Thank you BroJ, for always “instructing the uninformed” with kindness and love.
You are very good at this sprititual act of mercy.
I think many times, many of us informed lay Catholics just dont understand how the Vatican and the religious work.
From the onset of the OP and onward in the thread, it seems pretty clear to me that lacking of understanding amongst the laity has lead us to misunderstand the entire situation.
The title of the thread is misleading. The Vatican is not afraid of nuns, or religious for that matter.
The OP seems not to understand the dynamics of the situation.
I believe the problem is a misunderstanding of the role of the LCSW and its authority. There Vatican sees a definite problem with the way that the LCSW does business. However, the Vatican also understands what many lay people do not understand. The LCSW has no authority over the sisters either individually or collectively. The danger is their influence, not their authority. They are very public and many sisters and lay people have access to their statements and their activities. Those who don’t know that the LCSW cannot speak authoritatively, will find some or much of what it has to say very disconcerting and others will just jump the train, believing that they have no choice.
I agree that the title of this thread is very misleading. But the OP’s premise is that the Vatican needs to leave the nuns alone, he thinks they are doing fine. Anyone would have to disagree with that.
To accuse the rest of us of not understanding is, I think, at least a bit unfair. We understand that there are nuns out there who are defying the Vatican and Church teaching on many different levels and are trying to teach others to do so as well. Their actions are extremely dangerous and the Vatican had no other choice but to step in as they have done. There is a crisis in the Church on the scale of which we have never seen before. I cannot support the Holy Father enough as he tries to tackle this. The Church will ultimately be successful, but again, at the cost of how many souls?
This is one area of misunderstanding. The Vatican is not stepping into any religious community. If a religious superior wants to take her sisters and walk off a cliff, there is nothing to stop her, since the Vatican is not dealing with the congregations and their superiors. It’s only dealing with the LCWR. It seems that its hope is that if the Vatican can get the LCWR back on track, it can disseminate good information and produce good programs and services that would help the sisters remain on the same page as the Church. The truth is that many sisters do not go on for more theology courses. You reach a certain age and you’re tired of school. You rely on workshops and publications to keep you informed. The LCSW is a valuable and influential resource.
What is that the many of the laity misunderstand? My understanding is that there is a very serious problem with the leadership of many women religious, that they are in direct conflict with teachings of the church and are spiritually dangerous. Is that a misunderstanding?
This is he misunderstanding right here. If the problem were perceived to be with the leadership of women religious, the organization to tap would have been the Council for Major Superiors of Women Religious. This council is made up of the leadership for women religious.
The word “leadership” when used in the same sentence with the LCWR does not imply or include superiors and their councils. It’s a different kind of leadership. It’s a moral leadership, if you want to call it that, not a juridical leadership. But the Vatican is not speaking to the superiors, at least not at this time.
We have to understand leadership as it is being used when speaking about the LCWR. It has nothing to do with those who actually lead the religious communities to which these sisters belong. I’m thinking of a good way to explain how the term is used, I guess he best way that I can explain it is when we refer to someone as a leader, because he has influence, takes initiative and is charismatic. It does not mean that he has authority to command obedience or compliance. Only superiors have that power and they are not collectively part of the LCSW. The superiors are in a different organization. If any superior has a membership to the LCSW, she is an individual member. She’s not part of a team of superiors. The LCSW is not where this group meets and works.
We have to support the LCSW and the Vatican. We need to encourage them both to go forward, not lose heart, take a deep breadth when they disagree and try to listen and understand each other. If these things happen, the issues can fixed one at a time. If there is an absence of trust and good will, there will be no progress.
Those of us who are not sisters, would do well to show some support for the sisters too. My way of doing it is by simply holding on to the same belief, they can do this. This is not impossible. The Vatican wants to help, not to punish. The sisters have a great deal to bring to the table and the rest of us Catholics are eager to hear about it. Finally, the Church is not the enemy. Judgmentalism and fear of trust is always the greatest enemy.
As Thomas a Kempis once wrote, “If the faults of your neighbor appear so big that they feel greater than your own, you don’t know yourself well. Go back and think about your faults.”
We have to always encourage people to look at what they need to change, before looking in the other direction. We have to encourage the sisters to do the same and tell them that we believe that they can do it. These are not evil women.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, FFV
