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1. The American Sisters are living the Gospel, serving the poor and alianated and are the voice of the voiceless. The are mature, well educated, psycologically sound group of healthy women who perhaps would better investigate the Curia and dysfunctional members of the hierarchy

   Posted By: Tony

2. Tony, You are sure? all the American sisters are mature, well educated and psycologicallly sound?, please, ask to victims of abuse by american sisters.

   Posted By: David

3. I see nothing improper about the Vatican's visitation of women religious orders in the U.S. (Men’s communities were visited a few years back.) When a religious order's rule and constitution are approved by the Vatican, accepted members vow to observe them. Many sisters have done this, along with great charitable and educational work in some orders for centuries.
   
   A number of recently founded orders wear a distinctive habit, live, work, and pray in community, and are indisputably loyal to the Magisterium and Church teachings. These are the orders that can barely accept all their applicants due to their attractive, faithful, and countercultural witness. They can't build accommodations fast enough.
   
   The problem is with orders who bought the 1960s nonsense and dispensed with the habit which made them look like nuns (important for living in this world). Many members live outside of community in apartments; their lives are virtually indistinguishable from those of unmarried women. Their lifestyle is incongruent with religious community life.
   
   Often many are hostile toward the Church, the Pope, Church teachings, and entertain such fantasies as "ordaining" women to the priesthood and denounce their “victimhood” status in a male-dominated, hierarchical, oppressive Church like a broken record. These persons do not belong in religious life. They need to grow up and become adults.
   
   The visitations will look at religious formation, community life, apostolates, and faithfulness to vows and to the Church in general, among other things. I don’t see what’s so alarming about that.
   

   Posted By: Jim Connolly

4. I can't let this go by - not again! This 'Jim Connolly' makes statements with absolutely no basis in fact, and it worries me that people might take this person seriously.
   There are no new congregations of sisters wearing habits and turning prospects away, and if there are, I dare this person to produce evidence of them. If they are indeed building accomodations so fast, where are they, who are they? This is an outright lie and it's damaging to the faithful.
   There is also no substantial proof that sisters outside the orthodox and conservative dress, regimen and views of this type of person are a 'probelm'; in fact, the 'problem' is with catholics that undermine all the good these sisters do by questioning them and accusing them all of radical activity. I want anyone reading these posts to keep an open mind with respect to all religious; to how they dress, how they act, who they are and what they do and not to belittle them by calling their lives devoted to service '1960's nonsense'.
   In addition, 'men's communities' were never 'visited' on this kind of scale - another misdirection. The men wouldn't agree to such an outrage.
   The bishops have to report to Rome on a regular basis, this much is true. I suspect this may be one of the principle reasons for these actions - Rome doesn't like the answers it's getting from its boys. In general, orders don't always get along with their bishops in the United States, and said bishops go crying to Rome, who slaps them on the wrist and warns them to deal with it or they will. Thus, the 'visitations'
   How the Vatican went about these 'visitations' is suspicious, which is why it has raised an awareness of the media and the faithful. I hope and pray this effort was well-intentioned and that it was just badly managed. BUt until we see the outcome of it all, we must keep that open mind - whether it is in defense of the Vatican or the religious orders.
   Most importantly, we must read thoroughly for ourselves and develop our own questions and hopefully answers, and we must NOT take anyone else's words as absolute truth; not mine, and certainly not this other person.
   
   

   Posted By: Evagrius

5. The only thing they are interested in doing is to make sure that the hierarchy dictates what the women religious congregations can and cannot do. They want to control everyone. Except, of course, the male celibate clergy and their "club". Look at the mess they made of that with the molestations and how they helped it to continue. Now they want the attention drawn away from their own shortcomings and put it on the very people who are living what Jesus showed us to do and abandon all of that to insure that they keep in place all the rules, doctrines, etc. that they wrote in order to have their ideas imposed on the laity. At the same time they ignore and dismiss all the work of the Holy Spirit and the call the Holy One has made to women. They need to get study the Vatican II documents and implement them as they should have done when they were issued. John XXIII knew what he was doing and what was needed. We need another one of him.

   Posted By: Louise

6. Religious women of like mind will gather together to do the Lords work whether Rome likes it or not

   Posted By: vanderson

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