Speak up for our women religious

Jul. 26, 2010

An NCR Editorial

• Women religious

Members of the LCWR march through Woldenberg Riverside Park in New Orleans for a prayer service to preserve the wetlands, part of the LCWR's gathering last year. (CNS/Frank J Methe)

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U.S. women religious, whose leaders meet in Dallas next month, find themselves in a terrible position. On one hand, they can defend their approach to religious life. Through decades of prayer and work together, they have discerned that approach, articulated in their Vatican-approved charters, as God's call. The process has drawn them deeply into social apostolates through which they have become a powerful representation of Catholic life throughout U.S. culture and the wider world.

On the other hand, they can work quietly in attempting to navigate the institutional shoals, placating those among the hierarchy who believe that a 19th-century model of religious life, shuttered up and held in place by an unthinking acquiescence to a male hierarchy — mistakenly referred to by some as obedience — is the salvation of religious life. The option holds the possibility of avoiding a public confrontation and the unpleasant consequences of such a standoff. However, it also holds the likely possibility that religious life in the United States will be re-engineered in secret by the men in the Vatican. It holds the prospect that the soul of a project rooted in and encouraged by the Second Vatican Council would be hollowed out.

The social sciences have a term for the situation of women who feel compelled to be compliant with the men who are bent on demeaning and humiliating them: They call it battered wife syndrome.

So much is at stake in the decisions the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will take about how to proceed because the very integrity of the organization has been called into question with a Vatican-initiated "doctrinal assessment" of its activities.

The doctrinal investigation of the Leadership Conference, which represents 95 percent of women's orders in the United States, was initiated by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As much as it is, in itself, an affront to the sisters in the United States, it is all the more insulting because the congregation is headed by an American, Cardinal William Levada. As a former bishop and archbishop in the United States, he certainly could recite, with little prompting, the countless ways religious sisters provided him with an educated, inspired and active church over which to preside. Certainly he knows as well as anyone that the Catholic presence in the wider culture — from institutions such as hospitals, schools and colleges, to ministries in parishes, and to the neighborhoods of desperate inner cities — would be seriously diminished without the sisters whose loyalty he now questions. In that context, the investigation is a shameful betrayal of trust.

The doctrinal congregation's investigation is only part of the nuisance distracting U.S. women religious today. They are also contending with another investigation — said to be, of course, for their own good — conducted by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, headed by Cardinal Franc Rodé. The benignly titled "apostolic visitation" is by any other name an invasive probe of how the sisters live and whether they conform to some unspecified measure of what religious life should be. At best, it's a setup. Rodé has several times revealed his conclusions about religious life in the United States, and they are hardly appreciative of what the sisters have done.

Rodé recites the tired shibboleths of a minority who see the future in the enthusiasm of a few small conservative orders that have gone back to habits and regimented community life. That approach is not to be dismissed, but it must also be noted that it has limited appeal. The numbers, by comparison to the alternative, are miniscule. The conservative model should be able to coexist with newer forms of community that involve different levels of membership and a greater role for lay associates. Imagining that the future of religious life resides primarily in a re-enactment of the past is similar to dealing with the priest shortage by insisting on a celibate all-male clergy even if it means raiding other priest-short countries to maintain the impression that all is well.

Underlying all of this, particularly the doctrinal investigation of Leadership Conference, is the basic question: What do bishops hope to achieve?

Before attempting to answer that question, it is necessary to note that the Vatican, in initiating these investigations, is revealing not a crisis in religious life but rather a crisis of the clerical and hierarchical culture.

It is a crisis most graphically depicted in the scandalous behavior of the hierarchy worldwide in its handling of the clergy sex abuse crisis in which bishops systematically and repeatedly chose the preservation of their culture over the lives of children.

In the case of the sisters, what Vatican officials hope to achieve appears to be a forced, public acknowledgement by the sisters that the bishops and cardinals hold all the cards and are the final arbiters of how the women will conduct their lives.

The resultant clash is inevitable. The Vatican that repeatedly extols the dignity of women and whose representative at the United Nations recently argued for the equality of women culturally and economically is the same structure that insists that men, and celibate men at that, are the only humans qualified to make major decisions for the Catholic community. The hypocrisy is embarrassingly evident. The theological and exegetic rationales for such duplicity are by now threadbare and rotting.

Framing the current situation in such stark, adversarial terms may seem to some counterproductive, even detrimental to the sisters and their attempts to work with and reason with the Vatican.

Indeed, there are rich opportunities in these conflicts for seriously exploration of the future of religious life. But to do so in a way that recognizes the work and intelligence of the women involved would require a sea change in hierarchical attitudes about authority, women and what it means to lead a community.

It is impossible to have a dialogue when one side is convinced of the outcome before the conversation begins. It is impossible to have a dialogue when one side believes it is vested with all of the wisdom and answers necessary, when it inherently distrusts changes to the status quo, and when it is convinced that leadership is defined as the ability to control.

Women religious cannot pull themselves out of the quicksand into which they have been thrown. Even while tormented by conflicted loyalties, they still seem to hold on to some hope that someone in the hierarchy will actually hear what they are saying. They are aware, too, that any response they make must take into consideration not only their own convictions and integrity but also the needs of the vulnerable in their communities, especially the elderly. If they have any hope of moving beyond the battered wife syndrome, they need strong, public support of the Catholic community they have so diligently served for decades.

Individuals, parishes, justice groups, alumni groups, all of those who know how different the world would be had it not been for the life of a woman religious need to speak out now and let the Vatican know how much the sisters are appreciated. We all have the power to easily join the discussion and perhaps affect the course of things. Individuals and groups can sign respectful letters and make sure the local bishop and those in the two Vatican congregations conducting the investigations understand the depth of feeling that exists for women who have dedicated their lives to service of the church and others. Send copies of all correspondence to the papal nuncio in Washington.

It is also time for bishops who understand the unseemly politics of the moment, who in private wince at each new insult to religious women, to show some courage. Those who know how dependent the life of their local church is on the service of religious women should end their silence. Speak up. Use your newspapers, Web sites, columns and blogs to highlight the contributions of women religious. You could be taking a first step toward both altering the culture that has brought on this sad episode as well as healing the growing and unnecessary breach between women religious and some members of the hierarchy.

If we want religious women to continue to minister while exploring the possibilities of the future with confidence and integrity, they need to know the church is behind them. Ending up with sisters who feel battered will serve no one and will only bring further shame on an already beleaguered community.A Church in Mission

New issues will arise, new people will have new ideas about what they would like to be involved in but neither the old or the new will have any traction unless people step up and say yes to the Spirit that is moving within them, and within our community.  We ask you, over the summer to pray and reflect on how you can become an even more active participant in our mission to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, that all may have life and have it to the full. 

What Inactive (Dormant) Catholics have to offer

 Right up front I will say that I do not like the terms: inactive, lapsed or fallen away Catholic.  I find those terms far too judgmental and certainly connote a negative judgment.  They represent a judgment, on the part of the Church about people who, according to the Church, are not living the way it expects them to live.  Most non church-going Catholics I have met understand themselves to be Catholic; they just don’t find themselves in the pews on Sundays for a variety of reasons, from having no time for church, or the Church is simply irrelevant to their lives and needs.

Over the past few months I have been using a term at missions, retreats and workshops that seems to have some traction with people.  I have been using the term “dormant” Catholics.  My belief is that they have faith, want more faith, and want a living spirituality that speaks to their daily lives.  What needs to be done is to have someone, or a lot of some ones, fan their faith into a living flame once again.  I believe that dormant Catholics are calling for prophetic leadership in the Church.  They are calling us from maintenance to mission.  They are challenging us to be about justice and peace making, engaging in environmental activism, truly making a fundamental option for the poor and oppressed, the migrant and immigrant, the homeless, hungry and powerless.

People seek to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others whether they are religious or not.  We can be selfish or altruistic in our strivings.   The Gospel calls for altruism, meeting the needs of our neighbors without counting the cost.  The Gospel is a radical prophetic approach to all aspects of our lives.  Jesus initiated a radical hope for personal and communal transformation working from the inside -- outward to all creation.

Being Catholic ought to mean a whole lot more than sitting in a pew on Sundays, or rattling off the same five sins in confession for the past thirty-five years.  I am not saying going to mass or confession aren’t good things to do, but that they ought to lead us to a fuller and more abundant life for others and ourselves.  We ought to be able to discern growth in our lives, progress in living and a discernable difference in our secular and religious communities in which we live.  There should be more caring, healing, forgiveness and peace; and less homelessness, hunger, poverty and prejudice.

If we are going to touch and invite dormant Catholics back to being living flames of faith and hope, we need to be that for others and ourselves.   We need to be communities of faith with doors wide open in welcome, a place of sanctuary, where all can feel safe and be nourished for mission.

Fr. Michael E. Evernden, CSP

WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT CAFETERIA CATHOLICS?

I describe myself as a cafeteria priest for cafeteria Catholics.  Every Catholic is a cafeteria Catholic – but only some of us admit to it.  It is the choices on other people’s trays that some take exception to, never looking at the choices on their own trays.

Historically the institutional Church has been the largest cafeteria in the world. It has to be because no one person or group could possibly choose all the things that are available for Catholics to feed their spiritual hunger.  Novenas, rosaries, all the prayers said to all the different saints, thirty-day Ignatian retreats, weekend retreats, days of recollection, forty hour devotions, benediction, exposition, liturgy of the hours, pilgrimages, fasting, abstinence, becoming a sister, brother, priest, deacon, becoming a religious priest or belonging to a religious community of which there are hundreds, lay associate, altar society, Holy Name society, Knights of Columbus, Paulist Associate, Third Order Franciscan, a Daughter of Mary and Joseph, charismatic Catholic, taking vows of silence, working for peace and justice or with the homeless, concern for the environment, Catholic Worker Movement, English speaking or Spanish, Russian, Slovak, Vietnamese, Korean, French or Portuguese speaking, Knights of Malta, this list could go on and on.  The point is that no one person, no one parish, no one group within the Church could possibly entertain or observe all the possibilities the Church has to offer; so we make choices to develop a prayer life that suits each of our diets. 

Even within the official liturgical parameters (how mass is celebrated) we make all kinds of choices; Eucharistic prayer 2 rather than 3, or 4 rather than 1, alternatives to the opening and closing prayers, forms of blessing at the end of mass, styles of music, how communion is received, languages used, bells or no bells, incense or no incense, enough devotional candles electric or real, to light up Times Square or no devotional candles at all, times of mass, places of worship from gymnasium to cathedral to sports arenas, obviously there are norms but much diversity within the norms.  Historically the Church has always recognized that one size does not fit all and it is our diversity that makes us truly Catholic, universal.  Diversity is a strength not a weakness.  This is as true in nature as it is in and among communities of faith – those who are able to adapt are the ones most fully alive and most likely have a future.

When I look out at our Sunday Eucharistic gathering it is very evident that one size does not fit all:  happily married, unhappily married, divorced, separated, gay and lesbian, single dads, single moms, large families and small ones, families financially ruined and prosperous families, death and birth, mentally, physically or spiritually challenged people, light-hearted and depressed people, happy, sad, hopeful and dower ones, cancer, fears and phobias, young and very old, citizens and aliens, housed and homeless, sated and hungry – no one homily, no one prayer style will fit the variety and diversity present in even a small community of faith.

The Church will become a community of faith rooted in Jesus only in so far as we can recognize our diversity, our strengths and weaknesses, our common brokenness; when, ultimately we recognize that we are all in this together – not bemoaning the choices on someone else’s tray, or bemoaning what is on our own.  [For more articles go to:  http://tinyurl.com/ye5qnzj]

Fr. Michael E. Evernden, CSP 

St. Rita's Retreat Center outside of Medford Oregon, site of a retreat/workshop for diocesan religious education teachers

Session Two, Giving Voice to the Word in Prayer and Sacrament in the main meeting room.

Lunch in the dinning room/libruary

SILENCE... 

If there is no silence beyond and within the words of doctrine, there is no religion, only religious ideology. For religion goes beyond words and actions, and attains to the ultimate truth in silence. When this silence is lacking, where there are only the "many words" and not the One Word, then there is much bustle and activity, but no peace, no deep thought, no understanding, no inner quiet. Where there is no peace, there is no light. The mind that is hyper-active seems to itself to be awake and productive, but it is dreaming. Only in silence and solitude, in the quiet of worship, the reverent peace of prayer, the adoration in which the entire ego-self silences and abases itself in the presence of the Invisible God, only in these "activities" which are "non-actions" does the spirit truly awake from the dream of a multifarious and confused existence.

Thomas Merton. Honorable Reader: Reflections on My Work. Edited by Robert E. Daggy (New York: Crossroad, 1989): 115.]
Thought for the Day

If you want a spiritual life, you must unify your life. A life is either all spiritual or not at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.

Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude (New York: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1958): 56.