Trampolines

The piece on Rock’s Twitter feed caught my eye. Pope Francis addressing women religious in Rome, more so. Especially this bit:

We think of the harm inflicted on the People of God by men and women of the Church who are careerists, social climbers, who “use” the people, the Church, brothers and sisters – those they should serve — as trampolines for their own personal interests and ambitions. But these do great harm to the Church.

Does it seem likely that the problem with women religious is that they are social climbers? Too ambitious? Pope Francis has already spoken up about careerism in the clergy. So this harm is clearly on his mind.

We seem to have far more bishops moving up the power ladder than women. And that doesn’t even include diocesan clergy.

 

Winners and Losers in the College

I think we’re getting a flow of truth from one area in the upper hierarchy. Rock‘s Twitter feed had this link to Cardinal João Braz de Aviz’s displeasure with the lack of communication in the LCWR-CDF dust-up. Another good example of a situation in which the burning question is to be put to prelates under fire: where’s the truth?

Saying that different Vatican offices will sometimes give the pope varying viewpoints on situations like the LCWR matter, Braz de Aviz said “there’s a sort of like ‘Who is going to win?’”

“This struggle of who is going to win is not good, he continued. “But Peter and Paul also had problems. The answer is: ‘the Holy Spirit’ will win.”

This statement is credible. And in the past, possibly more than just the recent past, we have a window onto a CDF that seems to have gone rogue on its brother cardinals. And the sisters, obviously. And on the Gospel itself, quite possibly. So I think we can rightfully ask: has careerism overtaken the Gospel in one of the Church’s most powerful agencies? The one, perhaps, with more baggage than all the others combined.

More from the head of Religious Life:

We are in a moment of needing to review and revision some things. Obedience and authority must be renewed, re-visioned.

Authority that commands, kills. Obedience that becomes a copy of what the other person says, infantilizes.

Infantilization also reflects on the perpetrators. And there’s no escape from it in this spotlight.

I’d have to say this sorry episoide has now bypassed the sisters. There’s little to no credibility left in the CDF case. The Sartain Commission is pretty much hanging out there like lame ducks. They are pretty much dependent on the grace and good will of the sisters to emerge from this with saved faces. And these guys have to be intelligent enough to know it.

I’m not a member of the LCWR. And I don’t need to be in order to be a faithful Catholic and servant of the Gospel. It’s entirely possible for the sisters, if they don’t like what the bishops are spooning out to just say, “no, thanks.” And leave the organization. Membership isn’t required for faithfulness, to serve the Church, or even to meet in conferences. The sisters of the alternative group, the CMSWR, certainly don’t.

And then it’s up to Pope Francis, the CDF, and the bishops to come, hats in hand, and ask if and when the dialogue may open again. That was the whole point of organizing this body in the first place. Maybe the CDF has lost track of why it was instituted.

 

Two More Weeks

June 21st will be the start of another run on freedom. It will be the start of the Fortnight For Freedom, 2013 edition.

During the Fortnight, our liturgical calendar celebrates a series of great martyrs who remained faithful in the face of persecution by political power—St. John the Baptist, SS. Peter and Paul, the First Martyrs of the Church of Rome, St. John Fisher, and St. Thomas More. Through prayer, study, and peaceful public action during the Fortnight for Freedom, we hope to remind ourselves and others all throughout the United States about the importance of preserving the fundamental right of religious freedom.

Religious freedom is indeed endangered in many places on the planet, though probably not the United States so much. The USCCB seems to believe that financial entitlements are part of a so-called freedom. I’m a skeptic on much, but not all of this. The institutional church itself has not had a lily white record on religious freedom. Women, including women religious, have been targets of bishops and clergy and even the laity who misunderstood or just simply opposed their service to the Church and the world.

I was heartened to learn that the “Nuns” are gassing up the “Bus” again. And this year, they’re inviting the bishops to hang with them, at least at the bus stops.

Many U.S. bishops also opposed Network’s lobbying on behalf of Obama’s health care reform plan, while others did not look kindly on Campbell’s social justice views and her activism during the presidential campaign.

But Campbell said Wednesday that she and the American bishops are on the same page on immigration reform, and she has invited them to join her group at stops along the way later this month and in June. “They don’t have to ride on the bus,” she said. “They can come stand with us at the events.”

I like that.

Starting June 21st, we’ll join in the chorus for both freedom and our sisters in faith. I’ll do another Two Weeks of Worthy Women, and I’d like to invite interested readers to write up some favorites from history. Last year, we walked with these worthies: Maude Petre, Teresa of Avila, Mary MacKillop, Marie-Anne Blondin, Thea Bowman, Jeanne d’Arc, Juana Inés de la Cruz, Hildegard of Bingen, Mother Théodore Guérin, Anne-Marie Javouhey, Louise (Mother St Andrew) Feltin, Gertrude of Helfta, Mary Ward, and Marguerite Porete. I’d like to go with fourteen different women. I’d like to find women who have experienced harassment from religious institutions, not necessarily Catholic. Nobody living. Guest writers welcome. And your suggestions to give us fourteen worthy reads starting fifty-one days from today.

 

Pope Francis and the LCWR

The tables of schadenfreude (what a great word!) have turned with the news of the papal endorsement of the CDF witchhunt on the LCWR.

It was likely too much to expect a new pope to pull the plug on the Rodé/Levada/Dolan fiasco. As the episcopacy shifted under the weight of new appointments in this country, many bishops found themselves standing alone in a field, rather than steering the ship. Women religious were an easy target. The Temple Police, still smarting from their traditional knuckle raps, were all too willing to provide “enhanced” reports on what those radical feminists were doing.

My sense with yesterday’s news is to shrug. Pope Francis may have missed an opportunity to pull the plug, but the ball is still in the American sisters’ court. If they think there’s too much of an echo from the witchhunt, they can just walk away and take the regard of the laity with them. Archbishop Sartain and his assistants surely must know this. They are in face-saving mode at this point. Pope Francis may have declined to give the thumbs-down to the investigation/takeover, but depending on how the curia gets reformed and what shakes down from the CDF and the Congregation for Religious Life, anybody on a campaign against any internal group within the Church might find the rug pulled out from under them later on.

As for the sisters, they can dissolve the LCWR. They can meet for conferences and handle leadership however they see fit amongst themselves. Simple subsidiarity. The sisters, unlike clergy, and especially bishops, have a more focused regard for authority. They are responsible for the chain of authority within their respective orders. Individual sisters work for pastors and a few for bishops. But most are oriented toward service to the people. And often the poor and needy.

This isn’t to say that there are no opportunities for continued reform and renewal within religious life. But these are better handled within communities of religious. If I were having marital difficulties, perhaps a sister friend might be able to offer insight. But the responsibility for working on my marriage would be that of me and my wife.

I suspect that at some point the larger issue of women and men in the Church will need to be confronted. The sexy issue of ordaining women is entirely peripheral to the problems that church women and church men have with getting along. Ever since women emerged from convents, inspired by the mendicant movements, the Beguines, mysticism, and other traditions, men have clucked and shook their heads in disapproval. Rodé/Levada/Dolan is not a rupture. It’s rather much a continuity with people who pestered women all through the Middle Ages, and down to the present.

A more productive rupture, if you will, will be to work to restore a sense of mutual regard and confidence between men and women in the Church, between non-cloistered sisters and clergy in particular. Each side is suspicious of the other, and not always without good reason. What seems needed is conversion and renewal. More Vatican II, not less. More dialogue, less dictation. More charity, less churning.

I support my sisters in Christ. I’m a skeptic on the bishops. I’m hopeful with the new pope. I don’t think this conflict has a darn thing to do with doctrine. I think we’re closer to getting through this mess today than we were three years ago.

 

Busy Bishops

Coverage of the Fall USCCB Meeting, Day 1.

Archbishops Dolan and Vigano counseled contrition and holiness.

Channeling his inner Chesterton, the Jovial One asked what’s wrong with the world, and answered:

I am.

The Vatican’s ambassador to the US:

We must continually undergo conversion ourselves, so that our people … will have a renewed trust and confidence in us who are the messengers of the gospel. We must continually beg God to forgive those who out of human weakness have caused great pain to others.

Deal Hudson counseled dialing up the shouting:

Lay Catholics need to have a showdown with their bishops over exactly what they (the bishops) can say in an election cycle because they are not saying enough. This kind of nonsense has to stop.

Speaking of nonsense, I read that the LCWR and bishops had a meeting Sunday. A basic statement was issued:

The three bishop delegates of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Bishop Leonard P. Blair, and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki; the presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), Sister Florence Deacon, OSF; Sister Pat Farrell, OSF; and Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ; and LCWR executive director, Sister Janet Mock, CSJ, met Sunday, November 11, for preliminary discussions about the doctrinal assessment of LCWR by the CDF.

The discussion was open and cordial and those present agreed to meet again to continue the conversation.

Sr Pat Farrell will be coming to my parish for an event next semester.

Other bishops met bloggers and talked about relevant stuff. Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz on blogging and such:

This is personality driven. What I’m used to is to focus on the message and stay out of the way.

Speaking on racist Catholics, a whisper from the loggia:

We have a major problem when people in our church think they can get away with that and be in communion with the Catholic Church.

Is this one of those gatherings that gets all-day coverage on EWTN? What else are you readers seeing?

 

Speaking of LCWR

Some key quotes from the past few days. First, from outgoing prez Sr Pat Farrell:

Dialogue on doctrine is not going to be our starting point. Our starting point will be about our own life and about our understanding of religious life.

The sticking point, Sr Farrell said, was the “misrepresent(ation)” of the CDF. I think that’s fair. This isn’t about doctrine. The CDF had to turn back the clock thirty-five years to find a statement that moved toward the ordination of women. That’s a pretty deep fishing expedition. And Rome carefully ignored the LCWR’s call to prayer when the 1994 “final” judgment was handed down on the matter. If the concern is about vowed religious life, it needs to start there. And then there’s this whole issue of gratitude. Every bishop, and even the pope have been careful to rush to the words, “Thank you,” when speaking of women religious. Except the CDF in its official statement, not so much.

Archbishop Sartain, I’m not sure about this guy. Did his brother bishops sucker him into this assignment? How on earth is he going to emerge from this assignment unscathed? The USCCB site has this statement up from last Friday. Key words:

Along with the members of the LCWR, I remain committed to working to address the issues raised by the Doctrinal Assessment in an atmosphere of prayer and respectful dialogue.  We must also work toward clearing up any misunderstandings, and I remain truly hopeful that we will work together without compromising Church teaching or the important role of the LCWR.  I look forward to our continued discussions as we collaborate in promoting consecrated life in the United States.

He seems to concede the misunderstandings. That’s a starting point.

On the other hand, I’m convinced that little good is going to come from this. Some of the Catholic laity have been galvanized on the assessment/takeover. Granted, just a segment. But a larger chunk of Catholicism than usual on these internal tussles. Some half of them will go away disappointed by the result. Progressives will be dismayed if a bishop is the next head of the LCWR. Conservatives will see any sort of conciliation as a sign of weakness, decay, or even outright sin. In the bigger picture, this is not good.

 

Gratitude, And Lack Thereof

Frequent commenter Jimmy Mac sent me the link to this YouTube video. The LCWR sisters thank the waitstaff at the hotel. As of this morning, ten likes, twenty-four dislikes. I guess some Catholics still bristle at the notion that sisters set a good example by showing gratitude. That sums up a good chunk of the opposition, I would say: a lack of gratitude.

 

Tale of Two Planets

David Gibson has a good feature on LCWR head Pat Farrell over at RNS today. What a life experience: an Iowa farm childhood, loss of a father at an early age, Texas, Chile, El Salvador.

I’ve had a dramatic life, I really have. But the drama of it is not what’s important. The best of what we do is not about high drama.

This speaks of a mature and seasoned approach ot ministry. It’s about the people we serve. Mr Gibson’s commentary, suggesting that the sisters are operating on one planet, bishops on another:

Indeed, behind the drama is a story of service to the poor, advocacy for the marginalized, and a radical spirituality that has profoundly shaped Farrell and many nuns like her – as well as shaped the identity of the LCWR. Viewed in this context, the standoff is not a political struggle or power play as much as a contrast of complementary roles and experiences in the church.

While church officials often want to protect and emphasize doctrinal orthodoxies, sisters like Farrell often operate from a pastoral experience of faith in action that emphasizes a prophetic voice on behalf of the people they live with.

My sense is that we’re speaking of inhabitants of Planet Orthodoxy and Planet Orthopraxis.

Neither approach is wrong, and to a degree each needs the other. But the Lord seemed to favor the Praxis Planet:

A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him. (Matthew 21:28b-32)

The core of the monotheistic religions is right actions, orthopraxis. Christian teachers and saints hammer away at it. The apostle Paul favored love over knowledge and preaching. Orthopraxis is more attractive for the purpose of evangelization. What non-believer has ever uttered, “Those Christians! See how they preach correct doctrine!”?

The bishops are in an unfair spot, to be sure. They are traditionally responsible for the teaching of correct doctrine. It’s just as biblical a principle as doing the right thing. And they come off looking very badly in comparison to women who shun drama, and are simply looking to follow their call.

 

 

Albany Clergy Challenge

… both the CDF and the LCWR to offer an example to the world on how disagreement and misunderstanding are handled. From the letter:

We pray for a successful outcome of the mutual dialogue that will occur between your leadership, the Bishops and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. We are confident this conversation will provide a much needed example to the wider world of respectfulness and civility, as it embodies a degree of mutuality, trust and honesty, often absent in today’s world.

Thanks to Fran for the heads-up on this.