Dorothy and her farmers built this education center in the Amazon
If I had never “met” Sister Dorothy Stang, and her Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, I might never have felt the outrage at their recent treatment by the Vatican. I cannot have a blog called Inspired by Dorothy and all that means to me and not post my thoughts.
I met Dorothy’s Sisters, nuns, in Brazil and in the U.S., in 2007. I feel so much awe and admiration for the women whom I count as friends — that I must share my complete support.
Nuns know about change and growth, something that I suspect the Vatican does not. Many nuns changed to street clothes in the ’60’s in order to be more accessible to their missions. The change in garments was sanctioned in 1962 by the Council called Vatican II, when Pope John XXIII, said it was time to discuss the pastoral aspects of the Church. Catholic doctrine had been sorted out in the previous Vatican I council of the 1800’s.
But the changes went much deeper than their clothing though. It was John XXIII who requested Sisters and Priests to volunteer to minister to the poor in Latin America and so, Dorothy, the consummate educator, joined up with other sisters like herself. And they all did — and do — amazing work.
Now, the Pope, Benedict XVI and his minions, want to refocus, rein in, the Sisters — all 57,000 of them who signed a support letter for President Obama’s Health Care bill. And it is also implied that “too much time is spent on working with the poor….and not reinforcing doctrine.” Huh?
I am not talking, here, about just the SND’s. My desk is piled high with articles and my inbox is overflowing with stories about the Vatican and the American Nuns. I am referring to the announcement expressed on April 18 by the Vatican ‘s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in which it orders the American Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to reform its statutes, program and affiliations to conform more closely to “the teachings of and discipline of the church.” Whew! Orders them….
Mainly Rome is objecting to the Orders of nuns who are not educating widely enough about contraception and the biggest hot button of all, abortion. You can read more in the National Catholic Reporter under a tab called Sisters Under Scrutiny.
And, if you are still interested read Nicholas D. Kristof and Maureen Dowd in Sunday (April 29) New York Times.
Like many I wish I knew what more I can do to help. Sign petitions, march and pray? And possibly protest ? For now, I suggest we keep speaking up for Nuns.
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I, for one, don’t try to wrap my head around this hypocrisy of belief and practice since I left the church years ago for this very reason.
Because I like the parish community — and need community — where I am affiliated I focus there and not on the hypocrisy of the organizational church, though I must admit that this thorn cuts deep. You are among hundreds of thousands of former Catholics. Thanks for reminding me!
I want to publically thank the people in (and outside) of the Catholic Church that support the Sisters. The document that sanctioned the Sisters was first published on the (NCCB) National Catholic Conference of Bishops website and even distributed to the Bishops before it was ever made known to the Sisters that it was directed toward. Actually, there is a regulary meeting of the Bishops and the LCWR (Leadership Conference of Women Religious) , but there was no mention of the issues raised in the document before the document was published. What an insult to be treated like that.
The Sisters conduct their affairs collaboratively while the men in Rome have a patriarchial hierarchy that consistantly clashes with the lives of those they govern. For instance, the Vatican has systematically forbidden even the discussion of women becoming priests or that priesthood could be open to married men. No wonder the women religious women in this country have raised the ire of the men in Rome! They are willing to discuss power and the abuse of power. The moral authority of the men in Rome has been undermined all right, but not by the Sisters. The obvious cover up of the crime of pedophilia (committed by so many of the priests and Bishops) has demoralized the whole Catholic Church. It is the Sisters that demonstrate that the Catholic Church is indeed still living the Gospel with their lives. So much good could come if the men in Rome and the women religious worked together. The men could learn so much from women in the Church, if they are given a chance to be heard.
Welcome to St. Blogs directory. I’d like to invite you to participate in Sunday Snippets–A Catholic Carnival. We are a group of Catholic bloggers who gather weekly to share our best posts with each other. This week’s host post is at http://rannthisthat.blogspot.com/2012/05/sunday-snippets-catholic-carnival_26.html