Posts Tagged congregation for the doctrine of the faith
Nuns Accused of Not Cooperating with Vatican / National Catholic Reporter
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on May 6, 2014
The Vatican chief of doctrine has accused U.S. women religious leaders of not abiding by a reform agenda the Vatican imposed on their leadership organization following a doctrinal assessment of the group.
“Cardinal Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, told the leadership group they were ignoring procedures for choosing speakers for their annual conferences and questioned if their programs were promoting heresy.
“Using the most direct and confrontational language since the Vatican began to rein in the Leadership Conference of Women Religious two years ago, Müller told leaders of the conference that starting in August, they must have their annual conference programs approved by a Vatican-appointed overseer before the conference agendas and speakers are finalized.”
By Dennis Coday, National Catholic Reporter — Click here to read the rest of this story.
On St. Clare Feast, Catholics Support Sisters, Pray for Authentic Dialogue
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on August 7, 2013
Printed below is the news release disseminated by the Nun Justice Project, which is supported by Voice of the Faithful®, announcing that Catholics will pray in solidarity with the sisters this Sunday, Aug. 11, the feast of St. Clare, in advance of LCWR’s 2013 General Assembly next week, Aug. 13-17 (Download the Nun Justice Project prayer service for the feast of St. Clare by clicing here):
Contact: Erin Saiz Hanna 401-588-0457, Jim FitzGerald 773-404-0004
For immediate release: August 7, 2013
On St. Clare Feast Catholics Support Sisters, Pray for Authentic Dialogue
WASHINGTON D.C. – Next week, hundreds of Catholic nuns are expected to gather in Orlando, FL for the annual meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).
On August 11, 2013 in solidarity with U.S. women religious, thousands of Catholics will join in prayer [link to prayer] on the Feast of St. Clare.
“The pope intentionally chose St. Francis as his namesake, and he has shown himself to be open to dialogue” stated Erin Saiz Hanna, spokesperson for the Nun Justice Project. “St. Francis of Assisi’s sacred friendship with St. Clare is well documented. St. Francis worked collaboratively alongside his sisters rather than against them. We pray Pope Francis, and Archbishop Sartain, will not only speak but listen and authentically dialogue with the sisters as St. Francis did with St. Clare.”
LCWR, an umbrella group representing 80% of the 57,000 nuns in the United States, remains under scrutiny from the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). In the spring of 2012 the CDF issued a statement accusing LCWR of promoting “radical feminist themes” and “corporate dissent,” causing outrage among Catholics around the globe.
LCWR responded that the CDF statement was based on “unsubstantiated accusations’ and the result of a “flawed process that lacked transparency.” Last August, the organization’s president, Sr. Pat Farrell, announced that “open and honest dialogue” would be LCWR’s next step with Archbishop Sartain who had been appointed to oversee the mandate.
Last summer, nearly 70,000 Catholics signed a Change.org petition and hundreds organized vigils to rally around the sisters.
“Catholics around the country have been inspired by the faith and work of the sisters and will continue to support them; we urge Pope Francis to recognize their commitment and contributions and dismiss the mandate,” said Jim FitzGerald, spokesperson for the Nun Justice Project.
The Nun Justice Project is a grassroots movement supported by the following organizations: American Catholic Council, Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church, Call to Action, Catholics for Choice, CORPUS, DignityUSA, Federation of Christian Ministries, FutureChurch, New Ways Ministry, Quixote Center, RAPPORT, Voice of the Faithful, WATER: Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, and Women’s Ordination Conference.
For more information, visit www.nunjustice.org
America Magazine Commentary Sees Hope for the American Nuns
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on April 18, 2013
Pope Francis, the CDF and the LCWR by James Martin, S.J., in America magazine
Today (April 15) the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement about the ongoing oversight and “reform” (to use their word) of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the main umbrella organization of women religious in the United States, which represents roughly 80% of American Catholic sisters and nuns. In their statement, the Congregation noted that the new prefect of the Congregation, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, as well as Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, the Holy See’s Delegate for the Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR, met with the Presidency of the LCWR. Archbishop Müller also noted that he had spoken with Pope Francis, who “reaffirmed” the findings of the Assessment, and the “program of reform.” The LCWR issued a statement, which listed the participants in the meeting in full, and said that the meeting was “open and frank.” Several things need to be kept in mind before people jump to conclusions about what this may or may not portend.
Second in a Series — Bishops Investigating US Nuns Have Poor Records on Sex Abuse Cases
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Catholic Bishops, church reform, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Religious Women, Vatican, Voice of the Faithful on January 7, 2013
This is the second in a series of articles, being jointly reported by NCR and GlobalPost.com, that examines the background and the principal players in the Vatican’s investigations of U.S. women religious.
Bishops Investigating US Nuns Have Poor Records on Sex Abuse Cases
From its palace in Vatican City, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith monitors compliance with Roman Catholic moral teaching and matters of dogma for the oldest church in Christendom. These issues have little bearing on most of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. Faith, for them, rests in parish life and the quality of their pastors. In the 1980s, for example, when the congregation punished theologians who dissented from the papal ban on artificial birth control, the majority of Catholics who believe contraception is morally acceptable did not change their opinion … ” By Jason Berry in National Catholic Reporter
Click here to read the first article in this series, which appeared in GlobalPost.com.
Conscience & Fr. Roy Bourgeois
Posted by Voice of the Faithful in Voice of the Faithful on November 30, 2012
Sadly, Fr. Roy Bourgeois learned recently that the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in October had dismissed him from the Maryknoll order and also released him from “his sacred bonds” (i.e., removed him from the priesthood). As Voice of the Faithful® noted previously, such action in response to an act of conscience stands in stark contrast to the Vatican’s failure to censure bishops who failed to act morally when it came to child abuse by priests.
For those interested in Church teachings on conscience, here is a link to the pertinent sections (Part III, Section 1, Chapter 1, Article 6: 1776-1802) of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Vatican website. Voice of the Faithful® also has published a study guide on conscience, Conscience and Excommunication: A Dilemma, which was first posted in 2008 when Fr. Bourgeois faced excommunication.
Voice of the Faithful
A lay movement for governance reform in the Roman Catholic Church, responding to the clergy sexual abuse scandal and supporting survivors.
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