kudos and loving support to you all.
They are looking for what the
They are looking for what the future of religious life will look like? All they have to do is look to Ann Arbor, or Nashville, or the Sisters of Life. These orders are not trying to decide how to merge and who will turn the lights off but are looking for bigger mother houses to accept their ever-growing applicants!
I am also going to go out on a limb and guess that LCWR will again not set aside any time to meet with the victims they abused sexually and physically.
Going backwards may be
Going backwards may be attractive to some who are opting to flee rather than deal with the world. The excellent women's religious communities we have are courageous, faith-filled women who are taking steps to grow and move forward...not run and hiding.
No one went backwards, but a
No one went backwards, but a wrong turn was taken 45 years ago. Luckily no one followed them down that lost path. The good news is that some of them look to be getting back on the right road after being lost for so many years.
While no fan of the LCWR, I
While no fan of the LCWR, I think talking about sexual abuse by nuns back in the day of the habit is a little bit absurd. In general sexual abuse by women is pretty rare. It is more common today after the sexual revolution in terms of secular female teachers going after teenage boys. But even here the handful of cases one reads of these secular teachers is still rare enough to shock sensibilities. I remember a bizarre case of a female teacher who went to jail for this & then ended up marrying the kid when he was old enough.
As far as physical abuse by nuns, that is more credible than sexual abuse. But even here back in the day corporal punishment was used. Whether it should have been or not is debatable. When people today say they were physically abused by nuns, I feel the vast majority of cases were just standard corporal punishment (again wise or not) like cracking the knuckles with a ruler or a slap across the face. I'm not necessarily defending this kind of behavior but it was accepted in the past.
In fairness, I have read of some strange cases of corporal punishment which went over the line. These however were rare. I come from the era when the nuns would hit the kids on occasion but I certainly never got hit & neither did any of my sisters. We were brought up properly!
In general the application of corporal punishment was pretty rare back in the day. Bear in mind, in my school there were 70 kids to a class & one nun, no assistant. A nun had to be pushed pretty far before she would hit a kid in those days.
So to those who claim physical abuse back then, I say, look at the big picture & don't make waves. In any event any claim of actual physical abuse (of which there were some) needs to be separated out from standard corporal punishment.
A good commentary.
A good commentary.
That's fine, but what about
That's fine, but what about these holier than thou sisters who spend all their time complaining about bishops and men, organizing their picket lines, and yet continue to deny that their orders did anything wrong? Victims gather outside their meetings and they sit inside like they don't exist. The pope has met with victims, bishops have met with victims and these sisters continue to yell that they did not do enough. But then when confronted with their own history of abuse and cover-up they are silent, go inside, turn off the lights and lock the door. Many of these women are the epitome of hypocrisy!
When will they understand we
When will they understand we are not going "going back" but reclaiming the heritage these sisters denied us through their distorted view of Vatican II?!
I will be 50 next year and was raised by these so-called “religious” and indoctrinated in their lies and distortions through 12 years of liberal “Catholic education”. It wasn't until I attended a secular university and began to study Church history that I saw the beauty and truth of the Church and its teaching. I pray for the women of my generation who were lied to by members of these power hungry self-absorbed orders and told they would one day be able to be priests. I also pray for my classmates who were propositioned by openly gay nuns and priests at my high school and were told that soon the church would say it was “all right”. I also pray for myself, as I find it difficult to forgive them their sins - they knew EXACTLY what they were doing and they still do. God bless the young, well educated and growing Orthodox religious orders like they Sisters of Life - they are the future and a breath of fresh air!
God BLESS You!!!
God BLESS You!!!
How beautiful that the
How beautiful that the Sisters have chosen the contemplative prayer model for trying to discover new paths. My father was a Quaker. They used the same approach with outstanding results. I'm sure the good Sisters will have similar results. One encouraging thing about the many changes in Religious Life is that the numbers of Sister Populations in Roman Catholic Communities can merge with other Communities in order to survive. In Anglican Sisterhoods, the numbers are much smaller but never-the-less even their Women's Religious Communities have endured for a couple of centuries. It's all natural evolution. There will always be Contemplative Communities and Active Sisterhoods in the Catholic Church, and several major Orders such Benedictine and Franciscan may grow smaller, but they will survive. There was a time in the recent past when the numbers were huge. That era has passed. It's a new Church and a new world. Best wishes to these remarkable women! They are leaders in every way!
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