Showing posts with label
Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
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Showing posts with label
Leadership Conference of Women Religious.
Show all posts
I remember walking into a discussion back in 2004. One of my co-workers was in my boss's office, lamenting the recent statement from our city's Archbishop that if the Democratic presidential nominee, John Kerry, campaigned within our Archdiocese, he should not present himself to receive Communion.
Our Archbishop, (now Cardinal) Raymond Burke, was vocal in his conviction that Catholic politicians who publicly persist in grave, manifest sin such as supporting abortion, must be denied Communion. Their reception of Communion was both a sacrilege
(see 1 Cor.11:27-32) and a scandal to the consciences of the faithful - giving the confusing impression that it was possible to receive the Lord in Holy Communion while simultaneously persisting in grave sin (see 1 Cor.5:1-13).
My coworker felt it was completely wrong for a churchman to tell someone how he should vote. We live in a democracy where every one has the right to vote their conscience. My boss, knowing how committed I was to the Faith, asked me to weigh in. Here was how I responded to my coworker:
"Senator Kerry is free to vote however he wishes. What he cannot do, and Archbishop Burke is reminding him of this, is support the killing of unborn children and, at the same time, be united to Christ. The Church is not the "Democracy of God," it is the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the King, and His statement of what is good and what is evil is absolute; it's not up for a vote. So John Kerry must decide which is more important to him - union with Jesus or his support of abortion. The choice is his, but he can't have it both ways."
Why am I bringing this up 9 years later? I was reminded of it yesterday while watching PBS's Religion & Ethics Newsweekly. With the election of a new pope about to get underway they wanted to revisit a Vatican report released earlier this year citing “serious doctrinal problems” within the United States' Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) - a group that has expressed approval of same-sex relationships and contraceptives, and signed the New York Times letter stating there were legitimate, diverse opinions possible on the matter of abortion. The program (transcript available here) interviewed Sr. Mary Hughes, past president of the LCWR, who seemed hopeful that the Church might adopt a more democratic model in the days to come:
"This is not just about the Vatican versus the nuns. This really is about
the future of how we interpret the message of the Second Vatican
Council, and what’s going on right now quite frankly makes me sad,
because I see certain people in Rome, in the Vatican, who want
retrenchment, who want to go back to the church the way it was before
the Second Vatican Council, when the church was essentially the
hierarchy, and they determined everything down to sometimes the minutia
of Catholic life ... There’s always a blessing that comes with every conflict. Perhaps the
blessing is that we continue to open up within the Church avenues for
true dialogue and true dialogue isn’t about winners and losers. It’s
about people truly being able to listen to understand the other
perspective before making any judgments."
To its credit, Religion & Ethics also interviewed author Colleen Carroll Campbell, who responded:
"Women religious need to stand with the Church, and if they don’t feel
that they can in good conscience do that anymore then I think it would
take more integrity to simply step back and say, you know, maybe we’re
not called to be Catholic women religious anymore. Maybe we want to be
something else."
The Church isn't a democracy; it's a Kingdom. The Pope and Bishops cannot dialogue on these matters because they aren't matters upon which diverse opinions can exist among disciples of Jesus. They aren't positions that can be changed over time. They are the directives of our King, "Jesus Christ - the same yesterday, and today, and for ever" (Heb.13:8).
I've always loved today's Gospel. When I read it aloud today, it spoke to me in a different way though. I'll share the passage and then what struck me:
As he was walking in the temple
area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him
and
said to him, "By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you
this authority to do them?"
Jesus said to them, "I shall ask you one
question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Was John's baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me."
They discussed this among themselves and said, "If we say, 'Of heavenly
origin,' he will say, '(Then) why did you not believe him?'
But shall we
say, 'Of human origin'?"--they feared the crowd, for they all thought John
really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know."
Then Jesus said to them, "Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do
these things."
Now of course I had always enjoyed seeing Jesus verbally out-maneuver His opponents, but today I finally understood that what Jesus is saying to them is that faith is all a matter of authority - whose word you believe. John came claiming to speak for the Lord, and calling people to a baptism of repentance. Because the chief priests, scribes, and elders didn't believe that John had the authority to do this - that he really spoke God's word - they ignored what he said and did. So when they ask Jesus by what authority he teaches and acts, it will not matter if He says "from God" or not, because they have already decided that His message, critical of them, could not possibly be from God. It strikes me that something similar is playing out before our eyes on the evening news.
Watching CBS's national news last night, I saw an interview with Sr. Pat Farrell, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), the group recently criticized by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). Sr. Pat has been a religious for the past 47 years and took great exception to the CDF's assessment. The CDF is also requiring Archbishop Sartain of Seattle to meet with LCWR leaders, representing 80% of U.S. women religious, "in order to implement a process of review and conformity to the teachings and discipline of the Church."
What issues did Sr. Pat take exception at being criticized for? Sisters recommending birth control to low income women they minister to, and the sisters affirmations that homosexual acts are valid forms of affection in God's eyes. Alright, if you're a person who really does accept the authority of Jesus of Nazareth, then those are not issues up for discussion. Jesus, the Apostles, and all of her male and female saints, Bishops, and Popes throughout two thousand years have taught that birth control and homosexual acts are objectively - always objectively - wrong. A person's ignorance of that obviously mitigates their culpability for engaging in these acts, but it does not change the fact that they are objectively disordered.
The sisters should obviously continue reaching out to the people they have been serving - that is part of the Gospel imperative. But in their service to these people they cannot say that parts of Jesus' teaching are not true. It's the Truth that sets people free, that gives supernatural life, a life that lasts forever. Otherwise, sisters who espouse the thoughts of Sr. Pat will be meeting needs that only pertain to this present, fallen world. And it will soon pass away. The U.S. already has plenty of social workers. It needs Christian, faithful women religious, social workers, hospital administrators, teachers, doctors and nurses.
As we watch this play out on the evening news - the sisters "being bullied" by the big, bad Vatican - we need to ask, "By what authority?" What authority are the sisters claiming for their disagreement with Church teaching, which is nothing but God's word?
This shouldn't be a difficult issue for American Catholics. If you believe Jesus spoke the Father's word, if you believe that the prophets and apostles were inspired to speak His Truth, then you embrace it 100%. The sisters have given amazing service to God's people, and the Vatican praises them for it. But there also appear to be a significant number, such as the LCWR's president on the evening news, who disagree with Jesus on significant moral issues. This should not be and should be corrected. And that is exactly what the shepherds of Christ's Church were given authority by Him to do! (Mt.18:15-18)
