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Vatican Ends Battle With U.S. Catholic Nuns’ Group
Vatican Ends Battle With U.S. Catholic Nuns’ Group
The Vatican abruptly ended its takeover of the main leadership group of American nuns on Thursday, allowing Pope Francis to put to rest a confrontation started by his predecessor that had created an uproar among American Catholics who came to the sisters’ defense.
Four of the leaders of the American nuns’ group, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, were called to an unexpected meeting on Thursday with Pope Francis in the Vatican that lasted 50 minutes. He did not speak publicly, but the sisters said afterward in a statement that they were “deeply heartened” by Francis’ “expression of appreciation” for the lives and ministry of Catholic sisters.
The sweeping investigation of American women’s religious orders was begun under Francis’ predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, at the urging of American and some foreign prelates who accused the sisters of disobeying the bishops and departing from Catholic doctrine. It set off protests by Catholic laypeople across the country, who signed petitions and sent letters to the Vatican in defense of the sisters.
The matter has now been brought to an early conclusion by Francis, who has never spoken directly about it in public but has often talked of the important role of women in the church and the nuns and priests in religious orders. He himself is a member of the Jesuit order.
The news came in a brief report issued jointly by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the three American bishops who had been appointed by the Vatican three years ago to take over and overhaul the organization.
The report cast the process as one of “collaboration,” saying, “Our extensive conversations were marked by a spirit of prayer, love for the Church, mutual respect, and cooperation. We found our conversations to be mutually beneficial.”
It was a far cry from three years ago, when the Vatican’s doctrinal office, led by an American Cardinal, William Levada, issued a report finding that the Leadership Conference had “serious doctrinal problems.” It said the sisters were questioning church doctrine on homosexuality and the male-only priesthood, and promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.”
The Vatican’s doctrinal office issued a mandate appointing Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, with assistance from Bishop Leonard Blair of Hartford and Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Ill., to spend as many as five years assessing and overhauling the nuns’ Leadership Conference.
Leaders of the nuns’ group, which represents about 80 percent of Catholic sisters in the United States, insisted all along that the accusations were unfounded and that the Vatican simply did not understand the culture and process of American women’s religious orders. They decided that rather than take a confrontational approach, they would engage into rigorous dialogue with Archbishop Sartain and the other overseers — using the same process the sisters employ among themselves to settle disagreements and make decisions.
Ultimately, the report issued on Thursday said that the nuns’ group would take care in selecting the speakers and programs at its conferences, and have “competent theologians” review their publications. It did not specify who would select the theologians, and indeed, women’s religious orders are full of trained and competent theologians.
The report said the goal was “to promote a scholarly rigor that will ensure theological accuracy and help avoid statements that are ambiguous with regard to Church doctrine or could be read as contrary to it.”
On Thursday, neither the nuns nor the bishops involved would grant interviews. The Vatican’s doctrinal office also would not speak. The nuns’ group said that the doctrinal office had asked its members not to speak to the news media for 30 days.
In a statement, Sister Sharon Holland, president of the leadership conference, said, “We are pleased at the completion of the mandate, which involved long and challenging exchanges of our understandings of and perspectives on critical matters of religious life and its practice.”
Archbishop Sartain, striking a similar tone, said in a statement, “Our work together was undertaken in an atmosphere of love for the Church and profound respect for the critical place of religious life in the United States, and the very fact of such substantive dialogue between bishops and religious women has been mutually beneficial and a blessing from the Lord.”
The power struggle between the nuns and the church’s hierarchy had been building for decades. At issue were questions of obedience and autonomy, what it means to be a faithful Catholic and different understandings of the Second Vatican Council.
In 2012, nuns with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious argued that the Vatican under Pope Benedict seemed to regard questioning as defiance, while the sisters saw their stance as a form of faithfulness.
“We have a differing perspective on obedience,” said Sister Pat Farrell, the president of the Leadership Conference at the time. “Our understanding is that we need to continue to respond to the signs of the times, and the new questions and issues that arise in the complexities of modern life are not something we see as a threat.”
The sisters were essentially caught in the riptide between a progressive wing of the Catholic Church eager for change and reform and a traditionalist flank focused on returning to what it sees as doctrinal fundamentals.
Most of the nuns have spent their lives serving the sick or needy — and not engaged in battles over theology. But when some sisters began to question church prohibitions on women serving as priests, artificial birth control or the acceptance of same-sex relationships, their religious orders did not shut down such discussion or treat it as apostasy.
The sisters have said for years that they see no contradiction in embracing the Catholic faith while also being open to questioning certain church teachings based on new information or new experiences. Without taking a stand in favor of the ordination of women or the acceptance of same-sex relationships, members insisted that open discussion of church doctrine was not only their right but was also healthy for the church.
We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists.