{"id":14170,"date":"2012-06-11T05:03:05","date_gmt":"2012-06-11T11:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?p=14170"},"modified":"2016-09-30T17:08:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T21:08:11","slug":"bishop-investigating-lcwr-explains-causes-for-concern","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/bishop-investigating-lcwr-explains-causes-for-concern\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishop investigating LCWR explains “causes for concern”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Details from Toledo\u2019s Bishop Leonard Blair, in his weekly newspaper column: <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The word \u201cinvestigation\u201d is often used to describe the work that I carried out on behalf of the CDF. \u201cInvestigation\u201d suggests an attempt to uncover things that might not be known. In reality, what the CDF commissioned was a doctrinal \u201cassessment,\u201d an appraisal of materials which are readily available to anyone who cares to read them on the LCWR website and in other LCWR published resources. The assessment was carried out in dialogue with the LCWR leadership, both in writing and face-to-face, over several months.<\/p>\n

\"\"The fundamental question posed to the LCWR leadership as part of the assessment was simply this: What are the Church\u2019s pastors to make of the fact that the LCWR constantly provides a one-sided platform\u2014without challenge or any opposing view\u2014to speakers who take a negative and critical position vis-a-vis Church doctrine and discipline and the Church\u2019s teaching office?<\/p>\n

Let me cite just a few of the causes for concern.<\/p>\n

In her LCWR keynote address in 1997, Sr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM proposed that the decisive issue for women religious is the issue of faith: \u201cIt can no longer be taken for granted that the members [of a given congregation] share the same faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten years later, in an LCWR keynote speech, Sr. Laurie Brink, O.P. spoke of \u201cfour different general \u2018directions\u2019 in which religious congregations seem to be moving.\u201d She said that \u201cnot one of the four is better or worse than the others.\u201d One of the directions described is \u201csojourning,\u201d which she says \u201cinvolves moving beyond the Church, even beyond Jesus. A sojourning congregation is no longer ecclesiastical. It has grown beyond the bounds of institutional religion.\u201d This kind of congregation \u201cin most respects is Post-Christian.\u201d She concludes by characterizing as \u201ca choice of integrity, insight and courage\u201d the decision to \u201cstep outside the Church\u201d already made by one group of women religious.<\/p>\n

Fr. Michael H. Crosby, OFMCap, a keynote speaker at the joint LCWR-CMSM assembly in 2004, lamented the fact that \u201cwe still have to worship a God that the Vatican says \u2018wills that women not be ordained.\u2019 That god is literally \u2018unbelievable.\u2019 It is a false god; it cannot be worshiped. And the prophet must speak truth to that power and be willing to accept the consequence of calling for justice, stopping the violence and bringing about the reign of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LCWR\u2019s Systems Thinking Handbook describes a hypothetical case in which sisters differ over whether the Eucharist should be at the center of a special community celebration. The problem is that some of the sisters object to \u201cpriest-led liturgies.\u201d The scenario, it seems, is not simply fictitious, for some LCWR speakers also mention the difficulty of finding ways to worship together as a faith community. According to the Systems Thinking Handbook this difficulty is rooted in differences at the level of belief, but also different mental models\u2014the \u201cWestern mind\u201d and the \u201cOrganic mental model.\u201d These, rather than Church doctrine, are offered as tools for the resolution of the case.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s much more. \u00a0Read on. <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Details from Toledo\u2019s Bishop Leonard Blair, in his weekly newspaper column: The word \u201cinvestigation\u201d is often used to describe the work that I carried out on behalf of the CDF. \u201cInvestigation\u201d suggests an attempt to uncover things that might not be known. In reality, what the CDF commissioned was a doctrinal \u201cassessment,\u201d an appraisal of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,35],"tags":[11165,11187],"class_list":["post-14170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bishops","category-nuns","tag-bishops","tag-nuns"],"yoast_head":"\nBishop investigating LCWR explains "causes for concern"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Details from Toledo's Bishop Leonard Blair, in his weekly newspaper column: The word \u201cinvestigation\u201d is often used to describe the work that I carried out\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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