IS THE HONEYMOON OVER?

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 ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS AND THE GIRL SCOUTS

From Bryan Cones at US Catholic:

I suppose this whole thing would be a little comic--the USCCB investigating the Girl Scouts sounds more like an article in The Onion than one in the Associated Press--except for the fact that the Girl Scouts do such great work in helping girls defend themselves from a consumer culture that encourages them to think of themselves as sex objects with credit cards (as we explored in our May issue cover story). The bishops with this move also manage to irritate the last segment of the female population still available to offend: preadolescent girls and teens (having already tweaked both women of childbearing age on contraception, and religious women for whatever it is the sisters have been doing at their annual meetings).

Seriously, some honcho at the USCCB needs to put a stop to this. It looks a little, um, unhinged.

The overreach by the bishops for some sort of nebulous purity within the church begins to look like the spreading madness of an inquisition.  What an embarrassment to thinking Roman Catholics.  Who's next on the bishops' hit list?

Click on the cartoon for the larger view.

SUMMARIES OF THE INVESTIGATION OF BISHOP MARK LAWRENCE OF THE DIOCESE OF SOUTH CAROLINA

If you're interested in reasonable and non-hysterical summaries of the investigation of Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Diocese of South Carolina ('Episcopal' has been removed from the name of the diocese at the website) and the complaints (no charges!) against him by persons within the diocese, which the Disciplinary Board of the Episcopal Church is now investigating, as it must, check out the posts at The Lead here and here and the article at The Living Church.

In an update, The Living Church also notes that Josephine Hicks has recused herself as the attorney representing the Disciplinary Board in the investigation.