American nuns: Do they have a future?
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Catholic sisters gathered for their annual assembly on Thursday (Aug. 9) intensified discussions aimed at thwarting a Vatican takeover of their group, but hanging over the meeting was an even larger existential question: Do the nuns have a future?
The viability issue is central to the dispute between Rome and the nuns that has riveted Catholics and dominated this year’s meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The steering group represents most of the 56,000 nuns in religious orders in the United States.
The Vatican announced in April that a team of bishops would take control of the LCWR in order to make the nuns hew more closely and publicly to orthodox teachings on sexuality and theology. The sisters are expected to deliver their first formal reply to the takeover on Friday.
A key justification for Rome’s action was the argument that vocations to more progressive women’s religious communities are in free fall: In 1965 there were 180,000 sisters in religious life, more than three times today’s number. The decline is especially acute in orders that belong to the LCWR.
Critics peg this decline to the increasing liberalism of the sisters since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s opened the door to reforms. They argue that orders that embrace a more traditional way of life — wearing the habit, attending communal prayer throughout the day, endorsing rather than challenging church teachings and Vatican pronouncements — are flourishing.
“The LCWR orders are dying, while several religious orders that disaffiliated from the LCWR are growing,” George Weigel, a conservative Catholic pundit, wrote recently in a blistering critique of the group.
But defenders of the LCWR communities argue that it is not just the quantity but also the quality of vocations that matters. Moreover, they argue that women’s orders are going through the kind of transformation that is critical to helping the church evangelize in the fast-changing world and to fostering comity in a deeply divided church. [More]
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15 Comments
The following paragraph, copied-and-pasted from the story above, is complete hogwash: “A key justification for Rome’s action was the argument that vocations to more progressive women’s religious communities are in free fall: In 1965 there were 180,000 sisters in religious life, more than three times today’s number. The decline is especially acute in orders that belong to the LCWR.” The reason Rome is correcting these heretics is because it is the right thing to do. Numbers are irrelevant — one good sister is infinitely better than ten million bad ones put together. So again, Rome is not acting because of the free-fall in LCWR vocations; rome is acting because the average Catholic needs to be protected from the Satan-influenced garbage these fake sisters spew. Thank God Rome is acting. Get back on the bus, honey, or see you later.
Jim, face it, you don’t know enogugh about religious life to make the comments you do.. Just like when you said Orthodox orders were invalid. Put your little catechism down, get off your soap box and be careful not to get hit by the bus.
I pray that our Sisters do not back down, but continue to follow the Holy Spirit in their ministries. I also pray that more and more folks like myself stop reading what Jim has to say!
Here we agree, almondwoodturner — I too hope this heretical fake sisters follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance — in which case they will apologize, repent, and ask for forgiveness. If they don’t do that, then they are not following the Holy Spirit.
Sorry, Sir … but somebody who writes about nuns that they are “heretical fake” is the one who has to ask for forgiveness …
Not at all, Gabriele. In fact, besides the hertical fake sisters, others who need to ask for forgiveness are the irresponsible among us who do not investigate these heretics, draw the only conclusion possible, and then alert others to the grave danger of following these heretics.
My prayer is that the sisters will flourish and evolve to be the Church’s prophetic voice. They can be a model for true disciples.
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If the collection priests who have sexually abused children’s and bishops who protected them have a future I am sure the good Sisters will have a future, yhe Sisters are trying to live the Gospel.
If the nuns bow out, many will follow. Blessed John XXIII opened the windows and Romehas not olnly closed them but cailked them shut. It would be interesting to see the demographics on those orders that are flourishing. My guess is the midwestern part of the nation and rural America that doesn’t see the poverty and oppression that coasts and cities experience.
Eileen — as a story posted yesterday on this website indicated, orders that are members of the LCWR have the same number of postulants as orders that are memebers of the more traditional organization (can’t remember the acronym). Since the LCWR represents 80% of the sisters, they should have at least four times the number of postulants that they do. They will die out — classical music lives forever because it is beautiful, and trashy music dies. The same is true for religious orders — those that are disobedient and honor heretics die out. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We know who wins in the end — God. Sinful man never can have his way in the end.
And with regard to the Church losing many as these nuns leave — well, I think that’s good. People should understand clearly where they stand: either you are with the Church or you are against it. A sin of omission is committed whenever Catholics depart from the faith and strike out on their own, like these fake sisters, and they are not corrected. The correction is done out of love and concern for the errant, disobedient heretics.
So agree Eileen and thanks to this web site for all the information on the LCWR and to Tony for supporting the evolution of the sisters and their thinking and acting into the 21st century.
Ann, the Sisters have taught me how to read and wrie and do math. But, more importantly the teach me by their words and example hoe to live the life of Discipleship. After my family I credit the Sisters for who and what I am.
Same here. Thanks Tony.