Archive for August, 2014
LCWR speakers: Failure to Listen leads to judgment, cynicism, fear / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Voice of the Faithful, Women in Catholic Church on August 14, 2014
The largest leadership organization for U.S. women religious began its first full day of its annual assembly Wednesday (Aug. 13) by focusing on one of the criticisms leveled against it: the contemplative, collaborative process for making decisions … The process is in stark contrast to the hierarchical decision-making process used by the Catholic church.”
By Dan Stockman, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Rocks & Reforms
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in church reform, Future of the Church, Voice of the Faithful on August 13, 2014
By Donna B. Doucette, Executive Director, Voice of the Faithful®
Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota
I took a long trip this summer, across the country and back, along a northern route. Of the sights I recall, one especially stands out today: the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota.
It’s unfinished. And huge. Ultimately, it will stand 563 feet high, the tallest sculpture in the world. The head of Crazy Horse alone will be 87 feet tall; that’s 27 feet more than the presidents’ heads on Mt. Rushmore.
Why do I mention this particular sight? Because, as I watched the movie at the visitor center and saw the progress made by one man and his family (no government funds) since the blasting/carving of the mountain began in 1948, I thought of you.
Actually, I thought of all VOTF members and wondered if perhaps we all should see how this one man–Korszak Ziolkowski–tried to carve an entire mountain on his own. And when he died, in 1982, his widow and seven of their children kept on carving.
They are still at it today. Rock by rock. Stone by stone. Decade upon decade.
Slowly the head of Crazy Horse has emerged from the stone.
Just as, slowly, word by word, prayer by prayer, and Catholic by Catholic, we see reforms coming into focus.
But you don’t carve a mountain in a day. Or a year. And you don’t change the Church in a mere decade.
As we continue our now-12-year journey, we should take joy in the reforms that emerge, however slowly; resist the landslides to the past; and remember that our “monumental” efforts will bring a living, joyful Church to our century.
Stakes are high as LCWR heads into annual assembly / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Voice of the Faithful, Women in Catholic Church on August 11, 2014
As the largest leadership organization for U.S. women religious prepares to gather for four days in Nashville, Tenn., Aug. 12-16, the group appears to stand on a precipice.
“But what lies on either side or what path the membership will choose to follow, no one can say.
“The Leadership Conference of Women Religious has been under the shadow of a Vatican-ordered doctrinal assessment since 2009. Following the investigation in 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ordered it to reform its statutes and appointed a bishop to oversee changes.
“Now, the situation is starker: In April, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the congregation, ordered that after this assembly, speakers at the group’s events must be approved by Seattle Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who heads the five-year reform agenda for LCWR.
“But will LCWR members choose to follow Müller’s edict that Sartain have approval power over speakers at major events? Or will the group decide to stick to its contention that the sanctions are ‘disproportionate to the concerns raised and compromised the organization’s ability to fulfill its mission'”?
By Dan Stockman, Dawn Cherie Araujo, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Cry out, sisters; cry out / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on August 8, 2014
Next week, Aug. 12-15, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, which represents more than 50,000 U.S. women religious, will meet for their 2014 National Assembly. LCWR has been under Vatican mandate to change for two years. Here is Sister Joan Chittister and Sister Mary Lou Kownacki’s take on the nuns’ situation.
Next week, for instance, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will face decisions that will move the question of the agency of women in a man’s church either forward or back. Strange as it may seem in the 21st century, the issue is whether or not women are capable of hearing diverse speakers and still remain faithful Catholics. The issue is whether or not women religious may discuss various points of view on major issues and still remain faithful Catholics. The issue is whether or not women religious can manage their own organizations and still be faithful Catholics. The Vatican’s answer to those questions is no. For the last 45 years, however, LCWR’s answer to those same questions has been a clear and persistent yes.”
By Joan Chittister, Mary Lou Kownacki, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Support the sisters by offering prayers for an appropriate resolution to this situation. You can click here to access the Nun Justice Project’s prayer resources. You will also find there an open letter to Pope Francis, asking him to intervene and “to remove the unjust mandates imposed on LCWR over two years ago.” You can download the letter and mail it to the Pope.
Voice of the Faithful’s support for our sisters is unflagging.
Ordinations signal growing popularity of Latin Catholic Mass / St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Clericalism, Future of the Church, Voice of the Faithful on August 7, 2014
When Pope Francis was first elected, he appeared to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square without the short, red velvet cape known as a mozzetta. Some Roman Catholics immediately cried foul, worried the pope’s decision to forgo the more formal wear signaled a threat to traditional Catholic worship.
Specifically, they fretted over the fate of the old Latin Mass, now in the hands of a papacy that seemed to shrug off pomp and circumstance.
But more than one year into Francis’ reign, the Tridentine Mass, as it is sometimes called, appears to be alive and well. Decades after the Roman Catholic Church moved away from celebrating Mass in Latin, a throwback movement is growing, in many cases with the young leading the charge.
By Lilly Fowler, St. Louis Post-Dispatch — Click here to read the rest of this story.
Pope Benedict XVI OK’s abusive priest in Paraguay, local bishop says / Religion News Service
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Clericalism, Voice of the Faithful on August 6, 2014
A showdown between Pope Francis and a conservative bishop in Paraguay is heating up as the bishop rejected charges that he sheltered a priest accused of sexual misconduct, and claimed that Pope Benedict XVI himself vouched for the suspect cleric just days before his election as pope in 2005.
“The conflict between the Vatican and Bishop Rogelio Livieres Plano of the Diocese of Ciudad del Este was sparked by revelations in March that the bishop had promoted a Catholic priest who had been barred from ministry in Pennsylvania after church officials there said he molested several boys.”
By David Gibson, Religion News Service — Click here to read the rest of this story.
‘Monumental shift’ in Rome on clerical child sexual abuse issue / The Irish Times
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Voice of the Faithful on August 5, 2014
There ought to have been a sense of huge importance noted about Pope Francis’s first meeting with six survivors of clerical child sexual abuse in Rome on July 7th last. The survivors came from Ireland, the UK and Germany … Battles by survivors to be believed and to secure accountability on the part of a Catholic hierarchy that knew about and allowed spread vile crimes against children rage on … It was against this background that two Irish survivors met the pope last month. What happened in Rome was a monumental shift. In his acknowledgement, the pope shattered any illusions left about the lifelong, intergenerational and appalling reality faced by survivors.”
By Mark Vincent Healy, The Irish Times — Click here to read the rest of this story.
— Pope Francis’ homily at Mass with sex abuse survivors on news.va
Conflict with Vatican shadows upcoming LCWR assembly / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Voice of the Faithful on August 5, 2014
U.S. women religious leaders face an uncertain future as they gather Aug. 12-16 in Nashville, Tenn., for their annual assembly. More than 800 elected congregational leaders will discuss how they plan to react to continued charges of infidelity leveled by the church’s top enforcer of orthodoxy, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as to the congregation’s plans to take over the organization after the assembly …
“The issues are multilayered, involving disputes over the role of religious life, the relationship between religious and bishops, questions of obedience, and differing visions of church priorities and mission.
“Beneath these is one more: the role of women in a church that maintains a gender-determined authority system. The conflict between LCWR and the doctrinal congregation has become the most visible manifestation of this highly charged issue.”
By Thomas C. Fox, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this article.
The lavish homes of American archbishops / CNN Belief Blog
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, Catholic Church Finances, Clericalism, Voice of the Faithful on August 4, 2014
Records reveal that 10 of the country’s top church leaders defy the Pope’s example and live in residences worth more than $1 million.
“Clearly, ‘lifestyles of the rich and religious’ doesn’t cut it for Pope Francis. The pontiff has said it ‘breaks my heart’ to see priests and nuns driving the latest-model cars. He’s blasted ‘airport bishops’ who spend more time jet-setting than tending to their flocks. And he’s warned against church leaders who bear the ‘psychology of princes.’ The Vatican fired one such ‘prince’ last year: German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst — aka ‘The Bishop of Bling’ — who spent $43 million to remodel his opulent pad. ‘God save us from a worldly Church with superficial spiritual and pastoral trappings!’ Francis said in his book-length blueprint for the church. Say what you will, but this Pope puts his preaching into practice.”
By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Editor — Click here to read the rest of this article.
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