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PDF versionSchneiders to explore meaning of religious life today
Dec. 29, 2009
Sr. Sandra Schneiders
NCR will publish a five-part essay by Immaculate Heart of Mary Sr. Sandra Schneiders, Professor of New Testament Studies and Christian Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, on this site beginning Jan. 4 and running through Jan. 8.
The essay, titled “Religious Life as Prophetic Life Form” explores the meaning of religious life today and comes during a controversial three-year Vatican study of U.S. women religious congregations.
NCR Editor Tom Fox interviewed Schneiders, asking her about the purpose and timing of her five-part essay.
NCR: Why did you write this article, why now?
Schneiders: To begin with “why now,” because the Vatican investigation of U.S. women religious has created what the Chinese ideogram for “crisis” means, namely, a situation of danger and opportunity. Religious and their life are in danger from three directions.
- First, they do not know what the Vatican plans to do with whatever information it collects and, if those who suspect that the conclusions were reached before the investigation began are correct this danger is not illusory.
- Second, there is the danger that some religious will become so disgusted, discouraged, disheartened, even justifiably angered by this implied questioning of the integrity of their lives and the authenticity of their ministries, and by the clear signals that they are expected, if they want ecclesiastical approval, to get back “in the box” that defined their pre-conciliar lives, that they will simply give up, either on religious life itself or on their own vocations to it, or on a church which seems to be defined by a narrow, rigid, exclusively institutional ecclesiology.
- Third, there is the danger that generous younger women who are intelligent, courageous, motivated not by medieval romanticism or elitism but by love of the world for which Christ died, and who feel called to the following of Jesus in ministerial religious life will decide that they do not want to spend their lives and energy struggling with a patriarchal institution which denies their full human and Christian personhood.
I wrote this article in hopes of helping to counteract these dangers by helping religious seize the opportunity this situation offers to reflect deeply on the real meaning of religious life as a participation in the prophetic vocation and mission of Jesus and on our ministry as participation in his work of announcing Good News to the poor even unto the laying down of his life for those he loved. Part of seizing this opportunity is the deepening experience of solidarity among religious themselves within their congregations and across congregational lines, which fosters courage in the face of misunderstanding and persecution. I want to promote this sharing of experience and self-understanding.
NCR: February 3-16, 2012
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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
NCR: What do you hope to achieve by the essay?
Schneiders: I want to do two things, to the extent that is possible in a short essay. First, I want to analyze the current situation of religious life under investigation as a “two level” event analogous to the “two level” opposition to Jesus that led to his rejection by the religious establishment of his day. Second, and on the basis of the understanding of our life as a reflection of Jesus' own mission and ministry, I want to encourage the clear articulation and courageous claiming of our experience, which will encourage us to live the vocation to which we have been called, willingly living (not being passively overwhelmed by) whatever suffering that may involve.
The authorities of Jesus' time thought they were protecting the religious establishment of Judaism by getting rid of a politically dangerous “messiah” figure who was upsetting the fragile religious status quo within which their power was guaranteed by Rome. But they “knew not what they were doing”, because their deeper opposition, of which they were undoubtedly unconscious, was to Jesus' reinterpretation of the very meaning of God's revelation, God's work in the world. Jesus, God's prophet whom the Spirit of God had anointed to proclaim “good news to the poor,” was announcing a “new world.” He was undoing the “old world” of salvation reserved for the pure and earned by scrupulous observance of law by the religious elites, and opening up the “new world” of God's absolutely inclusive love and unconditional mercy to the unclean, the sinners and the outcasts. In that sense, he was announcing the end of their world to the religious authorities who had to get rid of him before what he announced became reality.
Religious are under investigation, at one level, for upsetting the ecclesiastical status quo of the Church understood as a divine right absolute monarchy. They are resisting patriarchal control of their own lives which is a threat to hierarchical absolutism in general. They are perceived, correctly, as promoting the ecclesiology of Vatican II. But the real and deeper issue is that religious are participating in the prophetic ministry of Jesus, announcing the Good News of salvation by their preferential ministry to the outcasts of society and church. By declining to serve as enforcers of dogmatic and moral absolutism they are proclaiming salvation that comes not through blind submission of mind and will to laws and office-holders or helpless dependence on religious mechanisms that are put out of their reach, but through humble acceptance of the power and desire of an all-loving God to save even those who are “hopeless” in their own eyes or the eyes of authority.
I also want to encourage religious (myself first of all) to look within, individually and in community, to reclaim and articulate the prophetic vocation to which we responded at profession, perhaps without realizing even vaguely where that could and would lead because of the times in which we were born. In reclaiming that vocation we must recognize and accept that tension with institutional authority -- defined by the latter as “disobedience” -- is part of our commitment to true obedience to God not men. Obedience is practiced in prayerful attention to all the “voices of reality” of our times, to the “signs of the times” in which we live. This attention, at every moment, leads to careful discernment that facilitates the three-way encounter among God, God's people, and the concrete historical situations in which God's reign must be incarnated in this world.
NCR: How is this essay connected to the one you wrote last October in NCR on “Ministerial Religious Life?”
Schneiders: The connection is in the close following of Jesus that constitutes religious life. In the first article I was trying to show how what I called the “lifestyle” of ministerial religious was that of Jesus and his original band of itinerant disciples. Because ministry is intrinsic to the life of these religious, as it was to the life of Jesus and first disciples, their lifestyle (dress, dwelling, prayer life, activities, etc.) is determined by their itinerancy, their availability to and their solidarity with (rather than separation and distinction from) those whom they serve, their understanding of common life in terms of economic interdependence rather than sociological structure, and so on. Religious live the “mixed life” of deep contemplation grounding urgent public action, as did Jesus, and their lifestyle reflects that reality.
In this essay I am going beyond the “lifestyle” to the “prophetic nature of the life” itself. I am suggesting that the very heart of ministerial religious life is its participation in the prophetic mission of Jesus. That mission, of proclaiming the Good News of salvation to the poor, is enacted in their interpretation of the Gospel into concrete historical situations of suffering. And this will inevitably lead to tension between the status quo of Church as hierarchical power structure enforcing doctrinal uniformity and moral subordination, and the Church as the Body of Christ in this world caring by preference for those on the margins, those who do not and cannot measure up, those who can only say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner” even when they cannot promise to meet the standards.
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The essay in five parts:
Part One: Religious Life as Prophetic Life Form, Jan. 4 Part Two: Call, Response and Task of Prophetic Action, Jan. 5 Part Three: What Jesus taught us about his prophetic ministry, Jan. 6 Part Four: Tasks of those who choose the prophetic life style, Jan. 7 Part Five: Religious life: sharing Jesus' passion, resurrection, Jan. 8 Read NCR's coverage of the apostolic visitation of U.S. women religious here: Index of stories Read an interview with Sr. Schneiders. She explains why she wrote this essay: Schneiders to explore meaning of religious life today |
for so many religious, the
for so many religious, the prophetic mission is to be in opposition to the hierarchy of the church, what they would describe disparagingly as patriarchy. These "prophetic" religious delude themselves into thinking that their opposition to the hierarchy is prophetic, when in fact the prophetic ministry and mission of the Church is found in the revealed faith and morals of the Church and her magisterium what is called the Deposit of Faith. It is out in the open for all to find and the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the best place to find it. Those who operate from a gnostic vision, which seems to be a good number of aging religious, think they have a secret intuition or pipeline that tells them to do their own thing and abandon the traditional orthodoxy of the Church, both east and west as well as abandon the orthopraxis that has been handed onto us. Only when they fully acknowledge the authority of the Magisterium and are led by that prophetic vision will they recover their high calling, mission and ministry. They have a long way to go.
I'm so glad that you
I'm so glad that you clarified that for all of us. Perhaps you could now get your own chapter in the Catechism of the Catholic Church!
You seem to be jumping to the
You seem to be jumping to the same (simplistic, judgmental) conclusions that are drawing responses from women religious like Sister Schneiders. The prophetic witness of these ministerial women religious is to and for the poor, the victimized, the powerless. That is the charism that drew them to their communities' ministries. On the contrary you seem to see their charism to be unthinking obedience to Church authority or the magisterium. That is not a charism; it is a structural issue. To hobble their ministerial charisms by boxing them into an isolated and repressive lifestyle (by men who have never been there!) would be to violate the very Spirit which generated their energy and commitment to Jesus' poor in the first place. It is not their purpose to defy Church authority. When Church authority fails to recognize and respect this charism and the decades and decades of sacrifice and lived experience of these women on the front lines of the CHURCH's DEBT TO THE POOR, (as your comment also reflects) what can be said of the vision of this Church? Where have you learned that only the (male) hierarchy is gifted with the word of God? Did the hierarchy hear it (authenically) in Dublin? Did they hear it in Boston? Help us understand how their view of all things is so absolute. And help us understand how these men hear the word of God especially as it moves in women.
Thoughtful thinker, your
Thoughtful thinker, your comments are tired and worn out. No one that I know of disparages the sisters of the past, especially the Pre-Vatican II era of the 1950's. Sisters then and now do marvelous work. What we are alarmed about is the loss of what these sisters did and a new path that has led to their demise. In the city in which I live at one time there were over 60 sisters of mercy living here doing all the great things you describe. Now there are 2 and they are invisible to the vast majority of Catholics and others in this community.
What most Catholics want and I suspect the pope himself is a strong, vibrant religious life that will be present to the next generation. Except for few exceptions of the more conservative orders that are valiantly fighting against the tsunami that the sister is this article and others like her have wrought upon various once strong and sound communities. Don't accuse the hierarchy of not valuing sisters, it is because they and most Catholics of good will, including me, value what they have done is the past that we lament the path they have only recently taken (in the last 45 years) that has led to their near extinction. So be honest please.
Dear so, You seem to forget
Dear so,
You seem to forget that we are no longer living in the past. The large Catholic families that had 5-9 children in them (where at least one child would be either a priest, brother or sister---and sometimes two children had a vocation), is a thing of the past.
Catholic families today have either one to three children. And many couples do not have children at all. Many families have one parent who is not Catholic at all---and understanding a vocation to the Catholic priesthood or religious life is a mystery. A Protestant minister can be married and a minister. But the one area that Catholic priests, brothers, and sisters share--is celibacy. Parents are not encouraging their daughters to become religious----this way of life isn't even a blip on the radar screen.
The "pool" (a bad term to use) to select religious from is greatly diminished.
So, to expect the large numbers of religious to be around like in the past---
is not realistic. Also, women who enter are not the kids that used to enter years ago. Children at age 10-12 entered the convent, ran around a few years as 'practice' postulants---until Canon Law stated that they could really enter. Age 14 was the earliest that a girl could be to become a postulant, 15 years to become a novice and age 16 the youngest age that a young Sister could profess vows.
But mature women are entering the convent today---and they are highly educated women---not impressionable girls. And mature, educated women are not accepting the 'bunk' that the Vatican hands out to gullible individuals.
to little bear, again, you
to little bear, again, you obfuscate the problem. The only orders that are growing are the ones that have community, a focused mission and are faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. This is provable and quantifiable. One only need look at the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, Nashville and Ann Harbor.
None of the orders that have taken the road that Sister Sandra has promoted for 45 years are seeing any growth whatsoever. Now, I suspect if all orders were like the ones above I site, then none of them would be doing well, since the pool is indeed smaller. But somehow I suspect that if the laity, meaning children and their parents had experiences of sisters in their Catholic schools, parishes and social outreach programs, then yes, more might develop a sense of a call to religious life in addition to all the other vocations or avocations they could choose. Right now, except for the religious orders I site above, very few laity, adults or children see a sister or know what a sister does. You can't recruit that way. And if the life of the order is no different than what a lay person could do on their own anyway, why the heck join? I think that is why most women who might have given thought to religious life don't join, what's the point! They can do their own thing, find their own charism and be as prophetic as they want and not be under the authority of anyone. They can do all this on their own. Perhaps Sister Sandra sees the writing on the wall and just wants those who are in these dying orders to enjoy the time they have left and not be bothered with any reform of the reform--let the newer, thriving orders take over, which they will in about 10 years, because Sister Sandra's sisters will be retired in nursing home or long sense dead.
so on Dec. 31, 2009. You
so on Dec. 31, 2009.
You stated:
"to little bear, again, you obfuscate the problem. The only orders that are growing are the ones that have community, a focused mission and are faithful to the Magisterium of the Church. This is provable and quantifiable. One only need look at the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, Nashville and Ann Harbor...."
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Again, for the 'umpteenth' time. It doesn't matter if a 1000 candidates join this congregation (and others like it---every year---and they are NOT getting a thousand candidates). What matters is HOW MANY PROFESS FINAL VOWS (after 8 years of spiritual formation). That is the ONLY number that counts!
Secondly, this congregation and others like it are not well-known---like the Benedictines or the Sisters of Mercy----they are only in little pockets in a few places. The Dominicans of Hawthorne (by the way---they were founded by Rose Hawthorne---Nathaniel's daughter), to care for the sick---especially cancer patients. And kids still wouldn't see these Sisters, unless they have a relative who is stricken with a serious illness.
Also, in many dioceses, Bishops consolodate Catholic schools and the parish Catholic school is going the way of high-button shoes. In my neck of the woods---there are only regional Catholic schools, supported by a number of Catholic parishes in a region. Believe me---the schools are excellent---but they no way have the number of students that some parish schools had in their heyday. When I was a kid, one parish school had over 1500 students in it---and that was just ONE Catholic school. Today, a regional school boasts if it has 400 youngsters in it---and this is drawing from 5-6 parishes for students.
There is a growning number of Catholic parents who home-school their kids--many of them hooked up to on-line Charter programs. The parents teach their children the religion component of their course-work. And these children still do not see Sisters (even if there were 1000 of them all over town).
For another aspect of your response---NO religious order/congregation is a branch office of the Vatican. Vows are professed NOT TO the POPE, the CURIA nor any Vatican Dicastery. Religious are laity, but consecrated to God---they are not clergy, and the Vatican can no more tell the religious what to wear, where to live and how to live---than it can tell any other lay person.
Religious follow the Rule of Life and Constitutions of their respective Orders/Congregations (that were approved by the Vatican).
The Vatican investigation headed by Cardinal Rode is NOT GOING TO SHARE the results of the investigation of religious orders with ANYONE---not the membership, nor the leadership. So what is the purpose? Nothing, but harrasement. And I submit to you, that Cardinal Rode does not understand how Americans think. He's eastern European, and spent most of his adult years under a socialist government. That's not a condemnation---it is just reality!
So "so," I am not 'obfuscating' the problem. Just as humans grow and change(and you yourself do not look or act like you did when you were a child, or teen), so do religious orders/congregations change with time. Human beings have a life span----and so do religious communities. For most religious communities---the 'life-span' is 150+ years. God directed the founder/foundress to start the religious community to answer the needs of God's people at a specific period of time. When that need has been served, then---many orders/congregations might indeed, die out.
And again, Catholic parents are not encouraging their daughters to become Sisters---for several reasons. The number professing final vows is only a fraction of what it was in the 1940's-50's and early 60's. Often candidates entering are older (read women in their 50's), and IF they MAKE IT to PROFESS FINAL VOWS---they may only have 2 maybe 2 1/2 decades of ministry before them.
Way back in the 1970's---many of us knew that the up-coming millennium was the Age of the Laity. The Sisters who taught (and those still teaching), have and still do urge the laity to take their baptismal vows seriously. They are to be the leaders of the Church in new 1000 year period. The Vatican is frightened of this. It is not prepared at all, to deal with this new phenomenon of having a good number of educated laity (not the illiterate peasants of past centuries), who are willing and capable to not only assume ministries within the Church, but who are capable of leading the Church as well, not as clergy, but as laity. Of course, the American women religious were largely responsible for this. America had the most unique system of Catholic schools in the world (started by Elizabeth Ann Seton---a most unique woman in her own right).
It doesn't surprise me at all that the past pontiff and the current one were/are so frightened of this educated laity---that they are doing everything that they can to hold onto a past, that is a familiar, ordered system of operation. But a few more years, and the inevitable will occur. The official Church, still moving on the fumes of the 20th Century---will have to face the fact that the 3rd millennium is here---and hiding in the past will no longer suffice. It will have to work hand and hand with this laity---and re-construct the Catholic Church in America in order to best receive this gift to which the Holy Spirit is leading us.
Where is there any evidence
Where is there any evidence at all the past pontiff and the current one being frightened of educated laity? Both men value learning and scholarly endeavour. Both men have a broad range of interests and have urged the laity to become invilved in the world and to once again be the salt and light Jesus wanted us to be in the world.
I wonder how you would view
I wonder how you would view The Little Flower? Was she merely an impressionable gullible girl who accepted the Vatican's bunk?
The most highly educated human beings are capable of moral error and great evil.Intellectual greatness is no guarantee of virtue or wisdom.If you have been the gift of great intelligence of course you must develop and use it but never mistake this gift for depth of Faith.
Our correspondent hits it
Our correspondent hits it right on the nose. Catholicism is not sacramental Quakerism with its inner lights, and religious life is not lived apart from the Church (which includes the Church as institution, not some evanescent movement as ephemeral as some of the "spirits of Vatican II"). Interestingly, nobody in NCR has seen fit to report what the National Catholic Reporter is carrying, namely, of younger sisters in the moribund orders that are institutionally decrying the visitation, sisters who WELCOME the visit but have been told by their superiors to pray and obey.....
"describe disparagingly as
"describe disparagingly as patriarchy" - I would be a little cautious, I think, about ascribing motives to other people. None of us can see deeply enough into another person to decide whether anything they say is "disparaging" - or genuinely honest. And the magisterium of the church is true and real - BUT, to follow Jesus' way of teaching, is not imposed upon others. THAT's patriarchy - aka the domination system. Read the gospels - and listen to "Blessed are the meek" among other things - and look at the WAY Jesus did things. In the interview, above, S. Schneiders indicates that the present leadership is focussed on an "institutional ecclesiology" - the church as institution, forgetting that the real church is the body of Christ. Everyone that I know respects the magisterium of the Church, the Body of Christ, which includes lay, religious and ordained priests at all levels of hierarchy. Our God is a God of process, not rigidity. Trying to put the Holy Spirit into a box of any kind whether hierarchical, theological, or institutional not only won't work, it can be dangerous. God's Spirit is not to be contained by humans!
The assumption in this
The assumption in this command to get back with the Magisterium is that the magisterium (intentionally lower caps) is prophetic. Prophetic ministry, as shown in the scriptures, is most often given to those without an institution to preserve. Why? Because they will not be burdened by the effort to save the institution. Prophets were generally those no connected to an institution because they could then be free to challenge the institutional presuppositions about how to live (Jeremiah 1:4-10, Amos 7:12-13, the prophet Hosea who was married to a harlot, Micah 6:1-8).
This man succinctly speaks
This man succinctly speaks the full truth because he and everybody knows that we are NOT: roman slaves or subjects, are not mandated to pay taxes to rome,(especially the non-exempt corrupt and malignant vatican bank scandals--a now decades-long clerical den of evil greed and lust to power). I have no allegience or affiliation with such anti-life atrocities and, thankfully, do not live in rome (though I know Italy's hill towns well). Rome has manifested itself to be an earthly city of ungodly men, not the City of God that Augustine and Tolstoy prophetically struggled and lived for. The earthly catholicism of rome is notorious for sending in un-suspecting seminarians who go in as potential shepherds and come out as apathetic and goose-stepping sheep. I have read most of this post's commentaries and am consistently appalled by the ferocious illiteracy that people claim to present as "universal truth." Except for this responder's commentary, none of you have read the independent uncensored accounts of church history (remember, the function of ecclesiatical imprimaturs is to exclude, alienate and censor). They've become like tedious and tiring advertising commercials. If anyone has made the church look good or holy, it is never come from within its own ranks--ever! The Vatican in Rome does not/will never have the Christ-like prophetic call nor self-sacfifice to reform itself---from within. Read church history! Read Tolstoy's life and when he prophetically held a mirror up to the Russian Orthodox church to look within itself and to warn of the phillistines and regime-change savages at the gate, he was excommunicated! His prophetic call and vocational command was to keep writing and sadly let the church and her corrupt earthly ways continue toward devastation and ruin. He had to separate himself and in so doing, he entered the real mystical body of Christ. Who has made the church look good or holy? One prophet at a time, one mystic and martyr at a time, one poet-artist-literary prophet and faithful pilgrim at a time--one unknown, un-sung hero at a time, one member of the mystical body of Christ at a time. Through all of church history, All of these holy faithful ones were censored, persecuted, hounded like a criminal, slandered and scandalized, excommunicated, denigrated, murdered and burned at the stake by the 1700 yr. long inquisitions of Rome's earthly city, the city of man. So, whatever happened to Jesus Christ? Those of you who keep regressing back to your dehumanized roman enslavement and its oppressive pronouncements will not leave a legacy or example of what it means to be a prophetic Gospel Catholic. You will have never left the womb or the tomb and will expire this earth in your self-imposed tyrannical ignorance...in the ungodly city of man. As Flannery O'Connor said: "for the blind, I write in huge letters, for the deaf, I shout"!
When Jesus was teaching his
When Jesus was teaching his disciples.John 6:66 . and urged them to share in his passion by the ministry of eating his body, some said: This is a hard saying; and from that time they no longer followed him
. When he asked the disciples whether they also wish to go away, Peter replied: Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
Luke 21:12-19
It is no different today. Some find the teachings of the Church hard and they have failed to grasp the fact that just as Christ did not change Truth to hold on to His followers nor will the Church even if only a small underground Church remains It will be Christ's Church teaching His Truth not theirs. They can hold as many conferences as they choose they will not triumph over Mother Church because Jesus promised us He would be with He would be with us all days and would not let the gates of hell prevail against Her.
All each of us needs and must do is to strive with every ounce of our being for personal holiness
Wow! I'm eagerly awaiting the
Wow! I'm eagerly awaiting the essay.
After this very good and
After this very good and hopeful introduction I am totally ready to read the rest.Did I not dream of this for a very long time?
The Dichotomy of Religious
The Dichotomy of Religious Life:
Autonomy vs Approval:
An authentic ministry in Christ does not seek outside validation or approval. It does not require public recognition. It certainly does not work for pay, especially not from patriarchal sources. So, this struggle within the RCC can be easily understood as tainted by notions that one is validated by public recognition as a "religious" or that one's circle of relationship has approval from a higher authority other than Christ himself.
The problem with so-called "lay ministry" for modern-day "religious orders" is that they are on the payroll, walking the fence between "service" to the employer, who in exchange provides a paycheck, and a notion that this is actually "ministry". But true ministry is not carried out by hirelings. It is essentially those freely-given acts by which we "do good and disappear" that mark real, authentic ministry. The hours that one is on the clock for a paycheck are not authentic ministry; they are working for a living just like all who work at ordinary jobs, even though they may provide "service."
When the so-called Religious get this right they will be free of inquisitions and the need for approval or validation from anyone but God. And they will know what it's like to step out of the fray and find the calm center they thought religious life in these orders was supposedly going to offer.
Dear Anonymous, Your analysis
Dear Anonymous,
Your analysis is interesting yet short sighted. While I agree with your first point that authentic ministry is authenticated by its own integrity, I disagree when you suggest that receiving a paycheck compromises that integrity. Were one to take your suggestions to heart, religious women would be free to minister only when their bills were paid with welfare checks. One does not live in the United States without some money from somewhere, do you want ministry that is funded by your government welfare checks?
There's an awful lot of "they
There's an awful lot of "they think" in this statement, Anonymous. Deciding what others think and intend is always a little chancy, don't you think? That said, I thoroughly agree, as do all the religious I know, that "authentic ministry in Christ does nto seek outside validation or approval." And religious orders are NOT "on the payroll". They are self-supporting. They do wish, however, to be identified with the Catholic church as a part of the Body of Christ. There's the rub.
At one time I bought fuel
At one time I bought fuel products from a Sister Barbara who was an inside sales person at a local oil company. She was paid a salary so as to live, and at night was out helping "the least of our brethren " Does that count?
I encourage "The Dichotomy of
I encourage "The Dichotomy of Religious" to read Acts 18:3 where it justifies that Paul, one of the greatest missionaries that ever lived, worked as a tentmaker.
In addition, notice the number of times in the Bible that people are encouraged to tithe (Leviticus 27:31, Nehemiah 10:37, Amos 4:4, Tobit 1:6, Luke 11:42, Matthew 23:23 just to touch the surface). How many Catholics give 10% of their first fruits?
Lastly, the history of religious women, even in the United States, makes it very clear that they had to beg for funds both to live and to do the ministry that they so valiantly did. Why do you suppose we have needed a collection for religious every year? Because Sisters didn't have enough to support their elderly--that's why. Is that what you want again?
Anonymous on Dec. 29, 2009.
Anonymous on Dec. 29, 2009.
You stated:
The Dichotomy of Religious Life:
Autonomy vs Approval:
An authentic ministry in Christ does not seek outside validation or approval. It does not require public recognition. It certainly does not work for pay, especially not from patriarchal sources. So, this struggle within the RCC can be easily understood as tainted by notions that one is validated by public recognition as a "religious" or that one's circle of relationship has approval from a higher authority other than Christ himself.....
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If that's the case then why did Jesus state that "the worker is worth his pay"?
And do you believe that priests, bishops, cardinals work for nothing? That they don't get paid for their "ministry"?
Religious women/men's Orders/Congregations are NOT subdivisions of the Vatican. They are not clergy. They do not make vows of obedience to the Vatican.
Just as the Vatican does not tell married people where to live, what to wear, where to educate their children---so the Vatican does not have the right to dictate these things to religious. Everything governing a religious' life is found in the Constitutions/Rule of the congregation. If the Vatican already approved these constitutions---then the investigation is time/money consumning.
I look forward to reading the
I look forward to reading the essay.Would also like to hear more of the Catholic Worker movement and about Dorothy Day's legacy
If you do look into the
If you do look into the Catholic Worker movement, you will discover that Dorothy Day was indeed politically radical and an unstinting advocate of the poor but was also unstintingly orthodox in her faith: she said her lodestars were the Nicene Creed and the theory of surplus value. She was a far cry from the Gospel of St Timothy Leary, as another commentator has so nicely put it.
More power to Sr. Schneiders!
More power to Sr. Schneiders! Her original essay was insightful, if not ground-breaking! I look forward to her expanding and deepening her insights into ministry! What a gift she is!!
May God bless you, Sister
May God bless you, Sister Sandra, as you continue to be a beacon of hope, faith and justice for Women Religious in general and for those in the United States, in particular, during this time of trial. Thank you for truly being SISTER to each of us.
Very well said Sr. Sandra. I
Very well said Sr. Sandra. I feel if we do not get back to the basics of Jesus' teaching and learn to let the spirit guide us into the ministry we are all called to follow, than we are not living and working in the world as God intended us to or created us to follow.
I am an associate with the Religious Sisters of Mercy. These women have guided me spiritually for the last 25 years of my life, without there love, concern and respect of who I am as a person I would not be as involved in my church and community as I am at this time, not only do they take care of the needs of the poor, the homeless and the sick of our world, they show me and others the face of Jesus every day of their life.
So, Sr. Sandra, all I can say to you and the rest of the Religious women serving the needs of the marginalized people of this world is "Thank you for showing me how to love and honor each person I meet every day, and how to spread His work and His Word to every person I meet".
Peace,
Bobbie Donnelly
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! The Holy
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! The Holy Spirit uplifts all through the fidelity of women in the authentic Christian Mission of care for the least — refusing to be imprisoned in and frustrated by the alienating culture of self-idolizing males.
May we all prosper from and receive with gratitude the change to which God is calling global humanity. God bless the Holy Women
I think it's perfectly valid
I think it's perfectly valid and necessary to choose, as Jesus did, a preferential ministry to the outcasts and to oppose unjust and oppressive authority, even church authority. I admire Sr. Schneider's courage and the clarity of her thinking in pointing this out. My only trepidation is the old problem of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Does Sr. Schneiders see ANY role for church authority? Don't we need some authoritative voice in the church where it can be said definitively, "X is within the bounds of the Catholic faith and Y is not?" Obviously, such a voice can be oppressive and may need to be resisted on occasion. However, if no allowance is made for such a voice, then how would Sr. Schneider prevent the fragmentation of the faith. Such fragmentation is inevitable, it seems to me, if the only criteria for determining what is true and right is an individual's or a community's own belief that it is being obedient to God and is discerning the signs of the times in this particular historical situation.
•Third, there is the danger
•Third, there is the danger that generous younger women who are intelligent, courageous, motivated not by medieval romanticism or elitism but by love of the world for which Christ died, and who feel called to the following of Jesus in ministerial religious life will decide that they do not want to spend their lives and energy struggling with a patriarchal institution which denies their full human and Christian personhood.
That ship, Sister, has sailed. For both "generous younger women" and generous younger men.
It left the dock, mostly empty, around 1980.
However, it is a mistake (as seems to be the tendency) to continually point to the "patriarchal institution which denies their full human and Christian personhood" as the sole reason for the deserted decks.
Oh, it certainly is one factor. The very progressive idealism that would draw one into consecrated religious life and ministry almost inevitably becomes repulsed at the sort of "corporate" mentality which is evidenced by the male-dominated old-boys network that seems so ready to punish those whose thoughts and visions are not entirely congruent with their own interests. It is anathema to them.
However (and I most certainly not talking about habits, though some others are) there must be some consideration given to what young people are being shown of "Community Life" during their vocational retreats and times spent as guest aspirants. Simply put, it seems they're not liking what they are seeing; they aren't picturing themselves spending the next few decades of their lives in that model of day-in-day-out existence.
I do believe that it's related; there is a sort of 1970's "do your own thing" in the interview:
we must recognize and accept that tension with institutional authority -- defined by the latter as “disobedience” -- is part of our commitment to true obedience to God not men. Obedience is practiced in prayerful attention to all the “voices of reality” of our times, to the “signs of the times” in which we live.
Even as they have historically claimed a degree of independence from local ecclesial authority, religious have generally been obedient to one or another variants of a "Rule" in order to regulate a semblance of community life designed to keep individuals socially and spiritually "grounded." Such Rules were the very antithesis of the Rule of St. Timothy Leary (i.e., "Do your own thing").
However, it sometimes seems that the various Rules have devolved into Exceptions.
Could it be that "generous young" men and women are actually looking for religious life to provide a model for regulating their lives, and are put off by the lack of evidence of any such thing in the communities with whom they make inquiries?
Divide and Conquer: I hope
Divide and Conquer: I hope that everyone recognizes that the investigation of women religious in the U.S. is a diversion. It is obviously meant to draw everyone’s attention, especially the media, from the massive harm done by the Vatican and the U.S. bishops, with regard to the child molestation cases. The damage will have its affect for generations.
The more that the Vatican is able to distract the media and others from investigating the effects of the damage, the less pressure there is on the pope and the bishops. Of course, the last two popes, in particular, are ultimately responsible for the damage, because they selected the bishops, who enabled the abusers. And, the abuse is happening all over the world, not just in the U.S. We mostly hear about local cases.
In Canada, a bishop caught with pornography was forced to resign and is facing criminal penalties. In the U.S., the bishop (Cardinal Law) seen as one of those most responsible for enabling the child abuse simply left his position and was allowed to leave the country to accept a ‘promotion’ in Rome. The U.S. church has too many ties and much influence with our government. It holds the threat of excommunication over the head of catholic politicians who might run for office or lobbying against others, thereby causing them to lose elections because loss of the ‘catholic vote.’ We have few prosecutors with a sense of the law and ‘guts’ enough to charge these men with conspiracy to commit child molestation.
It is the all-male hierarchy and the incestuous way that they choose each other in secrecy to hold leadership positions that made the abuses possible and nothing in the methodology has changed. The church is just as susceptible to the whims and fancies of the corrupt hierarchy as it has been for years. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Jesus anointed Peter, telling him that he would build the church. I don’t believe that he told Peter that he was going to run it forever. An educated laity with input into the process for selecting church leaders could prevent abuses.
The Roman Empire dissolved many years ago. It is time for the Roman Church to lose its stranglehold on the People of God. Just as there is an Eastern Rite, there should be an African Rite, an Asian Rite, a South American Rite, and a North American Rite, perhaps all loosely tied to Rome. But Rome should not have exclusive rights to our conscience and should certainly no longer have access to our children. They have proven that they cannot be trusted. There is no family of which I am aware that would think of leaving their children in the company of a priest – the damage has been great.
So… newsmakers… be distracted by the investigation of women and other Vatican diversions at your own peril and the peril of future generations. It would be better to devote your time and energy to investigating the pope and the bishops.
What Sr. Schneiders is
What Sr. Schneiders is talking about here is, of course, not just the problem of the religious in the Roman Church, it is the problem of the laity in general. It is the practical (if not the doctrinal) heresy now dominating the ordained leadership of the Roman Catholic Church. And that is the belief that within the Church the Spirit moves only from the top down and not from the bottom up. The result of this practical heresy is that the majority of bishops and, as the supporters of Vatican II in the presbytery die off, more and more priests believe that they must ride herd on the laity (including especially the religious)otherwise the faithful will careen off into one disasterous heresy or another.
The antidote? To insist upon genuine dialogue within the Church involving all levels of communication. What does this entail? The strategy of dialogue can be realized in numberous ways including everything from the insistance that at least once a month in ever parish there be a community meeting or even a question period at coffee after Mass when sermons are discussed. It can mean even such things as insisting that the advice of parish counsels be taken seriously and that all dioceses hold synods including lay representatives. Barring that, it may mean in many cases shadow parish councils and shadow diocean councils where discussions are held and conclusions made public whether or not priests or bishops choose to participate.
What is needed is the respectful but insistent stance that we the laity are also gifted with the fruits of the Spirit and therefore for any practice or teaching to be considered to be the practice and teaching of the Church it must first be "received" by us.
may the Spirit continue to
may the Spirit continue to speak through you and all those who follow this Indwelling Spirit of TRUTH and LIFE
I must say Sandra Schneider
I must say Sandra Schneider is one of the women who tried to destroy religious life after Vatican II and in reality did just that to so many communities and the proof is the situation they are in at the present time. I was in religious life at that time and can attest to their influence on many religious. Men communities are in no better shape and some worst off than the women. I also think that the Vatican should leave them all alone for in 10 maybe 20 years they will all have died out. Just listen to what many religious believe today. This is just a sample of what I have heard in the last four months; one sister stated that the Eucharist is only symbolic and not the body and blood of Jesus, another who is a principal told students no need to go to church on Sunday it's only a man made law, and finally a DRE in a parish that does not attend liturgy weekly or on Sunday unless it involves her role as DRE. Finally so many of my friends who stayed in religious life have told me that it has no meaning to them anymore and they stay because they bare too old to leave. No prayer, no community in years. Small sample but it tells you why there will be an investigation. Oh many will try as Schneider does to justify their thinking but the present situation in religious life is proof that they were wrong 40n years ago and still are.
So, start your own religious
So, start your own religious order, with your rules and insights. Let's see how many you encourage to join your 'vision.' Some people have all the answers.
Yes, Andre Jospeh (sic),
Yes, Andre Jospeh (sic), there are extremists and nut cases among the religious who claim to be prophetic. But they are far fewer than the extremists who claim that perpetuating a stultifying conformity is the only authentic prophetic mode (which in that case is doing violence to the word "prophetic.") I sense a stringently selective approach in the voices you cite on your way to imputing guilt by association.
I disagree.
I disagree.
Andre Jospeh, Get a life
Andre Jospeh,
Get a life please!
I was just reminded that many
I was just reminded that many who comment and put in their two cents have had no experience with religious life nor any discussion with any of them. So I guess they need to get a life.
LOL! More arrogance out of
LOL! More arrogance out of you? Perhaps you can put up or be quite?
What "payroll" are religious
What "payroll" are religious supposed to be on???
Lovely exposition Sandra Schnieders. Thank you.
"We are men who have run the
"We are men who have run the church for 2000 years, so trust us on this review of American religious women. We'll tell you what is best for you, and what you need to know, all in our good time." God forbid anything like this should ever happen. Why are the American bishops so silent on this topic? Despite justifiable skepticism, great things could come from the apolostic visitation. Hopefully this upcoming series of articles will help that happen! Men of the Vatican, are you listening?
Magisterium??? orthopraxis??
Magisterium??? orthopraxis?? gnostic vision?? traditional orthodoxy?? Dear SO, REALLY! Give me a break! Throwing around these big words, you are "showing off"! Do you think that WE AS READERS ARE AS IGNORANT AND INTOLERANT AND PREJUDICED AS YOU ARE... and the final insult "aging religious" WOW! YOU ARE REALLY FALLING INTO AMERICAN CULTURE THAT HAS LITTLE RESPECT FOR AGE AND WISDOM! Put that into your pipe and smoke it!
I LOVE SANDRA SCHNEIDERS AND HER AUDACITY TO COME UP AGAINST THE " OLE BOYS CLUB"! SHE HERSELF IS A PROPHET AND A SCHOLAR, NOT TO MENTION A LADY OF GRACE AND CULTURE. I EAGERLY AWAIT HER WORDS OF WISDOM AQUIRED THROUGH AGE AND EXPERIENCE!
YOU GO ,SANDRA! I KNOW THE HOLY SPIRIT IS WITH YOU!
Right On!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right On!!!!!!!!!!!!
But is it so wrong to inquire
But is it so wrong to inquire whether womens religious are even Christian anymore? It seems that so many have delved into apostasy, and, inasmuch as they have the trust of the Catholic faithful and use church resources, it is only just to see whether sisters are even Christian. Who was the sister who recently wanted to move to a a post-Christian model of religious life? And need I mention the Dominican who escorted women to receive abortions? Can there be any reason to doubt the Vatican in this case? Why do the womens religious feel so threatened by the Vatican? If they are truly in the right, then what can they be afraid of?
We're not afraid, but have
We're not afraid, but have better things to do with our time then spend 3 years on this silliness....look around you, people have needs and we are trying to minister to them.
Excuse you! What land of
Excuse you! What land of fractured fairy tales do you come from? Do you not think the heirarchy and its worldwide abuse scandal does not just delve but drowns everyone in its apostasy? The Sisters are absolutely not apostates however, a significant number of the hierarchy are!
I believe there is a
I believe there is a significant difference between "being afraid of" inquiry and minimally participating in an unfortunately secretive process of external evaluation that lacks the transparency and dialogue that is normally and often legally required.
How many of the LCWR
How many of the LCWR sponsored or recommended seminars conferences and development courses had surveys and questionnaires and who drew them up, evaluated them and what was done with the results and to what degree was the privacy of those filling out the questionnaires protected?
How transparent and above board were their proceedings?
As usual Sandra Schneiders's
As usual Sandra Schneiders's comments open up new insights to religious life and those who embrace it.
Thank you Sandra for your
Thank you Sandra for your prophetic and timely insights. You and Joan Chittister are living prophets in our midst and your truth is shared by many Catholic parishioners. Thank you to NCR for printing the names of thousands of committed Catholics who support religious and their ministry and lifestyle today. We are ready and willing!
Sandra Schneider's
Sandra Schneider's scholarship, spirituality, and lived experience give her great credibility. I look forward to this essay with eagerness.
Thank goodness for Sister
Thank goodness for Sister Sandra and AMEN
Thank you Sandra and Joan
Thank you Sandra and Joan Chittister for being prophetic voices for women religious today. And thank you NCR for publishing the signatures of thousands who support post-Vatican II women religious and their various ministries for the Catholic community today!
A very wise bishop-pastor who
A very wise bishop-pastor who was visiting professor during my time in seminary told us "when your ministry depends upon recourse to canon law in order to provide you with authority, it is time to say 'goodbye'." The papal curia's constant retreat to canonical authority in order to 'control' others, whether it be religious women in the US or Mass translations in developing countries, helps us to realize that that kind of authority is precisely what was rejected in the ecclesiology of Vatican II and helps us to understand why the Vatican has fought to suppress the Council's decrees for the last 40 years. Unfortunately for those who seek to thwart the spirit of the Council, the Holy Spirit continues to empower those who desire to continue the realization of the Council's decrees in the contemporary Church. Maybe it is time to say 'goodbye' to the papal curia which is, after all, a Counterreformation invention of the embattled 17th century church.
A concise analysis of the
A concise analysis of the current situation with which I agree, Rev. Bronk. Along these lines I would recommend the following article on curial reform writen by Thomas Reese, sj http://commonwealmagazine.org/reforming-vatican-1 . The call to reform is also quite relevant to Tom Roberts' insightful article of 12-30-09 re the Irish situation, including Timothy Radcliffe's perspective on the problems of clericalism http://ncronline.org/news/accountability/ireland-confronts-its-sex-abuse... .
Tu es Petrus
Tu es Petrus
Sr Sandra is a brave woman
Sr Sandra is a brave woman who I see as a beacon of satyagraha. The patriarchy of the church will not work in our time ! WWJD ? He would encourage Sr Sandra as he did Dorothy & Teresa.
To understand WHY the Vatican
To understand WHY the Vatican is visiting the religious orders in the USA, read the comprehensive article about the "post-Christian Sisters" at:
http://www.catholicworldreport.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=art...
The Second Commandment: "LOVE
The Second Commandment: "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF" includes men, women, and, especially, children.
Simple, yet so profound!
But the Hierarchy ignores this Commandment, placing Image over Substance.
Woe to those who ignore this Commandment.
REPENT while you are still alive and have time to do so!!!
The Second Commandment: "LOVE
The Second Commandment: "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF" includes men, women, and, especially, children.
Simple, yet so profound!
But the Hierarchy ignores this Commandment, placing Image over Substance.
Woe to those who ignore this Commandment.
REPENT while you are still alive and have time to do so!!!
"...the Chinese ideogram for
"...the Chinese ideogram for “crisis” means, namely, a situation of danger and opportunity."
Memo to Sr. Sandra:
A WEIJI http://overlandstorage.dciginc.com/weiji/wei%20ji.JPG
is not a JIHUI:
http://pinyin.info/chinese/crisis.html
WHICH in no way negates or invalidates your observations that:
"Religious live the “mixed life” of deep contemplation grounding urgent public action, as did Jesus, and their lifestyle reflects that reality."
Anxiously awaiting the series in Hong Kong.
Blessings on your work.
Memo #2 to Sr. Sandra: I had
Memo #2 to Sr. Sandra:
I had no idea these two little Chinese characters (危机) were so linguistically contentious, so you have chosen a very apt metaphor for your current project. And as you can see, you're traveling in VERY good company!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_word_for_%22crisis%22
Zhu Ni Hao Yun!
http://images.google.com/images?q=good+luck+in+chinese&oe=utf-8&rls=org....
Dear Sister Sandra, Thanks so
Dear Sister Sandra,
Thanks so much for being so couragous. You are a true prophet of our times. May God continue to guide and bless you!
Sister Schneiders is a
Sister Schneiders is a prophet. The hierarchy, beginning with Pope John Paul II and his successor, Benedict XVI, have turned back the clock on the reforms set out by Vatican Council II, in my opinion. For those who see a model of Church as a monarchy whose legitimacy comes from a divine right, consider the fact that both popes could be wrong. We know that it has happened before. Had the institutional Church been open to the suggested reforms of Martin Luther, a grievous wound to the Body of Christ might have been avoided.
When Jesuits in the Chinese missions, ever so long ago, asked for a liturgy and other rites based on Chinese culture, the Pope turned them down. China might very well have become a Christian and Catholic country had not the Pope been wrong.
Given the present monarchical model of Church, which the institutional Church currently defends and upholds, it is no wonder that women religious in the United States are being subjected to a humiliating and unnecessary investigation as to their orthodoxy.
The institutional Church has more than enough on its hands in confronting in a right manner and in justly resolving the sexual abuse scandal. Why investigate women religious who are proclaiming the good news of the Gospels to the poor and the outcast?
They are living the example of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
The Church itself teaches that there are two sources of revelation: the Bible and Holy Tradition. To insist that Holy Tradition has been fixed for all time, denies the living reality of the work of the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ, the Faithful, even today.
Why should we rush to canonize John Paul II, without advancing as quickly as possible the cause of John XXIII? Good Pope John saw rightly that the windows of the Church needed to be thrown open to let in fresh air. Sadly, I believe, those same windows are presently being shut as quickly as possible.
One should read the documents of Vatican II.
I praise Sister for her courage, and pray for her and all women religious in the United States. Could it be because she is a distinguished professor at a Jesuit school in particular,that she is the target of Roman scrutiny?
The Jesuits are the intellectual vanguard of the Church. Yes, they take a special vow of obedience to the Holy Father. However, they are great scholars. Their scholarly endeavors should be given the same respect as that of all in the Body of Christ. Honest exploration of the continuing meaning of the true meaning of the life and teachings of Christ must not be labeled as unacceptable dissent.
Vatican II recognized the right to freedom of expression for all and encouraged further exploration and understanding of the meaning of the Kingdom of God.
Sister is a prophet. To rephrase the old dictum, she is without honor in her own Church. I believe this indicates that all of us should pray for a renewal and reform of the Church's present ecclesiology. I believe Our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed the Gospel that Sister Schneiders and her fellow sisters are living by example. Christ never envisioned a restrictive, monarchical structure for proclaiming the Kingdom of God.
Prophecy ended with the
Prophecy ended with the incarnation. Jesus is, was, and always will be the fullfillment of prophecy.
We need to live in His love and obey His teachings which He promised would remin free of error because He would send His Spirit to protect His Church from the gates of hell
"Tu es Petrus"
"Tu es Petrus"
There is a courageous
There is a courageous underground Church in China that continues to this day. These are people whose depth of faith and courage makes us all look aenemic.
I respect Sr. Schneider,
I respect Sr. Schneider, however I respect much more Rev. Margot Käßmann (the bishop of the Evangelical (Lutheran) Church of Hanover, and the leader of the Evangelical Church in Germany), also a speaker for a Christian outlook that is not loyal to Rome, because she does not confuse other Chtistians by pretending to be a Roman Catholic.
And I respect much much more than these both the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of nameless nuns of Eastern Europe who suffered under - even were tortured by - the Communists not so much for their personal brand of Christianity but for their loyalty to Rome, a loyalty apparently alien to some religious and lay Catholics living in the affluent West. In some formerly Communist countries even today there does not seem to be a shortage of vocations; perhaps exactly because of the memory of these heroic and loyal nuns.
I am not a vowed person or an
I am not a vowed person or an associate and I have no credentials. However, I believe people who advocate loyalty to Rome above all else request loyalty to some who betray Catholicism. Our Faith as Catholic followers of Christ transcends tight little compartments containing anachronistic rules that teach more about death than life.
Our brokeness and insecurity at this time in history demands a Catholic faith that transcends and expands narrow patriarchal formulas that have been great in corruption while lacking justice and compassion.
The ministries of LCWR Sisters are expansive in this regard. I am able to breathe a sigh of relief when I see them earnestly trying to use their lives corporately and individually as instruments of Christ.
The hope of Christ and the hope of Catholicism is not only with Rome. No, I believe the ones who can help Catholicism right now are Sisters.
If we love our church and our God then we must get over our deeply rooted sexism and recognize real leaders of Truth and Light. Women religious in full priestly parnership with honest men can lead the way for the good of all the church.
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