It’s about time.

Joan Chittister is a disgrace not only to religious women but to all women.  She is, like Nancy Pelosi, openly defiant and hostile to the Bishops and to the Church.  She openly supports antiChurch positions and when standing in front of an audience, just sucks in all the applause from those who stand against the Church. I hope the Vatican does not back down…it’s time to separate those who sincerely try to remain loyal to the Church and those, in every way possible, try to lure people away from the Church.

I think that the LCWR is so infested with doctrinal heresy and dissent, it’s impossible to reform without tearing down the structure and starting anew.  This is akin to a house infested with termites.

But on the bright side, we already have the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR), which is traditional, growing…..and young.

Yes, this reform is a good, but how about a little oversight of the USCCB and liberal Bishops who allow their dioceses to run amuck? Frankly, if the male leadership was just a bit more orthodox and holy, concentrating on teaching the faithful true Catholic doctrine then much of the mess after Vatican II could have been avoided. Physician heal thyself!

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has a “Systems Thinking Handbook” which presents a situation in which sisters differ on the Eucharist as the center of a “special LCWR community celebration since the celebration of Mass requires an ordained priest, something which some sisters find objectionable”. THIS IS NO LONGER A GROUP OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS BUT PURE HERESY. I pray that this communication today from the Holy See, will be followed by a similar response (later this year) regarding the final assessment on the findings of the Apostolic Visitation of Religious Communities of Women in the United States. Only then will we see proper collaborative and traditional renewal necessary to ensure future vocations of women religious the ability to contribute to the future life of the Church.

The currently active and orthodox Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious (CMSWR) should be named as the singular Council for Women Religious in the USA.

I agree. Sr. Chittister is a defiant pro woman ordination activist who was
a keynote speaker at an unauthorized conference and mass celebrated by woman who claimed to be ordained and attended by various dissenting organizations including gay marriage activists in 2011 in Detroit. She belongs to a community of Benedictine nuns in Erie Pa and makes money to support her activities by writing books and selling them through Benedictine web sites. She joins a group of defiant nuns who are not in communion with the Magisterium and you can surely add Sr. Keehan`s name to that list who defied the Bishops and supported Obama`s health care bill
and has been instrumental in helping Obama to divide Catholics along idealogical beliefs that do not conform to Church teaching. It would seem to me that the horses are already out of the barn and running loose, closing the barn door now will not help much. In other words, it is way to little, and much to late but better than silence.

Thank you for this insightful article. I will now be glad to join the LCWR in their efforts. Now I am sure you will post my comment since I am a Catholic woman and have chosen not to use insulting language as in the previous comments. Dear Archbishop Peter Sartain, the only renewal you will see will be in your own heart.

This is an answer to my prayers; to have our own Archbishop (I’m in Seattle) heading up the reform of this often heretical group, who make a mockery of our beautiful, amazing Mother Church.  These women have confused the faithful, mislead and misrepresented our Faith time and again, tearing apart our Church from within.  I am so relieved to see the Vatican working toward unifying the faithful!

IT’S ABOUT TIME. THANK YOU, JESUS.

Why on earth could they not have found a woman to do what Archbishop Sartain is supposed to do? I am all in favor of Sartain’s mission, but I am afraid that much of the message will get lost because a man delivers it.

Glad to see this.  It is about time!!!

Isn’t Seattle the See where half a dozen parishes refuse to support the Church about the definition of marriage? Perhaps Archbishop Sartain is used to dealing with people who like to call themselves Catholic but do their own thing.

Amazing!! Five years is 6 years too long to get these women back into the teachings of the Church. For starters, they need to get back into their Wedding Dresses (habits) and back into the convents and repent for all of the damage that they have caused to the Church by horrible behaviors and to learn the True Faith once again and get back into the schools and to take back their jobs from the laity in order to bring the costs of school education back down to where it is affordable to the parents.  +JMJ+

Having been positively influenced by many significant women in my lifetime, including grandmothers, mothers, aunts, daughters, granddaughters, sisters, nieces, cousins, religious nuns, and good female friends, I consider myself a feminist, meaning that I seek equality in the treatment of the sexes…what false feminism seeks is superiority of the female sex, almost in retaliation for years of presumed male sexual dominance…!!!

YAY! So happy to see some changes happening.

At least, I am glad it is being addressed in some way.

I’ve watched over the years how religious life for women has fallen farther and farther from the church and nothing was done about it. These women, out of habits, in apartments, not living in community, and basically doing social work for a salary.  Their view against church teachings and authority were being heard louder and louder, and our Church did nothing about it.
It is about time the Church decided to take action against this group of women who destroyed the respect and dignity of religious life.  Now I hope the Church doesn’t give in and just play around with this, but take serious action.
Just on a side note:  It is so refreshing and beautiful to see many new religious orders of women forming that are going back to the traditional and reverent lifestyle of Religious life.

When will the Bishops reform themselves?  Oh, I remember they don’t have to answer to anybody. They are safe in their own little worlds.

Finally !

Yes, so glad to see Pope Benedict also moving for reforming the state of the Church amongst the American women religious at last.  So many among them that need to be re-schooled in the true purpose of their vocation and work.  May the Holy Spirit help and guide Archbishop Sartain and all others concerned in this mission that will surely be no easy task in the face of so many modernist and liberal ideologues within the ranks of the American women religious today!  They are not concerned about the souls of the people, nor the health and mission of the Church - only about their own ideology (as with all rigid ideologues).  Thank you for this, too, Pope Benedict! Viva il Papa!

So glad this is finally happening. These women religious that advocate radical feminism have caused a tremendous amount of damage to our Holy Catholic Church and need to be corrected as soon as possible. These “nuns” are a dying breed anyway, aging themselves into oblivion, but still the Bishops have duty to at least try to save their souls. By the way, I know of no faithful Catholic that pays any attention to them and feels nothing but pity towards them. So sad they took the path of blatant heresy and disobedience but the good news is that the vast majority of new female vocations are flocking to the orthodox orders of women religious.

Its about time.

As a lay missionary in a foreign land, and coming back to the USA, I considered the religious vocation when I was in my 20’s, but after checking out 4 congregations, decided not to.

I am a secular member of a religious institute, but must admit I tend to draw more to mixed gender gatherings, and not drawn to attending those with women religious….something is permeating the sisters’ apostolic life in this country.

The contemplatives and active contemplatives have done much better,

Why a bishop to lead this reform?  Why not?  That’s their job.  Add to it the fact that much of the LCWR is “out-of-step” (putting it mildly) with the magisterium and faith, it is the job of the bishops to oversee and ‘reteach’ if possible such a wayward group.  Will it work?  Who knows.

What I know of Bishop Sartain, who is fairly new to Seattle, is from family and colleagues of mine in his last diocese - Joliet, Illinois.  Fine man, very faithful, sounds like the right man for the job.

Who’s gonna watch the bishops?  What kind of question is that?  Yes, there is some work to be done as described, but much of the sentiment is either from the past or the reality of this, uh, less than stellar behavior in the USCCB, and I say it cautiously, is diminishing.  Or can it be that some of us laity just think the bishops aren’t supposed to LEAD and GUIDE us.  Plus they’ve got to clean up not only internally but externally—that’s good parenting!  (Parents cannot use the excuse that I’ve made or make mistakes so I can’t discipline or teach my kids…. hogwash)

God bless Benedict, the bishops and this prayerful attempt at renewal.

Alleluia!! Thank You Lord - its about time.

Uppity women should be locked up and made to take a vow of silence. If they break it, their tongues and noses and ears should be cut off. Health care for the poor run by government is evil!
..
The are probably lesbians anyway.

Gail:
The churches in Seattle didn’t “defy” the bishop.The parishes, including the Cathedral of St.James, printed Bishop Sartain’s letter but note the parishes were given the option to not discuss the letter in the homilies.We have spent time with Fr. Mike Ryan, the Rector of the Cathedral.He is a wonderful man, and has kept the Cathedral a vibrant and, yes, diverse, community. His concern is that members of the community will be excluded in this issue, and I’ll leave it to the local pastors in that city to make the best judgement they can..

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017978133_catholics14m.html

Better customer service will not bring back the people who left because of the church’s attitudes to divorce, sex, and gender issues. Sermons are boring because such important issues cannot be answered. No matter how customer-friendly the church is, most people know that will have to comply to church doctrine and disregard their own opinions.
.
Being dishonest about these moral issues is painful, and not worth belonging to a community who would not accept you unconditionally.

Amazing to read this story and then another story on another supposedly ‘Catholic’ news site…the National Catholic Reporter and see the difference. 

The Reporter accuses the bishop of being ‘anti-gay’ right out of the gate!  Amazing that upholding the Catholic faith’s teaching on marriage makes one ‘anti-gay’ according to a self proclaimed Catholic publication!?!?!

Stop the insanity!

I believe in the Body of Christ.  I believe in the Catholic Church.

I believe that Vatican authority is mostly about power, excess and license. Unless we choose otherwise, we Women Religious will have to subjugate themselves to these flawed and corrupt leaders if they are to remain Roman Catholic.

The same flawed and corrupt leaders that continue to let pedophile priests serve such as in the Diocese of Kansas City and the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. What Would Jesus Do?

All my dear friends who commented on this magnificent post, would you believe that the Lenten Retreat presented in my parish this Lent, entitled “The Ten Commandments Revisited”, was given by a woman who works as a pastoral agent in our Diocese, and she based her presentation on a book written by no other than… (guess who?) Sr. Joan Chittister. That’s one of the many reasons why my husband and I left our parish a few years ago. We were sick of the dissidence and the abuses, and our complaints to the Bishop would not yield any results. Please pray for Canada, and especially for Quebec.

THANK GOD. Clearly the most pressing moral issues of the day are the condemnation of homosexuals and the barring of women from priesthood, and not the protection of minors from sexual abuse. Truth is not readily apparent to those outside the chrism of Holy Orders, so it is difficult for unbelievers to realize the truth God has revealed through divine inspiration to our Church leaders. Thank God for such a sure, guiding hand of the Holy Father!

Karmen, OSF:  What would Jesus do?  Refer to John 6:66.  When you can’t stand Jesus’ hard sayings, and the teachings of our Mother Church, you’re free to leave, just like what Martin Luther & John Calvin did and all those that followed after them.  Praise God for Benedict XVI !

Juliana, I DO believe you. I have been at many such events here in the US and eventually quit going to anything led by nuns. There is a deep seated anger towards men that seems to have hardened the hearts of the nuns I have dealt with here. The exception were the much older nuns who still wore habits in the nursing homes, such joyful happy women! I am so excited for the reforms to take place, but we are going to have to get used to empty pews and empty buildings as the reforms go into effect. Many “Catholics” don’t have a clue what the Catholic Church really stands for. Bad catechesis for the past 50 years has been much to blame.

Thank God for Pope Benedict XVI! Thank you for selecting a faithful bishop. Now if the Good Bishop can afterwards do something about Seattle University, supposedly Jesuit but not actually Catholic. Check out their website where you will see an advertisement for Obama’s ‘Labor of Love service day’ (that’s so nice!) If that doesn’t interest you check out the groups for: Zen Meditation, Eco-Sangha (Buddist?), Jewish Student Union, Muslim Student Association, and the horrific place they place our Lord in the Tabernacle, on the floor under a dead tree a the back of the ‘chapel’. When I attended the 2009 Chesterton Conference at SU there was an Interfaith prayer room in the dorm where I stayed. But it wasn’t interfaith - it was a mini-mosque complete with Persian carpet on the floor and a smaller room with a footbath and lockers filled with Qurans. How is that inter-faith?  I beg the bishops to do what they can before more college students lose their faith at fake catholic colleges.

Why not appoint olmstead? If you want the Catholic Church to destruct   continue to support biased war-against-women decisions.

What a bunch of biggots! Informing these Catholic women they are not practicing their faith as you see fit. Their faith informs their holy practice and it would sure do their male counterparts a world of good if they would follow suit.

Women: May this be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

I do not know if reform is possible with these orders. But like politicians and colleges, which call themselves Catholic but aren’t, these orders should not be called Catholic. Perhaps something like the Mandatum is necessary to see who is faithful and who is not.

@Gela
Sounds harsh, but really your mom and dad should accept you unconditionally, but your church should ask you to be better than you are.  If it doesn’t what good is it?

Does this mean that there will not be any more break out Wicca ceremonies?

Karmen,

If you deny even the basics of Christianity, why do you continue to be Catholic, never mind Christian. Be honest and find something else to do.  Do you seriously think the pedophiles crisis is not a crisis of faith.

We lay Catholics, are fed up of the Liberals who have emptied our churches, convents, seminaries.

Please don’t play the sorry victims after all this.

I agree with savvy. If you do not want to adhere to the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church, find another place/people to believe in, but don’t dump on the Catholic church because you want the rules and regulations to be your liking. We’ve already had this split. If whoever it was that started letting Nuns wear secular clothes, stopped it at the beginning we wouldn’t have all these egocentric nuns, female Eucharistic Ministers, female teachers trying to change 2000 years of proven doctrinal history that they were not meant to be “Godlike” or “manlike”. “You behave and think as you dress” and that includes Priests, Nuns, teachers, parents, business people, lay people of faith.  It’s becoming more apparent every day.  I hope Pope Benedict continues to see how far away we have gone from being conscientious Roman Catholic People of Faith.

As was stated here already, and is self evident on all comments to this story on secular and catholic sites regardless of bent…. that horse has already left the barn.  They are now connected in the spiderweb of secular left funding…and political action…. They are now fat enough to live separate from the host.  Let’s hope their arrogance leads them to that decision.

Sheila,

The habit has nothing to do with it. I now non-habited nuns who are very faithful. The same with lay ministers etc. It’s adherence to Orthodoxy that counts.  Don’t lump them all together, the way the opposition accuses everybody else of being anti-woman, blah, blah.

Collen,

Gender is not the issue. We are sick of BOTH men and women, who can’t live up to their vows and go out of their way to break them.

Okay, once again I have to weigh in. So let’s look at this. Homosexual Bishops and Priests abusing children for 40 years or more, Priests who act like bozo the clown, Masses that are scandalous(I know it’s getting better now.),Catholic institutes of higher learning that teach against the faith, and seminarys in disarray are all left to proceed pretty much full speed ahead. But oh, my gosh, stop the women from ruining the church! Really? It’s liberal, sicko Bishops and un-holy Priests who have got our church in such a mess.
I am a reformed feminist and definitely the crazy nuns should be shut down, but who’s minding the male hierachy?

Amen, savvy, Sheila, Juliana, and the rest!  If these women religious want to put their pride and arrogance (the very worst sin in Dante’s Hell, remember?) ahead of becoming truly faithful to basic Catholic doctrines as defined by the Holy See, it would be better if they simply stopped calling themselves ‘Catholic’, leave the church and set up their own organisation in which they can do as they wish without having to follow anyone else’s rules.  I do realise that the Vatican does not wish to throw out the baby with the bathwater, since a lot of their work is truly invaluable, too, hence this move to reform the leadership of this group.  Note that the LCWR owes its very existence to the Vatican, when it set it up way back in the 1950s.  If anything, the Vatican can be faulted for letting them stray farther and farther away, for much too long, and so these recalcitrant ideologues of a more liberal bent thought they could continue to have their cake and eat it. 

And we are surprised at how unschooled in proper catechesis a whole generation of Catholics are?  They were left to flounder in confusion by these religious persons (priests, bishops of this era are not absolved, either, by the way) who decided they were as good as the Vatican in deciding how things should be, and imposed their own trendy ideas and interpretations laced with feminism and liberalism (certainly non-Catholic at their heart) upon those in their charge and under their authority.  They’ve also enjoyed a lot of support from the liberal-dominated secular media, who recognize only them (these liberal feminist nuns) as truly representing what today’s Catholic nuns are like - a falsehood perpetrated so widely today, especially in the West.

lets face it.  many of the priest are gay and have a problem dealing with women and as long as they keep up
the phony belief that they are better than the women religious and not work for the goodness of all people.  we will continue on the false allegations against women religious .many priest are hanging on by a thread from rome.  they know its outdated.  what happen to love and freedom to love.  priest could get married to a women.  how awful is that and get out of their hate and into love.  sr joan chittister is one of the most caring and loving person i know and cares about the priests and sisters.  she knows we need reform in order to survive.

Linder dole
  Sorry but feel good, emotionally driven beliefs don`t work here. Also I might mention that your remark about priests being gay dose not work either. Nothing happened to freedom to love, love the sinner hate the sin.
Why is it that people who do not agree with Church teachings look
for problems to justify their misguided beliefs? The Catholic Church cannot, even if it wanted to, allow woman to become priests since Christ picked men to be His Apostles and when you travel around the world giving
talks that are not in communion with the Church but nothing more than an effort to promote your own selfish views, you are plain wrong. The allegations you speak of are NOT false, they are well documented facts with a whole history of defiant and illicit actions that were not sanctioned and she was warned more than one time and personally asked not
to address these issues publicly by the Vatican, which she then ignored.
I do believe you are confused, as many were and are, about reform when taking Post Conciliar Documents of Vatican II out of context and applying
your own meanings. Pax

Dec. 12th: Joan Chittister may be a caring woman but she stands against the teachings of the Catholic Church and encourages others to stand with her. This is why you thing she is so caring and good. If she stood with the Church, would you still think that of her?

Dec. 12th…true Teresa. The Church not only has a right but a duty to examine the ways their ‘teachers’ are teaching; any major organization does an audit of their companies every few years…these sisters who are publicly proclaiming themselves to be victims of male leaders are shameless and cause much suffering to the people of God.

Christianity is about changing people, not institutions.  The arguments being made for women’s ordination are political.  Why do these women even want a priest?  Only Catholics/Orthodox and some Anglicans ordain priests. If they do not like this, they are free to go to a church that does not ordain priests, but why force churches to ordain priests to not function as priests.

Tom T,

Has it occurred to the proponents of women’s ordination that what they want is not a priest to begin with? The arguments made sound like they want something else or cannot grasp why God ordained a priesthood.

savvy
I am sure there are many reasons however, I am not going to judge anyone.
I can only point out that they are in direct conflict with two thousand years tradition and teachings of the Church. Being a priest is not a position of power, the calling requires you to serve the people of God. Pax

Dec. 13th: you are right savvy.  And there is something else: the Priesthood is a ‘vocation’ and every vocation must be affirmed by the Church.  If you feel entitled to something that you would defy the Church in order to grasp it, then you can be sure it is not a vocation. If someone, man or woman, wants to enter a Religious Order, they are tested to see if the call is from God…but many don’t understand this, perhaps because it hasn’t really been explained very well.  A vocation is accompanied by humility, a willingness to accept the decision of the Church. This is for each one’s good…because if we try to go to a place we are not called to, we will never be fulfilled or know true happiness; so, instead of trying to go where we are not called, we should pray to know where God is calling us and follow His lead - follow the guidance of His Church.