Pope Francis has backed the Vatican’s doctrinal crackdown on a major group of American nuns, reasserting the Roman Catholic Church's conservative approach to various social issues in a move that could cool the warm reception he has received from some liberal Catholics since taking office last month.
The Vatican said in a statement Monday that Francis had reaffirmed the doctrinal evaluation and criticism of U.S. nuns made last year by the Holy See under his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. The assessment accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an organization that represents most U.S. female Catholic orders, of promoting "radical feminist themes" and ignoring the Vatican's hard line on same-sex marriage and abortion.
"[R]adical feminist themes"? It is to laugh. Perhaps I am what the Vatican would consider a radical feminist today because of the fine example of the nuns who taught me in my Roman Catholic elementary and high schools. Not that the words were ever mentioned, but the great majority of my teachers set an example for me by their intelligence, kindness, knowledge, and common sense. That the investigation of the nuns will continue is disappointing, but, on the other hand:
Father James Martin, a prominent Jesuit priest in the United States
who led a Twitter drive last year to defend the nuns, said it was too
soon to say whether Francis, the church's first Jesuit leader, was
shutting the door on dialogue.
"Given the long history of the LCWR investigation, it's not
surprising that Pope Francis is asking the Congregation [for the
Doctrine of the Faith] to continue its work. It would have been odd for
him to halt things at this point, so early in his job," Martin said.
"But given that he himself is a member of a religious order, I would
imagine that the sisters will get a sympathetic hearing from him."
I hope Martin is correct that the nuns will get a fair hearing, and their harassment will soon be a matter of history.
The new pope, like the old one and like most, if not all, of the US hierarchy, knows that they're all a bunch of pinko bull-dykes, who want to run the church. That and him, being an Argentinian, having seen in Margaret Thatcher's example what this sort of thing can lead to, what else could the poor guy do?
ReplyDeleteSo that's what it is.
DeleteYup. Blame Maggie.
DeleteDream on, Father Martin, dream on! And don't forget to keep sipping the Kool Aid. I hate to put it in those terms and I hope I am wrong. History being what it is however .....
ReplyDeletewhiteycat, I agree. I read an article in the National Catholic Reporter that supposedly explored hard questions about Francis, and I came away dissatisfied. I usually trust their reporting, and perhaps they offered all the info that was available, but I felt they were gilding the lily at least a bit.
DeleteAbout the nuns, I'll wait and see.
My understanding is that the Vatican has always treated nuns as second, if not third-class citizens, and taken their work totally for granted, so, if so, I suppose this is pretty much a continuation of the same.
ReplyDeleteGeaux nuns, is all I can say.
The nuns in the RC schools were paid only a pittance by the parishes, and still today, the schools pay their teachers less than public schools. Of course, most RC schools have no nuns as teachers today, since the great exodus from the convents began in the 1960s.
DeleteI'm still holding out hope that this is just due to a Benedict-appointed underling saying "Francis said he approved".
ReplyDeleteI urge the LCWR to appeal directly to Francis, and accept NO MIDDLEMEN until they do!