Legacy of Vatican II at heart of dispute between Vatican, U.S. nuns
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Fifty years after Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council to modernize the Roman Catholic Church, the legacy of that watershed summit that revolutionized Catholic life is at the core of a dispute between the Vatican and American nuns.
In April, the Vatican accused the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the umbrella group that represents the majority of American nuns, of “doctrinal confusion.” As LCWR leaders meet this week (Aug. 7-11) to plot their response to the Vatican, many of the sisters say they are just following the spirit of Vatican II.
“This is not just about the Vatican versus the nuns. This really is about the future of how we interpret the message of the Second Vatican Council,” Sister Maureen Fiedler told the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.”
Fiedler, a member of the Colorado-based Sisters of Loretto, hosts the weekly radio program “Interfaith Voices” from Washington. She entered religious life 50 years ago, just before Vatican II got underway, and said the spirit of the three-year Vatican summit had a profound impact on how she viewed her calling.
Fiedler became involved in a series of social justice causes, including a 37-day fast in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, and rallies in support of women’s ordination.
“It simply made sense to try to alleviate the suffering of the poor, to end wars, to overcome discrimination,” she said. “That, for me, was Christianity.”
But some critics say many Catholic sisters have been using the Second Vatican Council to justify positions and activities that are in conflict with official church teachings.
“This idea that having this Second Vatican Council and pronouncing that there’s this amorphous spirit that gives us license to pretty much throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak when it comes to Catholic doctrine, it’s simply wrong, and I think we’ve heard over and over from Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI that it’s wrong,” said columnist and author Colleen Carroll Campbell. [More]
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15 Comments
The title of this article is incorrect. At the heart of the dispute between the LCWR and the Vatican is NOT Vatican II; the heart of the dispute is over doctrine — the LCWR is in the process of starting their own church (assent to the teachings of the Church or leave, please) with its own revised doctrines. Geeze, I don’t know why Martin Luther just popped into my head.
And notice, the article makes this exact point: errant Sister Fiedler has attended rallies in support of women’s ordination. Blow it out, fake “sister” — honestly, if my children were small, you would NEVER get near my chilren, and I would warn as many as I could about your straying from orthodoxy.
LCWR = heretics.
Jim, I thought we got past calling the nuns heritics. Even the vatican and the bishops don’t do that. Comeon Jim,your bigger and better than that.
Thanks Tony. For you, I will try to refrain from use of that word, but in fact these sisters, most of whom disagree with the Vatican on doctrinal issues, indeed meet the definition of heretic. I think I have an impulse-control problem: seeing these heretical sisters makes me angry.
And when I get angry — “heretic” comes out of my mouth (or rolls off my fingers).
Go NUNS!!!
Made a small donation the other day. Probably going to make several more.
Not giving a another penny to any other Catholic organization until they get over their sex hang-ups (homophobia, contraception, abortion, pedophilia, etc.)
This sex stuff is not in the Bible very much if at all.
Give me ten unambiguous, negative references to sex in the Bible and I will send the Bishops $100.
Dennis — you may know computers, but you aren’t a fast learner in other areas. We had this discussion the other day, and I can see it has yielded little or no fruit. THE BIBLE TALKS A LOT ABOUT SEX!! A LOT! I am not going to take the time to give you those ten verses, but I provided three or so to you the other day.
Sorry Jim you are wrong.
I don’t know much about anything and I am a slow learner – that is why I had to spend a lot of time in school.
I knew you wouldn’t take the challenge but maybe somebody else will.
I doubt it though. Let’s wait and see.
I must say, Dennis, you warm my heart when you start your post with “Jim you are wrong.” Aaah, that’s okay, because I’m sure I’ve said much worse!
The Lord hears the crystal of the poor but seemingly theBishops and Paul Ryan don’t. God Bless the Sisters fort their devotion to the poor.
Cries of the poor
Implement Vatican II and on to Vatican III!
The Catholic Church has been held captive by centuries old doctrine written through the ancient attitudes of priests who created the biggest “good-old boy’s” secret club ever devised. God spoke of creating us all in His image. Therefore, that doctrine should be all-inclusive to include females and males to serve equally in his service. The shame of our abusive male priests and the cover up of their deeds at the highest level, speaks for the need to change. What are the Royal Highness afraid of? If you search the all male leadership of the Church, you will be shocked and angered by what you find. Nuns serve the Lord with no golden vestments on their shoulders …
Andy — I’m sorry to hear you reject God’s plan for men to be in leadership positions. Oh, that’s okay, because that was the God of old — the modern God has changed His mind about men and women. My bad.