These women seem to live in a different world from the rest of the Church.  Moreover they seem to feel that they have done nothing wrong and can dictate the terms of the “dialogue “.  This will not end well for them.

This should give us all pause, make us all take a deep breath and listen. Some will think the LCWR is not being strong enough and others will think they lack respect or love for the Bishops/Church. But they are showing us all how to engage in conflict with dignity and kindness. I shake my head in wonder that the Vatican and the Bishops are not showing themselves before the public with equal grace. Surely there are amongst them those who are wise enough and strong enough to engage in dialogue. To say these women focus too much on the needs of the poor and that they need supervision as they respond to the complexities of modern life . . . Well, I have no doubt who is walking in the path of Jesus and who seems most in touch with the Gospel. But for now, I will keep my peace and go back to work, follow the model of the sisters, and let the hierarchy work out its worries about doctrine and piety on its own. In the meantime as some worry about same sex marriage and other doctrinal issues, those whom I am called to serve need my attention.

Sam, your funny! The sisters are doing nothing! Don’t you ever get tired of all that blah blah blah? “they are showing us all how to engage in conflict with dignity and kindness”. Really?? You think they actually said anything? I’ve gotten so exhausted with the words that mean nothing. What they really said amongst all that pc bloviating was “we aint’ doing nothing. Ball is in your court”.

They make me sad.

“Dignity and kindness”????  I missed that. Sounds more like double-talk and arrogance to me.

The ball is in the court of the hierarchy.  Let’s allow them the fraught-with-peril option to “kick the nuns out” and see where that leads.  If I were part of the LCWR, I’d do exactly what they did.  I was educated by SSND for thirteen years, and have enormous respect for the women who put up with our student nonsense for almost no pay.  These women are very likely to lead the church where it belongs—bravely being led by discernment.

Intolerance of dissent!  Well yeah, dissent in the Church is not a good thing and we are not supposed to tolerate it.  There is a word for those who want to dissent: Protestant.  It hardly helps to have an “informed conscience” if one then ignores it.

Ann, in your final post can you tell us other aspects of the assembly. Was there daily Mass? Eucharistic adoration?  Were there talks on spiritual topics?  Is this always strictly a business meeting, or is it for faith formation, or what?.

Yes, I agree with Tom Sofio, I would like to know what the topics were at the assembly. I know about Barabara Marx Hubbard, but there was no indication of other events at the assembly. You can tell a lot from the schedule if you weren’t able to attend. And will there be a presentation of the proceedings?

What I find interesting is the difference in terms that the Bishops and the nuns use.  It seems to me that many dissenting nuns often speak of “power differentials” and “empowerment”, all that talk about having a “voice in the Church” and “equals in the Church.”  This is how secular institutions look at leadership.  Lord help the bishop who looks at himself as being in power!  The clergy, that is the priesthood of the Apostles, with Jesus as their head, serve the Church, the priesthood of the baptized, by administering the sacraments and safeguarding the Deposit of Faith.  It seems to me, and Lord may I be wrong, that when I read statements from the LCWR I see mostly talk of social justice and structures, as though religious life was primarily some sort of engine for social development.  When I hear many proponents of women priests, usually I hear of “power” and “voice in the Church” and “equality”.  I have never heard a seminarian say he wants power, or a greater voice in the Church.  Every time I talk to one, yes I mean every single time, every single seminarian from the 100 or so that I know, wants to serve the Church and administer the sacraments. 

It’s my prayer that the LCWR and dissenting religious in general, both male and female, come to an understanding that the leadership of the Church lead only in so far that they serve the Church, in the sacraments and the deposit of faith.  Women aren’t ordained not because the bishops are keeping power in the grubby hands of a few old men, but are serving Christ, and have not the power to change the form or the matter of a sacrament. 

If I’m right, and the Church is the bride of Christ guaranteed by God Himself not to fall into error, that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against her, and the bishops are but the stewards of the Kingdom, then we should accept the teachings of the Church, that is the magisterium of all the ecumenical councils, the Pope’s extraordinary magisterium, and the Pope’s ordinary magisterum.  If, however, I am wrong and the college of bishops is nothing more than a power structure that works on policy, like a congress or a senate, then really, why would any one want to be part of such a church?  Why would anyone want to be Catholic?  If this is about power and equality (read equality of power, we are all equal in dignity) and different groups having “a voice”....why would anyone give their life for such a faith?  Policy and structures do not inspires martyr.  This is not the faith that raises saints and mystics…this would be a faith that breeds revolutionaries and social programs….in short…the Church would be of man, not of God.

I don’t understand how this American organization feels it is on a fully equal theological par with the universal church. The church has over a billion members, etc., and this group is several thousands.

Bizarre, self-constructed reality or sense of how people operate.

The notion of “dialogue” is nonsense here since it presupposes a nonexistent equality of talkers. And of course, at the end of the day, certain essential things are more valuable than mere equality.

Sam, would you please tell all of us where the Vatican and bishops have said that these “women focus too much on the needs of the poor”.  This lie keeps getting thrown around.  Do your homework, Sam, read the CDF report issued by Cd Levada before you accuse others of calumny.
Second, would someone read Sister Pats 12 page address to the assembly and tell me how long it takes the word"Jesus” to appear.
Finally, I’m baffled…why does the LCWR see fit to hold an expert panel Q and A discussion with a futurist, an apostate, and an active lesbian.  Couldn’t they have had at least one practicing Catholic?

For the sake of charity, and to give the benefit of the doubt, I will take back my earlier comment labeling one of the panelist an “apostate”. I realize that’s a severe charge, and on further review my source is not 100% dependable.  The word “heretic” can be used instead.  The substance of his published work on sexuality easily affirm that label.

RE: “And I noted that Cardinal William Levada….. had characterized the experience as a “dialogue with the deaf.” ......We take heart from the good cardinal’s admission of guilt.

Has any member of the LCWR at the conference addressed the precipitous decline in the numbers of women religious in the U.S., particularly those of the non-traditional orders?  The group seems to think well of themselves, but if that esteem is merited where are the new vocations?

This is an excellent and balanced summation and, I’m sorry to say, the comments here bear out what is essentially a stalemate. People who already agree with Rome (of whom I am one) see this is yet another non-action from the LCWR, and people who agree with the LCWR see this as “prophetic witness” and “brave” and “continued dialogue.” Good luck to all in trying to resolve this.

One can only imagine how St. Clare, whose feast day it is, would have handled these sisters. St. Francis walked to Rome to get permission for his friars, something it seemed unlikely that he would get. He was sure he was right and that the Holy Spirit was calling him, but he was ready to disband the whole thing if the pope (who was wary of the whole mendicant phenomenon, because of some major and serious problems with other groups) said no. You don’t see that here and that’s both troubling and sad.

The history of religious life is full of both misunderstanding from the heirarchy on the one hand, and people going off the deep end on the other. These women are not automatically correct because they are women and because they help the poor! Give me a break! The West is facing unprecedented attacks on religion. In the United States, huge swaths of poverty are caused by women having babies without being married, and thousands of children are killed in the womb every single day. The LCWR is not concerned with any of these problems, which have reach crisis proportions. They are hanging around with nutty New Age gurus. And when Rome tries to give them a reality check, people write things like “they are showing us all how to engage in conflict with dignity and kindness.” They are showing us all what it is to be passive-aggressive, that’s what they’re doing.

O, my goodness. In my humble these so called nuns are headed for the dustbin of history!, enough said!

Such pride and arrogance these sisters display. I’ve not seen a group of persons so sure they are prophets and seeking power above all else.  Well, except for when I was an Episcopalian. Come to think of it, their words and actions are right out of the liberal Episcopalian playbook.  Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bonnie Anderson would be so proud of these women running their own organizations into the ground while seeking the power to run the universal Church into the ground.  Step 1: get everyone at the table to dialog and keep them there until they get disgusted and leave you there in charge. Step 2: elect all your liberal friends into power. Step 3: selectively use canon law to punish the orthodox. Step 4: use civil lawsuits to retain buildings and property when the orthodox try to pick up the pieces. If you follow the Episcopal church at all them you know this is what’s been happening. And if you follow the Episcopal church’s personalities, you can spot them in these sisters a mile away. The keywords are always the same: dialogue, structural change, voice at the table, new realities, prophetic witness, justice, rights of the baptized, living in tension, empowerment, equality. I do hope the bishops recognize these terms for what they are, which is an attempt to utterly destroy the Church as Christ created it and rebuild it from the ground up without all the Christianity stuff getting in the way of what these women want to do.

i]Hey it is dogmatically asserted that LCWR represent 83% of USA WOMEN RELIGIOUS-funny that I have seen no evidence of Reps canvasing,democratically, theological positions of any rank and file sister[important if they project this image of being where the rank and file are really at, in terms of doctrinal and moral issues.
ii]As I see it from Autralia down under, LCWR HAVE ‘THE DENOCRATIC REPRESENTATIONAL STATUS OF A SOVIET PRAESIDIUM’[where are the scientific surveys of rank and file doctrinal/moral/ecclesiological convictions?[all I hear about are congregational officeholders who become members of LCWR by coughing up a fee[30 pieces?]
iii]These days Congregational leaders are chosen for administrative gifts and people skills,such are not necessarily representing democratically constituents’ doctrinal views?
iv]I suggest LCWR undertake a mammoth fact finding survey of rank and file before dictating to ROME what the Sisters think, whom they competently represent versus projecting[brainwashing?] LCWR dogmas on 83% of USA women religious-all sounds a bit totalitarian to me.
Frankly I VIEW LCWR AS A MASSIVE CON ACT!

It is high time to root out this high-falutin pseudo-Christian nonsense once and for all. The sisters’ good deeds don’t justify their bad theology. They may continue good work in, say, Amnesty International but they must not be allowed to infect the Body of Christ, Our Holy Mother Church.

More and more of the same. The good sisters are experts at lighting a candle to God and another one to the Devil. When they talk to the bishop, they will light a candle to God. When they go home, they will light a candle to the Devil. Will they ever be held accountable for lighting a candle to the Devil? They will not, if the Devil gets his way!

When did equality become something to be grasped at?  Are there any habits at the meeting?

Couldn’t resist this one, can’t help it , it’s my British sense of humor!
When God passed out brains, the LCWR thought he said trains, so they missed theirs..
No really these women have made a laughing stock of themselves, so sad. Prayers. Are the only recourse.

Gloria Schotten

Gob bless the LCWR and their good works.  They are an example to all who truly follow the teachings of Jesus.

Gotta be joking Eileen re LCWR upholding Jesus teachings [authoritatively interpreted by His Magisterium versus LCWR concocted dogmatics] The issue of their fidelity to Christs teaching is no foregone conclusion[are you aware such is the bone of contention vis a vis Vatican and LCWR? Stay tuned! Where have you been recently?[Even John L Allen in National Catholic Distorter has noted cdf concern at LCWR on Catholic Faith and praxis]

God bless all sisters’ good works. Regarding the executive element of lcwr and loyal followers: I hope you continue your good works with some agency that feeds poor and helps those in any form of need, but you seem about as Catholic as some new age people I know.  But the Hubbard lady. Really? After reading her website and knowing of this from people who are into this type of new age cult. Yes. Cult! Also, yikes! But these nuns got guts, to invite the cult leader to a Catholic conference as keynote, no less, and say to a bishop with a straight face, that he is the problem…that’s something else.

Those ‘nuns” are just one of the reasons I left the “Church” for membership in the St Pius X Society.  Since Vatican II, this is more of the same.  Believe me, it will continue forever!

Surely SSPX sisters are spoken for by LCWR, as the former journey along the trajectory to nowhere, discerning holy spirit and her spokenness amidst the ethos of searching for meaning, with gaia[joking of course!!-I truly pray for a speedy resolution to SSPX sitz im leben enabling them to infiltrate LCWR and white-ant the tragic circus.[of course who would ever spot a SSPX sister ‘a-habited’ at just another LCWR ‘option for poor’20 course banquet sans grace before and after banquet?

“whether in the life of an unborn child or the victim of human trafficking.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/ann-carey/lcwr-assembly-day-3-high-expectations#ixzz23JCeVwZ9

With all due respect, what was the Archbishop thinking when he said this? Since when has the LCWR cared one hoot about the unborn?

Dearest Sister Pat, I highly reccomend Mother Teresa’s book, “Come Be My Light”, she may shed light on your troubled situation.  I believe you will come to realize that the only “talks” you need to have in finding equality is with our Lord, Himself; or perhaps, also, you may include the Holy Trinity.  What’s said through Rome is said from Him; I dare not challenge my Father’s “House Rules”! God Bless your risky courage.

On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Romans 9:20

““humble, but not submissive; rooted in a solid sense of ourselves, but not self-righteous; truthful but gentle and absolutely fearless.”

Nice words but they in no way echo or reflect “I am the Handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.”

For more on LCWR & Idol Worship:
http://yearoffaith2013.com/2012/08/11/lcwr-and-idol-worship/

The sisters were dialoguing with—NOT the CDF but another one of the “congragations” (the one for Religious Institutes—I do not know the exact title. ) That is why the assessmnet from the CDF in April came as a surprise.  The other group was more assuring to the LCWR that things were working out.

Re Cardinal Levada’s “dialogue with the deaf”—some irony along with the catchy alliteration in that.

What amazes me is how “mean spirited” many of comments are concerning LCWR. I hear a lot of rhetoric casting negative light on women who have devoted their lives to living the Gospel. I have not heard such rhetoric from the sister themselves, however. I am reminded “..by their fruits you will know them”

Regards Romans 9:20, there’s also Isaiah 29:16. Shall the potter be regarded as the clay; that the thing made should say of its maker, “he did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”

Isaiah 45:9-13.  “Woe to him who strives with his maker, an earthen vessel with the potter! Does the clay say to him who fashions it, ’ what are you making?’ or your work has no handles’”
Woe to him who says to a father ’ what are you be getting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in travail?’
Thus says the Lord, the holy one of Israel, and his Maker:
“Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands? I made the earth, and created man upon it.

Listen up you ‘ole gals of LCWR. You are treading on treacherous ground and imperiling your souls, we don’t have any guarantees and no not the day or the hour of our death.

I certainly respect the sisters who consecrate their lives to Holy Mother Church, and their vows include obedience. However, a line has been drawn in the sand and now is the time to pick sides. One side includes LCWR, Voice of the Faithful, Call to Action, and others having members with graying hair. These groups dissent on core teachings of Holy Mother Church that have been defined for centuries and late last century have been looked at and authoritatively been put to rest. The rotten fruits of dissent are legion: Parishes and schools that once were full to the brim are empty and closing by the thousands, priest-less parishes, seminaries closed or having so few men there to discern the priesthood that they open classes to the laity, convents that once were full are now torn down and are just fields of weeds, hospital and schools once staffed by sisters instead pay people salaries and benefits, thus increasing the costs and the list goes on and on! The average age in the LCWR is 74, now what kind of future do they really offer? I myself choose the side that sees a hopeful future with The Holy Spirit as our guide, the groups like CMSWR, Call to Holiness, Youth Apostles, and EWTN with members who are in their 20s 30s and 40s. These are the future of our Church and we reject the philosophy of the 1960’s so-called freedom that did nothing to free the youth but enslaved people to sin and selfishness and the fruits are divorce, abortion and an epidemic of suicide. My suggestion is for the dissenters to either get on their knees and pray for healing or just get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit “renew the face of the earth”. There is no room in our Catholic Church for the New Age or other heretical teachings. Salvation obtained only through Jesus, the Church has no authority to ordain women to the priesthood (infallibly defined by JPII), Marriage is for life and only between one man and one woman and the only place where one can morally engage in sexual activity. Only when you follow our Holy Father and the Bishops united with him will you find real Truth, Peace and Joy. Those religious orders that do so have plenty of young women and men joining, whereas the dissenters are just fading away, just like the New Agers and all other heretics. So pick your side, our Church has been engaged in this battle for 2,000 yrs. and will continue to win until the end of time because Jesus “the Truth” is on our side.

Typical progressives.  Stall until you get your way.  Hopefully not this time.  Isn’t that a tactic of the devil?

Thank you Mark P you are so RIGHT!! Hopeful words for seemingly empty times. This world WILL change, but one certainty is that God WILL NOT waiver! I choose His Rock as it was originally established “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.  Surely when we get to the pearly gates, Jesus will NOT say, “oh we’ll, all that sin was in 2012, things had ‘changed’ it’s all good. Proceed to my Father.”  And as a women discerning vocation, this situation is discouraging on one hand, on the other I’m ready to take over, move aside Sister Pat, I AM His vessel!

The LCWR is saying what they have always said, “we have a better role model of religious life than the Church has laid out; we have to have more power; the Church is sadly lacking and we will show it the way.” Same old lines, nothing new!

If they don’t acknowledge that they are on a path to nowhere, oh wait a minute, to further evolition, sure that’s it, then they will lose their canoncial standing.

Every time I read some statment from their executive I have a picture of a bunch of little girls stomping their feet because they can’t have what they want. You know the old saying, “be careful what you ask for, you just may get it.” Instead of all this yapping these women could be quietly praying or doing social justice work.

Most of us women out here in the real world have left the 60’s in the dust, I suggest they do the same.

“...hospital and schools once staffed by sisters instead pay people salaries and benefits, thus increasing the costs…”

So, Mark P, are you blaming the Sisters who often worked for nothing (or minimal pay) for today’s increasing costs of current health care and education? Or are you saying that if the Church had enough Sisters to staff these institutions, that Sisters should still work for no (or minimal) pay and benefits? Or are you saying that the lay people who continue the work within these institutions today should not be paid and should not have benefits? I don’t understand your intention in making this statement.

All is not lost! in a slide pic presentation of the LCWR lavish banquet,I discovered 2 sisters in traditional habit amidst all the slacks and bejeweled blue rinse coiffure akin to an Oscar night for silent movies generation[I take my biretta off to those 2 witnesses of ‘Perefectae Caritatis’.

The church is experiencing a difficult time but this is not new for the Church…St Paul had a sign in the sky from our Lord 2000 years ago to stop the persecution of Christians…Emperor Constantine had a sign in the sky 1700 years ago to stop Christian persecution of Christians, and Our Lady gave us a sign 95 years ago at Fatima…We need to be more aware of the relationship of communism and feminism as these ideologies have already infiltrated our society, our health care system, and now our religious organizations and we are oblivious. These errors are destroying our church! We all need to wake up!! LCWR needs to stop fighting the dogma of the church and instead, help stop the religious persecution of the unborn, the Christians and Catholics in particular who hold dear the traditions of the church. If they want to pick a fight… that’s the one they should be picking in our society today, not against the church! This is a time of trial… We all need to pray, unite and work together. LCWR is promoting division and quarrel with their defiance. Their leadership lacks the spirit of obedience associated with religious life and instead has elements of ego, pride and feminism!  These need to be checked at the door when choosing religious life. St Francis humbled himself and was subject to the Church teachings and the Pope. LCWR need better role models and speakers modeled after saints such as St Francis, and Saint Teresa of Avila, and more contemporary role models such as Mother Teresa… not social evolutionists who are not even Catholic!  Many of LCWR leadership don’t even wear habits. A catholic nun is a catholic nun is a catholic nun… anything otherwise… especially with regards to disobedience and pride with views against the teaching of the church puts big question mark…is this really inspired by traditional catholic ideology or feminist ideology? Pride is the worst of sin… it was the sin that Satan chose to commit as a fallen angel. There is no room for pride now. We need to check pride at the door and wake up! Our church is in a difficult time. We need the lay people and men and women religious alike to stand with the church and fight a good fight and pray with the church… not stand against it! Prayer will be our best weapon. As good catholics, we need to acknowledge the Church and the Pope is inspired by God the Father himself, God the Son himself, and God the Holy Spirit himself…[and Jesus answered him saying “Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jona! for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the power of death and gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”] Matthew ch16 vr17-19.

Spot on John M. God will raise up legit reformers and saints just when all seems lost
We had been somewhat spoilt by 50 years of relative order and calm in the church of early 20th century. But the previous centuries saw the church facing widespread social unrest and anti clerical Godless secularism on a grand scale from French Revolution to endemic revolutions of mid 19th century onwards with virulent antipapalism and anti clericalism[the latter Italian version later tried to topple the late night coffin procession of Pius IX into the Tiber]. Secularist Political forces engineered the papal Suppression of the mighty Society of Jesus! The papacy was embroiled in constant humiliating conflict with Napoleon. Earlier with the wide growth of godless Rationalism, Pius Vi was called ‘Pius the last’ yet in this near total devastation there suddenly blossomed forth new religious congregations to face down the prevailing false godless philosophies and doctrines with a New Evangelisation that went even beyond Europe to distant dark lands to establish new and vigorous churches[drenched in the blood of martyrs yes![Pius Vii lifted the calamitous Jesuit Suppression in 1814 to facilitate a refounding of this glorious Society by Father General Roothan[himself a product of a tiny Jesuit remnant permitted in Russia under queen Catherine who would not promulgate papal suppression] All underlining G.K.Chesterton’s quip: ” At least5 times in church history, the Church had, to all intents and purposes, ‘gone to the dogs’,yet on each occasion the Church returned resplendent, and the dogs died!” Today the dogs do bark and maul again!

You are right Father John. We have seen worse days and I appreciate your insight on this. But I do beg to differ about the last 50 years. I think we have been lost in the desert as the Jews have been lost in the desert of Sinai.. only we have been lost in the desert of liberalism and feminism. And the attack on the church has been of a different type, not so obvious as it was during the French Revolution… When taking a closer look… it becomes clear and obvious… since the second Vatican Council…we opened the windows and let the “fresh air enter the church” and unfortunately as with the words of the vicar of Christ himself Pope Paul VI said…”the smoke of Satan entered the sanctuary” as well! The decline in priesthood and religious life… the church scandals and subsequent financial burden on the church, the shedding of the habits of many of the religious… and much more…the liberal bishops with liberal agendas who have no tolerance for tradition… the clown masses in northern California and elsewhere with homosexual priests who entered the priesthood for all the wrong reasons, the rock and roll masses, the loss of respect for the blessed sacrament where in some churches and cathedrals the blessed sacrament is put off to the side next to the exit of the church or the restrooms instead of being the focal point of the church! The decline of beautiful classical architecture of churches and sacred music. The upbringing of plain “halls” of worship… plain halls churches and cathedrals that do not even have the stations of the cross! Music that sounds more and more like protestant music and secular music! Look at the cathedral of Our Lady of Angels in Los Angeles, CA… it is a 450 million dollar hall! Does not even look like a church… has pagan symbols and tooth-fairies hanging from its walls and on its grand entrance. Or look at the newest addition… the Orange County, California cathedral… the Crystal Cathedral. It used to be a protestant church… does not even look like a catholic church. Look at the rise of divorce rate even among catholics, sex before marriage, contraception even among catholics.  Pope Paul VI was right in writing Humane Vite after which people mocked him and laughed at him for writing it. Now we see he was right after all. Look at the decline in receiving the sacraments… including confession and confirmation! Confession is not scheduled as frequently at most local parishes any more… What ever happened to confession before mass??! None existent any more… long gone! Instead we have other priorities! We have been lost in the desert Father… and its our own fault! We have let go of the very thing that kept us unique and alive for 2000 years…the love for tradition of our church. And although liberalism is not new to the church… it has now become the destructive force in the church from within…and we are oblivious… Before the Second Vatican council… Pope Pious the X warned against it and many warned against it. “Liberalism is a Sin” a book written by Dr. Don Felix Sarda y Salvany published in 1899 titled “what is Liberism” is another example. And although people have been constantly fighting this even before the Second Vatican Council, we have failed to see it coming. Only now are we realizing it…In the United States… the land of the free… we find our freedom of religion threatened and are jaws are dropping. Surprise! And every tax paying american… catholic or not… is paying for abortions since the rise of Planed Parenthood! That’s a fact. We live in a society that has more concern for animal cruelty than cruelty to humans and barbarism and infanticide for the unborn! You see commercial against animal cruelty and animal adoption all the time on television… not once do you see a commercial air on television that condemning the infanticide that we have everyday with abortion… and if a commercial does make it… it is censored!  Instead… we live in the century of the “self” about “my needs” and “my wants” and “my life” and “my body” and “my pleasure” with absolutely no regard to anything else… Liberalism and its extensions (feminism etc) and loss of tradition is our most formidable foe now. We are in the midst of the battle. We are lost in the desert and we need to repent!  But all is not lost… tradition lives on… it is there if we look for it… if we seek it… like the breath of life… it is still there for those who seek it and hold on to it for dear life! We need to pray and ask assistance from our Lady and also from of St Michael the Arch angel for protection… and the head of Satan will be crushed for he will not prevail against the Church. This is not the first time he tried to destroy the church from within… from the beginning he influenced Judus Escariot who bore the burden of deception with a kiss… yet even death did not defeat the Lord or his Church.

1]Sorry i meant relative calm of ‘first’ 50 years of 20th century not last 50 years of chaos.
2]Though of course first 50 years had modernist prob, that went underground in the main unresolved.
3][I SUSPECT J23 SAW THE ROT BEHIND THE CALM AND ORDER AND HOPED TO LANCE THE SICKNESS AND FACE IT WITH SOLID GRAND DEPOSIT OF FAITH AT VATICAN COUNCIL.
4]But as Cardinal Heenan noted j23 became more depressed as council progressed and his hope for antidote of solid doctrine in facing down liberals was waylayed by darker forces unleashed.
5][Though of course the council’s doctrine was solidly under guidance of holy spirit.

I had supported the LCWR, until I read through their website and also read about their keynote speaker at their conference last week.  I do not think their keynote speaker reflects Catholic doctrine—her theology seems to be New Age.  Because of this, and other impressions I have from visiting the LCWR website and reading some articles concerning the LCWR conference last week on the National Catholic Reporter website, I now believe the CDF has some legitimate concerns regarding the LCWR.

I do not think it is fair for us to criticize the CDF for expressing that concern and directing the LCWR, because the CDF created the LCWR and the CDF has the right then to expect the LCWR to conform to Church doctrine. 

If the LCWR does not wish to cooperate with the CDF, that group does have the option to disband and to reform outside of the CDF’s Canonical jurisdiction. 

We need to remember that our bishops have been given the authority through their ordination to the Episcopate to act on behalf of Christ in safeguarding the deposit of faith handed to us from Christ through His apostles.  This does not mean they don’t make mistakes, and there are times when they are clearly in error—history has provided many examples of this.  But we still need to respect their authority, because of its source—Jesus—and the fact we are a community of faith, which means we must consider what is good for the whole—not just for ourselves.

I think we show respect to Jesus when we do this.  If we need to respectfully disagree with our bishops, that is one thing.  But we need to remain obedient to them as far as our consciences will allow us to - even when we disagree We need to trust that the Holy Spirit is working through them just as much as us, and that when they make mistakes the Holy Spirit will provide the appropriate course correction in due time.  It is up to the Holy Spirit to effect that course correction—not us, because it is the Holy Spirit doing the guiding.  We are only instruments. 

Also, I want to provide an insight I received from Archbishop Hunthausen who is one of the retired Archbishops of Seattle.  Archbishop Hunthausen describes dialogue in this way:  “When people come together to not seek what they want, but to understand one another.”  I have never heard it stated better.  I have found Archbishop Hunhausen’s definition of dialogue immensely effective in my marriage, and my prayer for the process between Archbishop Sartain and the LCWR is the same.

I am not suggesting that the CDF does not have some growing to do.  There is a disconnect between our bishops and lay people.  The Holy Spirit guides the Church—but not only through the Magisterium, but through the entire Faith Community.  Remember, the Feast of the Assumption which we celebrate this Wednesday was acclaimed by the entire Catholic Community before the Pope issued an infallible statement concerning Mary’s Assumption.  But it seems members of our Catholic hierarchy do not always remember this and listen to how the Holy Spirit is moving lay Catholics.  I think sometimes, our bishops forget that they were also once lay members of the Church.  We are all united through our common Baptism.  And so we do need to listen, attentively, to the Holy Spirit and to one another, in the Spirit of Love, as members of this One Body of Christ, the Church.

John M, you have said everything I have been thinking and feeling for a long time.

I thought nuns wore habits.

I Posted the following in response to a discussion of the new age Keynote speaker Barbara Max Hubbard. As she was their keynote speaker she would certainly reflect some of the doctrinal problems the church is concerned about.

As the St Louis Review article on 08/10/12 mentioned Barbara Max Hubbard was the keynote speaker at their conference this week. She proposed an Idea which she calls “conscious evolution”. As Fr Mitch Pacwa mentioned this is new age and he discussed some problems with this. My major concerns with new age and their speaker and ideas such as “Conscious evolution”, etc. is that it often comes from a Gnostic tendency. Gnosticism, of course, was that ancient heresy the church first fought in which, among other things, it was thought that the way to salvation was through a gradual process of gaining “Higher knowledge”, an expanded consciousness, or in our day such things as “Conscious evolution”. The danger I see here is a type of gnostic pride in which a person can come to see that they have a higher knowledge or a deeper understanding of truth than the “ordinary” ones do. When this happens a person can first become infected with a type of pride which is dangerous. And after they become infected with this pride they can become convinced, either as individuals or as groups that they have superior ideas, knowledge, etc. And even in the church, when persons come to believe they have superior knowledge or understanding they can come to believe that they don’t need to listen or to follow those they consider “less evolved” and this can even affect person’s willingness to obey the persons that God in His mercy has placed in authority over us to give us guidance and to protect us from error.  The solution, I believe is for us to have that mind that the Apostle Paul spoke of in which he was not ashamed of Jesus Christ and Him crucified and he vowed to always preach only Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We should be aware of the new age and Gnostic tendencies.
In this dialog in response to this “Assessment” the good nuns must share their ideas and their “wisdom” but they should be encouraged to remember that God and His church, even in it’s imperfections in greater than any wisdom that any of us think we have, and to be willing to obey in the end if the church asks that of you if there is disagreement.
This was my response to this issue as I was involved in some New age myself before God had mercy on me and freed me from my blindness.

As for working with the marginalized, I am a social worker in Substance abuse and I know that many of my clients are not ready to yet change their lives so as to live according to the doctrine and morals of the full gospel. Many of them are in live in relationships, for example. While I cannot yet address some of these issues with them, I try to move them in some positive directions as in giving up alcohol and or drug abuse for example. Knowing that some persons are not ready to fully change is a far cry from encouraging them to persist in their sins or helping them to believe that their sins are, in fact good things. In practice, for some clients perhaps the next steps would be to move from promiscuity to having 1 committed relationship, for example. Helping people who live in our broken world is difficult but encouraging our people to call good evil and evil good is not the right solution. And I will continue to struggle with how to call people to better ways, while not promoting but tolerating the less than good until they are ready for the better next steps.

For more on the new age and Gnostic heresy involved check out the Vatican document “Jesus Christ Bearer of the Water of life”.
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/interelg/documents/rc_pc_interelg_doc_20030203_new-age_en.html

TG, thank you for the courage of speaking the truth. You are not alone.

Seems like the Vatican response to LCWR’s arrogance is too gentle.  LCWR should get in line with Church teaching, or start their own ecclesiastic communities.  It always amazes me why folks want to change Christ’s Church to meet their own proclivities.  If the hierarchy doesn’t prune them, they will prune themselves by promoting the sterile doctrines of heresy.  The LCWR will drive themselves to extinction.

To Eric, I think we need to be fair that there are many good nuns in the orders this leadership group represents who still do some good work, even more than I do but I am bothered by their having Barbara Hubbard a new ager even after the Church is asking them to reevaluate their adherence to true doctrines. This reaction makes me ask if some of them are arrogantly refusing to listen to what the church is asking or if they have become spiritually blind, as I once was, to the difference between the Salvation we have in Christ or to belief in another, “new age or gnostic gospel”. For our salvation either begins by Christ and His death and resurrection, and continues aided by His grace or it is something we must attain for ourselves by means of mystical or spiritual knowledge and experience.
And even a quick search of Barbara Max Hubbard should give insight into her spiritual beliefs and a discerning Christian should be able to see the difference from the true gospel in her beliefs.

Amazing how simple it can be to communicate with people and have them understand a certain topic, you made my day.