News Archive - 2013
Vatican observers look for thaw between Pope Francis and LCWR12/29/13 - The Los Angeles Times summarizes the censure of LCWR and the events since then, and looks at Pope Francis' remarks as possible indicators of improving relationships. The author, Soumya Karlamangla, notes that the Vatican criticized LCWR for a lack of public opposition to abortion and gay rights; now Pope Francis has criticized the church's past overemphasis on these issues. Pope Francis also emphasizes "the need for economic justice, which would seem to match the nuns' emphasis on serving the poor." And the pope "moves away from the 'smaller but purer' church advocated by his predecessor, Benedict XVI, and calls for a larger, inclusive church." Some see his affirmation of the Vatican mandate for LCWR reform as an essential political move to be respectful of Benedict XVI, even as he told a group of nuns in June: "Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine [of Faith] will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing.... But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward."
The article includes quotes from LCWR and Archbishop Sartain, the head of the bishops team charged with LCWR reform. Sister Annmarie Sanders of LCWR said: "LCWR's hope is that the conversations will lead to increased understanding of LCWR and U.S. Catholic sisters, and to improved relationships between the Catholic Church leadership and LCWR." A staff member for Sartain said the bishop did not "grant interviews on the LCWR process, preferring to communicate directly with LCWR leaders rather than having them read his comments in the media." In August, Sartain said in a speech that he and the nuns' group had developed "a wonderful respect for each other. And, yes, I would say a friendship with one another."
Pope changes appointees to Vatican group that recommends bishops, drops two who were instrumental in Vatican mandate to "reform" LCWR12/16/13 - Pope Francis made significant changes in the Congregation for Bishops, which sends him recommendations about who should fill episcopal vacancies around the world. Two of the three he dropped had been deeply connected with what happened to LCWR. However, Cardinal Levada (who actually issued the LCWR mandate, when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) continues as a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
Pope Francis: No women cardinals. No women priests. Female stereotypes?No women priests: "The reservation of the priesthood to males, as a sign of Christ the Spouse who gives himself in the Eucharist, is not a question open to discussion, but it can prove especially divisive if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in general. It must be remembered that when we speak of sacramental power “we are in the realm of function, not that of dignity or holiness”.[73] The ministerial priesthood is one means employed by Jesus for the service of his people, yet our great dignity derives from baptism, which is accessible to all. The configuration of the priest to Christ the head – namely, as the principal source of grace – does not imply an exaltation which would set him above others. In the Church, functions “do not favour the superiority of some vis-à-vis the others”.[74] Indeed, a woman, Mary, is more important than the bishops." - Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, paragraph 104, 11/24/13
No women cardinals: "May I ask you if the Church will have women cardinals in the future?" Pope Francis: “I don’t know where this idea sprang from. Women in the Church must be valued not “clericalised”. Whoever thinks of women as cardinals suffers a bit from clericalism.” - Interview in La Stampa, near bottom, 12/13/13
Female stereotypes? "Women may be socialized into many of these roles and qualities, but we don't have a corner on them. I have known lots of men who are sensitive, intuitive and show a special concern for others. Francis himself demonstrates many of those qualities. But there are many qualities women and men also share that he does not mention: intelligence, organizing abilities, leadership skills, political savvy, physical prowess. These attributes are women's as much as they are men's.But Francis' words read as if he thinks women are somehow a different species. They are the creatures with 'soft' qualities, not the qualities stereotypically attributed to males." - Sister Maureen Fiedler in blog at NCR, 11/27/13)
Another illuminating interview with Pope Francis, by La Stampa editor
12/14/12 - Andrea Tornielli interviews Pope Francis about Christmas, hunger in the world, the suffering of children, the reform of the Roman Curia, women cardinals, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), and the upcoming visit to the Holy Land.
"When God meets us he tells us two things. The first thing he says is: have hope. God always opens doors, he never closes them. He is the father who opens doors for us. The second thing he says is: don’t be afraid of tenderness. When Christians forget about hope and tenderness they become a cold Church, that loses its sense of direction and is held back by ideologies and worldly attitudes, whereas God’s simplicity tells you: go forward, I am a Father who caresses you."
"God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it. All of us from the holiest of saints to the greatest of sinners; from the purest to the most corrupt among us. Even a corrupt person has this ability: poor him, it’s probably a bit rusty but he has it. Christmas in this time of conflicts is a call from God who gives us this gift. Do we want to receive Him or do we prefer other gifts? In a world afflicted by war, this Christmas makes me think of God’s patience. The Bible clearly shows that God’s main virtue is that He is love. He waits for us; he never tires of waiting for us. He gives us the gift and then waits for us."
Tornielli: "What do you have to say about this innocent suffering [of seriously ill children]?" Pope Francis: "When the child asks a question, he or she doesn’t wait to hear the full answer, they immediately start bombarding you with more 'whys'. What they are really looking for, more than an explanation, is a reassuring look on their parent’s face. When I come across a suffering child, the only prayer that comes to mind is the “why” prayer. Why Lord? He doesn’t explain anything to me. But I can feel Him looking at me. So I can say: You know why, I don’t and You won’t tell me, but You’re looking at me and I trust You, Lord, I trust your gaze.”
Tornielli: "The most striking part of the Exhortation was where it refers to an economy that 'kills'… Pope Francis: “There is nothing in the Exhortation that cannot be found in the social Doctrine of the Church... The only specific quote I used was the one regarding the 'trickle-down theories' which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and social inclusiveness in the world. The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefitting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger nothing ever comes out for the poor."
Of ecumenical relations and meetings with Orthodox prelates: "I believe that the way forward is this: friendship, common work and prayer for unity. We blessed each other; one brother blesses the other, one brother is called Peter and the other Andrew, Mark, Thomas…”."Today there is an ecumenism of blood. In some countries they kill Christians for wearing a cross or having a Bible and before they kill them they do not ask them whether they are Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox. Their blood is mixed. To those who kill we are Christians. We are united in blood, even though we have not yet managed to take necessary steps towards unity between us..."
"[In Evangelii Gaudium] I spoke about baptism and communion as spiritual food that helps one to go on; it is to be considered a remedy not a prize. Some immediately thought about the sacraments for remarried divorcees, but I did not refer to any specific cases; I simply wanted to point out a principle. We must try to facilitate people’s faith, rather than control it."
[On reform of the Curia] "At the last meeting, the eight cardinals told me the time has come for concrete proposals and at the next meeting in February they will present their suggestions to me. I am always present at the meetings, except for Wednesday mornings when I have the General Audience. But I don’t speak, I just listen and that does me good."
"Politics is noble; it is one of the highest forms of charity, as Paul VI used to say. We sully it when we mix it with business. The relationship between the Church and political power can also be corrupted if common good is not the only converging point.”
Tornielli: "May I ask you if the Church will have women cardinals in the future?" Pope Francis: “I don’t know where this idea sprang from. Women in the Church must be valued not “clericalised”. Whoever thinks of women as cardinals suffers a bit from clericalism.”
Sister Joan Chittister: We are at a crossroads for women in the church
12/11/13 - Sister Joan Chittister posted her remarks at the American Academy of Religion's and the Society for Biblical Literature's joint conference in Baltimore Nov. 22-24, 2013. Not long, and worth every word. Excerpts:
- "This is a crossover moment in history. This is the moment when history discovered women."
- "Feminism is about allowing every member of the human race to become a fully functioning human adult, to make choices at every level of society, to participate in the decision-making that affects their lives, to be financially independent, to be safe on the streets, secure in their homes, to have a voice in the courts and constitutional bodies of the world -- to enjoy, in other words, full and equal civil rights. It is about bringing to public visibility and public agency the agendas, the insights, and the wisdom of the other half of the human race."
- "The question of the role of women in church and society is not one of the 39 areas of concern listed in the questionnaire the Vatican sent to the world's bishops in October seeking wide Catholic response to questions about family life. So how really important are the roles and rights of woman-as-woman seen in shaping even the family?"
- "The pope's recent statement on women...concentrated almost entirely on women's maternity, which occupies -- at best -- about 20 years of a woman's life. Most modern women, demographic data indicates, live at least another 35 to 40 years after the youngest child leaves home. And after that? What is her role then? Is maternity her only value, her perpetual definition?"
- "Today, here and now, a Vatican document can say, 'Forms of feminism hostile to the church are among matters of deep concern' but never even mention male chauvinism or the very structures of patriarchy itself as any kind of concern at all."
- "No one can say they are for the poor as Jesus was and do nothing, nothing, nothing for the equality of women. To address classism does not begin to resolve the problems that come with sexism. Yet when the membership of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious commit themselves again -- as they have so often in the past -- to do for women what must be done for the sake of the Gospel, and the good of the church, it's called "radical feminism" and they are investigated for heresy."
Pope Francis' quotes & homilies - he often lifts up the same themes that LCWR & sisters live2/23/2014 - Homily for new cardinals: "The Holy Spirit also speaks to us today through the words of Saint Paul: 'You are God’s temple … God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are' (1 Cor 3:16-17). In this temple, which we are, an existential liturgy is being celebrated: that of goodness, forgiveness, service; in a word,the liturgy of love. This temple of ours is defiled if we neglect our duties towards our neighbour. Whenever the least of our brothers and sisters finds a place in our hearts, it is God himself who finds a place there. When that brother or sister is shut out, it is God himself who is not beingwelcomed. A heart without love is like a deconsecrated church, a building withdrawn from God’s service and given over to another use."... More
"Feminism at 50" - a Catholic women's view; and response by 3 America editorsTwo very good articles. Brief excerpts:
12/2/13 - Sidney Callahan: "Roles and leadership can hardly be decided simply by gender, since the Spirit blows where it will. God is no respecter of persons. Consequently I am uneasy with talk of “the eternal feminine” or “a theology of women” since it seems to imply that women should differ in their capacities and roles in church and society. Do we talk of “the eternal masculine” or a theology of men? Should there not be a theology of the human person?... gratitude for the gift of mothering and nurturing new life should not be over-glorified, since men and single women also generate life for others in many creative ways. Although nothing in our culture may be as imperative as supporting women and protecting those who are mothers from violent harm and neglect, I resist reviving any form of a Catholic feminine mystique. Let us support children, women, men, families and the poor as the first work of Catholic feminism. Surely She Who Is approves."
12/3/13 - responses by 3 America magazine editors - excerpts
- Olga Segura: "in the last 50 years the feminist movement has become more aware of the problem of poverty as the major obstacle for women’s advancement. The retreat from providing subsistence, childcare, healthcare and opportunities for women to get an education is the greatest social handicap women face. Other developed countries have solved these problems and the U.S. can too."
- Ashley McKinless: "A theology of women, standing alone would have the danger of isolating women once again. The assertion that men and women are complementary in nature does not seem scientifically or morally valid to me. When Pope John Paul II speaks of a “Petrine ministry” complemented by “a Marian ministry” my theological alarm bells go off. All baptized Christians are called to holiness with different vocations to serve the kingdom and it seems doubtful that gender determines ministry, with the exception of childbirth, and that is not a universal call. I doubt that a male-led clerical move to determine a theology of women would counter male-centric assumptions. Clerical romantics are a danger."
- Kerry Weber: "Women can build up the cause of Catholic feminism by living the Gospel as fully as they can in their unique circumstances. The social gospel and the life of worship and prayer should be equally important to American Catholics. Women can keep emphasizing the Gospel’s demand for equality while preparing themselves to lead, educating themselves as theologians and continuing to stay in the church and loyally raise their voices."
Pope Francis' "The Joy of the Gospel" (Evangelii Gaudium) - how to be church!
"With Christ joy is constantly born anew. In this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church’s journey in years to come." [paragraph 1]
11/26/13 - In his' usual engaging and personal style, Pope Francis gives us a major document inviting us to live and to share Gospel joy as persons and as a church, open always to the freshness that the Holy Spirit offers in order to enable us to renew our missionary spirit, our solidarity with the poor, and our church. Full text from the Vatican, in wonderfully readable and often colloquial English.
Women religious ask pope for world day of prayer against human traffickingNCR reports that in late September 2013, Sister Eugenia Bonetti and three other sisters from different religious congregations talked informaly with Pope Francis about human trafficking. They urged him to call for an international day of prayer and fasting to raise awarness. He asked them to suggest a date, and they told him Feb. 8, the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese slave who found freedom in Italy and became a nun in the late 19th century.
On November 2-3, 2013 Sister Eugenia participated in a Vatican-led working group on trafficking. Pope Francis has specifically asked the Pontifical Academies to study the problem of new forms of slavery, including the trafficking of people and human organs. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he actively supported work to fight human trafficking and assist victims.
Worldwide, at least 21 million people are victims of forced labor, including sexual exploitation, and traffickers bring in an estimated $32 billion annually because of their illicit activities, the U.S. State Department's 2012 Trafficking in Persons report said. An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking at any given time, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
LCWR inspires events-organizer to become award-winning anti-trafficking activist
Kimberly Ritter, a senior account manager for Nix Conference and Meeting Management, has worked with LCWR to plan its annual Assemblies since 2005. Inspired by LCWR, her work to end human trafficking was recognized with the 2012 FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and other honors. Interviewed by NCR, she says, "As I began to work for the women religious, my life began to change. I realized how powerful you could be as women and how effective you were when you communicated with love and compassion. I was constantly surrounded by strong, intelligent, loving women who allowed the Holy Spirit to move them into their decisions. What an amazing revelation that you can fully and freely give yourself to God and allow him to direct you. The U.S. Catholic sisters have made me a better woman, a better mother to my daughters, and have given me a new vision on allowing the Holy Spirit to lead my life."
LCWR seeks abandoned religious living in the USFollowing their Assembly resolutions in 2010 and 2011 to "strengthen bonds with women religious throughout the world," LCWR is undertaking a "coordinated search for often struggling and sometimes even abandoned women religious who have come to America only to see their sponsors withdraw support over time." They are often from the global South. On Nov. 11, 2013, in the Philippines, Presentation Sister Joyce Meier met with 80 sisters at a meeting of AMOR, the Asia-Oceania Meeting of Religious, to seek their engagement in this effort.Women are already in dialogue with Vatican about increasing roles - Kerry Robinson
10/28/13 - Kerry Alys Robinson, executive director of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, writes in America magazine about "Opening Doors: Women in Dialogue with the Vatican." "Five women colleagues in Catholic philanthropy and I have had the rare privilege to meet privately with prefects of pontifical congregations and presidents of pontifical councils. The purpose of our meetings with the cardinals in Rome, the highest ranking leaders in the Catholic Church, is specific in its simplicity: to discuss the role of women in the church and opportunities to elevate women to positions of meaningful leadership in the Roman Curia... In October 2007 we embarked on our first weeklong series of private meetings with cardinals in Rome to advocate for women... As evidence of the cardinals’ receptivity, we have been invited back on several occasions. The most recent meeting took place this month. We have been received with genuine warmth and interest in our analysis of the challenges and concomitant recommendations." Excellent article: clear statements of how church policies impact women and "impoverish the church," and clear proposals.
Sister Mary Hughes, OP, on "Hardball with Chris Matthews"
9/20/13 - Chris Matthews interviewed former LCWR president Sister Mary Hughes, OP, in relation to Pope Francis' efforts to change the church. She expressed appreciation for his emphasis on the gospel, and commented on his calls for social justice and for solidarity with the poor as entirely consistent with the historical and current work of religious congregregations, including his own Society of Jesus.
Pope Francis invites editor of Italy's largest newspaper to come over. Amazing conversation. 10/1/13 - Pope Francis called Eugenio Scalfari, the atheist founder of Italy's biggest daily newspaper, La Repubblica. Francis invited Scalfari to come by for conversation on 9/24/13. Worth reading in full! (On July 7 and August 9, Scalfari had published questions for Pope Francis; Francis surprised him by writing in reply on September 11.) Some highlights from Pope Francis 9/24:
"Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good."
"Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place."
"The Son of God became incarnate in the souls of men to instill the feeling of brotherhood. All are brothers and all children of God. Abba, as he called the Father. I will show you the way, he said. Follow me and you will find the Father and you will all be his children and he will take delight in you. Agape, the love of each one of us for the other, from the closest to the furthest, is in fact the only way that Jesus has given us to find the way of salvation and of the Beatitudes."
"Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is...more.
America magazine apologizes for a missing sentence in translation of Francis interview9/25/13 - NCR columnist Phyllis Zagano discovered a missing sentence in the earlier English translation: "Francis replied, 'It is necessary to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the church.'" It was present in the original Italian and in other translations. The English translation has been corrected.
Sister Simone Campbell on Pope Francis and women9/24/13 - In TIME newsmagazine, Sister Simone Campbell shares the overall positive response to Pope Francis and his interview, but: "Will Pope Francis follow through by actually including women in the decisionmaking as he moves ahead with reforms? Or will the temptation to placate women by idealizing our gender remove us from consideration in wrestling with change in church politics? If we are indeed brought into the currently male process, I worry that our own freedom of Spirit and witness to the Gospel could be undermined by our desire to 'belong.'" And she recalls Pope Francis' earlier comment that "The door is closed" to women's ordination, but recalls Jesus' parable and says, "Women need to keep knocking on this closed door and eventually the change will come."
Jesuit suggests female cardinals, asks for names via Facebook9/24/13 - According to Joshua McElwee in NCR, Jesuit Father James Keenan used his personal Facebook page to "ask his friends and associates to propose names of women around the world who should be considered as possible cardinal candidates." I find no reference to this on his public Facebook page, but he quickly accepted my "friend request" and now I have that thread.
McElwee reports: "As cardinals are not ordained into their ministry, some have suggested that it would be possible for the church to name women as cardinals without changing the church's teaching regarding the ordination of only men to the priesthood. While canon law currently specifies that a cardinal must either be a priest or a bishop, some have also wondered whether the appointment of female cardinals might be a reform Pope Francis is considering." Among those already on Keenan's list are: "Linda Hogan, a professor of ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin; Holy Child Jesus Sr. Teresa Okure, a theology professor at the Catholic Institute of West Africa in Nigeria; and Maryanne Loughry, the associate director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Australia... According to U.S Catholic, New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan said in an interview last year it was "theoretically" possible for the pope to name female cardinals."
America: "No one can be a spectator in Francis' fresh vision of church."9/23/13 - "After the Pope's Interview: Three Hard Things" by Jesuit Father Francis X. Clooney. in America magazine. "First, Francis expects us actually to discern, to find the will of God out there before us, in the large and small, easy and difficult things before us... Second,...A call to discernment as the church’s way forward requires tremendous effort at every level, a free and grown-up search for the will of God, and not determining the future by what had seemed best in the past... Third, Francis is giving us a lot to do... Where there are such great needs, there the church must be." Bottom line: "No one can be a spectator in Francis' fresh vision of church."The Nation: "Is the pope getting on board with the nuns on the bus?"9/20/13 - John Nichols writes about the similarities between Sister Simone Campbell and Network's "Nuns on the Bus" campaigns, and the social-justice themes in the Jesuit interivew of Pope Francis.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on CNN: "The pope is starting to sound like a nun"9/22/13 - Wonderful soundbite (00:59)!
Pope Francis' astonishing interview - Reports and full text (In the News)9/19/13 - Pope Francis made headlines internationally with an interview that was published simultaneously in multiple Jesuit periodicals around the world. Every major newspaper seems to have covered it, including NY Times and NCR. America magazine was the publisher of the full text in English. Blog posts offer diverse valuable perspectives, including Mary E. Hunt.
Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, conducted the interview in person, in Italian, over three days in August. Editorial teams at La Civiltà Cattolica, America, and several other major Jesuit journals around the world had proposed questions to Father Spadaro. After Pope Francis approved the Italian text, America commissioned a team of five independent experts to translate it into English.
Father Spadaro described his experience interviewing Pope Francis: "The pope had spoken earlier about his great difficulty in giving interviews. He said that he prefers to think rather than provide answers on the spot in interviews. In this interview the pope interrupted what he was saying in response to a question several times, in order to add something to an earlier response. Talking with Pope Francis is a kind of volcanic flow of ideas that are bound up with each other. Even taking notes gives me an uncomfortable feeling, as if I were trying to suppress a surging spring of dialogue."
Some quotes from Pope Francis follow - but please read the whole interview. It is truly worth your time.
"In my experience as superior in the Society [of Jesus, the Jesuits]... I did not always do the necessary consultation. And this was not a good thing. My style of government as a Jesuit at the beginning had many faults. That was a difficult time for the Society: an entire generation of Jesuits had disappeared. Because of this I found myself provincial when I was still very young. I was only 36 years old. That was crazy. I had to deal with difficult situations, and I made my decisions abruptly and by myself. Yes, but I must add one thing: when I entrust something to someone, I totally trust that person. He or she must make a really big mistake before I rebuke that person."
"I have never been a right-winger. It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems."
“The Lord has allowed this growth in knowledge of government through my faults and my sins. So as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, I had a meeting with the six auxiliary bishops every two weeks, and several times a year with the council of priests. They asked questions and we opened the floor for discussion. This greatly helped me to make the best..."
More
New Vatican Secy of State Parolin on celibacy and on "a more democratic spirit" in Church9/11/2013 - On August 31, 2013, Pope Francis named Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin as the new Secretary of State, the oldest and traditionally most powerful position in the Curia. In an interview with the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, reported today by John L. Allen in NCR, he said that celibacy "is not a church dogma and it can be discussed because it is a church tradition." He also noted that "It has always been said that the church is not a democracy. But it would be good during these times that there could be a more democratic spirit, in the sense of listening carefully, and I believe the pope has made of this one of his pontificate's objectives. A collegial movement of the church, where all the issues can be brought up, and afterward he can make a decision."Pray for Syria!Pope Francis' homily in St. Peter's Square closing the Vigil for Peace - I wish this could be read at every liturgy everywhere on Sunday!
Pope Francis' appeal for prayer for Syria
LCWR's prayerful statement on Syria
Prayer of a 28-year-old Syrian Jesuit
"When it's too big (reflections on Syria)" by Rachel Held Evans
Contact your NBC station - they have option to show Women & Spirit Sept '13-March '14!Here's a concrete way to help LCWR right now! Women & Spirit is an excellent hour-long show about the contributions of Catholic sisters in the USA, from 1727 to today. NBC stations have the option to schedule it, between September 2013 and March 2014, as an episode in the Horizons of the Spirit series. CONTACT YOUR NBC AFFILIATE NOW and let them know you want them to schedule it. Ask your friends to do the same. Put a notice in your parish bulletin and diocesan newsletter. Let's help the light of Catholic sisters to shine bright!
DC area: 202-885-4000 or use the station's email form.
Perspective: Outgoing LCWR president Sister Pat Farrell on the past year"As I write my last presidential letter, my own words from last summer’s assembly come back to me, contextualized differently: 'They can crush a few flowers but they can’t hold back the springtime.' So what about that springtime now in 2013? There are some who would call the moment we are experiencing 'a Catholic spring.' None of us could have imagined a year ago a Pope Francis, bringing fresh air to an ecclesiastical environment gone stale. Church reform movements are proliferating, networking, flourishing. Clearly there is observable movement. Could it be that spring is upon us? Perhaps. There are some signs. But spring comes slowly, by fits and starts. Think March. Think mud and wind and the messy in-between stage of the late-winter, early- spring time of year. Spring is heralded by great turbulence and fluctuating temperatures. It storms its way forward, groaning and labored. But it does come. Always.
"...By conversion I don’t mean an inappropriate and submissive “mea culpa” to accusations which misrepresent who we are and what we are about, but a genuine desire to allow the events confronting us to knead us into bread to be broken and shared.
"We can change only our own consciousness and choices, so we focus our energy there. I do see this moment of conversion as a process of becoming more malleable to God’s reshaping of us for purposes beyond our current awareness, beyond dualisms and separateness, in readiness for God’s in-breaking of newness."
- August-September 2013 LCWR Newsletter, page 2Orbis to publish book of LCWR presidential addresses: "Spiritual Leadership..."In Spring 2014, Orbis Books will publish Spiritual Leadership in Challenging Times: Presidential Addresses of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. From the presidential addresses of the past 50 years, LCWR has chosen ten to explore the challenges of providing spiritual leadership in light of the pressing issues of the day. The audience is anyone interested in leadership, particularly spiritual leadership. From the LCWR Newsletter: "the book illustrates how LCWR presidents have led from a foundation that has steeped them in the practice of reflection and contemplation. Their addresses demonstrate a leadership that is deeply rooted in God and that strives to connect the soul of an organization with the soul of the world... [and] show how to live and lead with an integrity and humility for which the world at large yearns and hungers." "Misguided LCWR mandate lumbers onward" - NCR editorialWorth reading. An excerpt:
"By a wide consensus of the larger church, women religious have been modeling a more attractive vision of the Catholic faith than have the bishops in recent decades. The prelates have much to learn from the women if they could only stop the cheap "women are special" platitudes and truly open their eyes.
"LCWR meetings are far more spirited and far less crafted than comparable meetings of the U.S bishops.
"The fact is that few organizations anywhere are as democratic and representative as is LCWR. In contrast to the bishops, all members have been voted to leadership by their communities and represent those communities locally, regionally and nationally. LCWR presidents rotate yearly. LCWR changes, develops, but also maintains continuity. Past presidents are valued and are invited to annual assemblies to add their perspectives. Our church is blessed with an articulation of the Gospels by women who can access multiple means of communication and no longer need to filter their words through the male clerical culture.
"LCWR's work should be celebrated, not demeaned."
NCR gets $2.3 million to help congregations tell their stories!From NCR's announcement: "The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has awarded a grant of $2.3 million over three years that will allow the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Co. to embark on a groundbreaking project to give greater voice to countless Catholic sisters around the globe. With the use of the Hilton Foundation grant, NCR plans to build a network of editors and reporters not only to write about women religious, but to help them develop their own communication skills by working with them as columnists who report their own missions and challenges."
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has a long-term fund to "strengthen congregations of Catholic sisters" worldwide and to "enable Sisters to advance human development more widely and effectively." Its strategy envisions "Vital congregations of women religious whose members advance human development through their spiritual witness and service to those in need." Its current focus is in Africa and the USA. 8/19/13 - LCWR Assembly reports and speeches, including statement on Board meetingThe 2013 Assembly's theme was "Leadership Evolving: Graced, Grounded, and Free."
LCWR created a brief, beautiful video of Assembly highlights.
LCWR's press release summarizes each session, including private sessions. Highlights:
- Franciscan Sister Ilia Delio gave the keynote address, titled "Religious Life on the Edge of the Universe." "We need a new way of being in the world that broadens diversity, deepens interiority, and strengthens the bonds of relationality.”
- Three sessions during the Assembly, and the Board meeting afterwards, focused on the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, lead of the three bishops appointed to "reform" LCWR following the doctrinal assessment, participated in the Assembly and met with the LCWR board after the Assembly. Afterwards, the LCWR Board issued a statement appreciating the "profound and honest sharing of views" and noting that "Clearly... he had been listening intently and heard the concerns voiced by the members, and their desire for more information. The extraordinarily rich and deeply reverent conversation during the board meeting gave us a greater understanding of Archbishop Sartain, and we believe he now also better understands us. Although we remain uncertain as to how our work with the bishop delegates will proceed, we maintain hope that continued conversations of this depth will lead to a resolution of this situation that maintains the integrity of LCWR and is healthy for the whole church.”
- Sister Florence Deacon's presidential address, "A Delicate Weaving," reflected on what it means to be a faithful woman of the church as a framework for continuing dialogue with the appointed bishops.
- Sister Pat Farrell's speech accepting the Outstanding Leadership Award reflected on the present situation, which calls LCWR "to really see another person and to really allow ourselves to be seen.” "We keep calling ourselves and one another to truthfulness and integrity, to a thoughtful sorting out of what that looks like concretely.”
- Presentations by Hope CommUnity Center, Apopka, FL, and by Sister Ann Scholz shared experiences and current information about the need for justice for immigrants, including comprehensive reform legislation.
- LCWR members adopted a resolution for a comprehensive set of actions to reduce violence, with particular focus on gun violence.
- At the conclusion of the Assembly, the 2013-14 officers assumed their new roles:
The three-member presidency:
Current president Sister Carol Zinn, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
Past president Sister Florence Deacon, of the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
President-elect Sister Sharon Holland, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe Michigan
Secretary: Sister Barbara Blesse of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois
Press report on LCWR Assembly and Board meetingJoshua McElwee of NCR - report headline: "LCWR: 'profound sharing' with Sartain; 'uncertain' of progress.
Mark I. Pinsky of Religion News Service - report headline: "US nuns strike a positive note on Vatican investigation." RNS includes a comment by Fr. Tom Reese, SJ, senior analyst at NCR: “Things could have been much worse after the meeting, and that clearly didn’t happen. From their press release, they’re saying that things improved slightly — which is good news. Because both sides seemed to have listened and understood each other during the meeting. Initially, the nuns “didn’t feel that they were treated with respect, as adults. Now it’s no longer a food fight. They’re talking; they’re having a conversation. It’s like couples counseling. … That’s a big step forward from where they were in 2011."America mag. article highlights financial crisis facing many congregations, no clear optionsIn the short article "Save Our Sisters," Fr. James Martin, SJ, cites examples of and reasons for the financial crisis that many US congregations are facing - even including bankruptcy. He looks at often-suggested solutions and finds them unlikely or infeasible. Although "prospects are bleak," he offers a few possibilities.
8/16 - NCR says Archbishop Sartain offered few details, S. Sharon Holland new pres.-electJoshua McElwee reports that Archbishop Sartain's 37-minute speech to the LCWR Assembly was mostly about Jesus and religious life in general. He seemingly didn't speak about how to move forward with regard to the April 2012 Vatican mandate for LCWR "reform" that he has been appointed to oversee. About 50 sisters asked questions afterwards, including sharp questions and comments about how the Vatican mandate has damaged sisters' reputations, and about frustrations with inadequate communication from the Vatican and perhaps from the three "LCWR reform" appointees that Archbishop Sartain leads.
Both before and after the session with Archbishop Sartain, the 825 LCWR members met privately. NCR reports that the meeting preceding the archbishop's talk was the first opportunity members have had to hear directly from LCWR leaders about what has happened regarding the mandate during the year since the 2012 Assembly. NCR says that:
"According to knowledgable sources, LCWR members were told Thursday that their leadership had met with Sartain four times over the past year: Once following last year’s LCWR assembly in St. Louis, once in November in Baltimore during the annual U.S. bishops’ meeting, once in May during the group’s annual visit to Rome, and once more this summer. Each time, the LCWR leaders told their members Thursday, Sartain did not detail the Vatican’s specific concerns with LCWR."
The article also says that canon lawyer Sister Florence Deacon, IHM (Monroe), has been elected as LCWR president-elect and will serve in that role 2013-14 as part of the LCWR three-member presidency.
McElwee also notes that "LCWR members were asked by the group’s leaders not to discuss Thursday’s meetings with members of the press."8/15 - CNS reports "a tenor of openness & conciliation" & contemplation at AssemblyFrom CNS: "The president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said organizers of this year's assembly hope attendees would find it to be a contemplative experience because 'it is imperative to view religious life within the context of our faith and in an evolving world.' 'We have included an hour and a half of contemplative prayer at all meetings to determine what the signs of today are calling us to and we hope that the entire experience of this assembly will be an act of contemplation,' said Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon.
The story reports warm and respectful remarks by Archbishops Vigano and Sartain,the Papal Nuncio and the Vatican-appointed LCWR overseer, respectively. CNS also interviewed Donna Fyffe, a consultant who worked with LCWR to plan the meeting; she noted "a tenor of openness and conciliation at the assembly was clear."
8/15 - Social-media posts say that Sister Sharon Holland, IHM (Monroe), is LCWR president-elect Sister Sharon Holland received LCWR's outstanding leadership award in 2009. From the LCWR website write-up: "Sharon Holland is a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan. A canon lawyer with degrees from the Gregorian University, she served for 21 years at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and was one of the highest-ranking women in the Vatican. In this position she offered wisdom and knowledge to congregations of religious all over the globe. She also taught at The Catholic University of America, Regina Mundi, the Pontifical Urbaniana, and other schools.
"Her extraordinary understanding of ecclesial life and global needs has contributed to her reputation as a renowned speaker on consecrated life. Numerous congregations of religious can attest to her attentive and helpful counsel with the complex issues of shaping constitutions as well forming, merging, and dissolving institutes.
"Her writings on religious life have appeared in many professional journals, as well as in The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary."
LCWR has a three-member presidency. After the Assembly, the presidency will include past president (2012-13) Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon, president Sister of St. Joseph Carol Zinn, and president-elect Sister Sharon Holland of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
8/15 - Archbishop Sartain spoke, answered questions, behind locked & guarded doorsAt the Assembly, LCWR took extra precautions to keep private the 37-minute speech by Archbishop Sartain, Vatican delegate to "oversee" and "reform" LCWR, and the Q&A session that followed. Doors were locked and security guards were in place outside them. The IT set-up avoided wireless microphones to make sure nothing was overheard. Joshua McElwee's report in NCR gives more details on security, but none are available on the session itself.
8/15 - Vatican's delegate, Archbishop Peter Sartain, gave homily at Mass today at AssemblyFrom the NCR report: "Mary... pondered the words of God and let them turn over in her heart -- over and over again, as the Gospel tell us. Without, in a sense, any desire or a need to figure things out in the way that we normally think of figuring things out -- or resolve them to her own personal satisfaction... -- seeing them as joined to God’s will for her, recognizing that of these things that she witnessed, all of these things of which she was a part, will be resolved in the love of God just as her own call came from the heart of God." "...she shows to us what the grace of God, what God himself desires to do in us all and through the church when we let the grace of God overtake us without placing an obstacle between ourself and that grace." "...May it be the same for me and for you. Amen."
8/14 - Sister Ilia Delio's keynote address at LCWR AssemblyNCR reported on the address. Some beautiful quotes, e.g., “A dynamic universe provokes the idea and the understanding of a dynamic God. This is not a stay-at-home God. This is a God who is deeply immersed in a love affair with the beloved, the creation which flows out of his divine heart." Franciscan Sister Ilia Delio is director of Catholic Studies at Georgetown University.
NCR's Joshua McElwee tweets from the Assembly. So moving! A glimpse...From @joshjmac : Too many AND TOO MOVING AND WORTH READING to condense, so read all here for a glimpse of what 825 sisters are experiencing and praying. A few favorites from his mini-reports:
“Women of conscience are made, not born. They are formed by the realities of life."
“We know that the decisions facing us are enormous."
Ambassador from #Vatican to US tells #nuns facing #Vatican criticism: You are "so full of joy and the desire to serve the Lord.”
Archbishop appointed by #Vatican, Sartain of Seattle, to oversee US #nuns tells assembly he is "here as your brother and friend.”
800 #nuns pray: "We are tinder and flint, graced, grounded, and free awaiting the new spark of your Spirit."
Sisters' prayer involves repeated reciting of phrase: "We are in the right place." "The place where kindness and truth meet."
825 sisters now prepare fo keynote of Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio, noted theologian, on "Religious Life on the Edge of the Universe."
825 sisters extend hands over Sr. Delio, praying: “May the blessing of God be upon you; may God be all you know.”
Sr. Delio talking about cosmology and theology: “To see how those two work together to form a whole consciousness of being."
Much more...
8/14 - Vatican representatives (Archbishops Sartain & Vigano) spoke at LCWR AssemblyAccording to NCR: Archbishop Peter Sartain (lead for the three-bishop team appointed by the Vatican in April 2012 to "oversee" and "reform" LCWR) told the Assembly today that the past year has held “numerous opportunities” to meet with LCWR leaders and some “very significant conversations.” “We have developed a wonderful respect for one another,” said Sartain. “And yes I would say a friendship with one another.” “I am here this week with you yes as the apostolic delegate …and as the representative of Pope Francis,” Sartain continued. “But I am also here as your brother and friend.”
Sartain later told NCR that he felt “very welcomed” by the sisters and that he thought he had “maneuvering room” from the Vatican to best determine how to handle the doctrinal assessment.
Archbishop Carlo Viganò, the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio, or ambassador, to the U.S. told the Assembly, “I especially want to convey to you the heartfelt wishes of the Holy Father who is always in a special bond of spiritual communion to you and is most thankful to you for all the good you have been doing throughout the years. By the sacrifice of your own lives you have been deeply touching other people’s lives, bringing hope and healing, helping to form minds and hearts in the image of Jesus.”
8/14 - Background for Assembly: Archbishop Sartain, Cardinal Braz de AvizJason Berry reports in GlobalPost on the context in which the Assembly began.
8/8, 8/9 and 8/12 - Full version of previously reported Vatican comments re LCWR, moreIn May 2013, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican Congregation for Religious (formally known as the Congregation for Institutes of Consecreted Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), spoke with warmth, care, and freedom to the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), a membership group for approximately 2,000 leaders of Catholic sisters around the world. NCR published his full 80-minute talk in three segments, on August 8, August 9, and August 12. Some excerpts from the NCR reports:
A "new attitude" of cooperation and equality must govern relations between the Vatican and Catholic sisters around the world. That attitude must be grounded in the understanding that both the church hierarchy and the sisters "are two dimensions essential in the church.... Neither is greater than the other. Both the prophetic and the governing dimensions form the church."
If LCWR wants real dialogue with the Vatican over a mandate requiring them to place themselves under the authority of a U.S. archbishop, they must understand that the "central point" of dialogue is upholding church doctrine. The doctrinal problems that the Vatican identified with LCWR are "extremely important." Cardinal João Braz de Aviz said. "This is the central point of the dialogue," Braz de Aviz said. "I have no idea how it will be resolved."
Gender inequality exists in the Catholic church because men and women forget they cannot be "fully human" without one another. "Man without woman is not fully human," Cardinal João Braz de Aviz said. "And woman without man is not fully human either. Each without the other is a piece of humanity, incomplete.... Throughout history, we have had many difficulties in this area. History became a primarily masculine enterprise. For many reasons -- political, anthropological -- this mode also dominated religion."
7/31 - Sister Simone Campbell will testify on poverty before Sen. Paul Ryan's committeeNETWORK press release
Sister Simone Campbell on Pope Francis' comments on women, gay people, pro-life On 7/27/13, on the plane trip back from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Pope Francis spent 82 minutes freely answering questions from the press. On 7/29/13, Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC interviewed Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, and Fr. James Martin, SJ, about the pope's comments. Listen or read the transcript. E.g.:
Sister Simone: "I think the pope's statements evidence, one, that he knows that women are smart, are educated, have a lot to offer, and commented on many roles that women could play in the church. I think on the issue of ordination, however, he did say that that door is closed. But just on Sunday we had the reading from the gospel of the story of the man who went and pounded on the door of his neighbor and kept pounding until he got what he wanted, which was food for another person. and so I sort of feel like, well, if the door is closed then maybe that alludes to the scripture where... if you're persistent something good will happen." Fr. Jim: "I think actually what he's looking at is more the theology of women as leaders in the church. How can we make them sort of more involved in leadership? Can they be heads of Vatican congregations? Do you have to be ordained in order to be a leader in the church? I think that's an interesting comment. And I think, as you point out, to say that we need a deeper theology of women means that he feels like the theology of women we have is not sufficiently deep, which is a big thing for a pope to say."
O'Donnell: "On the issue of homosexuality he said the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well, it says they, meaning gay people, should not be marginalized because of this orientation but that they must be integrated into society. Sister Simone, that's a big change in rhetoric at least for a pope." Sister Simone: "Oh, absolutely, Lawrence. And i think what it indicates is his pastoral approach, the fact that Pope Francis knows people and is willing to engage as Jesus did with the struggles of our time. I mean, Pope Francis speaks often for the poor, the marginalized, the folks who are pushed out. And this is another example that within the church structure certainly gay people have been pushed to the margins and he's saying that that's the wrong way forward. It's a consistent story for him." ... Fr. Jim: "He's even used the word 'gay' which has not been used before. They'd always use words like homosexual, same sex attraction, very clinical words.... When you see him speaking, it's a very pastoral tone. He's saying, as you said before, who am I to judge? Which we have not heard ever. And the other thing is, he has not sort of appended that statement with something negative. He hasn't said, well, gays are welcome in the church but -- it was a purely positive, welcoming argument. and he quotes the catechism by saying they shouldn't be marginalized. I was stunned. And i think most of the reporters on the plane were stunned too.
O'Donnell: "Sister Simone, he apparently deliberately chooses not to talk about certain things because he knows that they -- it's very hard to make positive-sounding statements about them. Specifically, he said he avoided talking about abortion on this trip, he avoided talking about same-sex marriage, and although the church officially opposes those things the choice of a pope to avoid certain subjects is almost in a certain kind of way a matter of, in local law enforcement, how tightly are we going to enforce the speed limit and that sort of thing. it does give people a sense of what this pope thinks is important." Sister Simone: "Well, i think it shows what he thinks is important, but I also think it shows that he's highly attuned to what are very painful, divisive issues within the catholic church in that overemphasis on a couple of very narrow points. And what he's really working hard at doing is revealing the whole gospel, working from the whole gospel, that affirms all of life, including folks that are gay. it was a very pro- life stance that he took, to say that he's not judgmental, he welcomes everyone. I mean, that is where the fullness of life is. And it's just refreshing to hear it."
World Youth Day in Brazil - Pope Francis upholds "solidarity", says "I want a mess!"7/25/13 - "I want to tell you something. What is it that I expect as a consequence of World Youth Day? I want a mess. We knew that in Rio there would be great disorder, but I want trouble in the dioceses!" he said, speaking off the cuff in his native Spanish. "I want to see the church get closer to the people. I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing ourselves off within ourselves, in our parishes, schools or structures. Because these need to get out!" - at a spontaneously scheduled meeting with Argentine youth
7/25/13 - "No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world!" Francis told a crowd of thousands who braved a cold rain and stood in a muddy soccer field to welcome him. "No amount of peace-building will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself." - to residents of Varginha, a violent slum area in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
According to John L. Allen, Jr. in NCR, Pope Francis "also argued that in the fight against poverty, offering material assistance isn't enough. It's also critical, he suggested, to build up the moral fiber of a society by defending certain core values:
Sister Helen Prejean: her answers to five questionsTo recognize the planned release of a 20th-anniversary special edition DVD of the acclaimed film Dead Man Walking, USA Today asked the book's author five questions. The brief, important article, by Bob Minzesheimer, looks at what has changed and what hasn't.
E.J. Dionne: Pope Francis' saintly politics [Will there be implications for LCWR?]7/5/13 - In the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne says that "Pope Francis is proving himself to be a genuinely holy man, a brilliant politician and a leader who knows that reform requires a keen understanding of how creating a better future demands sophisticated invocations of the past." [Ed.: Is it possible that this combination of qualities will enable him to embrace LCWR as his natural ally in holiness, social justice, and faithful reform based on contemplation and communal discernment?]
Snapshot: how a congregation changes & preserves ministries, to carry mission forward News report: a sister's perspective on the sale of an Erie hospital - continued ministry - and moving toward the future.
NCR reports "Pope downplays threat of Vatican scrutiny of religious orders."6/6/13 (reported in NCR 6/11/13) - In a meeting with officials of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR), NCR reports that Pope Francis told the nuns and priests "not to worry if they fo und themselves under similar scrutiny" to the investigations of US nuns. NCR cites the website Rorate Caeli's synthesis of the pope's comments based on reports by those present. he pope's purported remarks came during a meeting with top officials of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) on June 6. E.g.:
"They will make mistakes, they will make a blunder [meter la pata], this will pass! Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine (of the Faith) will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing... But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward... Open the doors, do something there where life calls for it. I would rather have a Church that makes mistakes for doing something than one that gets sick for being closed up..."
The fairly short Rorate Caeli "transcript" includes fascinating quotes related to his election, his pastoral actions since then, solidaritiy with the poor and needy ("Money is not image and likeness of God. Only the person is image and likeness of God. It is necessary to flip it over. This is the gospel.... The poor are the gospel."), and more.
He says he has "concern" about two "currents" in the church today: a "restorationist" current - "One feels as if one goes back 60 years!" - and a current of "Pantheism: "I heard of a superior general that prompted the sisters of her congregation to not pray in the morning, but to spiritually bathe in the cosmos, things like that... They concern me because they ignore the incarnation!"
On reform of the Curia, he said, "In the Curia, there are also holy people, really, there are holy people. But there also is a stream of corruption, there is that as well, it is true... The "gay lobby" is mentioned, and it is true, it is there... We need to see what we can do... I am very disorganized, I have never been good at this. But the cardinals of the Commission will move it forward. [He cites three specifically, saying] they are very organized.... They will move it forward."
Sister Anne Patrick receives major award from Catholic Theological Society of America6/9/13 - The Catholic Theological Society of America awarded to Sister Anne Patrick its 2013 John Courtney Murray Award. The Society’s highest honor, each year this award honors a society member for a lifetime of distinguished theological scholarship. Sister Anne Patrick's work has focused on feminist theology and religion and literature. NCR's report on the awards ceremony includes her personal reflections. Sisters Sandra Schneiders and Elizabeth Johnson are prior award recipients.
An interesting glimpse of one of the three bishops charged with "reform" of LCWRBishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois agreed to speak at a 5/31/13 Arizona gathering on "Two Catholic Views of Gay Marriage" organized by Jesuit Alumni of Arizona. Bishop Paprocki and Sr. Jeannine Gramick gave opening remarks, then took questions from the audience.5/30/13 - Sister Simone Campbell meets with President Obama at the White HouseThe White House reports that "Sister Simone Campbell dropped by the Oval Office on day three of the latest 'Nuns on the Bus' tour, which is focusing on the need for commonsense immigration reform. The “Nuns on the Bus” launched their tour from Ellis Island in New York City and will culminate on June 17th at Angel Island in San Francisco, highlighting the coast to coast beacons that have welcomed immigrants to our shores since the early days of our Nation’s founding." Photos, more. Sisters launch multi-state united effort against human trafficking (modern slavery)NCR reports that LCWR and twelve congregations of women religious are uniting in a nationwide effort to oppose human trafficking. They will focus on education about sex- and labor-trafficking, advocacy for stricter laws, and support for victims. Individual congregations have long and impressive track records in working against trafficking, but the problem is huge and widespread and warrants united action to share knowledge and increase effectiveness. An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking at any given time, according to the Justice Department. Worldwide, about 21 million people are trafficked in an industry that nets traffickers $32 billion annually, the State Department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons report said. This 2011 resolution by the US Catholic MIssion Association (LCWR is a member) includes brief background on the enormous and terrible problem.
National award goes to film about New Orleans sisters after KatrinaThe film "We Shall Not Be Moved" recently won a Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy of Communications Professionals for media that "entertains and enriches with a true vision of humanity and a true vision of life." After Hurricane Katrina, sisters' homes, lives, schools, and hospitals were devastated along with the lives and homes of the people the sisters served. The sisters organized support and personally cared for New Orleans people, while dealing with their own losses and deciding whether and how to continue their former ministries. It's a heroic and powerful story. Available for DVD purchase and for showings.
Be part of Nuns on the Bus 2013 - events from Connecticut May 28 to California June 17-18NETWORK lobby announced that NETWORK's Nuns on the Bus for immigration reform will travel 6,500 miles across 15 states and have 53 events in 40 cities. You can join the Nuns on the Bus at events in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. See full schedule of stops; register for events and updates from the bus; and learn more about why this trip focuses on immigration reform. Quick summary: "Our nation needs an immigration system that reflects our faith values and the needs of the twenty-first century. Such a system reunites families and allows workers the opportunity to come forward without fear to pay taxes and earn legalization. A functioning system will serve the needs of our entire nation."5/20/13 - Thoughtful editorial on LCWR and on international sisters and the futureNCR's editorial gives helpful perspective on the early-May meeting of 800 sisters for the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General. NCR highlighted the "deeper relationships and congregational ties" between North American sisters and women religious from the global South, "where vocation numbers are booming but material resources are scarce.... Some of the most dynamic discussions on the future of religious life followed talks from voices out of Africa and Central America. Discussions and feedback and further questions are an essential makeup of the assembly’s programs, which are laced with time for liturgies and other prayerful reflections."
In meeting with the international sisters, the leadership of the Congregation for Religious - particularly Brazilian Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz - showed a "pastoral bent" and a spirit of "inclusive, mutual respect" that "lifted" the sisters. NCR noted the "warm and gracious" persional interactions of Pope Francis and the sisters at the assembly, despite his "tired metaphors" of women religious as "mothers and sisters" rather than "the professionals they are." The editors say, "It is not clear if Francis yet understands" that "the misrepresentations in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s findings against LCWR have pushed many women religious to a precipice."
"Although its members are graying, LCWR embodies a breadth and depth of experience as well as a fidelity, history and wisdom regarding religious life that is vital to the church. U.S. women religious are, in many ways, well ahead of others in re-imagining what the church of the 21st century should look like and what a religious vocation and ministry will one day mean. More than any other group within the church they have been working for decades in the very “peripheries,” where Francis says the work of the church must now be done."
5/18/13 - New secretary of Vatican's Congregation for Religious (Pope Francis' first appointee) knows LCWR well The new secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious has been supportive of LCWR in the past and now offers all sisters "hope" and says "Ask what you need. We are there to serve you because we love you, the way you are."
The first appointment made by Pope Francis (April 6) was to name then-General Minister of the Franciscan Order Brother Jose Rodriguez Carballo, OFM, as Secretary of the Congregation for Religious. Today Brother Jose is being ordained a bishop at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. He participated in the April 15, 2013 meeting between the Congregation for Religious and LCWR in Rome. He will assume his new job full-time on May 22.
Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo was already deeply aware of LCWR issues. After the 2012 mandate from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Franciscan Provinces of the United States were one of the few groups of men who publicly supported U.S. sisters and LCWR. Their letter said in part, "The efforts of LCWR to facilitate honest and faithful dialogue on critical issues of our times must not result in a level of ecclesial oversight that could, in effect, quash all further discernment. Further, questioning your adherence to Church teaching by your “remaining silent” on certain ethical issues seems to us a charge that could be leveled against many groups in the Church, and fails to appreciate both the larger cultural context and the particular parameters of expertise within which we all operate. Finally, when there appears to be honest disagreement on the application of moral principles to public policy, it is not equivalent to questioning the authority of the Church’s magisterium."
In his first interview with an English-speaking news outlet (May 8, during the meeting of the International Union of Major Superiors in Rome), now-Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo told Joshua McElwee of NCR that "In the moment of least hope, the sun could shine -- and I can see it. I invite [the sisters] to prayer, discernment and dialogue -- communion. These are the three words that the consecrated life always has to have present."
To the sisters, he said, "The congregation is there at your service, do not doubt. Ask what you need. We are there to serve you because we love you, the way you are. We love you.... I've had the possibility to visit the world three times over. In the most forgotten corners ... in the most arid spiritual deserts, there I always found a community of sisters who gave courageous witness to the Gospel, as little ones among the littlest ones, teaching healing, accompanying all kinds."
California group has held monthly vigils for LCWR outside the cathedral since May 2012In Santa Rosa, California, up to 50 people gather monthly outside the cathedral for a prayer service in support of LCWR. In a May 13, 2013 article by Monica Clark, NCR reports that "During each hourlong vigil, the group highlights 20 LCWR members in a litany of remembrance....Vigil participants also sign a letter to all the congregations honored at each vigil." Congregations have replied, with much appreciation. The idea of monthly vigils originated after the group "held a public viewing of the [LCWR] documentary Women in Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America in May 2012 and raised $1,000 for LCWR." Bravo to this group for its prayerful, enduring support for LCWR!
5/11/13 - Cardinal in charge of Curia-reform panel wants more women in key Vatican postsTom Kington reported in The Telegraph (Great Britain) that "Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras said he was backing more posts for women after the Pope named him this month to lead a task force of eight cardinals from around the world to reform the Roman Curia.... Women have taken on a number of key roles at the Vatican, including Sister Nicla Spezzati, the undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life [sometimes called the Congregation for Religious Life] and Flaminia Giovanelli, the undersecretary, at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. St Peter's is run by a woman, Maria Cristina Carlo-Stella, who is the head of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office in charge of the basilica.'But that is still very few,' said Marco Politi, a Vatican watcher at Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano. 'Look at Germany and the US, where women have many key positions in the dioceses.'" More background in the article.
5/8/13 - Pope Francis addresses international group of heads of sisters' congregationsPope Francis had a private meeting with the 800 sisters at the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General. He reportedly spoke for about 15 minutes, reflecting on the meaning of religious life. He told the sisters that, without them, the Church "would be missing maternity, affection, tenderness." He encouraged them to "Feel the responsibility that you have of caring for the formation of your institutes in sound church doctrine, in love of the church and in an ecclesial spirit." He said, "We must never forget that true power, at whatever level, is service, which has its bright summit upon the cross." In discussing the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the pope encouraged a poverty that "is learned with the humble, the poor, the sick and all those who are at the existential margins of life", and a "fertile" chastity that leads sisters to be "mothers" who "generate spiritual children in the church." More at Joshua McElwee's NCR report and a brief (2 minute) video clip and Washington Post.
5/8/13- Vatican prefect of religious life disagrees w/ Vatican Press Office, says NCR got it rightFirst (5/5) NCR reported that Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious, told the International Union of Superiors General that he had been excluded from the April 2013 decisions by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and made other important comments about religious life and about women in the Church. Then (5/7) the Vatican Press Office issued a statement that the Cardinal's remarks had been "misinterpreted" by the media. Today, at a press conference including AP and Catholic News Service, Cardinal Braz de Aviz affirmed that NCR's 5/5 report was "very precise," with the "tiny" exception of one clarification: "The word used for authority, the translation wasn't accurate -- just the first part. The matter on obedience, that part was OK. But the question on authority, that translation was not accurate. I was trying to stress that authority cannot be domination. It has to be a search for the will of God, after having heard what the other person has in his or her heart, because God is speaking in the other person's heart. And then the authority says what one needs to do, and in that moment I need to obey, in faith. I don't remember what the word you used was, but the word didn't carry that feeling."
Cardinal Braz de Aviz also commented, "Among men, women, among us consecrated people, we still have to mature a great deal. I said this to the religious: First, to protect ourselves, we stayed far away from each other, and this led to the point where we no longer knew each other. Consecrated men don't know consecrated women, and vice versa. This leads us to mistrust; we condemn the other because we don't know each other." Also, "Our world is full of slippery territory. You say something; the other person interprets it to their own understanding of truth. This is difficult for us. We have to find a common point. We must always believe and work." And "[The American sisters] must say what is in their hearts sincerely. Say it, but they must also find a way of clarifying in dialogue what does it means that doctrine is not their issue, their responsibility. There is something very difficult that still has to be worked out and clarified." Further, "If we come back to the points of dialogue ... we have to be serious in dialogue. If you say to the sisters of LCWR that they have to begin with the doctrinal assessment, we have to clarify that first, that they have to do with the archbishop of Seattle because we can't interrupt there because it's not our responsibility now. ..." 5/7/13 - President of international organization of religious sisters defends LCWROn Vatican Radio, Franciscan Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, the president of the International Union of Superiors General, has defended the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) with regard to the April 2013 doctrinal assessment and reform plans issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Catholic World News reported the story. “Ever since Vatican II, the understanding of obedience and authority has taken on new nuances or concepts,” Sister Wirtz reportedly said, “so I think it’s important for us to look at what does Gospel leadership mean today.... We’re very hopeful that we will have more open dialogue in the future. I think the LCWR are really using an approach of prayer and reflection, trying to open this channel of understanding from both sides.”
5/7/13 - Vatican denies internal rift over handling of US sisters, LCWR (per 5/6 item below)The Vatican Press office issued a statement saying that Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious, had been misinterpreted when he said that The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had not given him knowledge of its April 2013 doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). The Press Office said, "The Prefects of these two Congregations work closely together according to their specific responsibilities." NCR's Joshua McElwee reported the story.
5/5/13 - Vatican prefect of religious life speaks out on his exclusion from decisions about LCWR, plus much more - powerful!NCR reports that Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican congregation responsible for religious life, told the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) that he was excluded from discussion of or knowledge of the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He said this caused him “much pain.” He called for growth of women's leadership in the Church, and said, "Authority that commands, kills. Obedience that becomes a copy of what the other person says, infantilizes.” Cardinal Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life since 2011, spoke during an open dialogue session with 800 leaders of sisters’ congregations at the meeting of the UISG. He attributed CDF's exclusion of him from the LCWR deliberations to internal Vatican political struggles, a "who will win?" style - and he affirmed that "the Holly Spirit" will win. Much more in article by Joshua McElwee.
5/4/13 - LCWR pres. Sr. Florence Deacon tells international sisters group of "serious misunderstandings" with Vatican Sr. Florence Deacon, OSF, president of LCWR, spoke during the plenary assembly of the meeting of the International Union of Superiors General in Rome. According to NCR's Joshua McElwee, "Deacon's remarks constituted LCWR's most public narrative of their relations with the Vatican." She said that the Vatican's April 2012 doctrinal assessment “held [LCWR] accountable for other individuals and for areas beyond our authority” and “beyond our purpose.” McElwee's article cites specific instances. Sister Florence wondered how much knowledge of the LCWR situation Pope Francis had before his reported endorsement of the assessment, given that an earlier press release from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had not mentioned that this topic was covered in its first meeting with Pope Francis.
NCR columnist questions whether Pope Francis had enough info to "affirm" critiqueExcerpt from Sister Maureen Fiedler's 4/16/13 column in NCR: "First, I doubt this issue is on the top of the new pope's agenda or that he had much knowledge of this when he was an archbishop in Argentina. And what does 'affirm' mean? Affirm what? Some general, vague report? Did Müller give him a full explanation, talk about the opposition to it among U.S. Catholics or give him an outline of the actions proposed? Did he talk about the accusation that says U.S. women religious spend too much time on social justice and not enough on other issues? I frankly doubt the new pope would 'affirm' that."
4/15/13 - LCWR also met with Vatican congregation that oversees religiousThe May 2013 LCWR newsletter reports that on April 15, LCWR officials in Rome also met with the Vatican congregation that oversees religious - the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL, sometimes referred to as the Congregation for Religious). According to the newsletter (1st page, 2nd column, last 2 paragraphs), "At CICLSAL, the LCWR officers met with prefect João Braz de Aviz; the new secretary José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM; and seven other members of the dicastery staff including Hank Lemoncelli, OMI. According to Janet Mock, 'LCWR was received with gracious hospitality and members of the dicastery listened attentively to the concerns of the LCWR leadership.'”4/15/13 - Pope Francis is said to affirm the CDF critique of LCWR & reform planOn April 15, LCWR met with Cardinal Muller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who told them he had "recently discussed" with Pope Francis the doctrinal assessment of LCWR and the plan for LCWR reform plan (which puts 3 US bishops as overseers of reform of policies and and operations). Cardinal Muller said that Pope Francis "reaffirmed the findings of the Assessment and the program of reform." Joshua McElwee report, NCR. Vatican statement.
4/15/13 - LCWR statement on meeting with Congregation for Doctrine of FaithExcerpts from the LCWR statement: "On April 15, 2013 Sister Florence Deacon, OSF, LCWR president; Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ, LCWR president-elect; and Sister Janet Mock, CSJ, LCWR executive director; met with Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF); Archbishop Luis Ladaria, secretary of CDF; and other members of the CDF dicastery. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain was also present.... In his opening remarks, Archbishop Müller informed the group that he had met with Pope Francis who 'reaffirmed the findings of the assessment and the program of reform for this Conference of Major Superiors'.
"The conversation was open and frank. We pray that these conversations may bear fruit for the good of the Church."
LCWR's Winter 2013 Occasional Papers features important articlesLCWR's Winter 2013 issue of Occasional Papers features the important article "The Vow to Obedience" by Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD, and the excellent "LCWR and Catholic Sisters: A Sign of Hope to American Catholics" by Linda Plitt Donaldson, Ph.D., a leader of Solidarity with Sisters. (We are proud of Linda and grateful for her article!) "The Vow to Obedience" is also available in Spanish and French.
LCWR and its officials are receiving many major honors, awards, and other recognition6/10/2013 - The Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY) will honor LCWR past president Sister Pat Farrell, OSF on June 10 in Manhattan. ICNY is a secular educational nonprofit. ICNY said that the theme of the event, “The Courage of Conviction – Then & Now,” was chosen “as our awardees each in their identifiable way have taken extraordinary actions in their personal and/or professional lives that have contributed to a more peaceful, fair, and just society.”
5/19/2013 - LCWR past president Pat Farrell, OSF was among those receiving honorary degrees at the 63rd commencement ceremonies of Fairfield University.
5/11/2013 - Gwynedd-Mercy College (now University) in Pennsylvania honored LCWR with its Beacon of Mercy Award at its commencement ceremonies. LCWR president-elect Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ accepted the award on behalf of LCWR and delivered the commencement address.
April-June 2013 - TIME invited LCWR president Florence Deacon, OSF to submit an essay for a special commemorative book published after the election of Pope Francis. Entitled, “We’ve Waited Enough,” the essay reads in part: “Our experience with the doctrinal assessment of our organization reaffirms our conviction that that the church desperately needs to create spaces of authentic and candid dialogue.... Imagine if together, as men and women of various cultures, we could revision the church so it continues to be a beacon of light as it ap-plies the Gospel today.”The book, Pope for a New World, will remain on news stands through the end of June.
4/20/2013 - Pax Christi – Michigan awarded its 2013 Purple Ribbon for Peace to LCWR at a ceremony in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The local organization was among the signers of a letter sent to LCWR last summer by Pax Christi International that stated in part, “Women religious in the United States have been deeply committed to promoting the peace of Christ. They are at the heart of our movement, proclaiming with clarity and love the possibility of a world without war, a future beyond dehumanizing violence.”
4/14/2013 - The Herbert Haag Foundation for Freedom in the Church awarded its 2013 prize to LCWR and the women religious whom LCWR members represent. LCWR past president Pat Farrell, OSF traveled to Lucerne, Switzerland to receive the award.
Annunciation House, a ministry extending hospitality to the immigrants who come to this country through Mexico, awarded its 2013 Voice of the Voiceless award to women religious in both the United States and Mexico for their work with immigrants. Sister Mary Hughes, OP, represented LCWR in accepting the award, together with Sister Dolores Palencia, SJL, a former leader of the Conference of Major Superiors of Mexico.
4/5/2013 - The Franciscan Mission Service honored LCWR past-president Pat Farrell, OSF “for courageous and humble leadership during the organization’s assessment by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We celebrate her commitment to gospel living and being a prophetic voice in the face of adversity. From her two decades of mission in Latin America to her recent work with the LCWR, she has remained unwavering in her commitment to service to the poor, advocacy for the marginalized, and radical spirituality. We admire the LCWR’s work toward open and honest
dialogue and toward the opportunities for the laity to have a voice in the Church. In presenting this award to Sr. Pat, we recognize and show our support for women religious and all those who stand up for justice.”
2/28/2013 - The Harvard Divinity School invited former LCWR president Sister Mary Hughes, OP, to deliver its annual Dudleian Lecture. The oldest and most distinguished endowed lecture at Harvard, the Dudleian Lecture was established in 1751 by alumnus Judge Paul Dudley. Sister Mary's lecture, titled “Priesthood of the Faithful: Light in the Darkness,” offers insights and perspective on what it means today, after the Second Vatican Council, for a Catholic to fulfill his or her baptismal call.
2/26/2013 - Boston's Paulist Center Community awarded its 2013 Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice given by Boston’s Paulist Center Community to LCWR. The first recipient of this annual award was Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day, in 1974. The award is named for the Paulist Fathers’ founder and is given to a North American Catholic or Catholic group “committed to building a more just and peaceful world.”In remarks at the award ceremony Susan Rutkowski, pastoral minister at the Paulist Center, said, “The women religious of the United States have taught us to pray, educated us on how to live and work in our ever-changing world, nursed our sick and old, cared for our abandoned, reached out to all the marginalized, and taught us how to respect the dignity of all. They have, in sum, shown us how Jesus might live in our world today."
2/10/2013 - The Association of Chicago Priests honored LCWR both on the national and regional levels with its Coordinating Board Award. The association represents 220 priests.
11/29-12/6/2012 - The SHARE Foundation honored LCWR during its annual commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the four church women killed in El Salvador. A delegation of more than 60 US participants traveled to El Salvador and, at the tomb of Bishop Oscar Romero, honored LCWR, in a gesture of solidarity with women religious. LCWR past president Sister Pat Farrell, OSF accompanied the delegation, representing LCWR, with a number of other current and former LCWR members in attendance.
3/17/13 - CBS's 60 Minutes featured LCWR: "American Nuns Struggle with Vatican for Change"The segment's video and transcript offered perspective and updates on LCWR's experiences since the Vatican's doctrinal assessment was issued in April 2012. The segment includes interviews with Pat Farrell and with Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, the delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith appointed to oversee LCWR, as well as scenes from the 2012 LCWR assembly. CBS described it this way: “One of the pressing problems newly elected Pope Francis may want to address is the disillusionment among American nuns. Many were shocked last year when the group that represents most of them was reprimanded by the Vatican, which said the nuns' liberal ideas were undermining the Church." Produced by Tanya Simon and Andrew Metz.Major media featured LCWR interviews & writings during the papal transition3/17/13 - NPR’s Weekend Edition: Interview with Sister Pat Farrell, OSF - also transcript
3/14/13 - The Rothko Chapel in Houston invited LCWR past-president Pat Farrell, OSF to speak on “The Transformed Experience of Sisters Since Vatican II.” The lecture was a part of “Vatican II @ 50,” a series of programs recognizing the worldwide impact of the Second Vatican Council. The lecture is available in audio only or on video.
3/11/2013 - CBS This Morning: Interview with Sister Florence Deacon, OSF
3/11/2013 - The Guardian (British daily newspaper): Essay by Sister Florence Deacon, OSF2/27/2013 NCR: Papal resignation puts Vatican LCWR mandate in question Benedict XVI's resignation automatically leads to the resignation of the heads of Curia departments like the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which issued the mandate for LCWR reform last April. According to Thomas C. Fox in NCR, the CDF leaders "will have no authority to continue their work, pending a new dictate by a new pope. In turn, any authority of Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain, who officially serves as 'archbishop delegate' to LCWR, ends as well." Come, Holy Spirit!
1/26/2013: LCWR accepts prestigious Hecker Award for Social JusticeEach year, Boston's Paulist Center Community annually honors a North American Catholic or Catholic group “committed to building a more just and peaceful world" with the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice (named for the Paulist Fathers’ founder). The first honoree was Dorothy Day. The 2013 honoree was the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Susan Rutkowski of the Paulist Center Community said, "Like Isaac Hecker, they have worked tirelessly to foster the growth and development of American Catholicism, showing us what a socially just society could look like. Let us support them and follow their example in our own quests to model a more inclusive American society and church focused on justice for all.”2/17/2013: "Up" with Chris Hayes on MSNBC features Sister Mary Hughes, OPInteresting discussion of religion in contemporary society, hosted by Chris Hayes and including former LCWR president Sister Mary Hughes as well as Father Bill Dailey of the University of Notre Dame and Jamie Manson of the National Catholic Reporter. Maybe this video link will work for you. If not, here's a brief report.
The Valley Catholic 2/5/2013: Sisters’ congregations organize against human traffickingCatholic sisters in California draw attention to hotels and human trafficking during major sporting events. A northern California coalition of Catholic sisters is encouraging travelers to ask hotels about their efforts to interrupt human trafficking.NCR 1/22/2013: An ordinary day for an inspiring Sister of Mercy - and news of her upcoming filmAn engaging and thought-provoking interview of Sister Carol Rittner, RSM, by Sister Camille D'Arienzo, RSM, in NCRonline, introduces Sister Rittner's scholarly and practical work to advance Jewish-Christian relations, describes her usual day, and highlights her upcoming film, "Sisters." The film will show five sisters at work in diverse professions and share the deep spiritual roots from which their ministries flow.
The article includes quotes from LCWR and Archbishop Sartain, the head of the bishops team charged with LCWR reform. Sister Annmarie Sanders of LCWR said: "LCWR's hope is that the conversations will lead to increased understanding of LCWR and U.S. Catholic sisters, and to improved relationships between the Catholic Church leadership and LCWR." A staff member for Sartain said the bishop did not "grant interviews on the LCWR process, preferring to communicate directly with LCWR leaders rather than having them read his comments in the media." In August, Sartain said in a speech that he and the nuns' group had developed "a wonderful respect for each other. And, yes, I would say a friendship with one another."
Pope changes appointees to Vatican group that recommends bishops, drops two who were instrumental in Vatican mandate to "reform" LCWR12/16/13 - Pope Francis made significant changes in the Congregation for Bishops, which sends him recommendations about who should fill episcopal vacancies around the world. Two of the three he dropped had been deeply connected with what happened to LCWR. However, Cardinal Levada (who actually issued the LCWR mandate, when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith) continues as a member of the Congregation for Bishops.
Pope Francis: No women cardinals. No women priests. Female stereotypes?No women priests: "The reservation of the priesthood to males, as a sign of Christ the Spouse who gives himself in the Eucharist, is not a question open to discussion, but it can prove especially divisive if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in general. It must be remembered that when we speak of sacramental power “we are in the realm of function, not that of dignity or holiness”.[73] The ministerial priesthood is one means employed by Jesus for the service of his people, yet our great dignity derives from baptism, which is accessible to all. The configuration of the priest to Christ the head – namely, as the principal source of grace – does not imply an exaltation which would set him above others. In the Church, functions “do not favour the superiority of some vis-à-vis the others”.[74] Indeed, a woman, Mary, is more important than the bishops." - Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium, paragraph 104, 11/24/13
No women cardinals: "May I ask you if the Church will have women cardinals in the future?" Pope Francis: “I don’t know where this idea sprang from. Women in the Church must be valued not “clericalised”. Whoever thinks of women as cardinals suffers a bit from clericalism.” - Interview in La Stampa, near bottom, 12/13/13
Female stereotypes? "Women may be socialized into many of these roles and qualities, but we don't have a corner on them. I have known lots of men who are sensitive, intuitive and show a special concern for others. Francis himself demonstrates many of those qualities. But there are many qualities women and men also share that he does not mention: intelligence, organizing abilities, leadership skills, political savvy, physical prowess. These attributes are women's as much as they are men's.But Francis' words read as if he thinks women are somehow a different species. They are the creatures with 'soft' qualities, not the qualities stereotypically attributed to males." - Sister Maureen Fiedler in blog at NCR, 11/27/13)
Another illuminating interview with Pope Francis, by La Stampa editor
12/14/12 - Andrea Tornielli interviews Pope Francis about Christmas, hunger in the world, the suffering of children, the reform of the Roman Curia, women cardinals, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), and the upcoming visit to the Holy Land.
"When God meets us he tells us two things. The first thing he says is: have hope. God always opens doors, he never closes them. He is the father who opens doors for us. The second thing he says is: don’t be afraid of tenderness. When Christians forget about hope and tenderness they become a cold Church, that loses its sense of direction and is held back by ideologies and worldly attitudes, whereas God’s simplicity tells you: go forward, I am a Father who caresses you."
"God never gives someone a gift they are not capable of receiving. If he gives us the gift of Christmas, it is because we all have the ability to understand and receive it. All of us from the holiest of saints to the greatest of sinners; from the purest to the most corrupt among us. Even a corrupt person has this ability: poor him, it’s probably a bit rusty but he has it. Christmas in this time of conflicts is a call from God who gives us this gift. Do we want to receive Him or do we prefer other gifts? In a world afflicted by war, this Christmas makes me think of God’s patience. The Bible clearly shows that God’s main virtue is that He is love. He waits for us; he never tires of waiting for us. He gives us the gift and then waits for us."
Tornielli: "What do you have to say about this innocent suffering [of seriously ill children]?" Pope Francis: "When the child asks a question, he or she doesn’t wait to hear the full answer, they immediately start bombarding you with more 'whys'. What they are really looking for, more than an explanation, is a reassuring look on their parent’s face. When I come across a suffering child, the only prayer that comes to mind is the “why” prayer. Why Lord? He doesn’t explain anything to me. But I can feel Him looking at me. So I can say: You know why, I don’t and You won’t tell me, but You’re looking at me and I trust You, Lord, I trust your gaze.”
Tornielli: "The most striking part of the Exhortation was where it refers to an economy that 'kills'… Pope Francis: “There is nothing in the Exhortation that cannot be found in the social Doctrine of the Church... The only specific quote I used was the one regarding the 'trickle-down theories' which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and social inclusiveness in the world. The promise was that when the glass was full, it would overflow, benefitting the poor. But what happens instead, is that when the glass is full, it magically gets bigger nothing ever comes out for the poor."
Of ecumenical relations and meetings with Orthodox prelates: "I believe that the way forward is this: friendship, common work and prayer for unity. We blessed each other; one brother blesses the other, one brother is called Peter and the other Andrew, Mark, Thomas…”."Today there is an ecumenism of blood. In some countries they kill Christians for wearing a cross or having a Bible and before they kill them they do not ask them whether they are Anglican, Lutheran, Catholic or Orthodox. Their blood is mixed. To those who kill we are Christians. We are united in blood, even though we have not yet managed to take necessary steps towards unity between us..."
"[In Evangelii Gaudium] I spoke about baptism and communion as spiritual food that helps one to go on; it is to be considered a remedy not a prize. Some immediately thought about the sacraments for remarried divorcees, but I did not refer to any specific cases; I simply wanted to point out a principle. We must try to facilitate people’s faith, rather than control it."
[On reform of the Curia] "At the last meeting, the eight cardinals told me the time has come for concrete proposals and at the next meeting in February they will present their suggestions to me. I am always present at the meetings, except for Wednesday mornings when I have the General Audience. But I don’t speak, I just listen and that does me good."
"Politics is noble; it is one of the highest forms of charity, as Paul VI used to say. We sully it when we mix it with business. The relationship between the Church and political power can also be corrupted if common good is not the only converging point.”
Tornielli: "May I ask you if the Church will have women cardinals in the future?" Pope Francis: “I don’t know where this idea sprang from. Women in the Church must be valued not “clericalised”. Whoever thinks of women as cardinals suffers a bit from clericalism.”
Sister Joan Chittister: We are at a crossroads for women in the church
12/11/13 - Sister Joan Chittister posted her remarks at the American Academy of Religion's and the Society for Biblical Literature's joint conference in Baltimore Nov. 22-24, 2013. Not long, and worth every word. Excerpts:
- "This is a crossover moment in history. This is the moment when history discovered women."
- "Feminism is about allowing every member of the human race to become a fully functioning human adult, to make choices at every level of society, to participate in the decision-making that affects their lives, to be financially independent, to be safe on the streets, secure in their homes, to have a voice in the courts and constitutional bodies of the world -- to enjoy, in other words, full and equal civil rights. It is about bringing to public visibility and public agency the agendas, the insights, and the wisdom of the other half of the human race."
- "The question of the role of women in church and society is not one of the 39 areas of concern listed in the questionnaire the Vatican sent to the world's bishops in October seeking wide Catholic response to questions about family life. So how really important are the roles and rights of woman-as-woman seen in shaping even the family?"
- "The pope's recent statement on women...concentrated almost entirely on women's maternity, which occupies -- at best -- about 20 years of a woman's life. Most modern women, demographic data indicates, live at least another 35 to 40 years after the youngest child leaves home. And after that? What is her role then? Is maternity her only value, her perpetual definition?"
- "Today, here and now, a Vatican document can say, 'Forms of feminism hostile to the church are among matters of deep concern' but never even mention male chauvinism or the very structures of patriarchy itself as any kind of concern at all."
- "No one can say they are for the poor as Jesus was and do nothing, nothing, nothing for the equality of women. To address classism does not begin to resolve the problems that come with sexism. Yet when the membership of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious commit themselves again -- as they have so often in the past -- to do for women what must be done for the sake of the Gospel, and the good of the church, it's called "radical feminism" and they are investigated for heresy."
Pope Francis' quotes & homilies - he often lifts up the same themes that LCWR & sisters live2/23/2014 - Homily for new cardinals: "The Holy Spirit also speaks to us today through the words of Saint Paul: 'You are God’s temple … God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are' (1 Cor 3:16-17). In this temple, which we are, an existential liturgy is being celebrated: that of goodness, forgiveness, service; in a word,the liturgy of love. This temple of ours is defiled if we neglect our duties towards our neighbour. Whenever the least of our brothers and sisters finds a place in our hearts, it is God himself who finds a place there. When that brother or sister is shut out, it is God himself who is not beingwelcomed. A heart without love is like a deconsecrated church, a building withdrawn from God’s service and given over to another use."... More
"Feminism at 50" - a Catholic women's view; and response by 3 America editorsTwo very good articles. Brief excerpts:
12/2/13 - Sidney Callahan: "Roles and leadership can hardly be decided simply by gender, since the Spirit blows where it will. God is no respecter of persons. Consequently I am uneasy with talk of “the eternal feminine” or “a theology of women” since it seems to imply that women should differ in their capacities and roles in church and society. Do we talk of “the eternal masculine” or a theology of men? Should there not be a theology of the human person?... gratitude for the gift of mothering and nurturing new life should not be over-glorified, since men and single women also generate life for others in many creative ways. Although nothing in our culture may be as imperative as supporting women and protecting those who are mothers from violent harm and neglect, I resist reviving any form of a Catholic feminine mystique. Let us support children, women, men, families and the poor as the first work of Catholic feminism. Surely She Who Is approves."
12/3/13 - responses by 3 America magazine editors - excerpts
- Olga Segura: "in the last 50 years the feminist movement has become more aware of the problem of poverty as the major obstacle for women’s advancement. The retreat from providing subsistence, childcare, healthcare and opportunities for women to get an education is the greatest social handicap women face. Other developed countries have solved these problems and the U.S. can too."
- Ashley McKinless: "A theology of women, standing alone would have the danger of isolating women once again. The assertion that men and women are complementary in nature does not seem scientifically or morally valid to me. When Pope John Paul II speaks of a “Petrine ministry” complemented by “a Marian ministry” my theological alarm bells go off. All baptized Christians are called to holiness with different vocations to serve the kingdom and it seems doubtful that gender determines ministry, with the exception of childbirth, and that is not a universal call. I doubt that a male-led clerical move to determine a theology of women would counter male-centric assumptions. Clerical romantics are a danger."
- Kerry Weber: "Women can build up the cause of Catholic feminism by living the Gospel as fully as they can in their unique circumstances. The social gospel and the life of worship and prayer should be equally important to American Catholics. Women can keep emphasizing the Gospel’s demand for equality while preparing themselves to lead, educating themselves as theologians and continuing to stay in the church and loyally raise their voices."
Pope Francis' "The Joy of the Gospel" (Evangelii Gaudium) - how to be church!
"With Christ joy is constantly born anew. In this Exhortation I wish to encourage the Christian faithful to embark upon a new chapter of evangelization marked by this joy, while pointing out new paths for the Church’s journey in years to come." [paragraph 1]
11/26/13 - In his' usual engaging and personal style, Pope Francis gives us a major document inviting us to live and to share Gospel joy as persons and as a church, open always to the freshness that the Holy Spirit offers in order to enable us to renew our missionary spirit, our solidarity with the poor, and our church. Full text from the Vatican, in wonderfully readable and often colloquial English.
Women religious ask pope for world day of prayer against human traffickingNCR reports that in late September 2013, Sister Eugenia Bonetti and three other sisters from different religious congregations talked informaly with Pope Francis about human trafficking. They urged him to call for an international day of prayer and fasting to raise awarness. He asked them to suggest a date, and they told him Feb. 8, the feast day of St. Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese slave who found freedom in Italy and became a nun in the late 19th century.
On November 2-3, 2013 Sister Eugenia participated in a Vatican-led working group on trafficking. Pope Francis has specifically asked the Pontifical Academies to study the problem of new forms of slavery, including the trafficking of people and human organs. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina, he actively supported work to fight human trafficking and assist victims.
Worldwide, at least 21 million people are victims of forced labor, including sexual exploitation, and traffickers bring in an estimated $32 billion annually because of their illicit activities, the U.S. State Department's 2012 Trafficking in Persons report said. An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking at any given time, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
LCWR inspires events-organizer to become award-winning anti-trafficking activist
Kimberly Ritter, a senior account manager for Nix Conference and Meeting Management, has worked with LCWR to plan its annual Assemblies since 2005. Inspired by LCWR, her work to end human trafficking was recognized with the 2012 FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and other honors. Interviewed by NCR, she says, "As I began to work for the women religious, my life began to change. I realized how powerful you could be as women and how effective you were when you communicated with love and compassion. I was constantly surrounded by strong, intelligent, loving women who allowed the Holy Spirit to move them into their decisions. What an amazing revelation that you can fully and freely give yourself to God and allow him to direct you. The U.S. Catholic sisters have made me a better woman, a better mother to my daughters, and have given me a new vision on allowing the Holy Spirit to lead my life."
LCWR seeks abandoned religious living in the USFollowing their Assembly resolutions in 2010 and 2011 to "strengthen bonds with women religious throughout the world," LCWR is undertaking a "coordinated search for often struggling and sometimes even abandoned women religious who have come to America only to see their sponsors withdraw support over time." They are often from the global South. On Nov. 11, 2013, in the Philippines, Presentation Sister Joyce Meier met with 80 sisters at a meeting of AMOR, the Asia-Oceania Meeting of Religious, to seek their engagement in this effort.Women are already in dialogue with Vatican about increasing roles - Kerry Robinson
10/28/13 - Kerry Alys Robinson, executive director of the National Leadership Roundtable on Church Management, writes in America magazine about "Opening Doors: Women in Dialogue with the Vatican." "Five women colleagues in Catholic philanthropy and I have had the rare privilege to meet privately with prefects of pontifical congregations and presidents of pontifical councils. The purpose of our meetings with the cardinals in Rome, the highest ranking leaders in the Catholic Church, is specific in its simplicity: to discuss the role of women in the church and opportunities to elevate women to positions of meaningful leadership in the Roman Curia... In October 2007 we embarked on our first weeklong series of private meetings with cardinals in Rome to advocate for women... As evidence of the cardinals’ receptivity, we have been invited back on several occasions. The most recent meeting took place this month. We have been received with genuine warmth and interest in our analysis of the challenges and concomitant recommendations." Excellent article: clear statements of how church policies impact women and "impoverish the church," and clear proposals.
Sister Mary Hughes, OP, on "Hardball with Chris Matthews"
9/20/13 - Chris Matthews interviewed former LCWR president Sister Mary Hughes, OP, in relation to Pope Francis' efforts to change the church. She expressed appreciation for his emphasis on the gospel, and commented on his calls for social justice and for solidarity with the poor as entirely consistent with the historical and current work of religious congregregations, including his own Society of Jesus.
Pope Francis invites editor of Italy's largest newspaper to come over. Amazing conversation. 10/1/13 - Pope Francis called Eugenio Scalfari, the atheist founder of Italy's biggest daily newspaper, La Repubblica. Francis invited Scalfari to come by for conversation on 9/24/13. Worth reading in full! (On July 7 and August 9, Scalfari had published questions for Pope Francis; Francis surprised him by writing in reply on September 11.) Some highlights from Pope Francis 9/24:
"Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good."
"Everyone has his own idea of good and evil and must choose to follow the good and fight evil as he conceives them. That would be enough to make the world a better place."
"The Son of God became incarnate in the souls of men to instill the feeling of brotherhood. All are brothers and all children of God. Abba, as he called the Father. I will show you the way, he said. Follow me and you will find the Father and you will all be his children and he will take delight in you. Agape, the love of each one of us for the other, from the closest to the furthest, is in fact the only way that Jesus has given us to find the way of salvation and of the Beatitudes."
"Heads of the Church have often been narcissists, flattered and thrilled by their courtiers. The court is...more.
America magazine apologizes for a missing sentence in translation of Francis interview9/25/13 - NCR columnist Phyllis Zagano discovered a missing sentence in the earlier English translation: "Francis replied, 'It is necessary to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the church.'" It was present in the original Italian and in other translations. The English translation has been corrected.
Sister Simone Campbell on Pope Francis and women9/24/13 - In TIME newsmagazine, Sister Simone Campbell shares the overall positive response to Pope Francis and his interview, but: "Will Pope Francis follow through by actually including women in the decisionmaking as he moves ahead with reforms? Or will the temptation to placate women by idealizing our gender remove us from consideration in wrestling with change in church politics? If we are indeed brought into the currently male process, I worry that our own freedom of Spirit and witness to the Gospel could be undermined by our desire to 'belong.'" And she recalls Pope Francis' earlier comment that "The door is closed" to women's ordination, but recalls Jesus' parable and says, "Women need to keep knocking on this closed door and eventually the change will come."
Jesuit suggests female cardinals, asks for names via Facebook9/24/13 - According to Joshua McElwee in NCR, Jesuit Father James Keenan used his personal Facebook page to "ask his friends and associates to propose names of women around the world who should be considered as possible cardinal candidates." I find no reference to this on his public Facebook page, but he quickly accepted my "friend request" and now I have that thread.
McElwee reports: "As cardinals are not ordained into their ministry, some have suggested that it would be possible for the church to name women as cardinals without changing the church's teaching regarding the ordination of only men to the priesthood. While canon law currently specifies that a cardinal must either be a priest or a bishop, some have also wondered whether the appointment of female cardinals might be a reform Pope Francis is considering." Among those already on Keenan's list are: "Linda Hogan, a professor of ecumenics at Trinity College Dublin; Holy Child Jesus Sr. Teresa Okure, a theology professor at the Catholic Institute of West Africa in Nigeria; and Maryanne Loughry, the associate director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Australia... According to U.S Catholic, New York's Archbishop Timothy Dolan said in an interview last year it was "theoretically" possible for the pope to name female cardinals."
America: "No one can be a spectator in Francis' fresh vision of church."9/23/13 - "After the Pope's Interview: Three Hard Things" by Jesuit Father Francis X. Clooney. in America magazine. "First, Francis expects us actually to discern, to find the will of God out there before us, in the large and small, easy and difficult things before us... Second,...A call to discernment as the church’s way forward requires tremendous effort at every level, a free and grown-up search for the will of God, and not determining the future by what had seemed best in the past... Third, Francis is giving us a lot to do... Where there are such great needs, there the church must be." Bottom line: "No one can be a spectator in Francis' fresh vision of church."The Nation: "Is the pope getting on board with the nuns on the bus?"9/20/13 - John Nichols writes about the similarities between Sister Simone Campbell and Network's "Nuns on the Bus" campaigns, and the social-justice themes in the Jesuit interivew of Pope Francis.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on CNN: "The pope is starting to sound like a nun"9/22/13 - Wonderful soundbite (00:59)!
Pope Francis' astonishing interview - Reports and full text (In the News)9/19/13 - Pope Francis made headlines internationally with an interview that was published simultaneously in multiple Jesuit periodicals around the world. Every major newspaper seems to have covered it, including NY Times and NCR. America magazine was the publisher of the full text in English. Blog posts offer diverse valuable perspectives, including Mary E. Hunt.
Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor in chief of La Civiltà Cattolica, conducted the interview in person, in Italian, over three days in August. Editorial teams at La Civiltà Cattolica, America, and several other major Jesuit journals around the world had proposed questions to Father Spadaro. After Pope Francis approved the Italian text, America commissioned a team of five independent experts to translate it into English.
Father Spadaro described his experience interviewing Pope Francis: "The pope had spoken earlier about his great difficulty in giving interviews. He said that he prefers to think rather than provide answers on the spot in interviews. In this interview the pope interrupted what he was saying in response to a question several times, in order to add something to an earlier response. Talking with Pope Francis is a kind of volcanic flow of ideas that are bound up with each other. Even taking notes gives me an uncomfortable feeling, as if I were trying to suppress a surging spring of dialogue."
Some quotes from Pope Francis follow - but please read the whole interview. It is truly worth your time.
"In my experience as superior in the Society [of Jesus, the Jesuits]... I did not always do the necessary consultation. And this was not a good thing. My style of government as a Jesuit at the beginning had many faults. That was a difficult time for the Society: an entire generation of Jesuits had disappeared. Because of this I found myself provincial when I was still very young. I was only 36 years old. That was crazy. I had to deal with difficult situations, and I made my decisions abruptly and by myself. Yes, but I must add one thing: when I entrust something to someone, I totally trust that person. He or she must make a really big mistake before I rebuke that person."
"I have never been a right-winger. It was my authoritarian way of making decisions that created problems."
“The Lord has allowed this growth in knowledge of government through my faults and my sins. So as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, I had a meeting with the six auxiliary bishops every two weeks, and several times a year with the council of priests. They asked questions and we opened the floor for discussion. This greatly helped me to make the best..."
More
New Vatican Secy of State Parolin on celibacy and on "a more democratic spirit" in Church9/11/2013 - On August 31, 2013, Pope Francis named Italian Archbishop Pietro Parolin as the new Secretary of State, the oldest and traditionally most powerful position in the Curia. In an interview with the Venezuelan newspaper El Universal, reported today by John L. Allen in NCR, he said that celibacy "is not a church dogma and it can be discussed because it is a church tradition." He also noted that "It has always been said that the church is not a democracy. But it would be good during these times that there could be a more democratic spirit, in the sense of listening carefully, and I believe the pope has made of this one of his pontificate's objectives. A collegial movement of the church, where all the issues can be brought up, and afterward he can make a decision."Pray for Syria!Pope Francis' homily in St. Peter's Square closing the Vigil for Peace - I wish this could be read at every liturgy everywhere on Sunday!
Pope Francis' appeal for prayer for Syria
LCWR's prayerful statement on Syria
Prayer of a 28-year-old Syrian Jesuit
"When it's too big (reflections on Syria)" by Rachel Held Evans
Contact your NBC station - they have option to show Women & Spirit Sept '13-March '14!Here's a concrete way to help LCWR right now! Women & Spirit is an excellent hour-long show about the contributions of Catholic sisters in the USA, from 1727 to today. NBC stations have the option to schedule it, between September 2013 and March 2014, as an episode in the Horizons of the Spirit series. CONTACT YOUR NBC AFFILIATE NOW and let them know you want them to schedule it. Ask your friends to do the same. Put a notice in your parish bulletin and diocesan newsletter. Let's help the light of Catholic sisters to shine bright!
DC area: 202-885-4000 or use the station's email form.
Perspective: Outgoing LCWR president Sister Pat Farrell on the past year"As I write my last presidential letter, my own words from last summer’s assembly come back to me, contextualized differently: 'They can crush a few flowers but they can’t hold back the springtime.' So what about that springtime now in 2013? There are some who would call the moment we are experiencing 'a Catholic spring.' None of us could have imagined a year ago a Pope Francis, bringing fresh air to an ecclesiastical environment gone stale. Church reform movements are proliferating, networking, flourishing. Clearly there is observable movement. Could it be that spring is upon us? Perhaps. There are some signs. But spring comes slowly, by fits and starts. Think March. Think mud and wind and the messy in-between stage of the late-winter, early- spring time of year. Spring is heralded by great turbulence and fluctuating temperatures. It storms its way forward, groaning and labored. But it does come. Always.
"...By conversion I don’t mean an inappropriate and submissive “mea culpa” to accusations which misrepresent who we are and what we are about, but a genuine desire to allow the events confronting us to knead us into bread to be broken and shared.
"We can change only our own consciousness and choices, so we focus our energy there. I do see this moment of conversion as a process of becoming more malleable to God’s reshaping of us for purposes beyond our current awareness, beyond dualisms and separateness, in readiness for God’s in-breaking of newness."
- August-September 2013 LCWR Newsletter, page 2Orbis to publish book of LCWR presidential addresses: "Spiritual Leadership..."In Spring 2014, Orbis Books will publish Spiritual Leadership in Challenging Times: Presidential Addresses of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. From the presidential addresses of the past 50 years, LCWR has chosen ten to explore the challenges of providing spiritual leadership in light of the pressing issues of the day. The audience is anyone interested in leadership, particularly spiritual leadership. From the LCWR Newsletter: "the book illustrates how LCWR presidents have led from a foundation that has steeped them in the practice of reflection and contemplation. Their addresses demonstrate a leadership that is deeply rooted in God and that strives to connect the soul of an organization with the soul of the world... [and] show how to live and lead with an integrity and humility for which the world at large yearns and hungers." "Misguided LCWR mandate lumbers onward" - NCR editorialWorth reading. An excerpt:
"By a wide consensus of the larger church, women religious have been modeling a more attractive vision of the Catholic faith than have the bishops in recent decades. The prelates have much to learn from the women if they could only stop the cheap "women are special" platitudes and truly open their eyes.
"LCWR meetings are far more spirited and far less crafted than comparable meetings of the U.S bishops.
"The fact is that few organizations anywhere are as democratic and representative as is LCWR. In contrast to the bishops, all members have been voted to leadership by their communities and represent those communities locally, regionally and nationally. LCWR presidents rotate yearly. LCWR changes, develops, but also maintains continuity. Past presidents are valued and are invited to annual assemblies to add their perspectives. Our church is blessed with an articulation of the Gospels by women who can access multiple means of communication and no longer need to filter their words through the male clerical culture.
"LCWR's work should be celebrated, not demeaned."
NCR gets $2.3 million to help congregations tell their stories!From NCR's announcement: "The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has awarded a grant of $2.3 million over three years that will allow the National Catholic Reporter Publishing Co. to embark on a groundbreaking project to give greater voice to countless Catholic sisters around the globe. With the use of the Hilton Foundation grant, NCR plans to build a network of editors and reporters not only to write about women religious, but to help them develop their own communication skills by working with them as columnists who report their own missions and challenges."
The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has a long-term fund to "strengthen congregations of Catholic sisters" worldwide and to "enable Sisters to advance human development more widely and effectively." Its strategy envisions "Vital congregations of women religious whose members advance human development through their spiritual witness and service to those in need." Its current focus is in Africa and the USA. 8/19/13 - LCWR Assembly reports and speeches, including statement on Board meetingThe 2013 Assembly's theme was "Leadership Evolving: Graced, Grounded, and Free."
LCWR created a brief, beautiful video of Assembly highlights.
LCWR's press release summarizes each session, including private sessions. Highlights:
- Franciscan Sister Ilia Delio gave the keynote address, titled "Religious Life on the Edge of the Universe." "We need a new way of being in the world that broadens diversity, deepens interiority, and strengthens the bonds of relationality.”
- Three sessions during the Assembly, and the Board meeting afterwards, focused on the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, lead of the three bishops appointed to "reform" LCWR following the doctrinal assessment, participated in the Assembly and met with the LCWR board after the Assembly. Afterwards, the LCWR Board issued a statement appreciating the "profound and honest sharing of views" and noting that "Clearly... he had been listening intently and heard the concerns voiced by the members, and their desire for more information. The extraordinarily rich and deeply reverent conversation during the board meeting gave us a greater understanding of Archbishop Sartain, and we believe he now also better understands us. Although we remain uncertain as to how our work with the bishop delegates will proceed, we maintain hope that continued conversations of this depth will lead to a resolution of this situation that maintains the integrity of LCWR and is healthy for the whole church.”
- Sister Florence Deacon's presidential address, "A Delicate Weaving," reflected on what it means to be a faithful woman of the church as a framework for continuing dialogue with the appointed bishops.
- Sister Pat Farrell's speech accepting the Outstanding Leadership Award reflected on the present situation, which calls LCWR "to really see another person and to really allow ourselves to be seen.” "We keep calling ourselves and one another to truthfulness and integrity, to a thoughtful sorting out of what that looks like concretely.”
- Presentations by Hope CommUnity Center, Apopka, FL, and by Sister Ann Scholz shared experiences and current information about the need for justice for immigrants, including comprehensive reform legislation.
- LCWR members adopted a resolution for a comprehensive set of actions to reduce violence, with particular focus on gun violence.
- At the conclusion of the Assembly, the 2013-14 officers assumed their new roles:
The three-member presidency:
Current president Sister Carol Zinn, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania
Past president Sister Florence Deacon, of the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi of Milwaukee, Wisconsin
President-elect Sister Sharon Holland, of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe Michigan
Secretary: Sister Barbara Blesse of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois
Press report on LCWR Assembly and Board meetingJoshua McElwee of NCR - report headline: "LCWR: 'profound sharing' with Sartain; 'uncertain' of progress.
Mark I. Pinsky of Religion News Service - report headline: "US nuns strike a positive note on Vatican investigation." RNS includes a comment by Fr. Tom Reese, SJ, senior analyst at NCR: “Things could have been much worse after the meeting, and that clearly didn’t happen. From their press release, they’re saying that things improved slightly — which is good news. Because both sides seemed to have listened and understood each other during the meeting. Initially, the nuns “didn’t feel that they were treated with respect, as adults. Now it’s no longer a food fight. They’re talking; they’re having a conversation. It’s like couples counseling. … That’s a big step forward from where they were in 2011."America mag. article highlights financial crisis facing many congregations, no clear optionsIn the short article "Save Our Sisters," Fr. James Martin, SJ, cites examples of and reasons for the financial crisis that many US congregations are facing - even including bankruptcy. He looks at often-suggested solutions and finds them unlikely or infeasible. Although "prospects are bleak," he offers a few possibilities.
8/16 - NCR says Archbishop Sartain offered few details, S. Sharon Holland new pres.-electJoshua McElwee reports that Archbishop Sartain's 37-minute speech to the LCWR Assembly was mostly about Jesus and religious life in general. He seemingly didn't speak about how to move forward with regard to the April 2012 Vatican mandate for LCWR "reform" that he has been appointed to oversee. About 50 sisters asked questions afterwards, including sharp questions and comments about how the Vatican mandate has damaged sisters' reputations, and about frustrations with inadequate communication from the Vatican and perhaps from the three "LCWR reform" appointees that Archbishop Sartain leads.
Both before and after the session with Archbishop Sartain, the 825 LCWR members met privately. NCR reports that the meeting preceding the archbishop's talk was the first opportunity members have had to hear directly from LCWR leaders about what has happened regarding the mandate during the year since the 2012 Assembly. NCR says that:
"According to knowledgable sources, LCWR members were told Thursday that their leadership had met with Sartain four times over the past year: Once following last year’s LCWR assembly in St. Louis, once in November in Baltimore during the annual U.S. bishops’ meeting, once in May during the group’s annual visit to Rome, and once more this summer. Each time, the LCWR leaders told their members Thursday, Sartain did not detail the Vatican’s specific concerns with LCWR."
The article also says that canon lawyer Sister Florence Deacon, IHM (Monroe), has been elected as LCWR president-elect and will serve in that role 2013-14 as part of the LCWR three-member presidency.
McElwee also notes that "LCWR members were asked by the group’s leaders not to discuss Thursday’s meetings with members of the press."8/15 - CNS reports "a tenor of openness & conciliation" & contemplation at AssemblyFrom CNS: "The president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious said organizers of this year's assembly hope attendees would find it to be a contemplative experience because 'it is imperative to view religious life within the context of our faith and in an evolving world.' 'We have included an hour and a half of contemplative prayer at all meetings to determine what the signs of today are calling us to and we hope that the entire experience of this assembly will be an act of contemplation,' said Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon.
The story reports warm and respectful remarks by Archbishops Vigano and Sartain,the Papal Nuncio and the Vatican-appointed LCWR overseer, respectively. CNS also interviewed Donna Fyffe, a consultant who worked with LCWR to plan the meeting; she noted "a tenor of openness and conciliation at the assembly was clear."
8/15 - Social-media posts say that Sister Sharon Holland, IHM (Monroe), is LCWR president-elect Sister Sharon Holland received LCWR's outstanding leadership award in 2009. From the LCWR website write-up: "Sharon Holland is a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan. A canon lawyer with degrees from the Gregorian University, she served for 21 years at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and was one of the highest-ranking women in the Vatican. In this position she offered wisdom and knowledge to congregations of religious all over the globe. She also taught at The Catholic University of America, Regina Mundi, the Pontifical Urbaniana, and other schools.
"Her extraordinary understanding of ecclesial life and global needs has contributed to her reputation as a renowned speaker on consecrated life. Numerous congregations of religious can attest to her attentive and helpful counsel with the complex issues of shaping constitutions as well forming, merging, and dissolving institutes.
"Her writings on religious life have appeared in many professional journals, as well as in The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary."
LCWR has a three-member presidency. After the Assembly, the presidency will include past president (2012-13) Franciscan Sister Florence Deacon, president Sister of St. Joseph Carol Zinn, and president-elect Sister Sharon Holland of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
8/15 - Archbishop Sartain spoke, answered questions, behind locked & guarded doorsAt the Assembly, LCWR took extra precautions to keep private the 37-minute speech by Archbishop Sartain, Vatican delegate to "oversee" and "reform" LCWR, and the Q&A session that followed. Doors were locked and security guards were in place outside them. The IT set-up avoided wireless microphones to make sure nothing was overheard. Joshua McElwee's report in NCR gives more details on security, but none are available on the session itself.
8/15 - Vatican's delegate, Archbishop Peter Sartain, gave homily at Mass today at AssemblyFrom the NCR report: "Mary... pondered the words of God and let them turn over in her heart -- over and over again, as the Gospel tell us. Without, in a sense, any desire or a need to figure things out in the way that we normally think of figuring things out -- or resolve them to her own personal satisfaction... -- seeing them as joined to God’s will for her, recognizing that of these things that she witnessed, all of these things of which she was a part, will be resolved in the love of God just as her own call came from the heart of God." "...she shows to us what the grace of God, what God himself desires to do in us all and through the church when we let the grace of God overtake us without placing an obstacle between ourself and that grace." "...May it be the same for me and for you. Amen."
8/14 - Sister Ilia Delio's keynote address at LCWR AssemblyNCR reported on the address. Some beautiful quotes, e.g., “A dynamic universe provokes the idea and the understanding of a dynamic God. This is not a stay-at-home God. This is a God who is deeply immersed in a love affair with the beloved, the creation which flows out of his divine heart." Franciscan Sister Ilia Delio is director of Catholic Studies at Georgetown University.
NCR's Joshua McElwee tweets from the Assembly. So moving! A glimpse...From @joshjmac : Too many AND TOO MOVING AND WORTH READING to condense, so read all here for a glimpse of what 825 sisters are experiencing and praying. A few favorites from his mini-reports:
“Women of conscience are made, not born. They are formed by the realities of life."
“We know that the decisions facing us are enormous."
Ambassador from #Vatican to US tells #nuns facing #Vatican criticism: You are "so full of joy and the desire to serve the Lord.”
Archbishop appointed by #Vatican, Sartain of Seattle, to oversee US #nuns tells assembly he is "here as your brother and friend.”
800 #nuns pray: "We are tinder and flint, graced, grounded, and free awaiting the new spark of your Spirit."
Sisters' prayer involves repeated reciting of phrase: "We are in the right place." "The place where kindness and truth meet."
825 sisters now prepare fo keynote of Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio, noted theologian, on "Religious Life on the Edge of the Universe."
825 sisters extend hands over Sr. Delio, praying: “May the blessing of God be upon you; may God be all you know.”
Sr. Delio talking about cosmology and theology: “To see how those two work together to form a whole consciousness of being."
Much more...
8/14 - Vatican representatives (Archbishops Sartain & Vigano) spoke at LCWR AssemblyAccording to NCR: Archbishop Peter Sartain (lead for the three-bishop team appointed by the Vatican in April 2012 to "oversee" and "reform" LCWR) told the Assembly today that the past year has held “numerous opportunities” to meet with LCWR leaders and some “very significant conversations.” “We have developed a wonderful respect for one another,” said Sartain. “And yes I would say a friendship with one another.” “I am here this week with you yes as the apostolic delegate …and as the representative of Pope Francis,” Sartain continued. “But I am also here as your brother and friend.”
Sartain later told NCR that he felt “very welcomed” by the sisters and that he thought he had “maneuvering room” from the Vatican to best determine how to handle the doctrinal assessment.
Archbishop Carlo Viganò, the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio, or ambassador, to the U.S. told the Assembly, “I especially want to convey to you the heartfelt wishes of the Holy Father who is always in a special bond of spiritual communion to you and is most thankful to you for all the good you have been doing throughout the years. By the sacrifice of your own lives you have been deeply touching other people’s lives, bringing hope and healing, helping to form minds and hearts in the image of Jesus.”
8/14 - Background for Assembly: Archbishop Sartain, Cardinal Braz de AvizJason Berry reports in GlobalPost on the context in which the Assembly began.
8/8, 8/9 and 8/12 - Full version of previously reported Vatican comments re LCWR, moreIn May 2013, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican Congregation for Religious (formally known as the Congregation for Institutes of Consecreted Life and Societies of Apostolic Life), spoke with warmth, care, and freedom to the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), a membership group for approximately 2,000 leaders of Catholic sisters around the world. NCR published his full 80-minute talk in three segments, on August 8, August 9, and August 12. Some excerpts from the NCR reports:
A "new attitude" of cooperation and equality must govern relations between the Vatican and Catholic sisters around the world. That attitude must be grounded in the understanding that both the church hierarchy and the sisters "are two dimensions essential in the church.... Neither is greater than the other. Both the prophetic and the governing dimensions form the church."
If LCWR wants real dialogue with the Vatican over a mandate requiring them to place themselves under the authority of a U.S. archbishop, they must understand that the "central point" of dialogue is upholding church doctrine. The doctrinal problems that the Vatican identified with LCWR are "extremely important." Cardinal João Braz de Aviz said. "This is the central point of the dialogue," Braz de Aviz said. "I have no idea how it will be resolved."
Gender inequality exists in the Catholic church because men and women forget they cannot be "fully human" without one another. "Man without woman is not fully human," Cardinal João Braz de Aviz said. "And woman without man is not fully human either. Each without the other is a piece of humanity, incomplete.... Throughout history, we have had many difficulties in this area. History became a primarily masculine enterprise. For many reasons -- political, anthropological -- this mode also dominated religion."
7/31 - Sister Simone Campbell will testify on poverty before Sen. Paul Ryan's committeeNETWORK press release
Sister Simone Campbell on Pope Francis' comments on women, gay people, pro-life On 7/27/13, on the plane trip back from World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Pope Francis spent 82 minutes freely answering questions from the press. On 7/29/13, Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC interviewed Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, and Fr. James Martin, SJ, about the pope's comments. Listen or read the transcript. E.g.:
Sister Simone: "I think the pope's statements evidence, one, that he knows that women are smart, are educated, have a lot to offer, and commented on many roles that women could play in the church. I think on the issue of ordination, however, he did say that that door is closed. But just on Sunday we had the reading from the gospel of the story of the man who went and pounded on the door of his neighbor and kept pounding until he got what he wanted, which was food for another person. and so I sort of feel like, well, if the door is closed then maybe that alludes to the scripture where... if you're persistent something good will happen." Fr. Jim: "I think actually what he's looking at is more the theology of women as leaders in the church. How can we make them sort of more involved in leadership? Can they be heads of Vatican congregations? Do you have to be ordained in order to be a leader in the church? I think that's an interesting comment. And I think, as you point out, to say that we need a deeper theology of women means that he feels like the theology of women we have is not sufficiently deep, which is a big thing for a pope to say."
O'Donnell: "On the issue of homosexuality he said the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this very well, it says they, meaning gay people, should not be marginalized because of this orientation but that they must be integrated into society. Sister Simone, that's a big change in rhetoric at least for a pope." Sister Simone: "Oh, absolutely, Lawrence. And i think what it indicates is his pastoral approach, the fact that Pope Francis knows people and is willing to engage as Jesus did with the struggles of our time. I mean, Pope Francis speaks often for the poor, the marginalized, the folks who are pushed out. And this is another example that within the church structure certainly gay people have been pushed to the margins and he's saying that that's the wrong way forward. It's a consistent story for him." ... Fr. Jim: "He's even used the word 'gay' which has not been used before. They'd always use words like homosexual, same sex attraction, very clinical words.... When you see him speaking, it's a very pastoral tone. He's saying, as you said before, who am I to judge? Which we have not heard ever. And the other thing is, he has not sort of appended that statement with something negative. He hasn't said, well, gays are welcome in the church but -- it was a purely positive, welcoming argument. and he quotes the catechism by saying they shouldn't be marginalized. I was stunned. And i think most of the reporters on the plane were stunned too.
O'Donnell: "Sister Simone, he apparently deliberately chooses not to talk about certain things because he knows that they -- it's very hard to make positive-sounding statements about them. Specifically, he said he avoided talking about abortion on this trip, he avoided talking about same-sex marriage, and although the church officially opposes those things the choice of a pope to avoid certain subjects is almost in a certain kind of way a matter of, in local law enforcement, how tightly are we going to enforce the speed limit and that sort of thing. it does give people a sense of what this pope thinks is important." Sister Simone: "Well, i think it shows what he thinks is important, but I also think it shows that he's highly attuned to what are very painful, divisive issues within the catholic church in that overemphasis on a couple of very narrow points. And what he's really working hard at doing is revealing the whole gospel, working from the whole gospel, that affirms all of life, including folks that are gay. it was a very pro- life stance that he took, to say that he's not judgmental, he welcomes everyone. I mean, that is where the fullness of life is. And it's just refreshing to hear it."
World Youth Day in Brazil - Pope Francis upholds "solidarity", says "I want a mess!"7/25/13 - "I want to tell you something. What is it that I expect as a consequence of World Youth Day? I want a mess. We knew that in Rio there would be great disorder, but I want trouble in the dioceses!" he said, speaking off the cuff in his native Spanish. "I want to see the church get closer to the people. I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing ourselves off within ourselves, in our parishes, schools or structures. Because these need to get out!" - at a spontaneously scheduled meeting with Argentine youth
7/25/13 - "No one can remain insensitive to the inequalities that persist in the world!" Francis told a crowd of thousands who braved a cold rain and stood in a muddy soccer field to welcome him. "No amount of peace-building will be able to last, nor will harmony and happiness be attained in a society that ignores, pushes to the margins or excludes a part of itself." - to residents of Varginha, a violent slum area in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
According to John L. Allen, Jr. in NCR, Pope Francis "also argued that in the fight against poverty, offering material assistance isn't enough. It's also critical, he suggested, to build up the moral fiber of a society by defending certain core values:
- "'Life, which is a gift of God, a value always to be protected and promoted';
- "'The family, the foundation of coexistence and a remedy against social fragmentation';
- "'Integral education, which cannot be reduced to the mere transmission of information for purposes of generating profit';
- "'Health, which must seek the integral well-being of the person, including the spiritual dimension';
- "'Security, in the conviction that violence can be overcome only by changing human hearts.'"
Sister Helen Prejean: her answers to five questionsTo recognize the planned release of a 20th-anniversary special edition DVD of the acclaimed film Dead Man Walking, USA Today asked the book's author five questions. The brief, important article, by Bob Minzesheimer, looks at what has changed and what hasn't.
E.J. Dionne: Pope Francis' saintly politics [Will there be implications for LCWR?]7/5/13 - In the Washington Post, E.J. Dionne says that "Pope Francis is proving himself to be a genuinely holy man, a brilliant politician and a leader who knows that reform requires a keen understanding of how creating a better future demands sophisticated invocations of the past." [Ed.: Is it possible that this combination of qualities will enable him to embrace LCWR as his natural ally in holiness, social justice, and faithful reform based on contemplation and communal discernment?]
Snapshot: how a congregation changes & preserves ministries, to carry mission forward News report: a sister's perspective on the sale of an Erie hospital - continued ministry - and moving toward the future.
NCR reports "Pope downplays threat of Vatican scrutiny of religious orders."6/6/13 (reported in NCR 6/11/13) - In a meeting with officials of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR), NCR reports that Pope Francis told the nuns and priests "not to worry if they fo und themselves under similar scrutiny" to the investigations of US nuns. NCR cites the website Rorate Caeli's synthesis of the pope's comments based on reports by those present. he pope's purported remarks came during a meeting with top officials of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) on June 6. E.g.:
"They will make mistakes, they will make a blunder [meter la pata], this will pass! Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine (of the Faith) will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing... But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward... Open the doors, do something there where life calls for it. I would rather have a Church that makes mistakes for doing something than one that gets sick for being closed up..."
The fairly short Rorate Caeli "transcript" includes fascinating quotes related to his election, his pastoral actions since then, solidaritiy with the poor and needy ("Money is not image and likeness of God. Only the person is image and likeness of God. It is necessary to flip it over. This is the gospel.... The poor are the gospel."), and more.
He says he has "concern" about two "currents" in the church today: a "restorationist" current - "One feels as if one goes back 60 years!" - and a current of "Pantheism: "I heard of a superior general that prompted the sisters of her congregation to not pray in the morning, but to spiritually bathe in the cosmos, things like that... They concern me because they ignore the incarnation!"
On reform of the Curia, he said, "In the Curia, there are also holy people, really, there are holy people. But there also is a stream of corruption, there is that as well, it is true... The "gay lobby" is mentioned, and it is true, it is there... We need to see what we can do... I am very disorganized, I have never been good at this. But the cardinals of the Commission will move it forward. [He cites three specifically, saying] they are very organized.... They will move it forward."
Sister Anne Patrick receives major award from Catholic Theological Society of America6/9/13 - The Catholic Theological Society of America awarded to Sister Anne Patrick its 2013 John Courtney Murray Award. The Society’s highest honor, each year this award honors a society member for a lifetime of distinguished theological scholarship. Sister Anne Patrick's work has focused on feminist theology and religion and literature. NCR's report on the awards ceremony includes her personal reflections. Sisters Sandra Schneiders and Elizabeth Johnson are prior award recipients.
An interesting glimpse of one of the three bishops charged with "reform" of LCWRBishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois agreed to speak at a 5/31/13 Arizona gathering on "Two Catholic Views of Gay Marriage" organized by Jesuit Alumni of Arizona. Bishop Paprocki and Sr. Jeannine Gramick gave opening remarks, then took questions from the audience.5/30/13 - Sister Simone Campbell meets with President Obama at the White HouseThe White House reports that "Sister Simone Campbell dropped by the Oval Office on day three of the latest 'Nuns on the Bus' tour, which is focusing on the need for commonsense immigration reform. The “Nuns on the Bus” launched their tour from Ellis Island in New York City and will culminate on June 17th at Angel Island in San Francisco, highlighting the coast to coast beacons that have welcomed immigrants to our shores since the early days of our Nation’s founding." Photos, more. Sisters launch multi-state united effort against human trafficking (modern slavery)NCR reports that LCWR and twelve congregations of women religious are uniting in a nationwide effort to oppose human trafficking. They will focus on education about sex- and labor-trafficking, advocacy for stricter laws, and support for victims. Individual congregations have long and impressive track records in working against trafficking, but the problem is huge and widespread and warrants united action to share knowledge and increase effectiveness. An estimated 100,000 to 300,000 minors are victims of sex trafficking at any given time, according to the Justice Department. Worldwide, about 21 million people are trafficked in an industry that nets traffickers $32 billion annually, the State Department’s 2012 Trafficking in Persons report said. This 2011 resolution by the US Catholic MIssion Association (LCWR is a member) includes brief background on the enormous and terrible problem.
National award goes to film about New Orleans sisters after KatrinaThe film "We Shall Not Be Moved" recently won a Gabriel Award from the Catholic Academy of Communications Professionals for media that "entertains and enriches with a true vision of humanity and a true vision of life." After Hurricane Katrina, sisters' homes, lives, schools, and hospitals were devastated along with the lives and homes of the people the sisters served. The sisters organized support and personally cared for New Orleans people, while dealing with their own losses and deciding whether and how to continue their former ministries. It's a heroic and powerful story. Available for DVD purchase and for showings.
Be part of Nuns on the Bus 2013 - events from Connecticut May 28 to California June 17-18NETWORK lobby announced that NETWORK's Nuns on the Bus for immigration reform will travel 6,500 miles across 15 states and have 53 events in 40 cities. You can join the Nuns on the Bus at events in Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. See full schedule of stops; register for events and updates from the bus; and learn more about why this trip focuses on immigration reform. Quick summary: "Our nation needs an immigration system that reflects our faith values and the needs of the twenty-first century. Such a system reunites families and allows workers the opportunity to come forward without fear to pay taxes and earn legalization. A functioning system will serve the needs of our entire nation."5/20/13 - Thoughtful editorial on LCWR and on international sisters and the futureNCR's editorial gives helpful perspective on the early-May meeting of 800 sisters for the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General. NCR highlighted the "deeper relationships and congregational ties" between North American sisters and women religious from the global South, "where vocation numbers are booming but material resources are scarce.... Some of the most dynamic discussions on the future of religious life followed talks from voices out of Africa and Central America. Discussions and feedback and further questions are an essential makeup of the assembly’s programs, which are laced with time for liturgies and other prayerful reflections."
In meeting with the international sisters, the leadership of the Congregation for Religious - particularly Brazilian Cardinal João Bráz de Aviz - showed a "pastoral bent" and a spirit of "inclusive, mutual respect" that "lifted" the sisters. NCR noted the "warm and gracious" persional interactions of Pope Francis and the sisters at the assembly, despite his "tired metaphors" of women religious as "mothers and sisters" rather than "the professionals they are." The editors say, "It is not clear if Francis yet understands" that "the misrepresentations in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s findings against LCWR have pushed many women religious to a precipice."
"Although its members are graying, LCWR embodies a breadth and depth of experience as well as a fidelity, history and wisdom regarding religious life that is vital to the church. U.S. women religious are, in many ways, well ahead of others in re-imagining what the church of the 21st century should look like and what a religious vocation and ministry will one day mean. More than any other group within the church they have been working for decades in the very “peripheries,” where Francis says the work of the church must now be done."
5/18/13 - New secretary of Vatican's Congregation for Religious (Pope Francis' first appointee) knows LCWR well The new secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious has been supportive of LCWR in the past and now offers all sisters "hope" and says "Ask what you need. We are there to serve you because we love you, the way you are."
The first appointment made by Pope Francis (April 6) was to name then-General Minister of the Franciscan Order Brother Jose Rodriguez Carballo, OFM, as Secretary of the Congregation for Religious. Today Brother Jose is being ordained a bishop at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella. He participated in the April 15, 2013 meeting between the Congregation for Religious and LCWR in Rome. He will assume his new job full-time on May 22.
Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo was already deeply aware of LCWR issues. After the 2012 mandate from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Franciscan Provinces of the United States were one of the few groups of men who publicly supported U.S. sisters and LCWR. Their letter said in part, "The efforts of LCWR to facilitate honest and faithful dialogue on critical issues of our times must not result in a level of ecclesial oversight that could, in effect, quash all further discernment. Further, questioning your adherence to Church teaching by your “remaining silent” on certain ethical issues seems to us a charge that could be leveled against many groups in the Church, and fails to appreciate both the larger cultural context and the particular parameters of expertise within which we all operate. Finally, when there appears to be honest disagreement on the application of moral principles to public policy, it is not equivalent to questioning the authority of the Church’s magisterium."
In his first interview with an English-speaking news outlet (May 8, during the meeting of the International Union of Major Superiors in Rome), now-Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo told Joshua McElwee of NCR that "In the moment of least hope, the sun could shine -- and I can see it. I invite [the sisters] to prayer, discernment and dialogue -- communion. These are the three words that the consecrated life always has to have present."
To the sisters, he said, "The congregation is there at your service, do not doubt. Ask what you need. We are there to serve you because we love you, the way you are. We love you.... I've had the possibility to visit the world three times over. In the most forgotten corners ... in the most arid spiritual deserts, there I always found a community of sisters who gave courageous witness to the Gospel, as little ones among the littlest ones, teaching healing, accompanying all kinds."
California group has held monthly vigils for LCWR outside the cathedral since May 2012In Santa Rosa, California, up to 50 people gather monthly outside the cathedral for a prayer service in support of LCWR. In a May 13, 2013 article by Monica Clark, NCR reports that "During each hourlong vigil, the group highlights 20 LCWR members in a litany of remembrance....Vigil participants also sign a letter to all the congregations honored at each vigil." Congregations have replied, with much appreciation. The idea of monthly vigils originated after the group "held a public viewing of the [LCWR] documentary Women in Spirit: Catholic Sisters in America in May 2012 and raised $1,000 for LCWR." Bravo to this group for its prayerful, enduring support for LCWR!
5/11/13 - Cardinal in charge of Curia-reform panel wants more women in key Vatican postsTom Kington reported in The Telegraph (Great Britain) that "Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras said he was backing more posts for women after the Pope named him this month to lead a task force of eight cardinals from around the world to reform the Roman Curia.... Women have taken on a number of key roles at the Vatican, including Sister Nicla Spezzati, the undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life [sometimes called the Congregation for Religious Life] and Flaminia Giovanelli, the undersecretary, at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. St Peter's is run by a woman, Maria Cristina Carlo-Stella, who is the head of the Fabbrica di San Pietro, the Vatican office in charge of the basilica.'But that is still very few,' said Marco Politi, a Vatican watcher at Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano. 'Look at Germany and the US, where women have many key positions in the dioceses.'" More background in the article.
5/8/13 - Pope Francis addresses international group of heads of sisters' congregationsPope Francis had a private meeting with the 800 sisters at the triennial assembly of the International Union of Superiors General. He reportedly spoke for about 15 minutes, reflecting on the meaning of religious life. He told the sisters that, without them, the Church "would be missing maternity, affection, tenderness." He encouraged them to "Feel the responsibility that you have of caring for the formation of your institutes in sound church doctrine, in love of the church and in an ecclesial spirit." He said, "We must never forget that true power, at whatever level, is service, which has its bright summit upon the cross." In discussing the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, the pope encouraged a poverty that "is learned with the humble, the poor, the sick and all those who are at the existential margins of life", and a "fertile" chastity that leads sisters to be "mothers" who "generate spiritual children in the church." More at Joshua McElwee's NCR report and a brief (2 minute) video clip and Washington Post.
5/8/13- Vatican prefect of religious life disagrees w/ Vatican Press Office, says NCR got it rightFirst (5/5) NCR reported that Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious, told the International Union of Superiors General that he had been excluded from the April 2013 decisions by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and made other important comments about religious life and about women in the Church. Then (5/7) the Vatican Press Office issued a statement that the Cardinal's remarks had been "misinterpreted" by the media. Today, at a press conference including AP and Catholic News Service, Cardinal Braz de Aviz affirmed that NCR's 5/5 report was "very precise," with the "tiny" exception of one clarification: "The word used for authority, the translation wasn't accurate -- just the first part. The matter on obedience, that part was OK. But the question on authority, that translation was not accurate. I was trying to stress that authority cannot be domination. It has to be a search for the will of God, after having heard what the other person has in his or her heart, because God is speaking in the other person's heart. And then the authority says what one needs to do, and in that moment I need to obey, in faith. I don't remember what the word you used was, but the word didn't carry that feeling."
Cardinal Braz de Aviz also commented, "Among men, women, among us consecrated people, we still have to mature a great deal. I said this to the religious: First, to protect ourselves, we stayed far away from each other, and this led to the point where we no longer knew each other. Consecrated men don't know consecrated women, and vice versa. This leads us to mistrust; we condemn the other because we don't know each other." Also, "Our world is full of slippery territory. You say something; the other person interprets it to their own understanding of truth. This is difficult for us. We have to find a common point. We must always believe and work." And "[The American sisters] must say what is in their hearts sincerely. Say it, but they must also find a way of clarifying in dialogue what does it means that doctrine is not their issue, their responsibility. There is something very difficult that still has to be worked out and clarified." Further, "If we come back to the points of dialogue ... we have to be serious in dialogue. If you say to the sisters of LCWR that they have to begin with the doctrinal assessment, we have to clarify that first, that they have to do with the archbishop of Seattle because we can't interrupt there because it's not our responsibility now. ..." 5/7/13 - President of international organization of religious sisters defends LCWROn Vatican Radio, Franciscan Sister Mary Lou Wirtz, the president of the International Union of Superiors General, has defended the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) with regard to the April 2013 doctrinal assessment and reform plans issued by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Catholic World News reported the story. “Ever since Vatican II, the understanding of obedience and authority has taken on new nuances or concepts,” Sister Wirtz reportedly said, “so I think it’s important for us to look at what does Gospel leadership mean today.... We’re very hopeful that we will have more open dialogue in the future. I think the LCWR are really using an approach of prayer and reflection, trying to open this channel of understanding from both sides.”
5/7/13 - Vatican denies internal rift over handling of US sisters, LCWR (per 5/6 item below)The Vatican Press office issued a statement saying that Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Religious, had been misinterpreted when he said that The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had not given him knowledge of its April 2013 doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). The Press Office said, "The Prefects of these two Congregations work closely together according to their specific responsibilities." NCR's Joshua McElwee reported the story.
5/5/13 - Vatican prefect of religious life speaks out on his exclusion from decisions about LCWR, plus much more - powerful!NCR reports that Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican congregation responsible for religious life, told the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) that he was excluded from discussion of or knowledge of the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He said this caused him “much pain.” He called for growth of women's leadership in the Church, and said, "Authority that commands, kills. Obedience that becomes a copy of what the other person says, infantilizes.” Cardinal Braz de Aviz, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life since 2011, spoke during an open dialogue session with 800 leaders of sisters’ congregations at the meeting of the UISG. He attributed CDF's exclusion of him from the LCWR deliberations to internal Vatican political struggles, a "who will win?" style - and he affirmed that "the Holly Spirit" will win. Much more in article by Joshua McElwee.
5/4/13 - LCWR pres. Sr. Florence Deacon tells international sisters group of "serious misunderstandings" with Vatican Sr. Florence Deacon, OSF, president of LCWR, spoke during the plenary assembly of the meeting of the International Union of Superiors General in Rome. According to NCR's Joshua McElwee, "Deacon's remarks constituted LCWR's most public narrative of their relations with the Vatican." She said that the Vatican's April 2012 doctrinal assessment “held [LCWR] accountable for other individuals and for areas beyond our authority” and “beyond our purpose.” McElwee's article cites specific instances. Sister Florence wondered how much knowledge of the LCWR situation Pope Francis had before his reported endorsement of the assessment, given that an earlier press release from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had not mentioned that this topic was covered in its first meeting with Pope Francis.
NCR columnist questions whether Pope Francis had enough info to "affirm" critiqueExcerpt from Sister Maureen Fiedler's 4/16/13 column in NCR: "First, I doubt this issue is on the top of the new pope's agenda or that he had much knowledge of this when he was an archbishop in Argentina. And what does 'affirm' mean? Affirm what? Some general, vague report? Did Müller give him a full explanation, talk about the opposition to it among U.S. Catholics or give him an outline of the actions proposed? Did he talk about the accusation that says U.S. women religious spend too much time on social justice and not enough on other issues? I frankly doubt the new pope would 'affirm' that."
4/15/13 - LCWR also met with Vatican congregation that oversees religiousThe May 2013 LCWR newsletter reports that on April 15, LCWR officials in Rome also met with the Vatican congregation that oversees religious - the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL, sometimes referred to as the Congregation for Religious). According to the newsletter (1st page, 2nd column, last 2 paragraphs), "At CICLSAL, the LCWR officers met with prefect João Braz de Aviz; the new secretary José Rodríguez Carballo, OFM; and seven other members of the dicastery staff including Hank Lemoncelli, OMI. According to Janet Mock, 'LCWR was received with gracious hospitality and members of the dicastery listened attentively to the concerns of the LCWR leadership.'”4/15/13 - Pope Francis is said to affirm the CDF critique of LCWR & reform planOn April 15, LCWR met with Cardinal Muller, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who told them he had "recently discussed" with Pope Francis the doctrinal assessment of LCWR and the plan for LCWR reform plan (which puts 3 US bishops as overseers of reform of policies and and operations). Cardinal Muller said that Pope Francis "reaffirmed the findings of the Assessment and the program of reform." Joshua McElwee report, NCR. Vatican statement.
4/15/13 - LCWR statement on meeting with Congregation for Doctrine of FaithExcerpts from the LCWR statement: "On April 15, 2013 Sister Florence Deacon, OSF, LCWR president; Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ, LCWR president-elect; and Sister Janet Mock, CSJ, LCWR executive director; met with Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF); Archbishop Luis Ladaria, secretary of CDF; and other members of the CDF dicastery. Archbishop J. Peter Sartain was also present.... In his opening remarks, Archbishop Müller informed the group that he had met with Pope Francis who 'reaffirmed the findings of the assessment and the program of reform for this Conference of Major Superiors'.
"The conversation was open and frank. We pray that these conversations may bear fruit for the good of the Church."
LCWR's Winter 2013 Occasional Papers features important articlesLCWR's Winter 2013 issue of Occasional Papers features the important article "The Vow to Obedience" by Gary Riebe-Estrella, SVD, and the excellent "LCWR and Catholic Sisters: A Sign of Hope to American Catholics" by Linda Plitt Donaldson, Ph.D., a leader of Solidarity with Sisters. (We are proud of Linda and grateful for her article!) "The Vow to Obedience" is also available in Spanish and French.
LCWR and its officials are receiving many major honors, awards, and other recognition6/10/2013 - The Interfaith Center of New York (ICNY) will honor LCWR past president Sister Pat Farrell, OSF on June 10 in Manhattan. ICNY is a secular educational nonprofit. ICNY said that the theme of the event, “The Courage of Conviction – Then & Now,” was chosen “as our awardees each in their identifiable way have taken extraordinary actions in their personal and/or professional lives that have contributed to a more peaceful, fair, and just society.”
5/19/2013 - LCWR past president Pat Farrell, OSF was among those receiving honorary degrees at the 63rd commencement ceremonies of Fairfield University.
5/11/2013 - Gwynedd-Mercy College (now University) in Pennsylvania honored LCWR with its Beacon of Mercy Award at its commencement ceremonies. LCWR president-elect Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ accepted the award on behalf of LCWR and delivered the commencement address.
April-June 2013 - TIME invited LCWR president Florence Deacon, OSF to submit an essay for a special commemorative book published after the election of Pope Francis. Entitled, “We’ve Waited Enough,” the essay reads in part: “Our experience with the doctrinal assessment of our organization reaffirms our conviction that that the church desperately needs to create spaces of authentic and candid dialogue.... Imagine if together, as men and women of various cultures, we could revision the church so it continues to be a beacon of light as it ap-plies the Gospel today.”The book, Pope for a New World, will remain on news stands through the end of June.
4/20/2013 - Pax Christi – Michigan awarded its 2013 Purple Ribbon for Peace to LCWR at a ceremony in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The local organization was among the signers of a letter sent to LCWR last summer by Pax Christi International that stated in part, “Women religious in the United States have been deeply committed to promoting the peace of Christ. They are at the heart of our movement, proclaiming with clarity and love the possibility of a world without war, a future beyond dehumanizing violence.”
4/14/2013 - The Herbert Haag Foundation for Freedom in the Church awarded its 2013 prize to LCWR and the women religious whom LCWR members represent. LCWR past president Pat Farrell, OSF traveled to Lucerne, Switzerland to receive the award.
Annunciation House, a ministry extending hospitality to the immigrants who come to this country through Mexico, awarded its 2013 Voice of the Voiceless award to women religious in both the United States and Mexico for their work with immigrants. Sister Mary Hughes, OP, represented LCWR in accepting the award, together with Sister Dolores Palencia, SJL, a former leader of the Conference of Major Superiors of Mexico.
4/5/2013 - The Franciscan Mission Service honored LCWR past-president Pat Farrell, OSF “for courageous and humble leadership during the organization’s assessment by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We celebrate her commitment to gospel living and being a prophetic voice in the face of adversity. From her two decades of mission in Latin America to her recent work with the LCWR, she has remained unwavering in her commitment to service to the poor, advocacy for the marginalized, and radical spirituality. We admire the LCWR’s work toward open and honest
dialogue and toward the opportunities for the laity to have a voice in the Church. In presenting this award to Sr. Pat, we recognize and show our support for women religious and all those who stand up for justice.”
2/28/2013 - The Harvard Divinity School invited former LCWR president Sister Mary Hughes, OP, to deliver its annual Dudleian Lecture. The oldest and most distinguished endowed lecture at Harvard, the Dudleian Lecture was established in 1751 by alumnus Judge Paul Dudley. Sister Mary's lecture, titled “Priesthood of the Faithful: Light in the Darkness,” offers insights and perspective on what it means today, after the Second Vatican Council, for a Catholic to fulfill his or her baptismal call.
2/26/2013 - Boston's Paulist Center Community awarded its 2013 Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice given by Boston’s Paulist Center Community to LCWR. The first recipient of this annual award was Catholic Worker co-founder Dorothy Day, in 1974. The award is named for the Paulist Fathers’ founder and is given to a North American Catholic or Catholic group “committed to building a more just and peaceful world.”In remarks at the award ceremony Susan Rutkowski, pastoral minister at the Paulist Center, said, “The women religious of the United States have taught us to pray, educated us on how to live and work in our ever-changing world, nursed our sick and old, cared for our abandoned, reached out to all the marginalized, and taught us how to respect the dignity of all. They have, in sum, shown us how Jesus might live in our world today."
2/10/2013 - The Association of Chicago Priests honored LCWR both on the national and regional levels with its Coordinating Board Award. The association represents 220 priests.
11/29-12/6/2012 - The SHARE Foundation honored LCWR during its annual commemoration of the 32nd anniversary of the four church women killed in El Salvador. A delegation of more than 60 US participants traveled to El Salvador and, at the tomb of Bishop Oscar Romero, honored LCWR, in a gesture of solidarity with women religious. LCWR past president Sister Pat Farrell, OSF accompanied the delegation, representing LCWR, with a number of other current and former LCWR members in attendance.
3/17/13 - CBS's 60 Minutes featured LCWR: "American Nuns Struggle with Vatican for Change"The segment's video and transcript offered perspective and updates on LCWR's experiences since the Vatican's doctrinal assessment was issued in April 2012. The segment includes interviews with Pat Farrell and with Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, the delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith appointed to oversee LCWR, as well as scenes from the 2012 LCWR assembly. CBS described it this way: “One of the pressing problems newly elected Pope Francis may want to address is the disillusionment among American nuns. Many were shocked last year when the group that represents most of them was reprimanded by the Vatican, which said the nuns' liberal ideas were undermining the Church." Produced by Tanya Simon and Andrew Metz.Major media featured LCWR interviews & writings during the papal transition3/17/13 - NPR’s Weekend Edition: Interview with Sister Pat Farrell, OSF - also transcript
3/14/13 - The Rothko Chapel in Houston invited LCWR past-president Pat Farrell, OSF to speak on “The Transformed Experience of Sisters Since Vatican II.” The lecture was a part of “Vatican II @ 50,” a series of programs recognizing the worldwide impact of the Second Vatican Council. The lecture is available in audio only or on video.
3/11/2013 - CBS This Morning: Interview with Sister Florence Deacon, OSF
3/11/2013 - The Guardian (British daily newspaper): Essay by Sister Florence Deacon, OSF2/27/2013 NCR: Papal resignation puts Vatican LCWR mandate in question Benedict XVI's resignation automatically leads to the resignation of the heads of Curia departments like the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which issued the mandate for LCWR reform last April. According to Thomas C. Fox in NCR, the CDF leaders "will have no authority to continue their work, pending a new dictate by a new pope. In turn, any authority of Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain, who officially serves as 'archbishop delegate' to LCWR, ends as well." Come, Holy Spirit!
1/26/2013: LCWR accepts prestigious Hecker Award for Social JusticeEach year, Boston's Paulist Center Community annually honors a North American Catholic or Catholic group “committed to building a more just and peaceful world" with the Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice (named for the Paulist Fathers’ founder). The first honoree was Dorothy Day. The 2013 honoree was the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Susan Rutkowski of the Paulist Center Community said, "Like Isaac Hecker, they have worked tirelessly to foster the growth and development of American Catholicism, showing us what a socially just society could look like. Let us support them and follow their example in our own quests to model a more inclusive American society and church focused on justice for all.”2/17/2013: "Up" with Chris Hayes on MSNBC features Sister Mary Hughes, OPInteresting discussion of religion in contemporary society, hosted by Chris Hayes and including former LCWR president Sister Mary Hughes as well as Father Bill Dailey of the University of Notre Dame and Jamie Manson of the National Catholic Reporter. Maybe this video link will work for you. If not, here's a brief report.
The Valley Catholic 2/5/2013: Sisters’ congregations organize against human traffickingCatholic sisters in California draw attention to hotels and human trafficking during major sporting events. A northern California coalition of Catholic sisters is encouraging travelers to ask hotels about their efforts to interrupt human trafficking.NCR 1/22/2013: An ordinary day for an inspiring Sister of Mercy - and news of her upcoming filmAn engaging and thought-provoking interview of Sister Carol Rittner, RSM, by Sister Camille D'Arienzo, RSM, in NCRonline, introduces Sister Rittner's scholarly and practical work to advance Jewish-Christian relations, describes her usual day, and highlights her upcoming film, "Sisters." The film will show five sisters at work in diverse professions and share the deep spiritual roots from which their ministries flow.