{"id":2541,"date":"2012-05-07T07:32:47","date_gmt":"2012-05-07T11:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=2541"},"modified":"2012-05-07T07:32:47","modified_gmt":"2012-05-07T11:32:47","slug":"shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/","title":{"rendered":"“Shocking” news for postmodern nuns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

In the beginning there was the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Women\u2019s Institutes, which was established with the Vatican\u2019s blessing in 1959 during an era of rapid growth for Catholic religious orders.<\/p>\n

Then along came two cultural earthquakes, the Second Vatican Council and the Sexual Revolution. In 1971 the women\u2019s conference changed its name \u2014 this time without the Vatican\u2019s blessing \u2014 to become the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Two leaders in this transformation later wrote that the goal was to become a \u201ccorporate force for systematic change in Church and society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest is a long story, ultimately leading to a blunt April 18 missive (.pdf)<\/a> from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This long-expected Vatican broadside noted \u201cserious doctrinal problems\u201d in LCWR proclamations, characterized by a \u201cdiminution of the fundamental Christological center\u201d and the prevalence of \u201cradical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.\u201d<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s conference leaders offered a terse response, saying they were \u201cstunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment\u201d from Rome.<\/p>\n

\u201cStunned\u201d was the key word for legions of headline writers, whose work resembled this Washington Post offering: \u201cAmerican nuns stunned by Vatican accusation of \u2018radical feminism,\u2019 crackdown.\u201d The Chicago Sun-Times went even further, proclaiming: \u201cVatican waging a war on nuns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truth is, tensions have been building for decades between the LCWR leadership and Vatican leaders. Thus, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith missive stressed that its call for reform was built on a lengthy study of materials created by \u201ca particular conference of major superiors and therefore does not intend to offer judgment on the faith and life of Women Religious in the member congregations.\u201d<\/p>\n

This particular investigation began in 2008 and Catholic leaders first discussed some of its findings two years later. The final \u201cdoctrinal assessment\u201d document was completed in January of 2011. Some of the specific events criticized in the Vatican document took place during the 1970s and \u201980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly didn\u2019t help matters\u201d that there has been so much publicity about liberal nuns supporting White House health-care policies and new Health and Human Services regulations that require most religious institutions to include free coverage of all FDA-approved contraceptives in their health-insurance plans, noted John L. Allen, Jr., of the National Catholic Reporter.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, \u201cit doesn\u2019t withstand scrutiny for anyone to say that this conflict is about the bishops and Rome being upset about the sisters, Obama and birth control,\u201d said Allen, in a telephone interview from Rome. Also, \u201cno one is upset about all the sisters have done to abolish the death penalty, stand up for immigrants, care for the sick and help the poor. Rome praised them for that. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, his report could have been written 20 years ago. The real issues in this case are that old.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, the Vatican noted that in 1977 the LCWR leadership openly rejected Catholic teachings on the \u201creservation of priestly ordination to men.\u201d The women\u2019s conference later published a training book suggesting that it\u2019s legitimate for sisters to debate whether celebrations of the Mass should be central to events in their communities, since this would require the presence of a male priest. In the \u201980s, leaders in female orders backed the New Ways Ministry\u2019s work to oppose Catholic teachings on homosexuality.<\/p>\n

A pivotal moment came in 2007, when Dominican Sister Laurie Brink delivered the keynote address (.pdf)<\/a> at a national LCWR assembly stating that it was time for some religious orders to enter an era of \u201csojourning\u201d that for some would require \u201cmoving beyond the church, even beyond Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the emergence of the women\u2019s movement and related forms of spirituality, many sisters would see \u201cthe divine within nature\u201d and embrace an \u201cemerging new cosmology\u201d that would feed their souls, said Brink. For these sisters, the \u201cJesus narrative is not the only or the most important narrative. \u2026 Jesus is not the only son of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year later, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened its investigation of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.<\/p>\n

The Brink address, noted the resulting doctrinal assessment, \u201cis a challenge not only to core Catholic beliefs; such a rejection of faith is also a serious source of scandal and is incompatible with religious life. \u2026 Some might see in Sr. Brink\u2019s analysis a phenomenological snapshot of religious life today. But pastors of the Church should also see in it a cry for help.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the beginning there was the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Women\u2019s Institutes, which was established with the Vatican\u2019s blessing in 1959 during an era of rapid growth for Catholic religious orders. Then along came two cultural earthquakes, the Second Vatican Council and the Sexual Revolution. In 1971 the women\u2019s conference changed its name […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[1533,730,751,804,903,904],"class_list":["post-2541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-godbeat","tag-doctrine","tag-religious-life","tag-roman-catholicism","tag-sisters","tag-vatican","tag-vatican-ii"],"yoast_head":"\n"Shocking" news for postmodern nuns<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the beginning there was the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Women's Institutes, which was established with the Vatican's blessing in 1959\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Shocking" news for postmodern nuns\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the beginning there was the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Women's Institutes, which was established with the Vatican's blessing in 1959\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Terry Mattingly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-07T11:32:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tmatt\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/\",\"name\":\"\\\"Shocking\\\" news for postmodern nuns\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-07T11:32:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-07T11:32:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\"},\"description\":\"In the beginning there was the Conference of Major Religious Superiors of Women's Institutes, which was established with the Vatican's blessing in 1959\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2012\/05\/shocking-news-for-postmodern-nuns\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Shocking” news for postmodern nuns\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/\",\"name\":\"Terry Mattingly\",\"description\":\"On Religion\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/#\/schema\/person\/76ce2260a572ff41a28fb285de9350f1\",\"name\":\"tmatt\",\"description\":\"Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. 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