Sister Evelyn Jegen, RC, of Chicago, prays during Mass at the Leadership Conference for Women Religious on Thursday, Aug. 9, 2012, at the Millennium Hotel St. Louis.
Posted on 08/11/2012 9:06:44 AM PDT by NYer
ST. LOUIS - American nuns described as dissenters in a Vatican report that ordered an overhaul of their group said Friday they will talk with church leaders about potential changes but will not compromise on the sisters' mission.
Sister Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, called the Vatican assessment of the organization a "misrepresentation." But she said the more than 900 women who attended the group's national assembly this week decided they would for now stay open to discussion with three bishops the Vatican appointed to oversee them.
"The officers will proceed with these discussions as long as possible but will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission," Farrell said at a news conference, where she declined to discuss specifics.
snip
"Dialogue on doctrine is not going to be our starting point," Farrell said. "Our starting point will be about our own life and about our understanding of religious life, and the (Vatican) document's, in our view, misrepresentation of that, and we'll see how it unfolds from there."
The organization represents about 80 percent of the 57,000 Roman Catholic nuns in the U.S.
snip
"I think what we want is to finally, at some end stage of the process, to be recognized and understood as equal in the church, that our form of religious life can be respected and affirmed," Farrell said Friday.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
I agree with this. I’m not saying I agree with everything the church does or says, but it doesn’t coerce people into becoming priests or nuns. It is a personal choice to become a nun. If you decide to become a nun, then by definition you have accepted the structure of the church, including abiding by the rules and decisions put forth by the church leaders. If you don’t agree with them, you can also quit and rescind your vows.
Sister,
Exactly what is your mission? I need some clarification.
Respectfully signed,
Kalee
‘The National Catholic Reporter
...if church leaders cannot reach some agreement with the sisters’ group, the Vatican could withdraw official recognition’
Sisters, you’re fired. Find a religion that agrees with you.
The Church has no problem dumping all of them if they refuse to obey.
Farrell ended the address with a phrase she learned while serving the church in Chile when the country was under a military dictatorship.
“They can crush a few flowers, but they can’t hold back the springtime,” she said, before receiving a standing ovation.
The officers will proceed with these discussions as long as possible but will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission,” Farrell said at a news conference, where she declined to discuss specifics.
Good grief. Everything about the sisters response to the Vatican call to reform (this idiotic conference, the speakers, their rebellious attitudes, going to the media with their victimology meme) perfectly ILLUSTRATES them to be the dissenters that the Vatican review found them to be.
Look at all the 'ours' in the above statement. Shame on these prideful self-centered 'intellectuals' who have allowed their "mission" to have been stolen by the secular forces of this world.
Sister, whatever happened to starting the dialogue with Jesus Christ, and the Church he founded with Peter as its Rock?
they will not “compromise the integrity of its mission”
as a non-Catholic, I am unfamiliar with their institutional organization structure
were they organized/established by the Roman Catholic Church?
or did they “self organize” without an institutional mandate from the Church
If their group is a creation of the Church, then isn’t their “mission” something assigned to them BY THE CHURCH, and if that’s the case, then isn’t it NOT subject to the mere interpretation of the sisters?
As I said; as a non-Catholic, I am unfamiliar with the institutional relationships involved, and can only make assumptions, with that ignorance.
Pat "I'm my own pope" Farrell and her fellow heretical rabblerousers have forgotten that they are consecrated members of the laity not part of the magisterium.
The way I understand it in practice it is a combination of both. A group of men or women Catholics would approach the Church and ask to organize a community. They can organize freely, but the Church does not need to recognize them. If they are to get official recognition, they do need to submit to the Church's authority. In order to get recognition, they do need to be an organized and functioning community, and allow the Church time to decide to grant recognition. The other way religious groups form is to break off another previously established order, for some reason such as establishing themselves in another region.
so the final test will be
whether those Catholics whom the organization serves
care, respect, appreciate, want institutional conformance with
the institutional authorities of the Roman Catholic Church,
or
will those Catholics whom the organization serves continue to accept their service if approval of the Church does not come with it.
I guess.
(and many Catholics say one of the major errors of Protestantism is they are so divided - hmmmmm).
Seems the truth might be more that when Protestants “split” they don’t keep the institutional name/label of whom they split from, while all kinds of Leftist Catholics remain attending Catholic Churches while organizationally trading on the Catholic label while decidedly not conforming with many Catholic positions.
At least when some Anglicans started splitting over “same sex” unions it was honest. They didn’t try to brush the difference under the rug in the name of “unity” and for the pride and pretense of it.
Interesting point.
Also...Money is fungible. Without a clear split, when differences arise, there is no sure way to make certain that a person’s donations are not used for purposes for which they were not intended.
But there are limits to all of this. These nuns are getting very old, and one thing they have severely neglected is vocations. Either way, through financial starvation or eventual death, this branch is dying out. And it ought to be in these women's minds that the Church supports nuns in their old age, but they are risking having that cut off.
There are convents which are faithful to the Church and are stable or growing, and are younger. They won't be able to take over these nun's work, but they will survive.
"The nuns’ meeting on Wednesday in a vast hotel ballroom here exemplified the melding of traditional Catholicism and modern innovations that has so perturbed the Vatican. They sat in silence for a long stretch, sang songs about truth and mystery accompanied by a guitar and a choir, and heard a keynote address by a futurist who was escorted to the podium by seven liturgical dancers waving diaphanous scarves of pink and tangerine. "
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