Well, I certainly hope so. About time the Vatican looked into that mess. From the NYT story:
"They think of us as an ecclesiastical work force," said Sister Sandra M. Schneiders, professor emerita of New Testament and spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, in California. "Whereas we are religious, we're living the life of total dedication to Christ, and out of that flows a profound concern for the good of all humanity. So our vision of our lives, and their vision of us as a work force, are just not on the same planet."
The impression you get from this story is that the Vatican is sending in investigators for no good reason. How hard would it have been to have contacted well-informed orthodox Catholic sources to explain what many heterodox nuns have been up to for decades, without eliciting so much as a peep from Rome? Why was there no mention of Sr. Laurie Brink's 2007 keynote address at the Leadership Conference for Women Religious confab? Excerpt from the address:
The dynamic option for Religious Life, which I am calling, Sojourning, is much more difficult to discuss, since it involves moving beyond the Church, even beyond Jesus. A sojourning congregation is no longer ecclesiastical. It has grown beyond the bounds of institutional religion. Its search for the Holy may have begun rooted in Jesus as the Christ, but deep reflection, study and prayer have opened it up to the spirit of the Holy in all of creation. Religious titles, institutional limitations, ecclesiastical authorities no longer fit this congregation, which in most respects is Post-Christian.
Sr. Brink praises Catholic nuns' orders that have made this "courageous" choice. Gee, you think that this sort of thing being said as the keynote speech at the convention of the major US nuns' organization might cause the Vatican to wonder what in the hell was going on with American nuns?
Anyway, the Anchoress highlights a snotty-tot letter Sr. Schneiders sent to her pals, telling them to treat the Vatican investigators in a hostile, unwelcoming manner. Anchoress points out quite rightly that Sr. Schneiders and her heterodox nuns are on their last legs, and will shortly expire from old age and complete lack of relevance. As Sr. Brink observed in her keynote:
There are approximately 67,000 women religious in the United States. The average age is 69. Candidates and novices entering cannot possible offset the number of sisters who are dying. Around the country, the aging population of religious and the few numbers of entrants are having an impact on the cottage industries that grew up around the post-Vatican II Religious Life. Retreat houses are having to close due to the lack of retreatants or are busy trying to refashion and market themselves for a different generation. Summer institutes for religious are floundering. Mother houses are facing serious financial straights, requiring the down-sizing and even selling of property.
But not every women's religious order is withering on the vine. Again, Sr. Brink:
Not every congregation is giving up the ghost sort to speak. Some have attended to their reality and are making choices that a generation ago would have been anathema to their members. These groups are recognizing the changing atmosphere in the institutional Church, the reneging on the promises of Vatican II, and the seemingly conservative young adults interested in pursing a life of holiness through the profession of the evangelical counsels. They are taking seriously Pope John Paul II's call to pursue holiness first above all else. They are putting on the habit, or continuing to wear the habit with zest. They are renewing pious practices such as adoration and the Rosary. They are returning to the classroom.Some would critique that they are the nostalgic portrait of a time now passed. But
they are flourishing. Young adults are finding in these communities a living image of
their romantic view of Religious Life. They are entering. And they are staying.
Imagine that. Imagine the Nashville Dominicans. Fidelity and orthodoxy are beautiful things.
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
"definitely sounds like a Protestant attitude to me." Andrea
TR: Not to me and I'm a "cradle Catholic."
Granted you will always be "part of the family" in some sense, but that doesn't mean you have to stay in your hometown if you can't stand living there. If you can't stand the way things are in Catholic-town then yeah go to Episcopal-town or Baptist-town or wherever. Maybe Catholicism will still be your ultimate home, but why make everyone miserable? Why should a person pretend to be a part of something they don't even like anymore?
"It's sad that the Anchoress (and Rod, sort of) is so gleeful about the impending demise of these women who have, really, sacrificed their lives in the name of the church. Connie Connie stated this in her post. Yes, many faithufl good Catholics (including myself), are thrilled that these liberal dissident femminist Orders of nuns are rapidly dying out, and some have and willcontinue to go extinct. They are no longer Roman Catholic (and some are not even Christian anymore). They deserve to be "inquisitioned", questioned, disiplined and if necessary, disbanded. What took 125 years (1840-1965) for over 200 Orders of faithful, traditional and holy nuns to build up in the USA (thousands of schools, hundreds of hospitals and other charitable institutions, retreat houses, etc.), these radical liberal femminist habitless nuns have destroyed in 35 years. Not many people know that over 60 of these radical progressive Orders of nuns have already gone extinct as distinct communities by merging with larger Orders of like minded extremely aged liberal radical nuns to buy a few more years of pathetic existance. They've bought 5 more years to whine for "women priests" or "gay/lesbian rights", or "earth centered spirituality", or "inculturation", "ecumenism", or "inter-religious dialog", not to mention "peace and justice" issues. But even with buying more time, in 10 years they will all be gone. Either on their own accord, or supressed by the Vatican for being heretics. And believe me, it is not too far fetched to think that the Vatican might order them disbanded. They have wrecked the USA Church. If they are supressed....good riddance. Let's have a party to celebrate!!
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." John 13:34
When was the last time you spoke to an Orthodox nun? How many Orthodox nuns are in your kids' classrooms? I don't see a difference between the recruitment and retention of Orthodox nuns and those of Roman Catholic nuns, if anything the RCs are more successful.
Well, there may not be that many Orthodox nuns, but we know they're nuns because you can spot them in any any crowd.
The same can't be said for a large number of RC nuns. I could be walking past them at the grocery store and I wouldn't know that they were nuns.
The good shepherd goes out loking for those of His flock who are heading off in a dangerous direction. Some of the sisters appear to have lost their way and Rome is sending a capable compassionate sister to see what the situation is at ground level. It would be a poor and careless shepherd who simply let them keep heading towards the abyss.
All nuns faithful to their vows and Church teaching have nothing to fear from such a visit.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.