Vatican orders crackdown on American nuns

[Little Star]

Vatican orders crackdown on American nuns
USA Today
By David Gibson

WASHINGTON – The Vatican has launched a crackdown on the umbrella group that represents most of America's 55,000 Catholic nuns, saying that the group was not speaking out strongly enough against gay marriage, abortion and women's ordination.

Rome also chided the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) for sponsoring conferences that featured "a prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith."

The Vatican's disciplinary action against the LCWR was announced on Wednesday, one day before Pope Benedict XVI marked seven years as pontiff.

In many ways, the Vatican's actions against the LCWR encapsulated the kind of hard line that many expected Benedict — the Vatican's former doctrinal czar — to take when he was elected in 2005.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2012-04-18/american-nuns-vatican/54396560/1

Go nuns!!

I guess the priests (men) go along with what the Vatican wants but those dang nuns (women) don't speak out enough against women's rights and gay marriage.

[Jester Messiah]

1. Why does anyone listen to that decrepit old pervert? [nt]

[trotsky]

2. "radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith"

Like treating women as equal human beings.

[philly_bob]

3. Here's LCWR's progressive stand on Occupy

"Notwithstanding the depth and
breadth of human history let us
go as far back as the 1980s. Let us
return to President Ronald Reagan and
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and
the birth of trickle-down economics,
the freeing of the free market, and the
beginning (or return) of union busting.

They both busted unions, slashed social
programs, “freed” corporations from
pesky regulations while ushering in
a new age of privatization . They laid
a foundation that was expanded by
President George H.W. Bush’s austerity
measures, President Clinton’s free
trade dream, and President George W.
Bush’s privatization, deregulation, and
war-making.

"Enter 2008 when the mortgage subprime
loan bubble burst on a scene that
the previous leadership had stripped
bare. Thirty years of economic policies
that had left not just an empty warehouse,
but rubble. The debris of once
healthy unions, a comprehensive social
safety net, and robust regulation was all
that was left in the wake of 30 years of
free market or, as many have called it,
casino capitalism.

"The Occupy movement is a direct
answer to the last years of profit over
people and earth. It challenges the
notions that the government cannot
afford social programs, that regulations
kill profits, and that unions are crippling
the public and private sectors.
Occupy actively pushes against these
economic mistruths while also pushing
the boundaries of how we understand
the economy."

http://www.lcwr.org/sites/default/files/publications/files/resolutions_to_action_-_spring_2012.pdf

This group calls to mind some of the gutsy, socially-committed nuns this ex-Catholic has had the pleasure of meeting over the years. Respect!

[cascadiance]

4. But will they "crack down" on the segment that ignores and has covered up child molestation?

Nah!!! I guess their actions speak loudly for their own beliefts huh!

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Why can't American Catholics start their own branch?

[BlueIris]

6. This is despicable.

Oh, shame on American nuns for having their own views. I'm sure it's only those crazy Americans, with their rebellious feminist ways, not a significant number of people around the entire world objecting to the Church's repressive doctrines.

[BlueIris]

7. Delete. (Dupe.)

[iverglas]

8. the history of social justice activism among RC religious is quite interesting

I will try to get back to the thread after today's physiotherapy and contribute something.

Meanwhile, I think we see here an example of the perils of having threads in this forum appear on the Latest page. Shiny topics attract one-line responses having nothing to do with the subject of this group's forum ...

[iverglas]

10. women, religion and social justice

From the article:

Throughout church history, and in particular in the United States, women in religious communities who take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience have directed their work toward charitable and educational ministries — running schools, hospitals, orphanages and a range of social services that have become as much a hallmark of Catholicism as the moral doctrine that the bishops oversee.

In the thread I posted about feminism, temperance and prostitution, the same theme was apparent among women in the US in the 19th century: their efforts were crucial to social justice/reform movements like abolition, child welfare and the welfare of the poor. They often relied on scripture to argue their cases, because otherwise their voices would not have been heard, and would have been discounted as unbecoming of ladies.

RC religious women are often in similar situations. Historically, they were freed to do socially important work -- teaching, nursing, outreach to the poor -- because they were not subject to the constraints that applied to married and unmarried women both. Wealthier women were required to confine their attentions to home and family, and poorer women did not have the time or resources to take up social causes, and would not have been listened to in any event.

Women religious were, and in some places still are, also at risk of sexual exploitation within the church, for instance, but not to the extent women were, and are, outside the church. But overall, being a nun a century or three ago was actually very liberating in many cases.

The RC church has not changed with the times when it comes to recognizing women's voices and value, as in so many other respects -- but that is really about the most significant. Women found a voice and a place in society in the last century and a half, but not in the church. And with the current pope, the status of women in the church just goes from bad to worse. Like so many other things are doing.

Now more than ever: http://www.seechange.org/

Clicking "what's new" doesn't show anything very new, unfortunately, but this is worth looking at:

Catholics for Choice Statement on the 80th Anniversary of the Lateran Treaty

"The Holy See's opposition to policies that promote reproductive health, including especially its opposition to the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV, overshadows the good work that many members of the church do. The impact of these policies is enhanced by the political role that the Holy See plays in the world. When the Holy See participates as a state in the international system, religious freedom is endangered, women's lives are placed at risk and public health efforts are hampered. The time has now come to allow the Holy See's contradictory position on its own statehood to speak for itself, and for the United Nations and other bodies to start treating the Vatican for what it is: the government of a religious institution."

While I'm an atheist, I don't find it all that strange that someone could adhere to the theology of the RC church at the same time as completely rejecting its temporal power structures and political practices. We all know that birth control and abortion, same-sex marriage and the ordination of women (and LBGT people) have nothing to do with scripture -- other than being consistent with scriptural exhortations to love one's neighbour and all that jazz. (And I'd like to see this forum maintain a level of respect for people who are religious and do work for social justice.)

[Little Star]

12. I too would like to see....

this forum maintain a level of respect for people who are religious. I would also hope we would maintain a level of respect in all our discussions. But what I've noticed, not just in this group, is that sometimes people take offense even when none was given. It's easy to do with just written words and no facial expressions, tone of voice, etc.

I think a lot of our topics are going to bring vigorous debate sometimes. As long as we are willing to give each other the benefit of doubt, ask for clarification before jumping the gun and accept the fact that we may not always see things through the same lens, we'll be fine. We have a good group as it stands and I hope we add to our participating membership.

I am a so called Cafeteria Catholic. I take what I like and leave the rest. And I lapse in attendance often. I also consider myself more spiritual than religious. But I must admit I have a soft spot for some of the nuns for the social work they do. It pisses me off that the Vatican is targeting these women!

[hlthe2b]

13. I agree with you both...

I think there is along history of social work and good done among the various orders. That is deserving of respect, no matter ones own religious views --or lack there of.

I have issues with the Vatican hierarchy/patriarchy, that's for sure. But I don't think that should "flavor" my feelings toward practicing Catholics (or lapsed Cahtolics... ).

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Seems like The Pope is dealing with a lot of insurrection in the ranks, these days.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/06/world/europe/pope-assails-disobedience-among-priests.html

About time, too, as far as i'm concerned. Like what usually ends up happening to authoritarians and repressive hypocrites, the time of his organization's ability to order people around is rapidly drawing to a close. The desperate flailing and angry huffing and puffing only proves it more.