News Archive - 2014
12/22/14 - It feels like an early Christmas present, the simultaneous arrival of Pope Francis' Christmas message to the Curia on its 15 besetting sicknesses, and international leadership expert Margaret Wheatley's article on Leadership Lessons from Besieged Nuns. What a contrast between the Curia and LCWR! Recognizing reality is the first step to changing it.
And don't miss Mary E. Hunt's incisive critique of the Vatican's recent actions regarding the apostolic visitation -- with our own Arlene McGarrity in the lead photo!
12/16/14 - Vatican report on the apostolic visitation of women religious: everybody wins. It evidences respect and appreciation for US nuns, encourages continued dialogue with bishops and priests, and invites continued reflection on Vatican concerns like declining numbers, communal life, Christ-centered prayer. Lots and lots of good reporting, like this summary and this article.
12/16/14 - Illuminating interview with LCWR president Sister Sharon Holland may hint at more news after the report above - re not the apostolic visitation but re the LCWR doctrinal assessment: "...And I would say we're working very well in close collaboration with the delegates, especially Archbishop Sartain who is sort of the lead person in that. I'm very hopeful that we're going to move forward to a good resolution to that. The statutes of the conference, I think that's known, will be revised and are being approved. I think they're still over in an office there somewhere waiting for the final approval but they've been busy with the visitation. But I feel like we're working together well and that we'll be moving toward a conclusion on this. Obviously, I can't say when or exactly how."
Solid discussion of the validity of women religious not wearing or wearing habits - a "both/and" not "either/or."
12/10/14 - 10 women religious leaders spoke about how the apostolic visitation of women religious changed their congregations and their sense of unity across congregations. They are authors and editors of the important new book, Power of Sisterhood: Women Religious Tell the Story of the Apostolic Visitation. E.g.: “It was about all of us together. . . . It created a sense of solidarity and sisterhood. And the same was true with our relationship with the laity – we discovered a communal vision for the church and the world.” "It started out to be a horrendous thing. But we learned to walk through the darkness together. . . . It was a powerful time.” Also, the church teaches the equality of women -- "But when women talk about this idea, try to develop and explore this idea, it’s called radical feminism. It seems that in Rome, there’s only one form of feminism, and that’s radical feminism."
"Sisters' History is Women's History" - meaty, illuminating glimpses of women religious who have been pioneering leaders for hundreds of years, in context of four recent books - essay by Syracuse University professor Margaret Susan Thompson in Journal of Women's History, Volume 26, Number 4, Winter 2014, pp.182-190.
Valuable background for Vatican report on US nuns that will be released Tues., 12/16 - Vatican reporter John L. Allen, Jr. summarizes background and possible implications.
Last chance - by Dec. 16, place your online order for LCWR's Winter 2014 Occasional Papers (always full of excellent articles and interviews). Theme: Leadership in the MIddle Space.
12/4/14 - On Dec. 16, the Vatican plans to release its report on the apostolic visitation of US women religious congregations conducted 2008-2010. Tentatively hopeful? LCWR president Sister Sharon Holland is said to be part of the group making the announcement, along with top officials of the Vatican group in charge of the visitations, Mother Mary Clare Millea who led the visits, and the sister who chairs the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, which represents many US congregations that are not part of LCWR. There's more background insight in this article. (Note: the December 16 announcement is NOT about the doctrinal assessment of LCWR itself, which came from a different Vatican congregation. But note Cardinal O'Malley's comments reported in the article, and Pope Francis' words below.)
Background for Dec. 16 Vatican report: the excellent new book The Power of Sisterhood tells the sisters' side: how US women religious experienced the visitation, how it led to deep solidarity and transformation for them. Sister Jan Cebula's review is superb, full of illuminating insights and quotes.
12/1/14 - Pope Francis: changing times may call for changes in religious orders. Sounds very consistent with what LCWR and others have been doing for the past 50 years.
11/30/14 - "Three surprising leadership lessons I learned from nuns" by Jo Piazza - an article in non-religious media - getting the word out! (PS - We've sent her a message to urge use of modern photos.)
11/16/14 - Sunday TV updates re Card. Sean O'Malley & Bishop Blase Cupich: (1) In Norah O'Donnell's interview (video and transcript), Cardinal Sean O'Malley, friend of Pope Francis since 2010 Argentine visit, emphasized Vatican determination to demonstrate no tolerance for sex abuse, "urgent" need for Vatican to act re Bishop Robt Finn. The perception of LCWR issue as Vatican males attacking women religious was "a disaster." Women can't be priests because Jesus didn't have women apostles, period. (2) Ann Curry and Fr. Matt Malone's interview with incoming Chicago Archbishop Blase Cupich gave a strong sense of who he is; in Sister Mary Ann Walsh's summary, he "reveals what formed him growing up as one of nine children in a Croatian family in Omaha, his vision for the church where people, especially the poor, need help, and his assessment of Pope Francis. He sees the Francis era as a renaissance moment for the church, perhaps, he said, bigger than the Second Vatican Council." (3) What touched me most was Fr. Matt Malone's podcast interview of Ann Curry about the imprint of Catholicism on her life. As a "fallen Catholic" in "deep struggle," she expresses the core with tremendous beauty and clarity.
11/5/14 - LCWR offers new pastoral support to the smallest congregations - While some congregations are growing, others have declined in numbers. NCR reports that Dominican Sister Mary Hughes, recently named as the first LCWR Director of Transitional Services, will provide pastoral help to small congregations in transition, asking the questions that will help congregations to make decisions. NCR notes that "Many congregations in recent years have merged, others are 'covenanting' – creating relationships that are less involved than a merger and play to each organization’s strengths.... There are also less formal ways of sharing resources." Sister Mary says, “I view my role primarily as helping the community recognize all the lives they’ve touched over the years and all their work.... I would hope there’s great peace that comes out of it. I remember when my parents did their will – it’s not something you want to think about or deal with, it’s not fun. But it was also a relief that all the things that were important to them were provided for, and that’s what this is. They can have some assurance those things are taken care of and go about the living.”
11/3/14 - Incoming LCWR exec director brings strong experience, thoughtful style. Good choice, says America magazine. When Sister Joan Marie Steadman takes the role 1/1/15 at the end of Sister Janet Mock's term, the transition will be smooth, writes Sister Mary Ann Walsh (until recently the communications director for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops). Sisiter Joan Marie has "no learning curve before her" because she's been active with LCWR for over 15 years. She brings background and personal qualities that will help LCWR address both Vatican issues and the needs of the congregations it serves.
Welcome to newly appointed LCWR Executive Director Sister Joan Marie Steadman! She will assume the position on Janaury 1, 2015, after Sister Janet Mock's historic term ends. Sister Joan Marie, a member of the Sister of the Holly Cross of Notre Dame, Indiana, has served in leadership of her community, the Sisters of the Holy Cross of Notre Dame, Indiana, as well as in many other ministries and on boards of directors. LCWR's announcement gives a glimpse: "associate director of healthcare ethics at the Markula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University; vice-president for mission at Holy Cross Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah; regional executive team member at Holy Cross Health Services of Utah; pastoral associate at St. Therese Parish, Fresno, California, and St. Elizabeth Parish, Richfield, Utah; novice director for her community, and administrator and teacher in several elementary and secondary schools. Sister Joan Marie holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Saint Mary College, Notre Dame, Indiana, and a master of arts degree in spirituality from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."
Fall 2014 report from Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate describes how congregations have responded to declining numbers (reorganizing, merging, etc.), and gives a much more complete and nuanced look at the numbers. The numbers do show overall decline, but the patterns vary by congregation. Similar numbers of new members are coming to LCWR congregations and to the congregations of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. This picture is quite different from the way the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has presented the situation. Previously we provided the link to NCR's coverage of the report, like "Three stats and a map."
10/24/14 - US Catholic Mission Association presents its 2014 Mission Award to LCWR. Photos, more.
10/9/14 - Dec. 1 trial is scheduled for rare allegations of sexual abuse by women religious. The case involves 11 Ursulines of the Western Province who were at the St. Ignatius Mission church and school on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana from the 1940s to the early 1970s. It alleges that they "exposed themselves to children, fondled and molested them and forced them to commit sexual acts," committing physical, mental and emotional abuse. "The suit makes similar allegations against 18 priests and brothers, alleging all of the above, as well as rape and sodomy."
Former LCWR president Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell on "Sustaining Transformation" - address delivered April 25, 2014, at the Conference of Religious of Ireland. "[M]assive breakdown and loss can herald approaching transformation.... The paschal mystery we have just celebrated coaches us to approach transition primarily as a birth, not death.... Within us and within all of creation there is an impulse toward greater life, greater complexity, greater wholeness.... [yet] it is also true that very few people like change.... Allowing ourselves to be disturbed and confused is ultimately how we are able to become aware of and to break patterns that can keep us stuck.... Our role as leaders is to call people to something greater and higher through a relationship of affection. The more tumultuous the situation, the more we are in need of one another’s support and affection. Community is critical. Ray Dlugos also points out that “we need to give members the time, space, permission, and guidance to go into their own emotional life and see what it is really revealing about themselves.” Resistance is not to be judged. Change has its own timing. It is like the bud of a rose, gathering energy to open. When the bud has not yet accumulated the energy necessary to open, to try to hurry the blooming does violence to the process. However, once the bud has gathered the energy to open, there is nothing that will stop it.... [A] useful skill to cultivate is non-violent communication. It involves being non-judgmental toward others while also accepting the judgment of others non-violently. In my leadership of LCWR I was so aware of the need for creating an atmosphere for complex conversations that don’t further divide. I found myself exploring more in depth the skills of non-violent communication. Like most of you, I’m sure, I was aware of the basic practice of communicating feelings and expectations without judgment. I knew how to use “I” statements and to choose words carefully. There were two additional principles that I found particularly significant. I learned that non-violent communication often breaks down when the speaker moves into self-judgment. When I begin to judge myself negatively in the conversation, when I disconnect from self-compassion, my ability to communicate non-judgmentally with the other usually begins to fall apart as well. Self-compassion is as important as compassion for the other. The other principle I found helpful was that of non-violent listening in addition to non-violent speaking. When another person speaks verbally attacks or condemns me, non-violent listening tries to hear not the judgment but the feelings beneath it and the possible source of those feelings.... The transformation that happens in us is, again, more like allowing, being available, surrendering to the reshaping that the Spirit brings about, usually through life as it comes to us. We can be tempted in times of loss and chaos to try harder and to do more, but what is needed is the opposite. We need to slow down and to go deeper, to carve out space and time, to be with the fertile but difficult emptiness, the deep power of letting go from which hope arises."
Oct. 2014 - Former LCWR president Dominican Sister Mary Hughes joins LCWR staff as Director of Transitional Services for congregations whose ministerial contributions may be drawing to completion. She will provide pastoral and creative practical support for congregations in their last generations.
Aug. 2014 - LCWR's video tribute to executive director and St. Joseph Sister Janet Mock is both love-letter and, taken thoughtfully, a how-to guide for inspired, inspiring leadership.
Catching up - 9/23/14 - Pope Francis names 5 women to International Theological Commission. Max before has been 2 women on 16-person group. One of the women is from the USA: Sr. Prudence Allen, RSM, was a prominent contributor to the book Foundations of Religious Life by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious; Sr. Prudence is former chair of the philosophy department at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, now a member of the chaplaincy team at Lancaster University, England. The other women are Tracey Rowland (Dean, John Paul II Institute for Family and Marriage, Melbourne), Moira Mary McQueen (Director of Canadian Bioethics Institute, St Michael's University), Marianne Schlosser (University of Viena), Slovenian Sister Alenko Arko (Loyola Community, now in Russia). (Thanksk to Sr. Laurel M. O'Neal for that info.)
10/9/14 - Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, FL, in this blog post, writes with bold and loving wisdom about LCWR and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, starting with the 3rd paragraph. He honors LCWR's quiet dignity in contrast to CDF's outbursts. He notes that if Pope Francis could bring Israel and Hamas together in mutual respect in the Vatican gardens, surely the church can find a way to address this "family feud." He proposes empowering Archbishop Peter Sartain, "a good, fair, nonideological man," to come up with a truce that the pope can embrace, rather than Archbishop Sartain simply being a delegate of the CDF. As Bishop Lynch says, "If the battle continues, there will be no winners, and I would opine that the Church may well lose more respectability and credibility."
10/9/14 - As we await the Vatican's report on its 2008 investigation (visitation) of US women religious congregations, a new book tells the story from the perspective of the leaders of the congregations that experienced the visitation. "Power of Sisterhood: Women Religious Tell the Story of the Apostolic Visitation," published by University Press of America, was initiated by a group of women religious who were the elected leaders of their communities during the Apostolic Visitation. The book reports on their qualitative and quantitative survey of presidents or major superiors whose communities had undergone the visitation. Order through the publisher for a 30% discount through 12/31/2014. Sr. Jan Cebula reports on the book in NCR's Global Sisters Report. I'm grateful to women religious leaders whose witness to their own story is also in many ways the story of everyone in solidarity with them. Their story is our story.
10/9/14 - An exploring-religious-life experience, and a very important message, from a young woman, Rhonda Miska, who just returned from a mission in Miami as part of her sojourn with the Sisters of the Humility of Mary (an LCWR congregation): How history could repeat itself.
9/30/14 - A different way to explore religious life: a new reality-TV show follows 5 young women as they consider becoming women religious (but none in LCWR-member congregations). It will begin on November 25 on the Lifetime network.
9/24/14 - US women religious congregations are becoming increasingly international. At the same time, some prominent women religious of other countries are sounding a lot like LCWR (but without Vatican reprimands, so far). Spanish Benedictine Sister Teresa Forcades is a forthright and effective force throughout Europe.
9/22/14 - Sr. Mary Ann Walsh (until she took a new job in August, she was spokesperson for the US Bishops): "How Should the CDF Treat the Nuns? 'Just Say Thank-you.'" As she says, " The latest controversy between the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) may be the most ill-fated controversy ever launched across the Tiber. For sure, the Vatican is in an awkward position" - which she then details, beautifully.
Good intro to the Religious Formation Conference on 7/10/14. RFC is celebrating 60 years of support to the formation of women and men religious with "From the Center to the Periphery: Relocating the Prophetic Witness of Religious Life." Dawn Cherie Araujo's story in NCR's Global Sisters Report notes that "Few Catholics have even heard of it. But since 1954, the conference has been steadily tackling the biggest challenges in formation for religious life... stressing a focus on both initial and lifelong formation, taking on topics such as aging well and living in an intercultural environment, which religious may experience both as their missions expand and as their congregations merge and condense."
9/18/14 - Sr. Elizabeth Johnson & Jesuit Fr. James Martin talk about Jesus tonight - 6:30PM ET - will be live-streamed at bit.ly/Zrye3x
9/17-10/22/14 -Meet up with Nuns on the Bus, riding for "We the People, We the Voters" - see schedule for Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Colorado. Read blog from the bus by Sr. Jan Cebula.
9/18/14 - Three women religious are awarded 2014 Lumen Christi award from Catholic Extension Society for their work building a vibrant Catholic community in one of the most impoverished places along the Mexican border. In honoring Sister Carolyn Kosub, Sister Emily Jocson and Sister Fatima Santiago, the Catholic Extension society notes, "When people understand that they are more than their circumstances, true change becomes possible. With their deep devotion to the poor, the sisters have vividly demonstrated how faith communities can transform society. As one Penitas resident said, 'Having this church, the community center and these sisters here with us is to have the presence of God among us.'”
9/2/14 - Cardinal Muller says Vatican must "help LCWR rediscover identity." David Gibson of Religion News Service reports: "'Above all we have to clarify that we are not misogynists, we don't want to gobble up a woman a day!' Cardinal Gerhard Müller told L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper, in the edition published on Monday." Cardinal Muller seems to characterize LCWR as a minor organization rather than the conference whose members (leaders of their congregations nationwide) represent 80% of US women religious. He said LCWR orders "have no more vocations and risk dying out." Gibson notes that "Conservative critics of the LCWR point to steep declines in the ranks of their member congregations and say their progressive approach in recent decades is to blame. The LCWR communities are aging rapidly and drawing few new members, and critics say that is not the case in communities belonging to a rival, conservative umbrella group, the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, that was established by Rome in 1992 as a counterpoint to the LCWR. But research shows that in fact the LCWR and the CMSWR, which represents about 20 percent of women's religious orders in the U.S., are drawing about the same number of new postulants and both face similar challenges of a declining and aging membership."
9/2/14 - New book "If Nuns Ruled the World" by Jo Piazza - stories of "10 sisters on a mission" - sounds like a great read about women religious who inspire in many ways. Get a quick look via Nicholas Kristof column "Sister Acts."
9/2/14 - New report has fascinating stats re nun trends by country, openness to being a nun by over/under age 30, much more. About the same percentage of LCWR & CMSWR* institutes have no one in formation right now. (CMSWR - Congregation of Major Superiors of Women Religious)
9/1/14 - "Examples of Integrity: Leadership lessons from Roman Catholic nuns" by Karen Vernal in Milwaukee Biz News. Great that business news is covering this radical way of leadership!
8/31/14 - The Great Nunquisition: Why the Vatican Is Cracking Down on Sisters - by Jo Piazza in TIME. "Today's generation of nuns are progressive women, two things the Church isn't used to."
8/30/14 - "It is certain, many have reached their breaking point and despair is setting in," write the Iraqi Dominican sisters
August 30th 2014 Weakened and Impoverished
We entered the fourth week of displacement. Yet, there is nothing promising at all. The Iraqi government has not done anything to regain the Christian towns back from the IS. Likewise, the Kurdish government, apart from allowing us to enter their province, has not offered any aid, financial or material, leaving us in the streets, and making the church take full responsibility of us all. Thanks to the Church of Iraq in Kurdistan, who opened their halls and centres to provide shelters. Yet, the number of refugees was so large that the Kurdish government had to face the stark reality and open their schools to provide additional shelter for refugees.
We hear a lot about world governments and organizations sending financial aid to Iraq, but the refugee gets the least –we do not know or understand why. People lost almost everything; they cannot even afford to buy milk or formula for their children. What saddens us most is that, only one month ago, these people were the most educated in the country and among those most likely to build a life for themselves and their family, and now they do not have enough money in their pockets to survive the day. Christians became accustomed to investing their money in businesses, shops, fields, buildings…etc, to build their communities. Leaving their towns meant leaving everything they had been working for all their lives. Yet, amidst losing everything, accepting their lost dignity, is the most difficult loss they may experience. Some have found shelter in tents, others in schools, still others in church halls and gardens. They wait to be fed, or given food to cook; elderly are not being taken care of properly; children are living in unhealthy conditions; families have lost their privacy; women are exposed in these places; men have no jobs in a culture where a man is expected to support his families. Refusing to live without dignity, more and more people think of immigrating. Whoever owns a car or gold, sells them to buy a plane ticket out of the country. Needless to say, the buyers in Kurdistan are taking advantage and do not take into consideration the devastation these refugees face.
Christians in Iraq are known for their faithfulness and peaceful way of living among others.... more
Is the world deaf and blind? ...It is certain, many have reached their breaking point and despair is setting in. Maybe immigrating is the only way to stop living in such a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. People cannot endure this persecution, marginalization, contempt, and rejection anymore. If there is any other way, besides immigration, please let us know. Otherwise, please help people get out of the country, by seeking asylum, according to the UN law.
Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena –Iraq.
8/28/14 - "We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food too. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our [non-governmental organization] team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it's staff in Erbil. Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!" - an email to someone in Solidarity with Sisters from a friend doing humanitarian assistance work in Iraq
8/28/14 - "The very existence of Christians is at stake in several Arab countries -- notably in Iraq, Syria and Egypt." Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs from the Middle East met outside Beirut with the United Nations' special coordinator in Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the Middle East denounced attacks on Christians and called upon the international community to work toward eradicating terrorist groups.
The patriarchs met Aug. 27 at the Maronite Catholic patriarchate at Bkerke, north of Beirut, for a special summit to address the crisis in the region. They were later joined by the United Nations' special coordinator in Lebanon and the ambassadors of the five permanent member-countries of the U.N. Security Council.
"The very existence of Christians is at stake in several Arab countries -- notably in Iraq, Syria and Egypt -- where they have been exposed to heinous crimes, forcing them to flee," the patriarchs said in a statement after the summit and meeting with diplomats.
They lamented the indifference of both Islamic authorities and the international community over attacks against Christians, who have been in the region for 2,000 years.
"What is painful is the absence of a stance by Islamic authorities, and the international community has not adopted a strict stance either," the patriarchs said.
"We call for issuing a fatwa (Islamic religious ruling) that forbids attacks against others," they said.
8/28/14 - Why are we silencing women (and lay) preachers? asks Sr. Christine Schenk in NCR. Did you know that some dioceses have 40-yr traditions of routine preaching by lay ministers, including many women? And that some of them have recently abolished this tradition?
8/27/14 - Raymond A. Schroth on "The Battle of the Nuns" in America magazine - Nuns are now part of USA consciousness in a new way, recognized as leaders intellectually and on social justice issues. Their style and substance is similar to Pope Francis' - but he still hasn't lifted the mandate for LCWR reform. Schroth quotes the Harper's article below by Mary Gordon: "In fairness to Francis, she says, the church’s male leadership and its women religious have clashed throughout history. In a fascinating two pages she summarizes the relationship." Examples include Hildegarde of Bingen and foundresses of women's congregations. Why do sisters stay, in the face of all this? Again quoting Mary Gordon: she asked "a leading nun" who replied, "Why would I leave a way of life that has been so fruitful for me, that’s given me so much. That allows me to live in a way that is so right for me? We offer community, we offer a real spirituality, we know how to listen, we know how to be with the dying. It’s very precious. I wouldn’t let it go. And I’d much rather focus on that than on the famous ‘dwindling numbers’ It’s not about numbers. It’s about who we are, what we are and can do in the world."
August 2014 Harper's magazine: "Francis and the Nuns: Is the new pope all talk?" by Mary Gordon - available on newsstands, also online and in print to subscribers.
8/26/14 - LCWR Assembly resolutions are now online. - (1) In its resolution on Transition to Renewable Energy Sources, LCWR committed "to use our spiritual, social, and educational resources and our public credibility to promote the national transition from fossil fuel energy sources to renewable energy sources as quickly as possible." (2) In its resolution on the Doctrine of Discovery, the Assembly acted in solidarity with indigenous peoples and asked Pope Francis to formally "repudiate the period of Christian history that used religion to justify political and personal violence against indigenous nations and peoples and their cultural, religious, and territorial identities."
August 2014 - LCWR receives $1.125 million grant to plan for religious life into the future. The Resource Center for Religious Institutes received a related grant, both from the GHR Foundation. As LCWR executive director Sister Janet Mock said in the organization's monthly newsletter, "LCWR has a responsibility to support its members in navigating these next years – to downsize in order to become what religious institutes have been through the centuries: small, liminal groups seeking God, serving the needs of society at the margins, and raising up for the church unaddressed needs.” The newsletter reports that "Currently, there are more than 200 women’s religious institutes that have fewer than 100 members and have a median age of 75 or older. Additional institutes will reach this stage in the near future."
8/23/14 - A new letter from the Dominican Sisters in Iraq shares the awful situation that they and their fellow refugees face, and asks for prayers from us and from the world. Please share this widely.
The Home page lists other recent changes to the website, besides the news here.
After you read the news, consider spending 5 minutes exploring why LCWR is what it is. Use our website resources on contemplation, community, dialogue, prophetic hope, more.
2014 LCWR Assembly & Board meeting – events and speeches (8/12-19/2014, Nashville, TN)8/19/14 - From Assembly: New LCWR Call 2015-2022: LCWR's statement of identity and mission for coming years - "As we live the years ahead, we remain inspired by the radical call of the Gospel, filled with hope, and committed to discerning together the leading of God’s Spirit. Affirming LCWR’s mission and setting direction for the coming years, we embrace our time as holy, our leadership as gift, and our challenges as blessing." - followed by sense of direction for LCWR as ecclesial women, in the world, in the church, leading congregations.
8/18/14 - LCWR press release from 2014 Assembly - "...ongoing conversation with church leadership is key to building effective working relationships that enable both women religious and church leaders to
serve the world. It is our deepest hope to resolve the situation between LCWR and CDF in a way that fully honors our commitment to fulfill the LCWR mission as well as protect the integrity of the organization. We will continue in the conversation with Archbishop Sartain as an expression of
hope..." - more
8/18/14 – Brief lovely overview slide-show of key events of the LCWR Assembly - photos, quotes, and little insights about LCWR. Do you know any other organization that has a formal "thanking and blessing of hotel employees" where they've been meeting?
8/15/14 - Sr. Elizabeth Johnson's address at LCWR Assembly as she accepted LCWR's outstanding leadership award. I esp. loved page 5 onward. She puts everything in such clear context, including the LCWR-Vatican situation. She told the Assembly that "Both of us are caught in a tension not of our own making" with historical, sociological and ecclesiastical roots, but a solution could be found. From Dan Stockman's report in NCR:
“'The investigation’s statements express a vague, overall dissatisfaction and distrust on certain topics, and judgments are rendered in such a way that they cannot be addressed,' she said. 'But your willingness to stay at the table and offer meaningful, honest dialogue is a powerful witness.' Johnson said historically, there have always been tensions between religious communities and the hierarchy because one is based on a radical living of the Gospel and the other is based on administration, which requires order. The issue is also sociological, she said. 'The church did not start out this way, but as an institution, it has evolved a patriarchal structure where authority is executed in a top-down fashion and obedience and loyalty to the system are the greatest of virtues,' Johnson said. Finally, she said, the tensions are ecclesiastical because women religious have undergone the renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council and the hierarchy has not."
8/15 – Transfer of LCWR Leadership
<>·Sisters Sharon Holland (current president), Carol Zinn (past president), and Marcia Allen (president-elect) will work together in the tripartite co-presidency.
<>·Mary Beth Gianoli
<>·Pat Eck
8/15/14 - LCWR Assembly directs Board "to respond to the mandate." See post-Assembly statement.
8/14/14 - Keynote speaker S. Nancy Schreck: However Long the Night - Holy Mystery Revealed in Our Midst - Her full, powerful keynote address of Aug. 14 is here. Her reflection at the Aug. 12 opening session is here. Also in Spanish and in French. Dan Stockman in NCR's Global Sisters Report notes that Archbishop Peter Sartain was in the audience. He reports that "Schreck's nearly hourlong [keynote] talk at many points drew murmurs of assent from the crowd; at others, outright applause."
S. Nancy reflected on the long process of renewal that women religious undertook in implementing Vatican directives, and said that "What all this has done has brought us to a rather odd place in our world and church - and to a clarity of identity and purpose which we cannot expect those who have not taken the journey, and done the work ever be able to understand. Things like the slow and unglamorous miracles of change in both members and the congregation as a whole. The communal sense of longing. It is difficult for others to see that the journey narrows the range of possibilities open to us, and at the same time increases the intensity of the possibilities that are chosen. New paths open toward depth and outward to new horizons. There is an additional reality. Many keepers of the great religious traditions now seem frightened by what we have come to know, they seem to find it difficult to converse with the complexities and hungers of our vision." She quotes Sr. Miriam Ambrosio CRB, at the 2013 meeting of international women religious in Rome: "Religious belong on the margins, with other marginated people..." S. Nancy continues: "The experience is like that of the biblical exile in which we have been so changed that we are no longer at home in the culture and church in which we find ourselves. This is not a bad thing - it is simply how God works at times. What is important is that we use well the wisdom we have gained in being so created, especially in solidarity with others in exile."
She describes the present as a "middle place" where "much of what was is gone and what is coming is not yet clear." "What we try to do in the middle space is to describe events that shatter all that one knows about the world and the familiar ways of operating within it. What if from this place we simply witness to and provide testimony about this experience, with special attention to truths that often lie buried and are covered over.Stockman reports that "many LCWR members say privately they don't know how the group can assent and maintain its integrity." Scheck invites them to mature action: "The church and the world need our mature love. The journey through the mysteries of our time has carved too deep a path into the soul or essence of our lifestyle and our congregations for us to pretend to be other than we are.... we call attention to things, things others might bury, or are afraid to face...."
She returns to the theme of the Biblical exiles, where "The new context for faith was one of free fall without a discernible bottom. Now if the story were to end here it would be a tragedy. But what God creates among the people is a remnant, a small group who found themselves in a prophetic role as they related to the dominant powers of politics and religion. Their prophetic task was to articulate hope, the prospect of a fresh historical possibility assured by God's good governance of the future even when the vision of what that will look like is not clear..."
"So this is our work now in religious life. To hold the radical dream of Jesus for our world: both by doing urgent advocacy for critical causes, and equally urgent is the nurture of our imagination in which possibility is uttered, thoughts beyond our thoughts are thought, and ways beyond our ways are known. In such a time, walking by sight is likely a return to old ways that have failed. Walking by faith is to seek a world other than the one from which we are swiftly being ejected."
"Mature love is able to speak the truth, it does not pretend so as to impress, it cannot go back to holding things it no longer treasures. Mature love is courageous, it is not self righteous or rude, not boastful or arrogant. It does not lose itself in the other, it stands in its integrity and acts with courage for the well being of others. Mature love can claim when the old ways are not working any more. Mature love knows it's true identity and acts on it. To do anything less would cost it its soul and reason for being."
8/13/14 - Sister Carol Zinn's presidential address -- After all listened to the song When I said 'I do' by Clint Black, Sr. Carol said, "All our religious lives we’ve been singing that depth of fidelity, haven’t we, since we said our 'yes', til the end of all time? We gather here as faithful women of the Gospel, disciples of Christ and daughters of the Church whom we love. We’re faithful citizens of this country and the planet. We’re faithful contemplatives in action, carriers of our founding charisms and faithful partners with our Trinitarian God. This Assembly comes at a time when our consciousness is increasingly heightened to the lamentations of our world, country, Church, and vocation. And we are called to stand in those lamentations singing the music in God’s Heart." She used "five elements of music as metaphor for the song we're called to sing." Reflecting on melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, and silence, she raises core questions about how to sing God's song, and how well women religious (and we, I would add) currently do this. Eloquent and inviting contemplation, it's powerful context for the questions that LCWR faces. Also in Spanish and French.
8/14/14 - LCWR chooses S. Marcia Allen as president-elect - LCWR chose S. Marcia Allen, a Sister of St. Joseph of Concordia, KS, as its president-elect. She will serve in the LCWR tripartite presidency team with past president S. Carol Zinn and current president S. Sharon Holland. In her presentation to the Assembly, she reflected on US women religious on the US western frontier: "As we women religious moved west we moved away from the norm for women, especially the norm for women religious. There, where no structures for decorum, no mores for correct behavior or attitudes for women existed, religious women were forced to make up their religious life as they went. It was a matter of survival in order to proceed with the work to which they were sent. Moving west meant creating religious life outside church and congregational structures and expectations. They, like other frontier women, had to reinvent themselves in order to do what they had to do. We are the beneficiaries of these women – frontier women who had to think for themselves, achieve their mission in unfriendly circumstances and keep their charism’s spirit alive by inventing new ways to be religious. This is one of the enormous factors for why women’s idea of obedience is so different from that of the ecclesiastical church for and in which we live and work."
Lovely video titled Pleiades, used at LCWR Assembly. (Assembly began on the night of the annual Pleiades meteor shower; also feast of St. Clare.)
Lively, thoughtful video titled Where Is Matt?, used at LCWR Assembly. You can read the beautiful lyrics but you need to watch the Where is Matt? video to get the point.
2014 LCWR Assembly & Board meeting – Media Coverage, Blogs, Tweets8/22/14 – NCR summary of entire Assembly, reported by Dan Stockman and Dawn-Cherie Araujo: “LCWR: business as usual despite cloud of Vatican mandate”
8/16/14 - Nicholas Kristof: We may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns - Great column, titled Sister Acts. Introducing the upcoming book If Nuns Ruled the World by Joanna Piazza, Nicholas Krisfof writes in the New York Times (and the links are his): "One of the most erroneous caricatures of nuns is that they are prim, Victorian figures cloistered in convents. On the contrary, I’ve become a huge fan of nuns because I see them so often risking their lives around the world, confronting warlords, pimps and thugs, while speaking the local languages fluently. In a selfish world, they epitomize selflessness and compassion. There are also plenty of formidable nuns whom even warlords don’t want to mess with, who combine reverence with ferocity, who defy the Roman Catholic Church by handing out condoms to prostitutes to protect them from H.I.V. (They surely don’t mention that to the bishops.)" Piazza's book will profile ten nuns, including profiles is Sister Megan Rice, Sister Jeannine Gramick, and Sister Madonna Buder.
Kristof concludes: "Forgive us for having sinned and thought of nuns as backward, when, in fact, they were among the first feminists. And, in a world of narcissism and cynicism, they constitute an inspiring contingent of moral leaders who actually walk the walk. So a suggestion: How about if the Vatican spends less time investigating nuns and the public spends less time mocking nuns — and we all spend more time emulating nuns?"
8/16/14 - No coverage of the Assembly by Catholic News Service?? - If it's out there, I can't find it. CNS is an editorially and financially independent part of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
8/16/14 - Another take on the Assembly, from Religion News Service The Religion News Service report, by Heidi Hall, spends little time on the Assembly itself. It quotes Sister Elizabeth Johnson ("...the waste of time on this investigation is unconscionable.") and Jesuit father Bruce Morrill ("It’s unlikely the sides can come to a solution. As far as the U.S. bishops and Vatican officials are concerned, this is not a debate. The hierarchy expects the women religious to obey their directives.”) Hall comments that "At the conflict’s heart is a difference in approach to hierarchical chain of command: the top-down, morals-emphasizing Vatican versus the collegial, social-justice oriented nuns."
8/15/14 - LCWR passes renewable energy resolution, sees urgent need for change -- As reported by Dawn Cherie Araujo of NCR's Global Sisters Report: "'We feel that the congregations of Catholic sisters in the United States -- which are 55,000 people -- have a good deal of experience with education and social change on many fronts,' said Claire McGowan, a Dominican Sister of Peace from Bardstown, Ky. “'If that group were to exercise its leadership to involve all of the sisters in educating the public about the crisis that we’re in,' she said, 'that would be a significant contribution to the movement that’s going on to awaken our country and the world to the absolute necessity of transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy.... We have a very short window -- five to six years -- to change directions away from fossil fuels and toward renewable fuels. If we go any longer than that, there are irreversible feedback loops in the climate that we will not be able to undo.'” [We will add the resolution itself when LCWR publishes it.]
8/15/14 - NCR reports on new LCWR leaders, has quotes from Archbishop Sartain & sisters -- Sister Marcia Allen is now LCWR president-elect as Sister Sharon Holland becomes president and Sister Carol Zinn becomes past president, in the LCWR three-part presidency. The report from Dan Stockman of NCR's Global Sisters Report adds comments from those at the Assembly (more in his report):
"While [Archbishop J. Peter] Sartain said he and LCWR have an agreement to speak only to each other about the doctrinal assessment, he did tell NCR he is always impressed by the warm, personal relationship he feels at each assembly he attends. 'I’m very pleased with the gracious welcome I’ve received,' Sartain said. 'It really is a pleasure to get to know sisters individually and learn about each of their communities. And I’m always struck by how many I know personally from my years in the ministry -- it’s great to be able to see them again and check in with them and see how they’re doing.'”
“We listened to each other, we prayed, we reflected, we laughed,” said Sr. Kathleen Phelan, a Dominican from Sinsinawa, Wis. “We were deeply touched, but I think we’re determined as women religious in the United States to be together in moving forward.”...
Sister Mary Johnstone: “I’ll certainly take back some of the challenges they gave us,” she said, “The call to be leaders -- to really look at that from a contemplative stance -- to be presence to those that are marginalized.”
8/15/14 - LCWR Assembly drew one demonstrator protesting handling of sexual abuse by nuns
8/14/14 - Conscience, "Sensus Fidei", and LCWR - by S. Christine Schenk - In June 2014, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a document on "the sense of the faithful" (sensus fidei) as an important factor in recognizing truth. S. Christine Schenk writes, "Surprisingly, the Vatican statement provided more encouragement for laity to engage in dialogue with each other and with church leaders than has been the case for a long time. Too often, Catholics raised in our 'pay, pray and obey' Catholic culture are unaware that it is not only our right, but sometimes our duty to speak about matters concerning the good of the church (Code of Canon Law 212.3)." Her excellent article gives a brief tour of the new document and older statements. She includes S. Elizabeth Johnson's guidelines for theological dissent. She notes the irony in the fact that the head of the same CDF that issued this Sensus Fidei document "harshly criticized" LCWR and S. Elizabeth for acting in ways consistent with it: "Insofar as both LCWR and Johnson have 'differed with institutional authorities' in a way that is clearly 'for the church, for the present and future growth of the whole community in truth and love,' we are greatly in their debt. They are showing the rest of us how to 'promote the truth in love' with teaching offices in the church." She concludes, "Do you want to tell Cardinal Müller, or should I?"
Related to Christine Schenk's post - Also note Robert McClory's illuminating recent series of short articles on the Vatican document. Wildly thought-provoking. Each article (one, two, three, four) does something illuminating, different and valuable.
8/15/14 - Eugene Cullen Kennedy says difference in leadership ways is real reason for Vatican-LCWR situation -- Referring to Cardinal Muller's blunt criticism of LCWR when LCWR met with his Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome in April 2014, Eugene Kennedy says: "It might have been better -- and more expressive of his deepest reactions -- if Cardinal Müller had simply said, 'We just don't like the way you decide things.' And perhaps he could have added, 'We never went along with you women thinking for yourselves, and I'm reasserting our male hierarchical control over you.'"
8/14/14 - From Seoul, sisters' message to LCWR -- NCR publisher Tom Fox, in South Korea to cover Pope Francis' visit, met with two Little Servants of the Holy Family who clearly knew names and details of the Vatican-LCWR situation. "I told the sisters I would be reporting our conversation while LCWR is meeting and asked them if they wanted to send a message. At first they said that they wanted to offer a message of support. Then they got more specific. Kang then said I should tell LCWR that the organization's decision would have a personal impact on her life. 'It will affect me,' she said. 'Tell them that I think that LCWR is a breakthrough group,' Jin said, 'and, as such, it is for all the sisters in the world. It has shown us a way forward, a way to think and to act in a proactive – not reactive way. That’s what I want them to know.'"
8/14/14 - Learning from a different definition of leadership -- Thoughtful reflections from Dawn Cherie Araujo, reporter with NCR's Global Sisters Report. E.g., "When I interviewed for my position at GSR, Sr. Jan Cebula, our U.S. sisters liaison, told me that religious life was not a club – it was a way of life. I thought I understood what she meant, but listening to Conway yesterday made me realize that I hadn’t quite gotten it yet. These countercultural choices are not the result of adhering to a philosophy or a leadership model; they come from a reality paradigm that is fundamentally different."
8/13/14 - Report on the 8/13 Assembly session -- Dan Stockman of NCR's Global Sisters Report summarizes the first full day of the 2014 LCWR Assembly. This includes a presentation on discernment; Sister Carol Zinn's presidential address; and a panel on leadership and the contemplative process. Stockman writes, "Wednesday morning's session began with an examination of the decision-making process LCWR uses: contemplation, observation and exploration, reflection and dialogue, and finally, decision and action. The process is in stark contrast to the hierarchical decision-making process used by the Catholic church. Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain listened intently as facilitators Catherine Bertrand of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and Mary Jo Nelson of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters explained how truly listening to others and reflecting on their thoughts can change your thinking from individualistic to what is best for the community. Failure to listen, they said, leads to judgment, cynicism and fear." Sister Carol Zinn invited members "to use the principles of music to contemplate how to listen to God." used musical principles as metaphors for the call to contemplative life. In the panel discussion, Sister Nancy Conway commented, "I learned that when we come from a place of deep integrity, it matters to people outside this room. It matters to the dignity of those outside this room who find themselves without a place at the table." In the afternoon, LCWR met in executive session, not open to reporters.
8/13/14 - A bit of the "feel" of the LCWR Assembly -- Dawn Cherie Araujo blogs about the opening session: "...This feeling of gratefulness was reinforced as I sat in the assembly’s opening ceremony last night. To say the experience was surreal would be an understatement: The lights in the ballroom were dimmed..."
8/13/14 - Vatican official gives LCWR Assembly 8 reflection questions -- From NCR's Global Sisters Report from the 2014 LCWR Assembly, by Dawn Cherie Araujo -- "Oblate Fr. Hank Lemoncelli, an undersecretary from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, presented U.S. women religious with a series of questions the Vatican is asking all religious congregations, male and female, to reflect on over the next year....
<>1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.NCR report on the 8/12 opening session, by Dan Stockman of Global Sisters Report. Good background in this report; complements tweets below.
Interview with Sr. Simone Campbell - re LCWR starting at 11:00 on video
8/4/14 - "Cry out, sisters; cry out" say Sisters Joan Chittister and Mary Lou Kownacki in NCR
8/8/14 - "Stakes are high as LCWR heads into annual Assembly" - solid context, lots of quotes; reported by NCR's Dan Stockman & Dawn Cherie Araujo
8/6/14 - "Outside control of LCWR is unacceptable" says Sister Maureen Fiedler in NCR
NCR review of LCWR's book of its presidential addresses: "The sister presidents grapple with ambiguity, menace, promise and survival in their approach to the podium. It's a tall order, well done, and these speeches are superb."
8/5/14 - Re LCWR Assembly 8/12-16:"The women coming to Nashville appear to be of at least two minds,"says NCR editor Tom Fox in a thoughtful analysis and background piece.
Tweets from LCWR Assembly – by NCR’s Global Sisters Report 8/12/14 - Tweets from LCWR Assembly opening session in Nashville, TN - This information is drawn from Twitter on Tuesday evening, relying on tweets from @Dawn_Cherie Araujo of Global Sisters Project:
The 2014 Assembly began about 8:30pm. The theme is "Holy Mystery Revealed in Our Midst." The opening was full of creation images, Genesis, music, dance. Everyone was welcomed by LCWR's current and incoming president (Sisters Carol Zinn & Sharon Holland) and Sister Sharon Sullivan, chairperson of the local LCWR region.
Archbishop J. Peter Sartain was introduced in the opening session; he is the head of the team of three bishops appointed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to oversee and reform LCWR. He was warmly received in coming to the stage; he said he is there "as a brother and a friend." Also from the stage, an official from the Vatican Congregation for Religious (officially the Congregation for Institutes for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, headed by Cardinal Braz de Aviz) suggested some reflection questions for LCWR.
LCWR executive director Janet Mock got a standing ovation as she came to the stage. LCWR president Sister Carol Zinn introduced Thursday’s keynote speaker Sister Nancy Schreck, “highlighting her appropriateness as #LCWR revisits its long-term mission.” (Sister Nancy also happens to be a former LCWR president.) She used Biblical images of light and darkness, emphasizing that darkness is not always evil; e.g., when God tells Abraham and Sarah they will begin a great nation, God tells them to go outside and count the stars.
The evening closed at 9:30. Sister Carol Zinn will give the presidential address tomorrow at 8:45 a.m.
8/13/14 - Tweets from LCWR Assembly in Nashville, TN - Sr. Carol Zinn address, panel reflections
All from NCR's Global Sisters Project - all but two from Dawn Cherie Araujo (@Dawn_Cherie)
Today’s agenda: Zinn’s address and then a panel discussion. Executive sessions are in the afternoon but are closed to the press. #LCWR2014
Loud applause when @sr_simone is introduced as a presenter. Sharon Holland said to hold applause so Zinn can have time to speak.
Catherine Bertrand, an assembly facilitator, says she hopes #LCWR’s move toward contemplative decision-making will be evident.
Bertrand also says this year’s assembly has the potential to be “transformative.”
Bertrand could be referring to Vatican relations, two proposed assembly resolutions or both.
Lots of language now about dialoguing with an “open heart” and “open will,” as well as tapping into the holy mystery.
The sisters are now getting a refresher on deep listening, for “new wisdom and inner clarity.”
#LCWR president Carol Zinn is being introduced and is about to take the stage.
The proposed resolutions are on a transition to renewable energy sources and the repudiation of the doctrine of discovery.
In opening remarks, Zinn highlights the “obscene” accumulation of wealth as poverty widens.
Laughs as Zinn describes #PopeFrancis as either a “Jesuit Franciscan” or “Franciscan Jesuit.”
Regardless of how you phrase it, Zinn emphasizes #PopeFrancis' status as a brother in religious life.
Now we’re listening to @Clint_Black’s “When I Said I Do” as a reflection on mystery revealed. Country music and theology, ya’ll!
#LCWR2014 morning session has Pres. Carol Zinn, SSJ drawing parallel between Clint Black song and fidelity to God, Church and the world.
Zinn: "we've been singing that depth of fidelity haven't we, since we said our 'yes,' 'till the end of all time?
Zinn is now talking through five elements of music that are a metaphor for the song sisters are “called to sing.”
The first element is melody. Zinn: “Maybe we’re merely humming the evolution of human consciousness as a holy sign of the times.”
The second element is harmony. Zinn notes appreciation that sisters are no longer in competition with each other
The third element is rhythm. Zinn: All life is an ongoing series of transformations. We must decide how to participate in change.
Fourth element is timbre. Zinn: As consecrated religious, our timbre is a commitment to community.
Zinn continues: What if our commitment to community broadened to include the full diversity of human community?
Silence is the fifth and final element. Zinn: As we welcome silence, are we ready for new paths of conversion?Zinn: Discernment is a way of life, relationships come before anything and everything else.
A standing ovation for Zinn who closed with a Rilke's "The Unspeaking Center."
After a break, the assembly is reconvening for a panel discussion on experiencing holy mystery.
The panel: Nancy Conway, CSJ; Margaret Ormond, OP; and Ana Lydia Sonera Matos, CDP.
Matos: God is calling us from the future. We have a connection to an evolutionary process
Matos: Questions and answers belong to all sisters.
Ormond: This type of sharing is difficult for me, but who can say no to Janet Mock?
Ormond: We’re taught in scripture that Lady Wisdom is an “unfailing treasure.”
Ormond, quoting Saint Catherine: Wisdom has the ability to contribute more than orthodoxy and doctrine.
Ormond: I pray that discernment and wisdom will be with us throughout this meeting.
Conway: Today, I feel less competent and less driven to lead from a place of competence. Instead, I lean on discernment.
Conway: Rather than focusing on individual problem-solving, sisters are about “love and loving lavishly.”
Conway: The apostolic visitation taught me that our acting with integrity matters to others around us.
Of the speakers so far this week, Nancy Conway has been the most direct in addressing #LCWR’s struggles with the Vatican.
The panel addressed how leaders can discern holy mystery. Nancy Conway, CSJ, was by far the most direct re: the Vatican.
Okay. Press is done for the day. I'm done tweeting until tomorrow morning ... unless something spectacular happens.
8/14/14 – Tweets from LCWR Assembly on keynote by S. Nancy Schreck & presentation on Renewable Energy resolution -- Thanks to @Dawn_Cherie Araujo of NCR's Global Sisters Report: (Just from the tweets, I decided to order my copy on CD. Betty)
It's a few minutes from go time. Nancy Schreck gives the keynote first, and the p.m. is devoted to discussing renewable energy.
Schreck takes the stage. The title of her address is “However Long the Night.”
Schreck: religious often focus on diminishment in congregations, but various forms of diminishment are happening everywhere.
She cites breakdowns in global peace, U.S. politics as examples.
Schreck’s address will focus on three eras: 50 years after Vatican II, today -- the middle space -- and the prophetic task.
Schreck: Post-Vatican II sisters “shed protective layers” and immersed themselves in the darkness of life on the margins.
Schreck: Sisters are not yet brave, focused, free enough. But we are faithful.
Schreck: Have not religious orders moved too far to the middle, being “tamed” by the institutional church?
Schreck get applause for saying sisters cannot backtrack from their prophetic truth to a place of darkness.
“We cannot un-know what we know," she said.
Schreck: We will sell our souls if we stay in a place of wanting to be in the mainstream.
Schreck: Through conformity, we would be misunderstanding the tradition of exile.
Schreck: What if, from this difficult place, we simply witness to and provide testimony about this experience?
To clarify, by "difficult place," Schreck means a time of diminishing organizations, structures and changing worldviews.
Schreck: In today’s middle space, we are to call attention to what others may bury or are afraid to face.
The sub-head of the third section of Schreck’s speech: The church deserves our mature love and commitment.
There’s hope in a biblical tradition of God creating prophetic remnants apart from “dominant powers of politics and religion.”
Schreck: Walking by faith is to seek a world other than the one from which we are swiftly being ejected.
Schreck: Growing in times of difficulty creates mature love, which is neither righteous nor rude.
Schreck: We are coming through this night of mystery and can say, "We are no longer girls."
Schreck: Mature love can claim when the old ways are not working anymore.
Shreck's speech ends with a standing ovation and the loudest applause of the week.
Right now, #LCWR members are silently answering reflection questions based on Schreck's address.
I won't tweet the questions word-for-word, but the general idea is to do an evaluation of their prophetic identity.
We're on break until 4:45 EDT, but if you miss me, you can read my thoughts on yesterday's #LCWR2014 here: http://bit.ly/1mNnOQD
#LCWR releases a statement about sexual abuse, expressing hope for justice. It also mentions a @caracatholic inventory used in '05-'08.
#LCWR member congregations were encouraged to use the inventory to "evaluate" policies and procedures.
A presentation on renewable energy is about to start. Full disclosure: I am eating gelato whilst tweeting. The sisters approve.
Loretto co-member Susan Classen: is God’s love present in a flourishing earth or in a destroyed earth?
Sr. Claire McGowan: The climate news in just the last four months should be enough to cause a drastic change in direction.
McGowan: We are here to say that #climatechange is the largest crisis ever faced by humanity.
Sr. Maureen Fiedler: Fracking is dangerous to local communities and local ecologies. We all lose.
A KY landowner has taken the stage to talk about her personal experience with the Bluegrass Pipeline.
For background: I wrote about the Loretto community and the Bluegrass Pipeline in May: http://bit.ly/1BhQevL
Classen and McGowan are back on stage talking hope and solutions.
McGowan: Dozens of religious congregations have already adopted renewable energy technologies.
McGowan: Who better than #LCWR members to face this challenge?
The sisters are now reflecting on how to respond to the presentation when they return home. But that’s it! See you tomorrow!
8/15/14 – Tweets from LCWR Assembly on LCWR strategic plan and Transfer of officers - Thanks to @Dawn_Cherie Araujo:
Good morning! A discussion of #LCWR’s seven-year plan is about to commence. Stay tuned for details!
In other news, I won’t be here for Elizabeth Johnson’s speech tonight. But @DanStockman will have a full report for you tomorrow.
#LCWR president Sr. Carol Zinn is on stage to present the seven-year strategic plan. All LCWR regions contributed to the plan.
Zinn: This statement is the result of six years of thinking.
Sisters are at tables, and each table is discussing the plan right now. Afterward, each table will be invited to comment.
One table says the plan isn’t exciting on paper but will be exciting to flesh out.
Several tables have expressed a desire to adapt the plan for their congregations. They’ve also applauded its theme of solidarity.
The plan was accepted.
Sr. Nancy Schreck is now presenting her final reflections.
Schreck: Living in faith is about always moving in a process of maturing love.
Schreck: My advice to all of you is to keep listening to the voice of the holy mystery.
Schreck: One of the most critical things we can do as leaders is enter the cave of darkness where wisdom is found.
Schreck’s examples of wisdom in darkness: Jonah, Jesus in the tomb, Paul’s blindness is Damascus.
Schreck: Don’t only be a visitor to suffering. Find a way to make true connections with those who are suffering.
Schreck: We should send the sisters in Missouri, sisters who know how to be peacemakers, to #Ferguson.
Time for lunch! There’s a closed concluding process later (no press!), but I’ll be back at 2:40 for the transfer of power.
Afternoon:
#LCWR just thanked regional chairs and board members who leaving their positions and now are welcoming new leaders.
Now on stage: former prez. Florence Deacon, outgoing prez. Zinn, new prez. Sharon Holland and new president-elect Marcia Allen.
Marcia Allen, @CSJ_Kansas, accepts her nomination as president-elect, and now everyone is being dismissed for a break.
And now I'm headed home! It has been a pleasure sharing with all of you! Keep in touch at http://globalsistersreport.org !
And remember to look for a write-up of Elizabeth Johnson's speech at http://ncronline.org .
Older - LCWR is searching for Exec Director starting January 2015. Sr. Janet Mock will complete her term 12/31/14.
As you read the news, consider spending 5 minutes exploring why LCWR is what it is. Use our website resources on contemplation, community, dialogue, prophetic hope, more.8/13/14 - At LCWR Assembly, Archbishop Sartain is there "as brother and friend"NCR report on the 8/12 opening session, by Dan Stockman of Global Sisters Report. Good background in this report; complements tweets below.
Christians in Iraq in crisis - here are letters from Dominican sisters in IraqMost recent, August 8, 2014: "Help us stop the evil."
Assembly prep: Deeper roots of LCWR-Vatican theological issues - Robert McCloryPart of the Vatican's issue with LCWR is that its Assembly speakers are sometimes theologians who are exploring God's presence in nontraditional language. Can only the hierarchy examine doctrine? Can doctrine ever change? In a short 5/28/14 summary in NCR, Robert McClory reviews several important 2011 articles and responses by John E. Thiel, past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, in Commonweal, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, in America. He then looks to Vatican II for further insight.
McClory also has an truly excellent series of short articles on the Vatican document on "The Sense of the Faithful" (Sensus Fidei) issued in June 2014 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the same Vatican organization that mandated LCWR to be "reformed" under the oversight of three bishops). Wildly thought-provoking. Excellent documentation of the strong traditional role of laity in helping the church to discern what is theologically true. Each article (one, two, three, four) does something illuminating, different and valuable.7/3/14 - Vatican appoints woman to head one of the 7 Pontifical Universities in RomeNCR reports that "The Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education has appointed a woman to lead one of Rome's seven pontifical universities, the special academic institutions established directly under the authority of the pope. Franciscan Sr. Mary Melone has been appointed rector of the Pontifical University Antonianum, the Roman university run by one of the main orders of male Franciscans, the Order of Friars Minor. The appointment was announced Thursday on the Friars website." On the role of women in the church, in 2011 Sister Mary Melone saw "a sign of the times from which there is no return. It is no pretense. I believe this depends a great deal on us women too. It is us who should get the ball rolling.... A great deal more can be done but there is change, you can see it, feel it." Does the Church need gender quotas? “No, it doesn’t need quotas, it needs collaboration. And collaboration needs to grow!”
7/3/14 - Map shows where child immigrants to USA are coming fromLCWR's recent statement highlights the crisis of 90,000 unaccompanied children crossing the USA border in 2014 - with increasing numbers of girls as gender-based violence increases in Central America, and with total child immigrants doubling each year since 2011. The US Department of Homeland Security says they are fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, per Pew Research Center's new analysis and map of where children flee from.
6/17/14 - Retired Archb. Fiorenza hopes for LCWR "dialogue," meeting with Pope In an interviewwith Faith in Public Life, retired Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston was asked about Pope Francis' continuance of the oversight of LCWR directed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 4/18/12. Archb. Fiorenza replied: "I think if Pope Francis had stopped the process it would have been perceived as him disagreeing with Benedict so I’m not really surprised the oversight (of LCWR) continued. But my hope is there is much more dialogue going on, and I hope they have a chance to meet with Pope Francis. Hopefully, there will be more voices coming forward among bishops who want to get this issue resolved. The Church has grown and been strengthened in this country because of women religious. They have been doing what Pope Francis has been talking about in the streets of the world, in the prisons. They have done that far more effectively than anyone else in the church."6/13/14 - Pope Francis interview in Spanish paper La VanguardiaPope Francis was asked about diverse subjects - Middle East peace, the rich and the poor, the World Cup, how he wants to be remembered, more.
5/27/14 - Pope Francis extensive interview on flight home from Holy LandPope Francis spoke about his historic meetings in the Holy Land, Vatican embezzlement, abuse of minors, priestly celibacy, emarried divorced Catholics, reform of the Curia, and more.
6/12/14 - Assoc. of US Priests supports LCWR in letter to Pope FrancisThe Association of U.S. Catholic Priests wrote to Pope Francis on June 2 to express “sadness and dismay” at the release of Cardinal Muller's bluntly negative opening comments from the annual meeting of his Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with LCWR officials. by a Vatican official regarding the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The letter, signed by the AUSCP president, Father David Cooper of Milwaukee, and also by the AUSCP board members, was not released until June 12 to provide "ample time" for Cardinal Muller to receive it. The letter says, “Because the Cardinal Prefect’s remarks were self-confessedly blunt, their release without any reference to LCWR’s views or any inclusion of the subsequent dialogue seems to us to have been a disservice to the process.” It concludes "We pray that abuse of process and persons will not continue in this case or others, but that a genuinely dialogic process, conducted with gentleness and reverence, will bring this issue to a conclusion more in keeping with Acts 15, Vatican II, and your own pastoral approach.”
6/9/14 - NCR report on our conference Spiritual Leadership for Challenging TimesDawn Cherie Araujo of NCR's Global Sisters Report and other NCR staff came to our full-day conference on Spiritual Leadership for Challenging Times at Catholic University on June 7, 2014. Araujo's report in Global Sisters Report gives an overview of the day with quotes from organizers, speakers, and participants. "If you ask lay supporters their thoughts on how the Leadership Conference of Women Religious handled the Vatican’s 2012 statement that it was guilty of undermining church teachings – not to mention the subsequent appointment of Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain to oversee the group’s activities – they’ll tell you how inspired they were by the LCWR’s prayerful, respectful response. That response, many supporters will also tell you, is far from an anomaly, but is rather a manifestation of Catholic sisters’ little recognized style of leadership." The day explored the deep roots of this way of leadership, its congruence with modern science and with new theories of leadership (which it pre-dates), its origins in the 1960s and '70s response to Vatican directives, its current practice in US congregations, and concrete ways that everyone can apply this way of leadership in their own contexts. The conference drew from LCWR's 2014 book, Spiritual Leadership for Challenging Times (reviewed 6/9 in NCR).
Mollie Wilson O'Reilly in Commonweal - thought-provoking perspectives on LCWR & Rome5/29/14 and 6/3/14 - Mollie Wilson O'Reilly in Commonweal: "US Sisters & Holy See: A Culture of Encounter in Action?" and "Reasons to be hopeful about LCWR and CDF" --
- "Why hasn’t Pope Francis stepped in to get the Vatican off the nuns’ backs? ...The fact that he hasn’t, and the scolding the LCWR took from CDF head Cardinal Gerhard Müller in April, has led some to grumble that Francis is all talk. But to wish for the pope to cut short a process that began under his predecessor is to wish for him to play the autocrat, albeit on the side of the angels. Out of shrewdness, indifference, or agreement with the nuns’ critics, Francis seems inclined to let the negotiations continue. And the awkward conversation between the LCWR and the CDF may turn out to be just the kind of encounter the church needs.
- If the CDF is operating on the assumption that everything coming out of the USCCB's doctrinal office is trustworthy, they need someone to tell them otherwise. And if the sisters are going to examine their organization through Rome's eyes, it will be important to clear up whatever is preventing Rome from seeing them clearly. Archbishop Sartain may indeed help the LCWR in their discernment processes going forward. But discernment is not the sole province of the ordained, and the CDF can certainly benefit from the sisters' help, too.
In the major British Catholic periodical The Tablet on May 16, 2014, Margaret Susan Thompson, professor of history at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University with a special focus on US women religious, addresses "What do the US nuns see in conscious evolution?" She writes, "Many women religious are bemused by Cardinal Müller’s apparent belief that the presence of a controversial speaker at an LCWR meeting denotes either endorsement of all the speaker’s ideas or a serious possibility that merely by listening to controversial ideas audience members may be persuaded to 'think dangerous thoughts.' ...The average LCWR member holds one or more postgraduate degrees and is familiar with theoretical and theological complexity. She comes from a culture that celebrates both free speech and academic freedom, and welcomes the challenge of exposure to new concepts, but does not automatically or easily buy into them... Essentially most women Religious in the US, and those who support them, have a very different understanding of 'Church' – and of 'speaking for or with the Church' – than do Cardinal Müller, Archbishop Peter Sartain (the prelate charged with formal oversight of LCWR for a five-year period), and other involved members of the hierarchy. Sisters are used to broadly participatory consultation and consensus-building, not to edicts issued from authority figures, even those they have elected.... Most sisters I has consulted believe that not only hierarchy but patriarchy plays into the current dispute."5/13/14: "Pope Francis agrees w doctrinal assessment of LCWR" - Jamie Manson in NCRColumnist Jamie Manson reviews various papal statements and sources to conclude that it's "Time to face facts: Pope Francis agrees with the doctrinal assessment of LCWR." Excerpt:
"Pope Francis and the women of LCWR share a deeply sacramental understanding of their calling to serve those on the margins of our world. They agree that it is in ministering to the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable that they touch the wounded body of Christ.
Where they seem to disagree sharply, however, is in their understanding of religious life as a prophetic life form. When women religious touch the wounded body of Christ in their work, it breaks open their hearts in a way that compels them to ask deeper theological questions. It gives them the eyes to read the signs of the times and recognize the prophets in their midst. It gives them the courage ask bold new spiritual questions.
Like most popes before him, Francis sees the church as a prophetic voice to the outside world but is far less enthusiastic about the prophetic voices that cry out for justice inside the church. As he told the International Union of Superiors General last May, women religious should put themselves "in an attitude of adoration and service" and find their "filial expression in fidelity to the magisterium." It is an "absurd dichotomy," he said, to think "of following Jesus outside of the church, of loving Jesus without loving the church."
Pope Francis believes women religious should continue to do the work of the church while remaining obedient to the voice of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Women religious, on the other hand, believe their work and their faith demand that they remain radically obedient first and foremost to the voice of God...."
5/13/14: Is LCWR "gnostic" as Card. Muller claims? Barbara Marx Hubbard responds.Cardinal Muller's opening remarks in his April 30, 2014 meeting with LCWR leaders outlined his current major concerns. One is that "For the last several years, the Congregation has been following with increasing concern a focalizing of attention within the LCWR around the concept of Conscious Evolution [particularly] since Barbara Marx Hubbard addressed the Assembly on this topic two years ago.... Again, I apologize if this seems blunt, but what I must say is too important to dress up in flowery language. The fundamental theses of Conscious Evolution are opposed to Christian Revelation and, when taken unreflectively, lead almost necessarily to fundamental errors regarding the omnipotence of God, the Incarnation of Christ, the reality of Original Sin, the necessity of salvation and the definitive nature of the salvific action of Christ in the Paschal Mystery."
Barbara Marx Hubbard responds in NCR that "meeting with so many women religious through LCWR, I see conscious evolution in action. They have been evolving the church and the world for hundreds of years through deep gospel living, a mystical presencing, faithfulness in serving unmet needs, solidarity with Earth, building community as "whole-makers," risk-taking for the sake of the mission, genius for cooperative self-governance and decision making, and above all bringing love and hope for the future into the lives of millions. For me, the most vital source of meaning of conscious evolution is the Catholic understanding of God and Christ as the source of evolution, as its driving force as well as its direction. As Ilia Delio puts it, we experience in evolution the Emergent Christ and God Ahead." Marx Hubbard cites the foundational and current works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, Ilia Delio, OSF, Father Thomas Berry, and many others. She concludes, "the meaning and direction of conscious evolution is, for me, coming to us most clearly from the great modern Catholic theologians and thinkers, And most fundamentally, of course, directly from the New Testament."
5/8/14: courageous, faithful LCWR statement reinforces commitment to dialogue"...The meeting with CDF must be viewed within the context of LCWR’s entire visit to Vatican dicasteries. In our first visit on April 27 to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Monsignor Paul Tigue, Secretary, shared that Pope Francis insists upon creating, as part of the New Evangelization, a culture of encounter, marked by dialogue and discernment. We experienced this culture of encounter in every Vatican office we visited in the Curia, an encounter marked by genuine interaction and mutual respect....
"In our meetings at CDF [the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which issued the April 2012 mandate], LCWR was saddened to learn that impressions of [LCWR] in the past decades have become institutionalized in the Vatican.... During the meeting it became evident that despite maximum efforts through the years, communication has broken down and as a result, mistrust has developed. What created an opening toward dialogue in this meeting was hearing first-hand the way the CDF perceives LCWR. We do not recognize ourselves in the doctrinal assessment of the conference and realize that, despite that fact, our attempts to clarify misperceptions have led to deeper misunderstandings. This is a very complex matter, yet LCWR was heartened by the attempt of both CDF and LCWR to find a way through that honors the integrity and mission of both offices.
"Passion for all that the Church can be deepens our commitment to stay at the table and talk through differences. We want to be part of the universal Church rooted in the Gospel, a Church that hears the cry of the poor and is united in its response. At the same time, we cannot call for peace-making in Syria, the Middle East, in South Sudan, unless we too sit at tables with people who hold varying views and work patiently and consistently for a genuine meeting of minds and hearts.
"In some ways, for LCWR, nothing has changed. We are still under the mandate and still tasked with the difficult work of exploring the meaning and application of key theological, spiritual, social, moral, and ethical concepts together as a conference and in dialogue with the Vatican officials. This work is fraught with tension and misunderstanding. Yet, this is the work of leaders in all walks of life in these times of massive change in the world.
"At our meeting with the CDF officials, we experienced a movement toward honest and authentic conversation on some of the matters that lie at the heart of our faith and our vocation. We have come to believe that the continuation of such conversation may be one of the most critical endeavors we, as leaders, can pursue for the sake of the world, the Church, and religious life. "
5/6/14: NCR publishes overseer-Archbishop Sartain's 5/2 statement that meeting was "frank... open... respectful... helpful" and "I am in full agreement" with Card. Muller's concerns"Cardinal Müller's opening remarks invited a frank and open discussion by those present, and that is what took place in very respectful conversation.... I am in full agreement with the issues raised by the Cardinal and over the past two years have frequently discussed them with LCWR leadership. I look forward to ongoing collaboration with the LCWR in addressing these issues. Over the past two years, the Presidency and I have developed a very good relationship, and it is in the context of that relationship that we will continue to address the important matters raised by Cardinal Müller. Just as he, the other CDF officials, and the Presidency participated in last week's meeting in a very respectful and forthright manner, I know that the continued discussions I and the other Bishop Delegates will have with the LCWR will be undertaken in the same spirit. At the conclusion of our meeting, everyone who took part expressed gratitude for both the frankness and breadth of our conversation, adding that it had been a very helpful meeting...."5/6/14: Cardinal Kasper, the "pope's theologian," downplays Muller remarks, favors dialoguePope Francis has turned to German Cardinal Walter Kasper for a number of important roles. Asked about Cardinal Muller's remarks to LCWR (see 5/5 below), Cardinal Kasper said U.S. Catholics shouldn't be overly concerned, commenting "I also am suspect!" according to NCR. He also said, "If you have a problem with the leadership of the women's orders, then you have to have a discussion with them, you have to dialogue with them, an exchange of ideas. Perhaps they have to change something. Perhaps also the Congregation (for the Doctrine of the Faith) has a little bit to change its mind. That's the normal way of doing things in the church. I am for dialogue. Dialogue presupposes different positions. The church is not a monolithic unity."5/5/14: A personal perspective on the Vatican-LCWR news (Betty's blog)"If Cardinal Muller began with a genuine intention for 'frank and open discussion,' as he said, then was it appropriate for him to start with his honest views, even if they were misunderstandings? I think so. How else can LCWR know what they're dealing with? They've been waiting for two years for this clarity. It seems like a necessary step, in fact. And LCWR leaders know how to meet him with loving candor and how to help the conversation to progress. They know how to create space for the Spirit.... I hope Cardinal Muller will IMMEDIATELY issue an endorsement of the LCWR statement and its report of 'respectful and engaging dialogue.' That would nudge the door open a bit wider for the Holy Spirit."5/5/14: LCWR responds to publication of Vatican remarks critical of LCWRLCWR's brief statement about the April 30, 2014 meeting between LCWR and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concludes: "Cardinal Muller's opening remarks issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith accurately reflect the content of the mandate issued to LCWR in April 2012. As articulated in the Cardinal's statement, these remarks were meant to set a context for the discussion that followed. The actual interaction with Cardinal Müller and his staff was an experience of dialogue that was respectful and engaging."5/5/14: Vatican website publishes the Opening Remarks of Cardinal Muller during the April 30, 2014 annual meeting between LCWR and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he heads. 4/1/14: Sister Simone Campbell on the Pope Francis-President Obama meeting: "Cause for hope"
3/22/14: Pope Francis: The Church needs lay people, they should not be "clericalized" - La Stampa article, Domenico Agasso
Catholic sisters and new Vatican actions to "follow the money" - NCR article by Phyllis Zagano, 3/12/2014
DC-area: "Band of Sisters" will show at AFI Silver Fri., 4/11, 7:15 pm - Let's go see this engaging documentary of how US sisters transformed themselves in the past 50 years!
LCWR "Spiritual Leadership" book is now available! Intelligent, inspiring, good for all leaders and our personal lives, too! With discussion questions by Solidarity with Sisters.
Intricate harmonies for Lent from the nuns at Mary Queen of Apostles - article, samples of their new CD
"Contemplation as a way of being-in-the-world" - an invitation and article from LCWRVatican office says its report on the apostolic visitation of US women's congregations will be public soon
First National Catholic Sisters Week will be March 8-14 as part of women's history month
How do Catholic sisters work to influence the United Nations? A Sister of Mercy's role
Major new survey shows sharp doctrinal differences, by region and country, in the global Church - article, surveySister Helen Prejean on compassionate listening
How do sisters pray? Order your copy of LCWR's pamphlet today! (...and no later than 2/28/14)
As sisters grow older - Two communities of sisters share faith, and a monastery, in New YorkThe Super Bowl, human trafficking, and the School Sisters of Notre Dame
Fall 2014 report from Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate describes how congregations have responded to declining numbers (reorganizing, merging, etc.), and gives a much more complete and nuanced look at the numbers. The numbers do show overall decline, but the patterns vary by congregation. Similar numbers of new members are coming to LCWR congregations and to the congregations of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. This picture is quite different from the way the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has presented the situation. Previously we provided the link to NCR's coverage of the report, like "Three stats and a map."
10/24/14 - US Catholic Mission Association presents its 2014 Mission Award to LCWR. Photos, more.
10/9/14 - Dec. 1 trial is scheduled for rare allegations of sexual abuse by women religious. The case involves 11 Ursulines of the Western Province who were at the St. Ignatius Mission church and school on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana from the 1940s to the early 1970s. It alleges that they "exposed themselves to children, fondled and molested them and forced them to commit sexual acts," committing physical, mental and emotional abuse. "The suit makes similar allegations against 18 priests and brothers, alleging all of the above, as well as rape and sodomy."
Former LCWR president Franciscan Sister Pat Farrell on "Sustaining Transformation" - address delivered April 25, 2014, at the Conference of Religious of Ireland. "[M]assive breakdown and loss can herald approaching transformation.... The paschal mystery we have just celebrated coaches us to approach transition primarily as a birth, not death.... Within us and within all of creation there is an impulse toward greater life, greater complexity, greater wholeness.... [yet] it is also true that very few people like change.... Allowing ourselves to be disturbed and confused is ultimately how we are able to become aware of and to break patterns that can keep us stuck.... Our role as leaders is to call people to something greater and higher through a relationship of affection. The more tumultuous the situation, the more we are in need of one another’s support and affection. Community is critical. Ray Dlugos also points out that “we need to give members the time, space, permission, and guidance to go into their own emotional life and see what it is really revealing about themselves.” Resistance is not to be judged. Change has its own timing. It is like the bud of a rose, gathering energy to open. When the bud has not yet accumulated the energy necessary to open, to try to hurry the blooming does violence to the process. However, once the bud has gathered the energy to open, there is nothing that will stop it.... [A] useful skill to cultivate is non-violent communication. It involves being non-judgmental toward others while also accepting the judgment of others non-violently. In my leadership of LCWR I was so aware of the need for creating an atmosphere for complex conversations that don’t further divide. I found myself exploring more in depth the skills of non-violent communication. Like most of you, I’m sure, I was aware of the basic practice of communicating feelings and expectations without judgment. I knew how to use “I” statements and to choose words carefully. There were two additional principles that I found particularly significant. I learned that non-violent communication often breaks down when the speaker moves into self-judgment. When I begin to judge myself negatively in the conversation, when I disconnect from self-compassion, my ability to communicate non-judgmentally with the other usually begins to fall apart as well. Self-compassion is as important as compassion for the other. The other principle I found helpful was that of non-violent listening in addition to non-violent speaking. When another person speaks verbally attacks or condemns me, non-violent listening tries to hear not the judgment but the feelings beneath it and the possible source of those feelings.... The transformation that happens in us is, again, more like allowing, being available, surrendering to the reshaping that the Spirit brings about, usually through life as it comes to us. We can be tempted in times of loss and chaos to try harder and to do more, but what is needed is the opposite. We need to slow down and to go deeper, to carve out space and time, to be with the fertile but difficult emptiness, the deep power of letting go from which hope arises."
Oct. 2014 - Former LCWR president Dominican Sister Mary Hughes joins LCWR staff as Director of Transitional Services for congregations whose ministerial contributions may be drawing to completion. She will provide pastoral and creative practical support for congregations in their last generations.
Aug. 2014 - LCWR's video tribute to executive director and St. Joseph Sister Janet Mock is both love-letter and, taken thoughtfully, a how-to guide for inspired, inspiring leadership.
Catching up - 9/23/14 - Pope Francis names 5 women to International Theological Commission. Max before has been 2 women on 16-person group. One of the women is from the USA: Sr. Prudence Allen, RSM, was a prominent contributor to the book Foundations of Religious Life by the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious; Sr. Prudence is former chair of the philosophy department at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, now a member of the chaplaincy team at Lancaster University, England. The other women are Tracey Rowland (Dean, John Paul II Institute for Family and Marriage, Melbourne), Moira Mary McQueen (Director of Canadian Bioethics Institute, St Michael's University), Marianne Schlosser (University of Viena), Slovenian Sister Alenko Arko (Loyola Community, now in Russia). (Thanksk to Sr. Laurel M. O'Neal for that info.)
10/9/14 - Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, FL, in this blog post, writes with bold and loving wisdom about LCWR and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, starting with the 3rd paragraph. He honors LCWR's quiet dignity in contrast to CDF's outbursts. He notes that if Pope Francis could bring Israel and Hamas together in mutual respect in the Vatican gardens, surely the church can find a way to address this "family feud." He proposes empowering Archbishop Peter Sartain, "a good, fair, nonideological man," to come up with a truce that the pope can embrace, rather than Archbishop Sartain simply being a delegate of the CDF. As Bishop Lynch says, "If the battle continues, there will be no winners, and I would opine that the Church may well lose more respectability and credibility."
10/9/14 - As we await the Vatican's report on its 2008 investigation (visitation) of US women religious congregations, a new book tells the story from the perspective of the leaders of the congregations that experienced the visitation. "Power of Sisterhood: Women Religious Tell the Story of the Apostolic Visitation," published by University Press of America, was initiated by a group of women religious who were the elected leaders of their communities during the Apostolic Visitation. The book reports on their qualitative and quantitative survey of presidents or major superiors whose communities had undergone the visitation. Order through the publisher for a 30% discount through 12/31/2014. Sr. Jan Cebula reports on the book in NCR's Global Sisters Report. I'm grateful to women religious leaders whose witness to their own story is also in many ways the story of everyone in solidarity with them. Their story is our story.
10/9/14 - An exploring-religious-life experience, and a very important message, from a young woman, Rhonda Miska, who just returned from a mission in Miami as part of her sojourn with the Sisters of the Humility of Mary (an LCWR congregation): How history could repeat itself.
9/30/14 - A different way to explore religious life: a new reality-TV show follows 5 young women as they consider becoming women religious (but none in LCWR-member congregations). It will begin on November 25 on the Lifetime network.
9/24/14 - US women religious congregations are becoming increasingly international. At the same time, some prominent women religious of other countries are sounding a lot like LCWR (but without Vatican reprimands, so far). Spanish Benedictine Sister Teresa Forcades is a forthright and effective force throughout Europe.
9/22/14 - Sr. Mary Ann Walsh (until she took a new job in August, she was spokesperson for the US Bishops): "How Should the CDF Treat the Nuns? 'Just Say Thank-you.'" As she says, " The latest controversy between the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) may be the most ill-fated controversy ever launched across the Tiber. For sure, the Vatican is in an awkward position" - which she then details, beautifully.
Good intro to the Religious Formation Conference on 7/10/14. RFC is celebrating 60 years of support to the formation of women and men religious with "From the Center to the Periphery: Relocating the Prophetic Witness of Religious Life." Dawn Cherie Araujo's story in NCR's Global Sisters Report notes that "Few Catholics have even heard of it. But since 1954, the conference has been steadily tackling the biggest challenges in formation for religious life... stressing a focus on both initial and lifelong formation, taking on topics such as aging well and living in an intercultural environment, which religious may experience both as their missions expand and as their congregations merge and condense."
9/18/14 - Sr. Elizabeth Johnson & Jesuit Fr. James Martin talk about Jesus tonight - 6:30PM ET - will be live-streamed at bit.ly/Zrye3x
9/17-10/22/14 -Meet up with Nuns on the Bus, riding for "We the People, We the Voters" - see schedule for Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia, Colorado. Read blog from the bus by Sr. Jan Cebula.
9/18/14 - Three women religious are awarded 2014 Lumen Christi award from Catholic Extension Society for their work building a vibrant Catholic community in one of the most impoverished places along the Mexican border. In honoring Sister Carolyn Kosub, Sister Emily Jocson and Sister Fatima Santiago, the Catholic Extension society notes, "When people understand that they are more than their circumstances, true change becomes possible. With their deep devotion to the poor, the sisters have vividly demonstrated how faith communities can transform society. As one Penitas resident said, 'Having this church, the community center and these sisters here with us is to have the presence of God among us.'”
9/2/14 - Cardinal Muller says Vatican must "help LCWR rediscover identity." David Gibson of Religion News Service reports: "'Above all we have to clarify that we are not misogynists, we don't want to gobble up a woman a day!' Cardinal Gerhard Müller told L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican's semiofficial newspaper, in the edition published on Monday." Cardinal Muller seems to characterize LCWR as a minor organization rather than the conference whose members (leaders of their congregations nationwide) represent 80% of US women religious. He said LCWR orders "have no more vocations and risk dying out." Gibson notes that "Conservative critics of the LCWR point to steep declines in the ranks of their member congregations and say their progressive approach in recent decades is to blame. The LCWR communities are aging rapidly and drawing few new members, and critics say that is not the case in communities belonging to a rival, conservative umbrella group, the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious, that was established by Rome in 1992 as a counterpoint to the LCWR. But research shows that in fact the LCWR and the CMSWR, which represents about 20 percent of women's religious orders in the U.S., are drawing about the same number of new postulants and both face similar challenges of a declining and aging membership."
9/2/14 - New book "If Nuns Ruled the World" by Jo Piazza - stories of "10 sisters on a mission" - sounds like a great read about women religious who inspire in many ways. Get a quick look via Nicholas Kristof column "Sister Acts."
9/2/14 - New report has fascinating stats re nun trends by country, openness to being a nun by over/under age 30, much more. About the same percentage of LCWR & CMSWR* institutes have no one in formation right now. (CMSWR - Congregation of Major Superiors of Women Religious)
9/1/14 - "Examples of Integrity: Leadership lessons from Roman Catholic nuns" by Karen Vernal in Milwaukee Biz News. Great that business news is covering this radical way of leadership!
8/31/14 - The Great Nunquisition: Why the Vatican Is Cracking Down on Sisters - by Jo Piazza in TIME. "Today's generation of nuns are progressive women, two things the Church isn't used to."
8/30/14 - "It is certain, many have reached their breaking point and despair is setting in," write the Iraqi Dominican sisters
August 30th 2014 Weakened and Impoverished
We entered the fourth week of displacement. Yet, there is nothing promising at all. The Iraqi government has not done anything to regain the Christian towns back from the IS. Likewise, the Kurdish government, apart from allowing us to enter their province, has not offered any aid, financial or material, leaving us in the streets, and making the church take full responsibility of us all. Thanks to the Church of Iraq in Kurdistan, who opened their halls and centres to provide shelters. Yet, the number of refugees was so large that the Kurdish government had to face the stark reality and open their schools to provide additional shelter for refugees.
We hear a lot about world governments and organizations sending financial aid to Iraq, but the refugee gets the least –we do not know or understand why. People lost almost everything; they cannot even afford to buy milk or formula for their children. What saddens us most is that, only one month ago, these people were the most educated in the country and among those most likely to build a life for themselves and their family, and now they do not have enough money in their pockets to survive the day. Christians became accustomed to investing their money in businesses, shops, fields, buildings…etc, to build their communities. Leaving their towns meant leaving everything they had been working for all their lives. Yet, amidst losing everything, accepting their lost dignity, is the most difficult loss they may experience. Some have found shelter in tents, others in schools, still others in church halls and gardens. They wait to be fed, or given food to cook; elderly are not being taken care of properly; children are living in unhealthy conditions; families have lost their privacy; women are exposed in these places; men have no jobs in a culture where a man is expected to support his families. Refusing to live without dignity, more and more people think of immigrating. Whoever owns a car or gold, sells them to buy a plane ticket out of the country. Needless to say, the buyers in Kurdistan are taking advantage and do not take into consideration the devastation these refugees face.
Christians in Iraq are known for their faithfulness and peaceful way of living among others.... more
Is the world deaf and blind? ...It is certain, many have reached their breaking point and despair is setting in. Maybe immigrating is the only way to stop living in such a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. People cannot endure this persecution, marginalization, contempt, and rejection anymore. If there is any other way, besides immigration, please let us know. Otherwise, please help people get out of the country, by seeking asylum, according to the UN law.
Dominican Sisters of Saint Catherine of Siena –Iraq.
8/28/14 - "We lost the city of Queragosh (Qaraqosh). It fell to ISIS and they are beheading children systematically. This is the city we have been smuggling food too. ISIS has pushed back Peshmerga (Kurdish forces) and is within 10 minutes of where our [non-governmental organization] team is working. Thousands more fled into the city of Erbil last night. The UN evacuated it's staff in Erbil. Our team is unmoved and will stay. Prayer cover needed!" - an email to someone in Solidarity with Sisters from a friend doing humanitarian assistance work in Iraq
8/28/14 - "The very existence of Christians is at stake in several Arab countries -- notably in Iraq, Syria and Egypt." Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs from the Middle East met outside Beirut with the United Nations' special coordinator in Catholic and Orthodox patriarchs of the Middle East denounced attacks on Christians and called upon the international community to work toward eradicating terrorist groups.
The patriarchs met Aug. 27 at the Maronite Catholic patriarchate at Bkerke, north of Beirut, for a special summit to address the crisis in the region. They were later joined by the United Nations' special coordinator in Lebanon and the ambassadors of the five permanent member-countries of the U.N. Security Council.
"The very existence of Christians is at stake in several Arab countries -- notably in Iraq, Syria and Egypt -- where they have been exposed to heinous crimes, forcing them to flee," the patriarchs said in a statement after the summit and meeting with diplomats.
They lamented the indifference of both Islamic authorities and the international community over attacks against Christians, who have been in the region for 2,000 years.
"What is painful is the absence of a stance by Islamic authorities, and the international community has not adopted a strict stance either," the patriarchs said.
"We call for issuing a fatwa (Islamic religious ruling) that forbids attacks against others," they said.
8/28/14 - Why are we silencing women (and lay) preachers? asks Sr. Christine Schenk in NCR. Did you know that some dioceses have 40-yr traditions of routine preaching by lay ministers, including many women? And that some of them have recently abolished this tradition?
8/27/14 - Raymond A. Schroth on "The Battle of the Nuns" in America magazine - Nuns are now part of USA consciousness in a new way, recognized as leaders intellectually and on social justice issues. Their style and substance is similar to Pope Francis' - but he still hasn't lifted the mandate for LCWR reform. Schroth quotes the Harper's article below by Mary Gordon: "In fairness to Francis, she says, the church’s male leadership and its women religious have clashed throughout history. In a fascinating two pages she summarizes the relationship." Examples include Hildegarde of Bingen and foundresses of women's congregations. Why do sisters stay, in the face of all this? Again quoting Mary Gordon: she asked "a leading nun" who replied, "Why would I leave a way of life that has been so fruitful for me, that’s given me so much. That allows me to live in a way that is so right for me? We offer community, we offer a real spirituality, we know how to listen, we know how to be with the dying. It’s very precious. I wouldn’t let it go. And I’d much rather focus on that than on the famous ‘dwindling numbers’ It’s not about numbers. It’s about who we are, what we are and can do in the world."
August 2014 Harper's magazine: "Francis and the Nuns: Is the new pope all talk?" by Mary Gordon - available on newsstands, also online and in print to subscribers.
8/26/14 - LCWR Assembly resolutions are now online. - (1) In its resolution on Transition to Renewable Energy Sources, LCWR committed "to use our spiritual, social, and educational resources and our public credibility to promote the national transition from fossil fuel energy sources to renewable energy sources as quickly as possible." (2) In its resolution on the Doctrine of Discovery, the Assembly acted in solidarity with indigenous peoples and asked Pope Francis to formally "repudiate the period of Christian history that used religion to justify political and personal violence against indigenous nations and peoples and their cultural, religious, and territorial identities."
August 2014 - LCWR receives $1.125 million grant to plan for religious life into the future. The Resource Center for Religious Institutes received a related grant, both from the GHR Foundation. As LCWR executive director Sister Janet Mock said in the organization's monthly newsletter, "LCWR has a responsibility to support its members in navigating these next years – to downsize in order to become what religious institutes have been through the centuries: small, liminal groups seeking God, serving the needs of society at the margins, and raising up for the church unaddressed needs.” The newsletter reports that "Currently, there are more than 200 women’s religious institutes that have fewer than 100 members and have a median age of 75 or older. Additional institutes will reach this stage in the near future."
8/23/14 - A new letter from the Dominican Sisters in Iraq shares the awful situation that they and their fellow refugees face, and asks for prayers from us and from the world. Please share this widely.
The Home page lists other recent changes to the website, besides the news here.
After you read the news, consider spending 5 minutes exploring why LCWR is what it is. Use our website resources on contemplation, community, dialogue, prophetic hope, more.
2014 LCWR Assembly & Board meeting – events and speeches (8/12-19/2014, Nashville, TN)8/19/14 - From Assembly: New LCWR Call 2015-2022: LCWR's statement of identity and mission for coming years - "As we live the years ahead, we remain inspired by the radical call of the Gospel, filled with hope, and committed to discerning together the leading of God’s Spirit. Affirming LCWR’s mission and setting direction for the coming years, we embrace our time as holy, our leadership as gift, and our challenges as blessing." - followed by sense of direction for LCWR as ecclesial women, in the world, in the church, leading congregations.
8/18/14 - LCWR press release from 2014 Assembly - "...ongoing conversation with church leadership is key to building effective working relationships that enable both women religious and church leaders to
serve the world. It is our deepest hope to resolve the situation between LCWR and CDF in a way that fully honors our commitment to fulfill the LCWR mission as well as protect the integrity of the organization. We will continue in the conversation with Archbishop Sartain as an expression of
hope..." - more
8/18/14 – Brief lovely overview slide-show of key events of the LCWR Assembly - photos, quotes, and little insights about LCWR. Do you know any other organization that has a formal "thanking and blessing of hotel employees" where they've been meeting?
8/15/14 - Sr. Elizabeth Johnson's address at LCWR Assembly as she accepted LCWR's outstanding leadership award. I esp. loved page 5 onward. She puts everything in such clear context, including the LCWR-Vatican situation. She told the Assembly that "Both of us are caught in a tension not of our own making" with historical, sociological and ecclesiastical roots, but a solution could be found. From Dan Stockman's report in NCR:
“'The investigation’s statements express a vague, overall dissatisfaction and distrust on certain topics, and judgments are rendered in such a way that they cannot be addressed,' she said. 'But your willingness to stay at the table and offer meaningful, honest dialogue is a powerful witness.' Johnson said historically, there have always been tensions between religious communities and the hierarchy because one is based on a radical living of the Gospel and the other is based on administration, which requires order. The issue is also sociological, she said. 'The church did not start out this way, but as an institution, it has evolved a patriarchal structure where authority is executed in a top-down fashion and obedience and loyalty to the system are the greatest of virtues,' Johnson said. Finally, she said, the tensions are ecclesiastical because women religious have undergone the renewal called for by the Second Vatican Council and the hierarchy has not."
8/15 – Transfer of LCWR Leadership
<>·Sisters Sharon Holland (current president), Carol Zinn (past president), and Marcia Allen (president-elect) will work together in the tripartite co-presidency.
<>·Mary Beth Gianoli
<>·Pat Eck
8/15/14 - LCWR Assembly directs Board "to respond to the mandate." See post-Assembly statement.
8/14/14 - Keynote speaker S. Nancy Schreck: However Long the Night - Holy Mystery Revealed in Our Midst - Her full, powerful keynote address of Aug. 14 is here. Her reflection at the Aug. 12 opening session is here. Also in Spanish and in French. Dan Stockman in NCR's Global Sisters Report notes that Archbishop Peter Sartain was in the audience. He reports that "Schreck's nearly hourlong [keynote] talk at many points drew murmurs of assent from the crowd; at others, outright applause."
S. Nancy reflected on the long process of renewal that women religious undertook in implementing Vatican directives, and said that "What all this has done has brought us to a rather odd place in our world and church - and to a clarity of identity and purpose which we cannot expect those who have not taken the journey, and done the work ever be able to understand. Things like the slow and unglamorous miracles of change in both members and the congregation as a whole. The communal sense of longing. It is difficult for others to see that the journey narrows the range of possibilities open to us, and at the same time increases the intensity of the possibilities that are chosen. New paths open toward depth and outward to new horizons. There is an additional reality. Many keepers of the great religious traditions now seem frightened by what we have come to know, they seem to find it difficult to converse with the complexities and hungers of our vision." She quotes Sr. Miriam Ambrosio CRB, at the 2013 meeting of international women religious in Rome: "Religious belong on the margins, with other marginated people..." S. Nancy continues: "The experience is like that of the biblical exile in which we have been so changed that we are no longer at home in the culture and church in which we find ourselves. This is not a bad thing - it is simply how God works at times. What is important is that we use well the wisdom we have gained in being so created, especially in solidarity with others in exile."
She describes the present as a "middle place" where "much of what was is gone and what is coming is not yet clear." "What we try to do in the middle space is to describe events that shatter all that one knows about the world and the familiar ways of operating within it. What if from this place we simply witness to and provide testimony about this experience, with special attention to truths that often lie buried and are covered over.Stockman reports that "many LCWR members say privately they don't know how the group can assent and maintain its integrity." Scheck invites them to mature action: "The church and the world need our mature love. The journey through the mysteries of our time has carved too deep a path into the soul or essence of our lifestyle and our congregations for us to pretend to be other than we are.... we call attention to things, things others might bury, or are afraid to face...."
She returns to the theme of the Biblical exiles, where "The new context for faith was one of free fall without a discernible bottom. Now if the story were to end here it would be a tragedy. But what God creates among the people is a remnant, a small group who found themselves in a prophetic role as they related to the dominant powers of politics and religion. Their prophetic task was to articulate hope, the prospect of a fresh historical possibility assured by God's good governance of the future even when the vision of what that will look like is not clear..."
"So this is our work now in religious life. To hold the radical dream of Jesus for our world: both by doing urgent advocacy for critical causes, and equally urgent is the nurture of our imagination in which possibility is uttered, thoughts beyond our thoughts are thought, and ways beyond our ways are known. In such a time, walking by sight is likely a return to old ways that have failed. Walking by faith is to seek a world other than the one from which we are swiftly being ejected."
"Mature love is able to speak the truth, it does not pretend so as to impress, it cannot go back to holding things it no longer treasures. Mature love is courageous, it is not self righteous or rude, not boastful or arrogant. It does not lose itself in the other, it stands in its integrity and acts with courage for the well being of others. Mature love can claim when the old ways are not working any more. Mature love knows it's true identity and acts on it. To do anything less would cost it its soul and reason for being."
8/13/14 - Sister Carol Zinn's presidential address -- After all listened to the song When I said 'I do' by Clint Black, Sr. Carol said, "All our religious lives we’ve been singing that depth of fidelity, haven’t we, since we said our 'yes', til the end of all time? We gather here as faithful women of the Gospel, disciples of Christ and daughters of the Church whom we love. We’re faithful citizens of this country and the planet. We’re faithful contemplatives in action, carriers of our founding charisms and faithful partners with our Trinitarian God. This Assembly comes at a time when our consciousness is increasingly heightened to the lamentations of our world, country, Church, and vocation. And we are called to stand in those lamentations singing the music in God’s Heart." She used "five elements of music as metaphor for the song we're called to sing." Reflecting on melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, and silence, she raises core questions about how to sing God's song, and how well women religious (and we, I would add) currently do this. Eloquent and inviting contemplation, it's powerful context for the questions that LCWR faces. Also in Spanish and French.
8/14/14 - LCWR chooses S. Marcia Allen as president-elect - LCWR chose S. Marcia Allen, a Sister of St. Joseph of Concordia, KS, as its president-elect. She will serve in the LCWR tripartite presidency team with past president S. Carol Zinn and current president S. Sharon Holland. In her presentation to the Assembly, she reflected on US women religious on the US western frontier: "As we women religious moved west we moved away from the norm for women, especially the norm for women religious. There, where no structures for decorum, no mores for correct behavior or attitudes for women existed, religious women were forced to make up their religious life as they went. It was a matter of survival in order to proceed with the work to which they were sent. Moving west meant creating religious life outside church and congregational structures and expectations. They, like other frontier women, had to reinvent themselves in order to do what they had to do. We are the beneficiaries of these women – frontier women who had to think for themselves, achieve their mission in unfriendly circumstances and keep their charism’s spirit alive by inventing new ways to be religious. This is one of the enormous factors for why women’s idea of obedience is so different from that of the ecclesiastical church for and in which we live and work."
Lovely video titled Pleiades, used at LCWR Assembly. (Assembly began on the night of the annual Pleiades meteor shower; also feast of St. Clare.)
Lively, thoughtful video titled Where Is Matt?, used at LCWR Assembly. You can read the beautiful lyrics but you need to watch the Where is Matt? video to get the point.
2014 LCWR Assembly & Board meeting – Media Coverage, Blogs, Tweets8/22/14 – NCR summary of entire Assembly, reported by Dan Stockman and Dawn-Cherie Araujo: “LCWR: business as usual despite cloud of Vatican mandate”
8/16/14 - Nicholas Kristof: We may have found the best superheroes yet: Nuns - Great column, titled Sister Acts. Introducing the upcoming book If Nuns Ruled the World by Joanna Piazza, Nicholas Krisfof writes in the New York Times (and the links are his): "One of the most erroneous caricatures of nuns is that they are prim, Victorian figures cloistered in convents. On the contrary, I’ve become a huge fan of nuns because I see them so often risking their lives around the world, confronting warlords, pimps and thugs, while speaking the local languages fluently. In a selfish world, they epitomize selflessness and compassion. There are also plenty of formidable nuns whom even warlords don’t want to mess with, who combine reverence with ferocity, who defy the Roman Catholic Church by handing out condoms to prostitutes to protect them from H.I.V. (They surely don’t mention that to the bishops.)" Piazza's book will profile ten nuns, including profiles is Sister Megan Rice, Sister Jeannine Gramick, and Sister Madonna Buder.
Kristof concludes: "Forgive us for having sinned and thought of nuns as backward, when, in fact, they were among the first feminists. And, in a world of narcissism and cynicism, they constitute an inspiring contingent of moral leaders who actually walk the walk. So a suggestion: How about if the Vatican spends less time investigating nuns and the public spends less time mocking nuns — and we all spend more time emulating nuns?"
8/16/14 - No coverage of the Assembly by Catholic News Service?? - If it's out there, I can't find it. CNS is an editorially and financially independent part of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
8/16/14 - Another take on the Assembly, from Religion News Service The Religion News Service report, by Heidi Hall, spends little time on the Assembly itself. It quotes Sister Elizabeth Johnson ("...the waste of time on this investigation is unconscionable.") and Jesuit father Bruce Morrill ("It’s unlikely the sides can come to a solution. As far as the U.S. bishops and Vatican officials are concerned, this is not a debate. The hierarchy expects the women religious to obey their directives.”) Hall comments that "At the conflict’s heart is a difference in approach to hierarchical chain of command: the top-down, morals-emphasizing Vatican versus the collegial, social-justice oriented nuns."
8/15/14 - LCWR passes renewable energy resolution, sees urgent need for change -- As reported by Dawn Cherie Araujo of NCR's Global Sisters Report: "'We feel that the congregations of Catholic sisters in the United States -- which are 55,000 people -- have a good deal of experience with education and social change on many fronts,' said Claire McGowan, a Dominican Sister of Peace from Bardstown, Ky. “'If that group were to exercise its leadership to involve all of the sisters in educating the public about the crisis that we’re in,' she said, 'that would be a significant contribution to the movement that’s going on to awaken our country and the world to the absolute necessity of transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy.... We have a very short window -- five to six years -- to change directions away from fossil fuels and toward renewable fuels. If we go any longer than that, there are irreversible feedback loops in the climate that we will not be able to undo.'” [We will add the resolution itself when LCWR publishes it.]
8/15/14 - NCR reports on new LCWR leaders, has quotes from Archbishop Sartain & sisters -- Sister Marcia Allen is now LCWR president-elect as Sister Sharon Holland becomes president and Sister Carol Zinn becomes past president, in the LCWR three-part presidency. The report from Dan Stockman of NCR's Global Sisters Report adds comments from those at the Assembly (more in his report):
"While [Archbishop J. Peter] Sartain said he and LCWR have an agreement to speak only to each other about the doctrinal assessment, he did tell NCR he is always impressed by the warm, personal relationship he feels at each assembly he attends. 'I’m very pleased with the gracious welcome I’ve received,' Sartain said. 'It really is a pleasure to get to know sisters individually and learn about each of their communities. And I’m always struck by how many I know personally from my years in the ministry -- it’s great to be able to see them again and check in with them and see how they’re doing.'”
“We listened to each other, we prayed, we reflected, we laughed,” said Sr. Kathleen Phelan, a Dominican from Sinsinawa, Wis. “We were deeply touched, but I think we’re determined as women religious in the United States to be together in moving forward.”...
Sister Mary Johnstone: “I’ll certainly take back some of the challenges they gave us,” she said, “The call to be leaders -- to really look at that from a contemplative stance -- to be presence to those that are marginalized.”
8/15/14 - LCWR Assembly drew one demonstrator protesting handling of sexual abuse by nuns
8/14/14 - Conscience, "Sensus Fidei", and LCWR - by S. Christine Schenk - In June 2014, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) issued a document on "the sense of the faithful" (sensus fidei) as an important factor in recognizing truth. S. Christine Schenk writes, "Surprisingly, the Vatican statement provided more encouragement for laity to engage in dialogue with each other and with church leaders than has been the case for a long time. Too often, Catholics raised in our 'pay, pray and obey' Catholic culture are unaware that it is not only our right, but sometimes our duty to speak about matters concerning the good of the church (Code of Canon Law 212.3)." Her excellent article gives a brief tour of the new document and older statements. She includes S. Elizabeth Johnson's guidelines for theological dissent. She notes the irony in the fact that the head of the same CDF that issued this Sensus Fidei document "harshly criticized" LCWR and S. Elizabeth for acting in ways consistent with it: "Insofar as both LCWR and Johnson have 'differed with institutional authorities' in a way that is clearly 'for the church, for the present and future growth of the whole community in truth and love,' we are greatly in their debt. They are showing the rest of us how to 'promote the truth in love' with teaching offices in the church." She concludes, "Do you want to tell Cardinal Müller, or should I?"
Related to Christine Schenk's post - Also note Robert McClory's illuminating recent series of short articles on the Vatican document. Wildly thought-provoking. Each article (one, two, three, four) does something illuminating, different and valuable.
8/15/14 - Eugene Cullen Kennedy says difference in leadership ways is real reason for Vatican-LCWR situation -- Referring to Cardinal Muller's blunt criticism of LCWR when LCWR met with his Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome in April 2014, Eugene Kennedy says: "It might have been better -- and more expressive of his deepest reactions -- if Cardinal Müller had simply said, 'We just don't like the way you decide things.' And perhaps he could have added, 'We never went along with you women thinking for yourselves, and I'm reasserting our male hierarchical control over you.'"
8/14/14 - From Seoul, sisters' message to LCWR -- NCR publisher Tom Fox, in South Korea to cover Pope Francis' visit, met with two Little Servants of the Holy Family who clearly knew names and details of the Vatican-LCWR situation. "I told the sisters I would be reporting our conversation while LCWR is meeting and asked them if they wanted to send a message. At first they said that they wanted to offer a message of support. Then they got more specific. Kang then said I should tell LCWR that the organization's decision would have a personal impact on her life. 'It will affect me,' she said. 'Tell them that I think that LCWR is a breakthrough group,' Jin said, 'and, as such, it is for all the sisters in the world. It has shown us a way forward, a way to think and to act in a proactive – not reactive way. That’s what I want them to know.'"
8/14/14 - Learning from a different definition of leadership -- Thoughtful reflections from Dawn Cherie Araujo, reporter with NCR's Global Sisters Report. E.g., "When I interviewed for my position at GSR, Sr. Jan Cebula, our U.S. sisters liaison, told me that religious life was not a club – it was a way of life. I thought I understood what she meant, but listening to Conway yesterday made me realize that I hadn’t quite gotten it yet. These countercultural choices are not the result of adhering to a philosophy or a leadership model; they come from a reality paradigm that is fundamentally different."
8/13/14 - Report on the 8/13 Assembly session -- Dan Stockman of NCR's Global Sisters Report summarizes the first full day of the 2014 LCWR Assembly. This includes a presentation on discernment; Sister Carol Zinn's presidential address; and a panel on leadership and the contemplative process. Stockman writes, "Wednesday morning's session began with an examination of the decision-making process LCWR uses: contemplation, observation and exploration, reflection and dialogue, and finally, decision and action. The process is in stark contrast to the hierarchical decision-making process used by the Catholic church. Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain listened intently as facilitators Catherine Bertrand of the School Sisters of Notre Dame and Mary Jo Nelson of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters explained how truly listening to others and reflecting on their thoughts can change your thinking from individualistic to what is best for the community. Failure to listen, they said, leads to judgment, cynicism and fear." Sister Carol Zinn invited members "to use the principles of music to contemplate how to listen to God." used musical principles as metaphors for the call to contemplative life. In the panel discussion, Sister Nancy Conway commented, "I learned that when we come from a place of deep integrity, it matters to people outside this room. It matters to the dignity of those outside this room who find themselves without a place at the table." In the afternoon, LCWR met in executive session, not open to reporters.
8/13/14 - A bit of the "feel" of the LCWR Assembly -- Dawn Cherie Araujo blogs about the opening session: "...This feeling of gratefulness was reinforced as I sat in the assembly’s opening ceremony last night. To say the experience was surreal would be an understatement: The lights in the ballroom were dimmed..."
8/13/14 - Vatican official gives LCWR Assembly 8 reflection questions -- From NCR's Global Sisters Report from the 2014 LCWR Assembly, by Dawn Cherie Araujo -- "Oblate Fr. Hank Lemoncelli, an undersecretary from the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, presented U.S. women religious with a series of questions the Vatican is asking all religious congregations, male and female, to reflect on over the next year....
<>1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.NCR report on the 8/12 opening session, by Dan Stockman of Global Sisters Report. Good background in this report; complements tweets below.
Interview with Sr. Simone Campbell - re LCWR starting at 11:00 on video
8/4/14 - "Cry out, sisters; cry out" say Sisters Joan Chittister and Mary Lou Kownacki in NCR
8/8/14 - "Stakes are high as LCWR heads into annual Assembly" - solid context, lots of quotes; reported by NCR's Dan Stockman & Dawn Cherie Araujo
8/6/14 - "Outside control of LCWR is unacceptable" says Sister Maureen Fiedler in NCR
NCR review of LCWR's book of its presidential addresses: "The sister presidents grapple with ambiguity, menace, promise and survival in their approach to the podium. It's a tall order, well done, and these speeches are superb."
8/5/14 - Re LCWR Assembly 8/12-16:"The women coming to Nashville appear to be of at least two minds,"says NCR editor Tom Fox in a thoughtful analysis and background piece.
Tweets from LCWR Assembly – by NCR’s Global Sisters Report 8/12/14 - Tweets from LCWR Assembly opening session in Nashville, TN - This information is drawn from Twitter on Tuesday evening, relying on tweets from @Dawn_Cherie Araujo of Global Sisters Project:
The 2014 Assembly began about 8:30pm. The theme is "Holy Mystery Revealed in Our Midst." The opening was full of creation images, Genesis, music, dance. Everyone was welcomed by LCWR's current and incoming president (Sisters Carol Zinn & Sharon Holland) and Sister Sharon Sullivan, chairperson of the local LCWR region.
Archbishop J. Peter Sartain was introduced in the opening session; he is the head of the team of three bishops appointed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to oversee and reform LCWR. He was warmly received in coming to the stage; he said he is there "as a brother and a friend." Also from the stage, an official from the Vatican Congregation for Religious (officially the Congregation for Institutes for Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, headed by Cardinal Braz de Aviz) suggested some reflection questions for LCWR.
LCWR executive director Janet Mock got a standing ovation as she came to the stage. LCWR president Sister Carol Zinn introduced Thursday’s keynote speaker Sister Nancy Schreck, “highlighting her appropriateness as #LCWR revisits its long-term mission.” (Sister Nancy also happens to be a former LCWR president.) She used Biblical images of light and darkness, emphasizing that darkness is not always evil; e.g., when God tells Abraham and Sarah they will begin a great nation, God tells them to go outside and count the stars.
The evening closed at 9:30. Sister Carol Zinn will give the presidential address tomorrow at 8:45 a.m.
8/13/14 - Tweets from LCWR Assembly in Nashville, TN - Sr. Carol Zinn address, panel reflections
All from NCR's Global Sisters Project - all but two from Dawn Cherie Araujo (@Dawn_Cherie)
Today’s agenda: Zinn’s address and then a panel discussion. Executive sessions are in the afternoon but are closed to the press. #LCWR2014
Loud applause when @sr_simone is introduced as a presenter. Sharon Holland said to hold applause so Zinn can have time to speak.
Catherine Bertrand, an assembly facilitator, says she hopes #LCWR’s move toward contemplative decision-making will be evident.
Bertrand also says this year’s assembly has the potential to be “transformative.”
Bertrand could be referring to Vatican relations, two proposed assembly resolutions or both.
Lots of language now about dialoguing with an “open heart” and “open will,” as well as tapping into the holy mystery.
The sisters are now getting a refresher on deep listening, for “new wisdom and inner clarity.”
#LCWR president Carol Zinn is being introduced and is about to take the stage.
The proposed resolutions are on a transition to renewable energy sources and the repudiation of the doctrine of discovery.
In opening remarks, Zinn highlights the “obscene” accumulation of wealth as poverty widens.
Laughs as Zinn describes #PopeFrancis as either a “Jesuit Franciscan” or “Franciscan Jesuit.”
Regardless of how you phrase it, Zinn emphasizes #PopeFrancis' status as a brother in religious life.
Now we’re listening to @Clint_Black’s “When I Said I Do” as a reflection on mystery revealed. Country music and theology, ya’ll!
#LCWR2014 morning session has Pres. Carol Zinn, SSJ drawing parallel between Clint Black song and fidelity to God, Church and the world.
Zinn: "we've been singing that depth of fidelity haven't we, since we said our 'yes,' 'till the end of all time?
Zinn is now talking through five elements of music that are a metaphor for the song sisters are “called to sing.”
The first element is melody. Zinn: “Maybe we’re merely humming the evolution of human consciousness as a holy sign of the times.”
The second element is harmony. Zinn notes appreciation that sisters are no longer in competition with each other
The third element is rhythm. Zinn: All life is an ongoing series of transformations. We must decide how to participate in change.
Fourth element is timbre. Zinn: As consecrated religious, our timbre is a commitment to community.
Zinn continues: What if our commitment to community broadened to include the full diversity of human community?
Silence is the fifth and final element. Zinn: As we welcome silence, are we ready for new paths of conversion?Zinn: Discernment is a way of life, relationships come before anything and everything else.
A standing ovation for Zinn who closed with a Rilke's "The Unspeaking Center."
After a break, the assembly is reconvening for a panel discussion on experiencing holy mystery.
The panel: Nancy Conway, CSJ; Margaret Ormond, OP; and Ana Lydia Sonera Matos, CDP.
Matos: God is calling us from the future. We have a connection to an evolutionary process
Matos: Questions and answers belong to all sisters.
Ormond: This type of sharing is difficult for me, but who can say no to Janet Mock?
Ormond: We’re taught in scripture that Lady Wisdom is an “unfailing treasure.”
Ormond, quoting Saint Catherine: Wisdom has the ability to contribute more than orthodoxy and doctrine.
Ormond: I pray that discernment and wisdom will be with us throughout this meeting.
Conway: Today, I feel less competent and less driven to lead from a place of competence. Instead, I lean on discernment.
Conway: Rather than focusing on individual problem-solving, sisters are about “love and loving lavishly.”
Conway: The apostolic visitation taught me that our acting with integrity matters to others around us.
Of the speakers so far this week, Nancy Conway has been the most direct in addressing #LCWR’s struggles with the Vatican.
The panel addressed how leaders can discern holy mystery. Nancy Conway, CSJ, was by far the most direct re: the Vatican.
Okay. Press is done for the day. I'm done tweeting until tomorrow morning ... unless something spectacular happens.
8/14/14 – Tweets from LCWR Assembly on keynote by S. Nancy Schreck & presentation on Renewable Energy resolution -- Thanks to @Dawn_Cherie Araujo of NCR's Global Sisters Report: (Just from the tweets, I decided to order my copy on CD. Betty)
It's a few minutes from go time. Nancy Schreck gives the keynote first, and the p.m. is devoted to discussing renewable energy.
Schreck takes the stage. The title of her address is “However Long the Night.”
Schreck: religious often focus on diminishment in congregations, but various forms of diminishment are happening everywhere.
She cites breakdowns in global peace, U.S. politics as examples.
Schreck’s address will focus on three eras: 50 years after Vatican II, today -- the middle space -- and the prophetic task.
Schreck: Post-Vatican II sisters “shed protective layers” and immersed themselves in the darkness of life on the margins.
Schreck: Sisters are not yet brave, focused, free enough. But we are faithful.
Schreck: Have not religious orders moved too far to the middle, being “tamed” by the institutional church?
Schreck get applause for saying sisters cannot backtrack from their prophetic truth to a place of darkness.
“We cannot un-know what we know," she said.
Schreck: We will sell our souls if we stay in a place of wanting to be in the mainstream.
Schreck: Through conformity, we would be misunderstanding the tradition of exile.
Schreck: What if, from this difficult place, we simply witness to and provide testimony about this experience?
To clarify, by "difficult place," Schreck means a time of diminishing organizations, structures and changing worldviews.
Schreck: In today’s middle space, we are to call attention to what others may bury or are afraid to face.
The sub-head of the third section of Schreck’s speech: The church deserves our mature love and commitment.
There’s hope in a biblical tradition of God creating prophetic remnants apart from “dominant powers of politics and religion.”
Schreck: Walking by faith is to seek a world other than the one from which we are swiftly being ejected.
Schreck: Growing in times of difficulty creates mature love, which is neither righteous nor rude.
Schreck: We are coming through this night of mystery and can say, "We are no longer girls."
Schreck: Mature love can claim when the old ways are not working anymore.
Shreck's speech ends with a standing ovation and the loudest applause of the week.
Right now, #LCWR members are silently answering reflection questions based on Schreck's address.
I won't tweet the questions word-for-word, but the general idea is to do an evaluation of their prophetic identity.
We're on break until 4:45 EDT, but if you miss me, you can read my thoughts on yesterday's #LCWR2014 here: http://bit.ly/1mNnOQD
#LCWR releases a statement about sexual abuse, expressing hope for justice. It also mentions a @caracatholic inventory used in '05-'08.
#LCWR member congregations were encouraged to use the inventory to "evaluate" policies and procedures.
A presentation on renewable energy is about to start. Full disclosure: I am eating gelato whilst tweeting. The sisters approve.
Loretto co-member Susan Classen: is God’s love present in a flourishing earth or in a destroyed earth?
Sr. Claire McGowan: The climate news in just the last four months should be enough to cause a drastic change in direction.
McGowan: We are here to say that #climatechange is the largest crisis ever faced by humanity.
Sr. Maureen Fiedler: Fracking is dangerous to local communities and local ecologies. We all lose.
A KY landowner has taken the stage to talk about her personal experience with the Bluegrass Pipeline.
For background: I wrote about the Loretto community and the Bluegrass Pipeline in May: http://bit.ly/1BhQevL
Classen and McGowan are back on stage talking hope and solutions.
McGowan: Dozens of religious congregations have already adopted renewable energy technologies.
McGowan: Who better than #LCWR members to face this challenge?
The sisters are now reflecting on how to respond to the presentation when they return home. But that’s it! See you tomorrow!
8/15/14 – Tweets from LCWR Assembly on LCWR strategic plan and Transfer of officers - Thanks to @Dawn_Cherie Araujo:
Good morning! A discussion of #LCWR’s seven-year plan is about to commence. Stay tuned for details!
In other news, I won’t be here for Elizabeth Johnson’s speech tonight. But @DanStockman will have a full report for you tomorrow.
#LCWR president Sr. Carol Zinn is on stage to present the seven-year strategic plan. All LCWR regions contributed to the plan.
Zinn: This statement is the result of six years of thinking.
Sisters are at tables, and each table is discussing the plan right now. Afterward, each table will be invited to comment.
One table says the plan isn’t exciting on paper but will be exciting to flesh out.
Several tables have expressed a desire to adapt the plan for their congregations. They’ve also applauded its theme of solidarity.
The plan was accepted.
Sr. Nancy Schreck is now presenting her final reflections.
Schreck: Living in faith is about always moving in a process of maturing love.
Schreck: My advice to all of you is to keep listening to the voice of the holy mystery.
Schreck: One of the most critical things we can do as leaders is enter the cave of darkness where wisdom is found.
Schreck’s examples of wisdom in darkness: Jonah, Jesus in the tomb, Paul’s blindness is Damascus.
Schreck: Don’t only be a visitor to suffering. Find a way to make true connections with those who are suffering.
Schreck: We should send the sisters in Missouri, sisters who know how to be peacemakers, to #Ferguson.
Time for lunch! There’s a closed concluding process later (no press!), but I’ll be back at 2:40 for the transfer of power.
Afternoon:
#LCWR just thanked regional chairs and board members who leaving their positions and now are welcoming new leaders.
Now on stage: former prez. Florence Deacon, outgoing prez. Zinn, new prez. Sharon Holland and new president-elect Marcia Allen.
Marcia Allen, @CSJ_Kansas, accepts her nomination as president-elect, and now everyone is being dismissed for a break.
And now I'm headed home! It has been a pleasure sharing with all of you! Keep in touch at http://globalsistersreport.org !
And remember to look for a write-up of Elizabeth Johnson's speech at http://ncronline.org .
Older - LCWR is searching for Exec Director starting January 2015. Sr. Janet Mock will complete her term 12/31/14.
As you read the news, consider spending 5 minutes exploring why LCWR is what it is. Use our website resources on contemplation, community, dialogue, prophetic hope, more.8/13/14 - At LCWR Assembly, Archbishop Sartain is there "as brother and friend"NCR report on the 8/12 opening session, by Dan Stockman of Global Sisters Report. Good background in this report; complements tweets below.
Christians in Iraq in crisis - here are letters from Dominican sisters in IraqMost recent, August 8, 2014: "Help us stop the evil."
Assembly prep: Deeper roots of LCWR-Vatican theological issues - Robert McCloryPart of the Vatican's issue with LCWR is that its Assembly speakers are sometimes theologians who are exploring God's presence in nontraditional language. Can only the hierarchy examine doctrine? Can doctrine ever change? In a short 5/28/14 summary in NCR, Robert McClory reviews several important 2011 articles and responses by John E. Thiel, past president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, in Commonweal, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, DC, in America. He then looks to Vatican II for further insight.
McClory also has an truly excellent series of short articles on the Vatican document on "The Sense of the Faithful" (Sensus Fidei) issued in June 2014 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the same Vatican organization that mandated LCWR to be "reformed" under the oversight of three bishops). Wildly thought-provoking. Excellent documentation of the strong traditional role of laity in helping the church to discern what is theologically true. Each article (one, two, three, four) does something illuminating, different and valuable.7/3/14 - Vatican appoints woman to head one of the 7 Pontifical Universities in RomeNCR reports that "The Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education has appointed a woman to lead one of Rome's seven pontifical universities, the special academic institutions established directly under the authority of the pope. Franciscan Sr. Mary Melone has been appointed rector of the Pontifical University Antonianum, the Roman university run by one of the main orders of male Franciscans, the Order of Friars Minor. The appointment was announced Thursday on the Friars website." On the role of women in the church, in 2011 Sister Mary Melone saw "a sign of the times from which there is no return. It is no pretense. I believe this depends a great deal on us women too. It is us who should get the ball rolling.... A great deal more can be done but there is change, you can see it, feel it." Does the Church need gender quotas? “No, it doesn’t need quotas, it needs collaboration. And collaboration needs to grow!”
7/3/14 - Map shows where child immigrants to USA are coming fromLCWR's recent statement highlights the crisis of 90,000 unaccompanied children crossing the USA border in 2014 - with increasing numbers of girls as gender-based violence increases in Central America, and with total child immigrants doubling each year since 2011. The US Department of Homeland Security says they are fleeing violence and poverty in Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala, per Pew Research Center's new analysis and map of where children flee from.
6/17/14 - Retired Archb. Fiorenza hopes for LCWR "dialogue," meeting with Pope In an interviewwith Faith in Public Life, retired Archbishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston was asked about Pope Francis' continuance of the oversight of LCWR directed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 4/18/12. Archb. Fiorenza replied: "I think if Pope Francis had stopped the process it would have been perceived as him disagreeing with Benedict so I’m not really surprised the oversight (of LCWR) continued. But my hope is there is much more dialogue going on, and I hope they have a chance to meet with Pope Francis. Hopefully, there will be more voices coming forward among bishops who want to get this issue resolved. The Church has grown and been strengthened in this country because of women religious. They have been doing what Pope Francis has been talking about in the streets of the world, in the prisons. They have done that far more effectively than anyone else in the church."6/13/14 - Pope Francis interview in Spanish paper La VanguardiaPope Francis was asked about diverse subjects - Middle East peace, the rich and the poor, the World Cup, how he wants to be remembered, more.
5/27/14 - Pope Francis extensive interview on flight home from Holy LandPope Francis spoke about his historic meetings in the Holy Land, Vatican embezzlement, abuse of minors, priestly celibacy, emarried divorced Catholics, reform of the Curia, and more.
6/12/14 - Assoc. of US Priests supports LCWR in letter to Pope FrancisThe Association of U.S. Catholic Priests wrote to Pope Francis on June 2 to express “sadness and dismay” at the release of Cardinal Muller's bluntly negative opening comments from the annual meeting of his Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with LCWR officials. by a Vatican official regarding the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The letter, signed by the AUSCP president, Father David Cooper of Milwaukee, and also by the AUSCP board members, was not released until June 12 to provide "ample time" for Cardinal Muller to receive it. The letter says, “Because the Cardinal Prefect’s remarks were self-confessedly blunt, their release without any reference to LCWR’s views or any inclusion of the subsequent dialogue seems to us to have been a disservice to the process.” It concludes "We pray that abuse of process and persons will not continue in this case or others, but that a genuinely dialogic process, conducted with gentleness and reverence, will bring this issue to a conclusion more in keeping with Acts 15, Vatican II, and your own pastoral approach.”
6/9/14 - NCR report on our conference Spiritual Leadership for Challenging TimesDawn Cherie Araujo of NCR's Global Sisters Report and other NCR staff came to our full-day conference on Spiritual Leadership for Challenging Times at Catholic University on June 7, 2014. Araujo's report in Global Sisters Report gives an overview of the day with quotes from organizers, speakers, and participants. "If you ask lay supporters their thoughts on how the Leadership Conference of Women Religious handled the Vatican’s 2012 statement that it was guilty of undermining church teachings – not to mention the subsequent appointment of Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain to oversee the group’s activities – they’ll tell you how inspired they were by the LCWR’s prayerful, respectful response. That response, many supporters will also tell you, is far from an anomaly, but is rather a manifestation of Catholic sisters’ little recognized style of leadership." The day explored the deep roots of this way of leadership, its congruence with modern science and with new theories of leadership (which it pre-dates), its origins in the 1960s and '70s response to Vatican directives, its current practice in US congregations, and concrete ways that everyone can apply this way of leadership in their own contexts. The conference drew from LCWR's 2014 book, Spiritual Leadership for Challenging Times (reviewed 6/9 in NCR).
Mollie Wilson O'Reilly in Commonweal - thought-provoking perspectives on LCWR & Rome5/29/14 and 6/3/14 - Mollie Wilson O'Reilly in Commonweal: "US Sisters & Holy See: A Culture of Encounter in Action?" and "Reasons to be hopeful about LCWR and CDF" --
- "Why hasn’t Pope Francis stepped in to get the Vatican off the nuns’ backs? ...The fact that he hasn’t, and the scolding the LCWR took from CDF head Cardinal Gerhard Müller in April, has led some to grumble that Francis is all talk. But to wish for the pope to cut short a process that began under his predecessor is to wish for him to play the autocrat, albeit on the side of the angels. Out of shrewdness, indifference, or agreement with the nuns’ critics, Francis seems inclined to let the negotiations continue. And the awkward conversation between the LCWR and the CDF may turn out to be just the kind of encounter the church needs.
- If the CDF is operating on the assumption that everything coming out of the USCCB's doctrinal office is trustworthy, they need someone to tell them otherwise. And if the sisters are going to examine their organization through Rome's eyes, it will be important to clear up whatever is preventing Rome from seeing them clearly. Archbishop Sartain may indeed help the LCWR in their discernment processes going forward. But discernment is not the sole province of the ordained, and the CDF can certainly benefit from the sisters' help, too.
In the major British Catholic periodical The Tablet on May 16, 2014, Margaret Susan Thompson, professor of history at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University with a special focus on US women religious, addresses "What do the US nuns see in conscious evolution?" She writes, "Many women religious are bemused by Cardinal Müller’s apparent belief that the presence of a controversial speaker at an LCWR meeting denotes either endorsement of all the speaker’s ideas or a serious possibility that merely by listening to controversial ideas audience members may be persuaded to 'think dangerous thoughts.' ...The average LCWR member holds one or more postgraduate degrees and is familiar with theoretical and theological complexity. She comes from a culture that celebrates both free speech and academic freedom, and welcomes the challenge of exposure to new concepts, but does not automatically or easily buy into them... Essentially most women Religious in the US, and those who support them, have a very different understanding of 'Church' – and of 'speaking for or with the Church' – than do Cardinal Müller, Archbishop Peter Sartain (the prelate charged with formal oversight of LCWR for a five-year period), and other involved members of the hierarchy. Sisters are used to broadly participatory consultation and consensus-building, not to edicts issued from authority figures, even those they have elected.... Most sisters I has consulted believe that not only hierarchy but patriarchy plays into the current dispute."5/13/14: "Pope Francis agrees w doctrinal assessment of LCWR" - Jamie Manson in NCRColumnist Jamie Manson reviews various papal statements and sources to conclude that it's "Time to face facts: Pope Francis agrees with the doctrinal assessment of LCWR." Excerpt:
"Pope Francis and the women of LCWR share a deeply sacramental understanding of their calling to serve those on the margins of our world. They agree that it is in ministering to the poor, the sick, and the vulnerable that they touch the wounded body of Christ.
Where they seem to disagree sharply, however, is in their understanding of religious life as a prophetic life form. When women religious touch the wounded body of Christ in their work, it breaks open their hearts in a way that compels them to ask deeper theological questions. It gives them the eyes to read the signs of the times and recognize the prophets in their midst. It gives them the courage ask bold new spiritual questions.
Like most popes before him, Francis sees the church as a prophetic voice to the outside world but is far less enthusiastic about the prophetic voices that cry out for justice inside the church. As he told the International Union of Superiors General last May, women religious should put themselves "in an attitude of adoration and service" and find their "filial expression in fidelity to the magisterium." It is an "absurd dichotomy," he said, to think "of following Jesus outside of the church, of loving Jesus without loving the church."
Pope Francis believes women religious should continue to do the work of the church while remaining obedient to the voice of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Women religious, on the other hand, believe their work and their faith demand that they remain radically obedient first and foremost to the voice of God...."
5/13/14: Is LCWR "gnostic" as Card. Muller claims? Barbara Marx Hubbard responds.Cardinal Muller's opening remarks in his April 30, 2014 meeting with LCWR leaders outlined his current major concerns. One is that "For the last several years, the Congregation has been following with increasing concern a focalizing of attention within the LCWR around the concept of Conscious Evolution [particularly] since Barbara Marx Hubbard addressed the Assembly on this topic two years ago.... Again, I apologize if this seems blunt, but what I must say is too important to dress up in flowery language. The fundamental theses of Conscious Evolution are opposed to Christian Revelation and, when taken unreflectively, lead almost necessarily to fundamental errors regarding the omnipotence of God, the Incarnation of Christ, the reality of Original Sin, the necessity of salvation and the definitive nature of the salvific action of Christ in the Paschal Mystery."
Barbara Marx Hubbard responds in NCR that "meeting with so many women religious through LCWR, I see conscious evolution in action. They have been evolving the church and the world for hundreds of years through deep gospel living, a mystical presencing, faithfulness in serving unmet needs, solidarity with Earth, building community as "whole-makers," risk-taking for the sake of the mission, genius for cooperative self-governance and decision making, and above all bringing love and hope for the future into the lives of millions. For me, the most vital source of meaning of conscious evolution is the Catholic understanding of God and Christ as the source of evolution, as its driving force as well as its direction. As Ilia Delio puts it, we experience in evolution the Emergent Christ and God Ahead." Marx Hubbard cites the foundational and current works of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, Ilia Delio, OSF, Father Thomas Berry, and many others. She concludes, "the meaning and direction of conscious evolution is, for me, coming to us most clearly from the great modern Catholic theologians and thinkers, And most fundamentally, of course, directly from the New Testament."
5/8/14: courageous, faithful LCWR statement reinforces commitment to dialogue"...The meeting with CDF must be viewed within the context of LCWR’s entire visit to Vatican dicasteries. In our first visit on April 27 to the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Monsignor Paul Tigue, Secretary, shared that Pope Francis insists upon creating, as part of the New Evangelization, a culture of encounter, marked by dialogue and discernment. We experienced this culture of encounter in every Vatican office we visited in the Curia, an encounter marked by genuine interaction and mutual respect....
"In our meetings at CDF [the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which issued the April 2012 mandate], LCWR was saddened to learn that impressions of [LCWR] in the past decades have become institutionalized in the Vatican.... During the meeting it became evident that despite maximum efforts through the years, communication has broken down and as a result, mistrust has developed. What created an opening toward dialogue in this meeting was hearing first-hand the way the CDF perceives LCWR. We do not recognize ourselves in the doctrinal assessment of the conference and realize that, despite that fact, our attempts to clarify misperceptions have led to deeper misunderstandings. This is a very complex matter, yet LCWR was heartened by the attempt of both CDF and LCWR to find a way through that honors the integrity and mission of both offices.
"Passion for all that the Church can be deepens our commitment to stay at the table and talk through differences. We want to be part of the universal Church rooted in the Gospel, a Church that hears the cry of the poor and is united in its response. At the same time, we cannot call for peace-making in Syria, the Middle East, in South Sudan, unless we too sit at tables with people who hold varying views and work patiently and consistently for a genuine meeting of minds and hearts.
"In some ways, for LCWR, nothing has changed. We are still under the mandate and still tasked with the difficult work of exploring the meaning and application of key theological, spiritual, social, moral, and ethical concepts together as a conference and in dialogue with the Vatican officials. This work is fraught with tension and misunderstanding. Yet, this is the work of leaders in all walks of life in these times of massive change in the world.
"At our meeting with the CDF officials, we experienced a movement toward honest and authentic conversation on some of the matters that lie at the heart of our faith and our vocation. We have come to believe that the continuation of such conversation may be one of the most critical endeavors we, as leaders, can pursue for the sake of the world, the Church, and religious life. "
5/6/14: NCR publishes overseer-Archbishop Sartain's 5/2 statement that meeting was "frank... open... respectful... helpful" and "I am in full agreement" with Card. Muller's concerns"Cardinal Müller's opening remarks invited a frank and open discussion by those present, and that is what took place in very respectful conversation.... I am in full agreement with the issues raised by the Cardinal and over the past two years have frequently discussed them with LCWR leadership. I look forward to ongoing collaboration with the LCWR in addressing these issues. Over the past two years, the Presidency and I have developed a very good relationship, and it is in the context of that relationship that we will continue to address the important matters raised by Cardinal Müller. Just as he, the other CDF officials, and the Presidency participated in last week's meeting in a very respectful and forthright manner, I know that the continued discussions I and the other Bishop Delegates will have with the LCWR will be undertaken in the same spirit. At the conclusion of our meeting, everyone who took part expressed gratitude for both the frankness and breadth of our conversation, adding that it had been a very helpful meeting...."5/6/14: Cardinal Kasper, the "pope's theologian," downplays Muller remarks, favors dialoguePope Francis has turned to German Cardinal Walter Kasper for a number of important roles. Asked about Cardinal Muller's remarks to LCWR (see 5/5 below), Cardinal Kasper said U.S. Catholics shouldn't be overly concerned, commenting "I also am suspect!" according to NCR. He also said, "If you have a problem with the leadership of the women's orders, then you have to have a discussion with them, you have to dialogue with them, an exchange of ideas. Perhaps they have to change something. Perhaps also the Congregation (for the Doctrine of the Faith) has a little bit to change its mind. That's the normal way of doing things in the church. I am for dialogue. Dialogue presupposes different positions. The church is not a monolithic unity."5/5/14: A personal perspective on the Vatican-LCWR news (Betty's blog)"If Cardinal Muller began with a genuine intention for 'frank and open discussion,' as he said, then was it appropriate for him to start with his honest views, even if they were misunderstandings? I think so. How else can LCWR know what they're dealing with? They've been waiting for two years for this clarity. It seems like a necessary step, in fact. And LCWR leaders know how to meet him with loving candor and how to help the conversation to progress. They know how to create space for the Spirit.... I hope Cardinal Muller will IMMEDIATELY issue an endorsement of the LCWR statement and its report of 'respectful and engaging dialogue.' That would nudge the door open a bit wider for the Holy Spirit."5/5/14: LCWR responds to publication of Vatican remarks critical of LCWRLCWR's brief statement about the April 30, 2014 meeting between LCWR and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concludes: "Cardinal Muller's opening remarks issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith accurately reflect the content of the mandate issued to LCWR in April 2012. As articulated in the Cardinal's statement, these remarks were meant to set a context for the discussion that followed. The actual interaction with Cardinal Müller and his staff was an experience of dialogue that was respectful and engaging."5/5/14: Vatican website publishes the Opening Remarks of Cardinal Muller during the April 30, 2014 annual meeting between LCWR and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which he heads. 4/1/14: Sister Simone Campbell on the Pope Francis-President Obama meeting: "Cause for hope"
3/22/14: Pope Francis: The Church needs lay people, they should not be "clericalized" - La Stampa article, Domenico Agasso
Catholic sisters and new Vatican actions to "follow the money" - NCR article by Phyllis Zagano, 3/12/2014
DC-area: "Band of Sisters" will show at AFI Silver Fri., 4/11, 7:15 pm - Let's go see this engaging documentary of how US sisters transformed themselves in the past 50 years!
LCWR "Spiritual Leadership" book is now available! Intelligent, inspiring, good for all leaders and our personal lives, too! With discussion questions by Solidarity with Sisters.
Intricate harmonies for Lent from the nuns at Mary Queen of Apostles - article, samples of their new CD
"Contemplation as a way of being-in-the-world" - an invitation and article from LCWRVatican office says its report on the apostolic visitation of US women's congregations will be public soon
First National Catholic Sisters Week will be March 8-14 as part of women's history month
How do Catholic sisters work to influence the United Nations? A Sister of Mercy's role
Major new survey shows sharp doctrinal differences, by region and country, in the global Church - article, surveySister Helen Prejean on compassionate listening
How do sisters pray? Order your copy of LCWR's pamphlet today! (...and no later than 2/28/14)
As sisters grow older - Two communities of sisters share faith, and a monastery, in New YorkThe Super Bowl, human trafficking, and the School Sisters of Notre Dame