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Sisters delivered the church Vatican II promised
Jun. 08, 2009
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Srs. Mary of Nazareth and Mary Conrad on a begging tour at St. Eugene Mission, Kootenay, British Columbia, circa 1895 (Courtesy of the Sisters of Providence, Mother Joseph Province, Seattle)
Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionWhile a visit from the Roman inquisition might intimidate most of us, the timing couldn’t be better for American communities of religious women. They have nothing to hide and a marvelous story to tell, unknown to many Catholics and far richer than the caricatures Hollywood and nostalgia have created.
Visitors (Roman and other) to the estimated 400 motherhouses across the country will take away their own impressions, but two things are bound to stand out. One is the community cemetery whose hundreds of ordered graves hold the stories of the first women sent by their European foundations to the frontiers of the new nation, and then those successive waves of sisters inspired to follow them in mission. The story is told a second time in the faces of the mothers superior of each community that stare back at visitors from portraits -- painted, tintype, black and white, and color photo -- hung along the corridors of central administration buildings.
The thousands of sisters they sent like laborers to the harvest helped build the church in America, staffing schools, hospitals and orphanages, starting ministries wherever need presented itself, in the cities teeming with new immigrants, on the frontiers where sisters arrived hauling harps and pianos to educate the daughters of farmers, or on the battlefields of the Civil War, nursing the wounded on both sides, or through earthquake and plague in California, to earn a place of respect in an otherwise hostile, anti-Catholic America. This history is eloquently told by a two-year traveling exhibit (“Women and Spirit,” NCR Feb. 17, 2009) that the visitors will not want to miss.
In the boom years of the 20th century, convents and monasteries swelled with the daughters of immigrants, responding in faith and to the chance to be professionally educated, to travel and serve at a time when the proscribed roles for women were to marry and/or find careers as teachers, nurses and secretaries. As liberation movements swept the globe in the ’60s, sisters expanded their reach into the civil rights and peace movements, poverty and prison ministry, with thousands more sent to serve throughout the developing world as missionaries.
In an atmosphere of greater freedom and opportunity for women as a whole, many sisters also left their communities but not their vocations and extended the charisms and professional skills they had gained into every area of commerce, politics, public education and social service.
Today, some 59,000 religious women, aging but active, continue to serve the church. Communities have explored new forms of outreach through associate and volunteer programs and have formed strong ecumenical ties for common ground justice efforts.
The Vatican probe into their life will take two years. Billed as a friendly visit, it nonetheless parallels an investigation into the orthodoxy and loyalty of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents 95 percent of all American sisters. Whatever the Vatican expects to learn, this much is already well known:
- American women religious faithfully carried out the mandates of the Second Vatican Council to re-examine and adapt their original charisms in the light of current challenges. They embraced real change and forged ahead at great effort and cost, often when many bishops and pastors held back or opposed the renewal.
- They accepted the council’s call for collegiality by shifting from top-down to consensus-style governance in their communities, gaining valuable communication skills and management practices they then shared with the diocesan offices and parishes where they served.
As important as any official directive, the sisters’ example and encouragement facilitated a culture of participation and increased lay ownership in the church. They helped many priests deepen their personal and pastoral skills, and they helped mentor thousands of lay ministers -- men and women -- into team ministry.
- They modeled person-centered pastoral approaches that welcomed first and judged less, thus fostering a church whose image was appropriately domesticated and feminized to be “mother church.” Even as the formal church debates doctrinal and canonical complexities, women religious continue to lead the way in practicing the primacy of Gospel love.
- After Vatican II, women religious entered every field of pastoral, historical and biblical theology and were soon leading many of its national associations and were prominent in publishing and teaching. Their scholarship has challenged conventional assumptions and explored new horizons, helping to midwife the church promised by Vatican II.
Thus, at a time when the American church as a whole has been hurt by scandal, financial crisis, a severe priest shortage and, some say, a serious paralysis of hierarchical leadership, the sisters’ story is worth telling and celebrating. The timing could not be better.
[This editorial appears in the June 12 issue of National Catholic Reporter.]
Your first few words indicate
Your first few words indicate your agenda--this is not an inquisition! Yes, some women religous have been exemplary, but others have not. It is not fair to say that all religious have been a service to the Church. The sisters of old have certainly sacrificed and given loyal service to Christ and His Church! Today, many women religious are nothing but career women or men-haters with a viscious political agenda. The hierarchay of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious should be abolished. They are not very Christ-like.
And your evidence for such
And your evidence for such sweeping judgments would be...?
Just read some of their
Just read some of their statements, Annie.
ah, yes, the vague reply in
ah, yes, the vague reply in the accusation. You don't have any of that evidence handy now, do you?
Judge not lest ye be judged.
Judge not lest ye be judged. What a sad and negative respone.
So as members of the Church
So as members of the Church we have proven to be human. Should Holy Orders be abolished b/c priests have proven to be in violation of their promises? I think maybe you are a very angry person and I am sorry for you. We need to be challenged all the time from both sides of spectrum, liberal, conservative and moderate.
God's peace!
You obviously had a bad
You obviously had a bad experience somewhere along the way. To suggest that
women religious are "career women or men-haters" is to insult these women who have achieved success in their fields. The "viscious agenda" they seek is for women to finally be given by the church what Jesus gave them long ago: an equal share in all aspects of the church. Your last comment is surely "un-
Christ-like.
Milbo, your response is mean
Milbo, your response is mean spirited. No group of human beings is ever perfect - we have sex abuse from the clergy on a grand scale, from the head of the Legionaires to the saddest Christian brother in Ireland. None of us are always 'exemplary' but there is little doubt, as this editorial sets out to show, that the Catholic women religious of the United States, with their sisters across the globe, have been exemplary in bringing to life the values of the Christian gospel. May you find peace and learn to give credit where it is due.
Gail, I did acknowledge that
Gail, I did acknowledge that some women religious are exemplary. I refuse to say, as you do, that all have been exemplary. There are many women religious women, some of whom have taught Milbo 1, who are the salt of the earth. But this is not true of all. Some are nothing more than career women with viscious agendas. Let us be thankful that in these troubling times, some people men and women live heroic lives of humble and obedient service. As to your comment that we have sex abuse from the clergy on a "grand scale" you should review the record. Some have been unfaithful and they should be punished, but the vast majority of clergy, as are the vast majority of women relgious, are good people. Peace, Gail. Do your homework in the future.
Don't forget the countless
Don't forget the countless number of women religious in Ireland who also abused children! Haven't you heard of the "Magdalene Laundries" or do you only see things as you want to see them and not for what they really are????
If you chastise priests for their misdeeds, you better also chastise the "women religious" (especially the Sisters of Mercy!) who are just as guilty and culpable of horrendous crimes against children!
And it's not just in Ireland,
And it's not just in Ireland, nor is it just the Sisters of Mercy - the Immaculate Heart of Mary nuns were particularly angry and unhappy women. Anyone who attended Catholic schools in the 1950s was beaten or had to witness other students being beaten.
I'm not sure here if you are
I'm not sure here if you are talking about IHM schools when you make your statement, "Anyone who attended Catholic schools in the 1950s was beaten or had to witness other students being beaten", but if it was a general statement about Catholic schools, I am here to say that that sentence is not true. While I have always advocated for full disclosure of institutional abuse especially in Catholic institutions, nothing is helped by over-generalizations such as yours.
I went to Catholic schools throughout the 1950s and was never beaten nor did I ever see anyone beaten. I sure did learn my phonetics, however, and it sure has helped me ever since.
The inheritance of the
The inheritance of the TREASURE...
This Evelyn Underhill thought:life is "soaked" by a sense of God’s reality and claim, where "all we do comes from the centre in which we are anchored in God " would best express my own religious vowed life in community these 33 years. It perhaps also expresses the lives of more than 3,000 of the sisters I have lived and worked with! Quite contrary to the negative, painful and erroneous perceptions of some, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious continues to be Christ-Light companionship on a journey which (far from returning to 1960) is moving into uncharted territory! Who knows where it leads? Don't forget! In God we live and move and have our being.
Thank you for your prayerful
Thank you for your prayerful service. I hope and pray that those who are investigating have open hearts and minds and are able to appreciate the Christian love and committment that comes from the LCWR.
Funny, you could say the same
Funny, you could say the same thing about religiou men and priests yet I see no "friendly visits" from the Vatican to them. Let's get real, Milbo1. Does Christ-like apply to your last sentence that looks judgmental. What's your criteria for Christ-like?
I guess you don't pay
I guess you don't pay attention to anything that is not covered by the NCR.
You are a sad angry person.
You are a sad angry person. May God open your heart to love and banish the hate you carry.
Not too Christ like are we?
Not too Christ like are we? The goodness of the women in Religion is so much closer to God that what we have found in a good number of the hierarchay. I believe to clean up the Catholic Faith women need to be raised closer to leading the faith than the job of just cleaning up the errors made in the faith by priests and bishops!
The example given by the nuns
The example given by the nuns who restore hope to many, is certainly a better example than the male hiararchchy has been giving. The Network sisters have done more for the poor and dienfranchised since Vatican II than all the bishops put together. ...just to give you a sample.
Milbo - your words are indeed
Milbo - your words are indeed very strange - such anger and judgement!
This is in response to "Milbo
This is in response to "Milbo 1"--especially the sentence "Today, many women
religious are nothing but career women or men-haters with a viscious political agenda." Rather I say today many women religious, because
they have imbibed deeply the teachings of Vatican II and much of contem-porary Catholic theology, have grown in Christian spirituality and a
healthy sense of themselves, and have learned effective communication skills
including how to be appropriately assertive, no longer fit the old image of
woman as passive and reliant on men's authority. They have undergone huge and difficult change and this change threatens men's dominance, whether in the Vatican, the US Catholic hierarchy, or the local parish. For me, they are an
overwhelming reality confronting us with a new kind of holiness and professioinal competence that cannot be put down by applying a few false tags like "career women," "men-haters," "with a viscious political agenda." Wild words; sounds like "Milbo"--and others--do indeed feel threatened. Without trying to, sisters--by being the women and Christians they are--are making their mark.
The use of the term
The use of the term "Inquisition" betrays old English anti-Papist roots which has been circulated in english speaking countries for the past 3 centuries. Its really disappointing to read such anti-catholic bigotry now being repeated now in the 21st Century, especially in a Catholic publication. In fact it proves the Nazi maxim that if you continue to repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it to be true. Quite seriously now, there is some really excellent and balanced scholarship on the "Inquisition" out there that bears reading by NCR Editors. NCR should be a beacon of truth, not a 21st Century echo of Elizabethan anti-Catholic bigotry. The American Catholic press should strive to go beyond old stereotypes received uncritically from the english speaking world (ironically the roots of the editors are Irish Catholic, but seem to be locked in to a kind of self-hating master/servant worship of all things English, beginning with their now dead Empire's favorite predjudice-anti catholicism) I assure you, Hispanics have a radically different perspective. Perhaps too much "white bread" on the NCR Editorial Board-that is , in the real power positions?
Rejoice in the Feast of Corpus Christi! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Are you trying to claim that
Are you trying to claim that the inquisition did not happen? That's a bit rich. I d not think it matters what you call it, but people were persecuted, tortured and murdered because they were at odds with the Catholic teaching of the time.
Acknowledge it and move on to a world where that sort of thing will not be considered necessary.
I speak English but I am not of the English-speaking world. I am African and I say that healthy criticism is a good thing. Please do not fall into the trap of rejecting constructive criticism because it threatens your view of things. The Catholic Church is in crisis - I left it because it is increasingly irrelevant to today's world.
And no, it is not a master/servant thing either. The English were our colonisers and we most certainly do not worship all things English where I come from.
If you and your ilk do not come to terms with what is going on, you will lose it all - including and especially the African Christians who are still content to worship a God whose skin colour is different from theirs.
The LCWR is totally out of
The LCWR is totally out of touch with young women today who want to enter religious life. They are choosing the orders with the habit (yes, the VEIL) and strong community and prayer life. The LCWR type of siters got stuck in the 1960's. Girls, times have changed. Being anti-male is no longer in vogue. Women enter the convent to live a heroic life, as brides of Christ. If one wanted to be social worker and live in an apartment, why be a sister? It doesn't make sense. Many of the orders who reexamined and changed their whole beings in the 1960's will soon die out.
The branch can only grow so
The branch can only grow so far from the tree.
Unfortunately, not all
Unfortunately, not all religious sisters out there are truly living out their voacation. But many others are. You just need to know where to look. My sister is a religious and I myself am very seriously pursuing it. The old idea of women religious sisters serving the Church is not dead..it still lives.
"Roman Inquisition"??? Oh
"Roman Inquisition"??? Oh please! If I remember correctly, the same people who are calling this visitation to women's religious congregations an unwarranted "inquisition" are the same ones that were applauding the same "inquisition" when the Legionnaires of Christ were being treated to a visitation by Church officials. What a double standard!
I think the majority of these religious congregations from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious have done more harm to people in the Church than Fr. Maciel and his Legionnaire croonies have ever done! I can list a number of people who have lost their faith in God because of the various heresies that these "sisters" have been espoused themselves to for the last four decades.
Give me a break!
... And I can list a number
... And I can list a number of people (mostly young, mostly women, including myself) whose faith and relationships with the Church were strengthened and healed in no small part to the contributions of women religious in the US.
Generation X-er you need to
Generation X-er you need to back up such statements such as "the Leadership Conference of Women Religious have done more harm to people in the Church (like, say what?) than Fr. Maciel and his Legionnaire croonies have ever done!"
I can list of lot of people who left the Catholic Church for many, many reasons. But you say you can list people who "lost their faith" which is whole different story. Must have been a shallow sort of faith to begin with to lose it.
I suggest you do your homework about the deeds of Fr. Marciel.
There is no double standard at all. Too bad you are too politically naive to understand. Maybe in ten or twenty years you'll be up to speed.
And, as I have stated elsewhere, the sisters should have the "visitors" sign something too and have a lawyer present. If the hierarchy wants to play hard ball - play hard ball back.
Bet their faith wasn't in God
Bet their faith wasn't in God if they lost it because of a human being!
We all need a break!
I'll pray that you will able
I'll pray that you will able to open your heart and mind.....
The "break" you are asking
The "break" you are asking for has been delivered to this church time and time again by generations of sisters and nuns who labored tirelessly and virtually in servitude to males so that the church would be there. The vast majority of schools, hospitals and other institutions were run by sisters/nuns.
The fact that there is a church for you to pee and moan about today can be directly laid at the feet of these women. If you think that the men of the church would have done it so well on their own, then I have a bridge in San Francisco that I know you will want to buy.
AMEN AMEN AMEN You have hit
AMEN AMEN AMEN
You have hit the nail on the head and named it all so well. If the good sisters had left it to the men, the horse never would have left the gate. The only time I saw a priest in my parish was at Mass and when they decided to visit my classroom every once in awhile (at which time we were instructed to bow and scrape).
The good sisters, on the other hand, were there every day, early, late, dealing with thousands (yes, thousands in my school) of kids. I think a priest would have taken one look at a class of 60 kids and high tailed it out of there. They were treated like dirt by the church, paid slave wages, and many were unhappy as a result.
Many of my generation have bad experiences of their encounters with nuns, and I have some, too, but I understand now why. And they are my heroes. I have known women religious in my adult life who tower over the abilities of many male clerics. Just too bad Rome refuses to acknowledge that.
Excellent comments. I just
Excellent comments. I just cracked up when you wrote: "The only time I saw a priest in my parish was at Mass and when they decided to visit my classroom every once in awhile (at which time we were instructed to bow and scrape)."
That was exactly my own experience.
I thought at the time the priesthood was the greatest gig in the world. You got all that credit for working on Sunday and two hours in the morning, while the nuns did absolutely everything else, including clean your house and cook your meals.
Oh, please, please, PLEASE
Oh, please, please, PLEASE give us some examples to back up these scurrilous accusations! I can't even imagine anything that should warrant such statements but will wait eagerly to hear what you know that I don't even though I was educated by nuns and worked with them for years. But it right out here, please.
And give me a break! Do you
And give me a break! Do you know the complaints about Fr. Maciel? Do you know that they are well enough substantiated to even get Rome's attention? Give me a break!
Couldn't have said it better
Couldn't have said it better myself! Thank you, NCR!
The intense hatred posted to
The intense hatred posted to these pages over the past few month convinces me to cease reading the comments. What would Jesus say? Turn the other cheek. Jesus wept. By their fruits they will be known.
The Legionnaries received a
The Legionnaries received a visitation after evidence that their founder had engaged in sexual abuse and fathered a child. I am curious as to which religious orders of women have committed this transgression and thus are being visited as a result.
I am also interested to hear what heresies the sisters have been espousing for four decades. The editorial connects the religious congregations to living out what Vatican II called for; in response you call them heretics. The obvious connection is that you believe Vatican II was heretical. If this is not so, then please name the heresies that are being espoused.
Hooray for the real
Hooray for the real leadership in the Catholic Church...the American women religious!
All Catholic women (in fact, ALL women) should stand with the sisters during this uninvited inquiry...these sisters have for over two centuries managed convents, hospitals, schools, services for the poor, the needy, the elderly...on their own!!
The fact that "these sisters
The fact that "these sisters have for over two centuries managed convents, hospitals, schools," colleges, nursing homes, and other income-producing enterprises is exactly what worries me. I fear the "good ol' boys" club would like to take control of that property and the income that could/should provide for the care of our aging religious sisters.
Yes, leave it to the hierarchy to expect someone else to do the work while the take the credit and reap the rewards of others' labor.
For the record. i am a
For the record. i am a former nun....seven years as a Sparkill, Dominican. I left in 1970. Although I am no longer Catholic, I appreciate the article, its veracity, its acknowledgment, and its support for women so often taken for granted.
The concern of the Vatican seems to be with populating the communities. Well it is articles like the above which would help do that not the negative responses to it.
It seems one of the reasons
It seems one of the reasons for the visitation is that, unlike those like you who have left the convent and the faith, some have left the faith but remain in the convent. It is a big truth in advertising thing.
Vitriolic generalizations
Vitriolic generalizations levied at entire groups of people are never helpful in finding common ground among a community of faith-filled women and men searching for truth in understanding. Please let's not continue to go there in these comments.
My grade school education was
My grade school education was provided by The Sisters of Saint Joseph,Carondelet, and my late sister died after serving 57 years CSJ. I have seen much through her gentle eyes and learned much from the sisters I have known.
My summary opinion is that the sisters are the true heroes of Catholicism in America. I stand with and for all orders of sisters and do not take kindly people who abuse their good names.
Over the course of 77 years my love for two sisters, Anthony and Anastasia, kept me on track when I needed to remember that a soft voice turneth away wrath. Would God we'd be able to hear as much from those ranters and ravers who claim leadership among American Catholics today.
As a member of a congregation
As a member of a congregation active in LCWR and loyal to the Church, I am deeply concerned by the tone of Generation X-er. While each of us is a forgiven sinner, beloved by our God,none of us is perfect. Therefore, none of us have the right to throw the first stone. As I look at our elderly sisters, I see women who have labored long and hard over a lifetime to teach, nurse and counsel the people of God. As I look at our younger members, I see women in love with the Lord and actively working with the people of God.I would wonder just what are the heresies of which you speak? Maybe you and the folks on your list need to come to the table and talk about the issues rather than condemn an entire group of women who serve their congregations in leadership.
To the unidentified
To the unidentified Generation X-er; if you think sex with children of which it is confirmed that Fr. Maciel did repeatedly for more than 15 to 20 years is ok. Then I guess the dedication and service of the Nuns in this country is not worth noting. It is easy to hide yourself behind a label so you can take potshots at anything that is not male dominated, oppressive, part of the Cooperate Church Business. Where is your charity and experience of living in the real world of the marginalized and the outcast?
Are not ALL Welcomed in this the Church of Jesus.
There are many paths in the Catholic Church and many men and women who founded religious Orders in the Church; none are the same but all are dedicated to serving the Lord. I work with Veterans, the homeless, elderly, and the poor as a social worker and a Lay Franciscan. I learned long ago, that I am called by the Gospel not to judge or condemn but to always forgive and show love to others. In the past I have been very opinionated and narrow minded, but I have grown in faith and knowledge by God's grace to develop some inner wisdom and humility.
May be it's because I have survived by the grace of God, two life threatening cancer operations in the short span of 21 years. I have had 15 surgeries in the last 30 years. I am here only by the intervention of God's Angels that I have always been ahead of terminal illness. Life is precious and all too short for each of us to be so petty and upset that everyone does not agree with us or our concept of Church.
Let GO and Let God, for out of our mouths will come the words that will judge us at the Last Judgment. So always see Christ in everyone you meet, follow the Golden Rule, be kind, treat all as brothers and sisters, and love yourself as God loves you. All Holy Rules (Paths/Religious Ways of Living) are based on LOVE, the Love of Christ as expressed through the Father and Spirit.
I completely agree...very
I completely agree...very well said!!!!
Bring it on.....I think the visitation by Rome will only serve to help American Catholics and Catholics around the world remember and ralley around the good Women Religious. I think it will have a renewing effect on the Church. It will highlight the under recognized hard work these women do everyday. It will show their spirit and leadership throughout all of history. Hopefully, this investigation/visitation will energize Cahtolics to stand up FOR these women and stand up TO the hierarchay. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is like the lighthouse to a very foggy church. Thank you Sisters.
Amen to half of your
Amen to half of your statement. Let us rally around the "good women religious" Let's throw the Leadership Conference of Women Religous out of the temple and make them support themselves, unless, of course, they repent and come to their senses. In that case, we should welcome them back.
Dear Milbo1, The Sisters
Dear Milbo1,
The Sisters themselves, support the Leadership Conferences----they earn their own money. They do not live is houses that are supported by parishes (and the few Sisters who live in Parish convents---because they either teach in schools, or run parish programs---well, their communities pay rent to the parish). The religous communities also pay all the utility bills for their sisters living in parish convents. The sisters' salaries are sent to their motherhouses, and then, the sisters are given a certain amount to live on per month. They are not living off of the parishioners or people who they are helping in any ministry.
But the priests and bishops have their homes, rent free (to them), and they get their utilities, their phones, and their internet services paid for by the parishioners or the diocese.
So, when you are saying let the religious women support themselves----well, they already are---and have been for years now.
You are so wrong. In my
You are so wrong. In my diocese all of the convent bills are paid for by the parishes and most of the sisters living there do not work in the parishes in which they live.
Little Bear, you are talking
Little Bear, you are talking nonsense. If a sister is teaching in the parish school or working in a parish program, she is not paying rent to the parish. It is part of her contract as it is with priests who staff the parish. If a Sister is working for Planned Parenthood or another non-Church entity, she pays rent. Get your facts straight!
Sorry guys (Milbo1), Have you
Sorry guys (Milbo1),
Have you asked the Sisters if they pay---or are you assuming this? If you do, you will find out that very many of the Religious Orders DO pay rent for their Sisters to live in Convents---even if they are engaged in parish work. They do in my Diocese---and it is not the only Diocese in which this happens. And it doesn't matter what parish ministry the Sister is engaged in.
The religious communities pay all or part of the utilities as well.
Get your facts straight! You don't speak for all religious communities all over the nation. I know of several congregations that do this in one diocese after another. Get the blinders off of your eyes.
LittleBear, please provide
LittleBear, please provide the names of the dioceses and the religious orders you refer to so that it can be determined if there is any veracity to your assertions. I'm sorry, but I'm not buying what you have to say. Thanks.
Dear Mary S, Why must we
Dear Mary S, Why must we stand up to the Hierarchy??
It's tragic that Vatican II
It's tragic that Vatican II didn't get to a conciliar document on priesthood that would have launched women into ordained ministry,
In the 1960s there were considerable numbers of women religious, theologically literate, pastorally experienced and known to the people in the parishes. Some, not all, of these women undoubtedly sensed a vocation to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church. They would have responded with integrity, giving years of chaste and authentic service.
Now of course the religious life for women is a shadow of its possible gift to the People of God. Numbers have plummeted; why enter a life so hamstrung and blinkered? The late Sixties offered a chance that will not come again to slip seamlessly into a wider, more inclusive and effectual form of ministry.
True, the history is tremendous. The future is bleak, but fear not. Rome will hasten the end and switch off any life-support machine that is attached to the faltering remnant. A leaner Church will result, but fitter? Fit for what?
So, what are you saying?
So, what are you saying? That the ministry of the sisters before and around Vatican II was not good enough because they could not be priests?
This is EXACTLY why the LCWR
This is EXACTLY why the LCWR is being investigated. These are the idea that they are feeding to the people. Apparently, the work of a woman religious is beneath them. These women love to point out everything those who founded their orders and continued the mission did--hospitals, schools, etc. Yet, while taking credit they state that teaching is beneath their dignity and is sexist. They harass the members of their congregations who find joy in following the charism of the order, not the charism of modernism. Sisters who are faithful to the Liturgy of the Hours are shunned.
You sound very unhappy,
You sound very unhappy, Anonymous. So the LCWR are being in fact investigated! Thatclears that up, then.It is not sexist to want to do something other than "the work of a woman religious". Who's to say what that work is exactly?
The problem I see is that sisters are told "you can do this or that or that, but you are prohibited from doing this other thing". And the prohibition has nothing to do with human ability. Well, some women don't like that sort of thing and they're moving on. You refer to the charism of modernism as opposed to the charism of the order. How about the charism of a modern order? What's so ad about moving with the times and still keeping the faith?
I must say you sound really unhappy.
As I read the statement that
As I read the statement that the sisters heeded the Council's call for collegiality and their involvement encouraged more lay particpation in the church I thought that these two things might be seen but not necessarily valued by church leaders today. However, the vehemence of several of the comments surprised me.
Well crafted. Thanks NCR.
Well crafted. Thanks NCR. "Healing" is sometimes a hollow concept but it was vividly demonstrated to me at the 40th reunion of my high-school class when several nuns who taught us responded to our memories of "tyrrany". They explained that they and their fellow sisters often "grew up" in convent schools, to enter novitiate and without life or adequate scholastic training be sent to our "boonies" to teach us, mining town recalcitrants. They were terrified, so were we and we often didn't get along. Who sent them and why? Bishops. Local priest pastors lorded over them as free labour and servile servants and all of us were tainted, all the while completing school. These women, and their superiors gave up their intelligence in their faith that pastors were Christ driven and their faith was misplaced.
These women renewed their faith in Vatican II; they lost or gave up many missions in teaching, in health care and in management of education and health because the public systems became our choice. They re-found missions and re-directed their charisms after reflection and, in some measure, in reclaiming their God-given individuality. They were sufficiently confident of their faith in Christ and in the hierarchy that they reflected, researched and in that "female" (whatever that is) dimension opened themselves up to the "possible". They are fewer in number, in some measure, because they "released" women from the misbegoten belief that to be "Christlike" women they had to be vowed, coweled and cowering. Catholic women in the world are the better for it.
I say, apologetically, watch the women; like toads they are barometers of the environment we depend on.
Toads!!! Hahahaha! "I never
Toads!!!
Hahahaha! "I never saw a purple cow. . ." Very poetic. That was a nice, (albeit funny,) compliment. Apology accepted.
I attended Mass at the
I attended Mass at the Episcopal Church in Capetown, South Africa a couple years ago. I will never forget the central point of the old priest's homily: before we speak (write) we should ask ourselver, is what we are about to say (write) true; is it kind; is it necessary. Unless our answer is yes to all three, we ought not say (write) it.
If the priest was Roman
If the priest was Roman Catholic offering Mass for a Catholic congregation borrowing an Episcopal church to celebrate it, you attended Mass. If the priest was not Catholic, but Episcopalian, then you did not attend Mass, but rather a service, even though they may have called it "Mass". The only valid and licit Masses celebrated are those celebrated by Roman and Eastern Catholic priests or bishops and priests and bishops of our separated brethren in the Orthodox Churches. Technically, protestant bodies are not even considered "Churches", but rather communities or congregations. Only Roman Catholic (and schismatic offshoots such as the Old Catholic Church, the Polish Catholic Church, etc), Eastern Catholics (those in union with Rome) and the Eastern Orthodox are Churches.
It is very important for us to recall these distinctions if we ever wish to pursue an honest ecumenical dialogue, a dialogue that respects the truth of our differences.
That is also important for us when it comes to writing these commentaries. Truth is sometimes quite harsh. We can say it in a kind manner, and perhaps I, at times, have been guilty of not doing so. But, no matter how harsh it may be at the time, telling people the truth always sets them free, just as Christ promised us. We should never allow our reticence to hurt someone's feelings be excuse for not telling the truth and offering correction when necessary. After all, Our Lord did not.
I love my call to be a
I love my call to be a religious in today's world. With time and experience it gets better and better even in the midst of the conflict within the Church regarding me as an American religious. I have never felt more compelled to respond as I do today to all that is happening with regard to "my" vocation. There is injustice being imposed by so many who do not understand or have all the facts before passing judgment on the women religious in today's world.
We have been open to "reclaim our roots and charisms" and continue to live that out in the 21st Century. We cannot live 17th Century or before lifestyles in today's world when the needs have changed so drastically. We have always discerned and actively tried to meet the needs of the present day. We are unafraid to meet the beggar, the prostitute, the homeless, the immigrant, the AIDs victim, the "less than acceptable" of society with dignity and grace. These are our brothers and sisters and Christ would expect no less from any one of us. Why is it so difficult to acknowledge our mission and our presence as an affirmation to our Catholic community? When will we come to together as collaborators rather than competitors? We have much to share for the good of our Catholic Church and the global community!
When did we begin to live in
When did we begin to live in a police state? Do many of us have faith that the enquiry into the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will be fair and impartial, with a minimum of political agendas - with anything reflecting the professionalism and independence of a judicial enquiry we would have in western secular world.
Not really.
Daily, the Church is growing to feel more like a police state:
- people afraid to speak out,
- those that speak their mind are punished,
- people just disappear from the ecclesial landscape - they become non-persons inside the Church,
- some communities are left to wither through the inaction of leaders (or actively destroyed) while other communities, which support the ruling party, are supported and nurtured,
- we have collaborators who report on the activities of others to secret hidden officials who are subject to no oversight but who wield the power to silence, destroy a ministry or career, end a vocation - officially or through internal “processes” of making something or someone suspect.
While it is obviously ridiculous to equate the situation in the church to the terrible events in Zimbabwe and similar places, the leadership of the church should think about the way they are behaving. It is one thing to say the Church is not a democracy, but another for it to behave like a tin pot third world military regime. Democracy emerged as a response to the abuses of monarchs against the people, and we face the same.
The regime and its supporters will use all types of justification to legitimise their behaviour, but while acknowledging the non-democratic nature of the church, the standards of democracies must apply to the church’s internal activities. We have none of the checks and balances which exist to limit the possibility of corruption – little free press, no independent judiciary, no structures which can independently ask questions of the power elites, and obvious no elections to change bad governments.
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
This is what we have in the church today. You know it. I know it. If it was a secular government, we would be in the streets protesting, willing to put our lives on the line for liberty. Why do we sit in the pews in silence?
Very clearly expressed, CD
Very clearly expressed, CD Thank you.
Thank you, sisters. You are
Thank you, sisters. You are our greatest hope in this time of turmoil and transition--with your leadership, we know that there is light across this dark wasteland which is the gasping remnants of a "once" but not "future" church.
Unsubstantiated and
Unsubstantiated and hyperbolic personal opinion doesn't adequately respond to the facts presented in the article. Neither does the shift from presentation of facts to evaluation of assumed motives. Nor do sweeping and equally unsubstantiated generalizations. I'll go with the conclusions reached in the article and pass over the comments made thus far.
I applaud the article written
I applaud the article written about the visitations to women religious communities in the U.S. As a former School Sister of Notre Dame from the Milwaukee province I agree with the description of the contributions of such communities and am proud to have served as an educator with countless dedicated women. Yes, we ventured out into other ministries. In the summer of 1965 I visited homes in our inner city parish to encourage parents to sen their pre-schoolers to the first Head Start classes in our area. Sisters also participated in freedom schools and desegretation efforts. Over the years Sisters I knew have ministered to the immigrant Hispanics (a memory of our early days in Wisconsin with the German children).Some are involved in prison ministry and many elderly have prayer groups for the Peace Movement. I say this because I am proud to be connected with these dedicated women. I take offense at the comments made above critizing the sisters of today and sayinf they get what they deserve!
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