ST. LOUIS — When the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) met Aug. 7-10, anticipation was high that the sisters would announce whether or not they would cooperate with reform of their organization mandated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF).
Throughout the annual four-day assembly in St. Louis, LCWR leaders sent mixed signals, but in the end, they made no decision and opted instead to keep “dialoging” with Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle.
Archbishop Sartain had been appointed by the CDF to oversee the reform of the LCWR that was announced April 18. He was given the mandate to revise LCWR statutes, review its plans and programs, create materials to provide sisters with “a deepened understanding of the Church’s doctrine of the faith,” review and guide application of liturgical norms and texts, and review LCWR links with affiliated organizations.
The four-year doctrinal assessment of LCWR had identified several concerns, including “serious theological, even doctrinal errors” in talks at LCWR annual assemblies; “policies of corporate dissent,” and “certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith in some of the programs and presentations.”
The LCWR had reacted with surprise and indignation to the CDF mandate for reform.
A June 1 statement from the LCWR national board said “the assessment was based on unsubstantiated accusations and the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency,” “the sanctions imposed were disproportionate to the concerns raised,” and the mandate had “caused scandal and pain throughout the Church community, and created greater polarization.”
Yet, Cardinal William Levada, the former prefect of the CDF who had talked to LCWR leaders for years about the doctrinal problems, told John Allen on June 12 that the process had been fair and transparent.
That interview occurred on the same day that the cardinal had met with LCWR officers to address their concerns about the assessment. He said that in those four years of discussions there had been no progress.
“In some ways, and I used this phrase today, it seems to me like a dialogue of the deaf. Sometimes people have different images of dialogue. For some, dialogue is an end in itself, while for some of us it's a means to an end,” Cardinal Levada said.
In a July 17 interview on National Public Radio, Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell, LCWR president, had said that the LCWR may not be able to comply with the mandate, and she explained: “We have been, in good faith, raising concerns about some of the Church's teaching on sexuality, human sexuality, the problem being that the teaching and interpretation of the faith can't remain static and really needs to be reformulated, rethought, in light of the world we live in and new questions, new realities as they arise.”
The following week, Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo was interviewed on NPR. A member of the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, he had conducted the doctrinal assessment for the CDF and has been appointed to assist Archbishop Sartain in conducting the LCWR reform.
When asked about “dialogue” with the LCWR, he replied, “If by dialogue they mean that the doctrines of the Church are negotiable and that the bishops represent one position and the LCWR presents another position, and somehow we find a middle ground about basic Church teaching on faith and morals, then no. That's — I don't think that's the kind of dialogue that the Holy See would envision.”
No Fireworks
So, the stage was set for fireworks at the LCWR assembly, but the fireworks did not ignite.
Indeed, the Aug. 10 statement issued by the LCWR assembly said that “The officers will proceed with these discussions [with Archbishop Sartain] as long as possible, but will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission.” That mission had been defined by Sister Pat in her presidential address to the assembly as “to give ourselves away in love, particularly to those in greatest need.”
Though Archbishop Sartain had offered to attend the assembly, he was told by LCWR that his presence “would not be helpful.”
After the LCWR said it would continue dialogue with him, Archbishop Sartain issued a statement the same day, in which he praised the accomplishments and dedication of women religious, saying: “Religious women have made a lasting contribution to the wellbeing of our country and continue to do so today. For that they deserve our respect, our support, our thanks and our prayers.”
Then he addressed the doctrinal assessment: “Along with the members of the LCWR, I remain committed to working to address the issues raised by the Doctrinal Assessment in an atmosphere of prayer and respectful dialogue. We must also work toward clearing up any misunderstandings, and I remain truly hopeful that we will work together without compromising Church teaching or the important role of the LCWR. I look forward to our continued discussions as we collaborate in promoting consecrated life in the United States.”
The day after the assembly adjourned, Archbishop Sartain came to St. Louis tor a two-hour meeting with the LCWR national board.
That meeting went well, according to an Aug. 13 LCWR press release that reported Archbishop Sartain “listened carefully” as LCWR board members expressed their concerns and feelings about the CDF report “with great openness and honesty.”
According to the press release, the archbishop said he wanted to learn more about LCWR members’ experience and understandings of religious life, and LCWR agreed to provide him with helpful resources.
Archbishop Sartain did not make any public comment about that meeting and was not available for interview, according to Mercy Sister Mary Ann Walsh, director of media relations for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Some speculation has circulated that the new prefect of the CDF, German Archbishop Gerhard Müller, will not be as interested in pursuing the doctrinal assessment as was the American Cardinal William Levada, who retired from the CDF in July at age 76.
In a July 20 interview with Catholic News Agency, Archbishop Müller was conciliatory when he said he wanted to work with the LCWR as “sisters and brothers of Christ … not like a political party or a human organization.”
However, he continued, “We cannot have negotiations about revealed truth. … We are in communion with the Church only insofar as we accept the whole and the complete revelation of Jesus Christ, all the doctrine of the Church.”
The press release added that the LCWR officers plan to meet with Archbishop Sartain again “later in the fall.”
Ann Carey is the author of
Sisters in Crisis: The Tragic Unraveling of Women’s Religious Communities.
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I suppose this means nothing will happen. The new age sisters are doing such great harm. How I wish someone would care.
Nuns with earings. That about says it all.
Why is this nun wearing earings? I have seen sisters on tv sporting them too. What’s up with that?
Sisters! Take the earings OFF!
Sister Farrell suggests that the LCWR has given the church a gift of some sort in her recent speech. If they have a problem with church authority then there are plenty of Protestant denominations out there that will be more than happy to have them. Let them lead the march out and see who follows them. They have had four years to make their case. They have failed to do so over and over again. Archbishop Sartain, please protect the Church. There is no rival magisterium. The fact that Sister Farrell said that they only answer to God and not the Pope speaks volumes. Protestants throughout the ages have said the same thing! Who is the Pope if not God’s representative on earth? Please keep the church Catholic.
Well, it is really quite simple, you either believe what the Church teaches or you don’t. As an official representative of the Catholic Church, which these sisters are, they need to believe what the Church teaches, teach what the Church teaches, or stop being representatives of the Church. They can still continue to do good works as they feel they are called by Christ, but they don’t have to be official sisters.
For centuries sisters have taught, nursed, counseled, etc. but still believed what mother Church teaches. They accomplished amazing things and brought peace where they went. These sisters are bringing division. Yes, they may have fed the hungry and aided those in spiritual poverty, but they bring division and confusion nonetheless.
Satan had assembled his men one cool evening for a better plan on how to conquer the world.
He asked his men who would go to the world and what would you tell them to turn them away from God and heaven?
One came forward and said, I will tell them there is no heaven and no hell, just live and enjoy your life. Satan told him no, the world will not believe your message, they already believe in heaven and hell.
Another one stood up and I said I will go and tell them there is no hell fire only heaven, so no matter how you live your life the only place to go at last is heaven. Satan said once more no, if there is heaven then there should be hell fire. They will not believe you too
And a third one stood up and said just let me go and I will tell them the truth. There is heaven and there is hell fire. If you do good things you will go to heaven, if you do evil you will go to hell fire, but don’t worry about hell fire now because you have lots of time to change you evil ways, tomorrow is always another day.
And Satan proclaimed joyfully, yes, that’s the message, the message of time.
Satan had assembled his men one cool evening for a better plan on how to conquer the world.
He asked his men who would go to the world and what would you tell them to turn them away from God and heaven?
One came forward and said, I will tell them there is no heaven and no hell, just live and enjoy your life. Satan told him no, the world will not believe your message, they already believe in heaven and hell.
Another one stood up and I said I will go and tell them there is no hell fire only heaven, so no matter how you live your life the only place to go at last is heaven. Satan said once more no, if there is heaven then there should be hell fire. They will not believe you too
And a third one stood up and said just let me go and I will tell them the truth. There is heaven and there is hell fire. If you do good things you will go to heaven, if you do evil you will go to hell fire, but don’t worry about hell fire now because you have lots of time to change you evil ways, tomorrow is always another day.
And Satan proclaimed joyfully, yes, that’s the message, the message of
time.
When some of these nuns doubted that Christ’s relevance to the modern Church and world was in doubt,they pretty much excommunicated themselves.
The insult in asking the archbishop not to come to the meeting was a lliteral slap in the face.The New age keynote just added insult to injury.
The nuns have already won the PR war in the media.
The Church must be very specific in its accusations and swiftly cut off any canonical connection with the group after it warns the faithful numbers within the group about what’s coming.
Aug. 15: Strange…they are worried about compromising the integrity of their mission but have no problems compromising the teachings of the Church.
This breathtaking quote is what concerns me:
“(we) will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission.”
Is not the mission of the LCWR the mission of the Church at large? It seems the height of arrogance to imply that the Holy See would force the LCWR to work against the mission that Christ has entrusted the Church.
If the church persists with Benedict’s “small Church” ecclesiology, the Church will become so small that it will be irrelevant. With other religious groups growing in their numbers, this should be a concern for all Catholics. Personally, I don’t see any way for the Church to avoid this fate. It has been uncompromising for 2,000 years. How is it going to change its ways now? The Church will persist in its ways and decline as a result. This trajectory will be denied by Church members until it’s undeniable, which may be by the end of this century or sooner.
Perhaps the heirarchy of the Church must turn up the volume of their hearing aids. The LCWR is making one of the only attempts (of which I am aware) to bring the RCC into the 21st century. There are concerns within humankind today that were either not voiced or recognized in past years. It is inconceivable to me that the Church is unaware of the number of Gay priests (and the vast majority of them are not the pedophiles among the clergy).
Member congregations of the LCWR have allowed themselves to be open to the voice of the Holy Spirt and responding to what they hear, see and experience. The Holy Spirit….......breath of God….........How does the Church believe that what is heard is either not authentic or deserving of listeing to and responding?
If the Vatican needs to create chaos for anyone in the Church, perhaps the bishops and cardinals might be addressed. How does a bishop justify the expense of creating an anti GLBT DVD and pay for it to be distributed to all the known RC in his diocese? The sin here is not homosexuality but closed minds and the refusal to be understanding, compassionate and accepting. Would Jesus have alienated GLBT persons? (perhaps one or more of his disciples was gay!!!)
Those who suffer from neglect, discrimination, rejection, fear, and condemnation have shed enough tears. Many of these same persons are regular church attendants as well as persons who may (hightly closeted) be catechists, teachers in Catholic schools, on the parish council, and active in many church related activities. Are they to drop all of this if someone should find out their sexual orientation?
Where is the understanding and compassion of Jesus in the confrontation with LCWR members, women who request birth control means, those who have been taught that the RCC is TRUTH no matter how unreasonable their edicts might be? Communities of the LCWR whose members put their lives at risk in countries where the needs are the greatest and the sacrifices offered to God for the good of the people?
Why do I write? Rome doesn’t care what one woman has to say?! Like the LCWR and individual sisters and others throughout the RCC, the questions must continue to be asked and answers/changes demanded.
Changes demanded? The Catholic Church was not founded on the Constitution but on the teachings of Christ. For Catholics, that means obedience to the Holy Father. The LCWR surely cannot claim to have a monopoly on the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Church is not calling for the persecution and/or condemnation of homosexuals; neither is it advocating discrimination. That simply and definitively is not the teaching of the Church. The Church does maintain, however, that same-sex marriage is not consistent with natural law. Christ didn’t condemn Mary Magdalen, but he did tell her to “sin no more.” And anyone who thinks birth control is the answer to unwanted pregnancy just needs to take a good, long, hard look at the abortion statistics for the United States, a country where birth control is given away free at clinics and Planned Parenthood Centers, and where condoms are distributed free to school chidren with no questions asked and no qualms of conscience. All those pills and condoms have not put a dent in the demand for abortion. Christ sent His apostles out on a mission to go forth and teach all nations. Not an easy job—almost all of the original twelve died as martyrs. In any case, Christ did not tell them to go out and do what was “reasonable.” Maybe the Church has been “uncompromising for 2000 years”—that’s quite a record for standing up for TRUTH.
Is there really no sympathy for the many wonderful women who have given their lives to the church and to helping people in the name of Jesus? I cannot believe the hellfire that is being proclaimed at these women. Their only fault is that they are not vocal about a handful of issues that are getting plenty of attention in other communities. Let’s not forget all the work and prayer they give to the hungry and homeless, their lifetime of dedication in hospitals and schools. These women are living out their lives the way Jesus called us to do, but that is not what they get attention for, just the fact that they don’t condemn people who use birth control. Which, by the way, makes up most of the members of the church. I praise these women and hope that they can finally stand as equals to priests in our currently biased church.
Sarah,
I don’t think these leaders of the LCWR are getting “hellfire” for all the good work they are doing. They are being corrected because many of the teachings they promote are not Catholic. Instead of promoting Catholic teaching because they are representatives of the Church, they are promoting, for instance, New Age teachings. Pretty much everyone wants the poor to be helped and the hungry fed, but if you are a Catholic sister you should be promoting the teachings of the Church or don’t say you are Catholic. Sisters go to these conferences to be fed and what they get is junk food that does not foster a true Catholic existence.
“da qualche fessura sia entrato il fumo di Satana nel tempio di Deo”
Pope Paul VI, 1972
To the “Social Justice Crowd” that things the Church is the work of men rather than the Repository of the Teachings of Christ - The problem is not the message of the Church that was handed down to us by Jesus Christ, the Son of God Himself, but the guise of deconstructing the church by the groups that masquerade under Social Justice. Why does fighting poverty nowadays always involve abortion and birth control? New Age speakers? Complaints that women are NOT equal in Mother Church? That is pretty absurd when you look at the contribution and sacrifices that women made to Jesus’ Church over the ages. Mother Theresa and Mother Angelica are two that come to mind easily within my lifetime. The Church has both the Petrine and Marian traditions within it. The mission of the Church is the SALVATION OF SOULS AND TO FIGHT EVIL. The LCWR leadership is NOT a rival magisterium. Don’t like Catholic teaching, then go join one of the many Protestant sects. They’ll be happy to have them. The leadership of the LCWR seems to have picked up some bad habits over time.
I appreciate women Leadership Conference of Women
Because leadership of women strongly work in every were
At the next time I will write more
Thank you
Nigist Bezabih /Female
From Ethiopia
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