Posted on 10/27/2006 1:24:49 PM PDT by NYer
An organization of Catholic nuns whose leadership includes four Colorado women is urging Catholic voters to challenge church teachings against abortion and gay marriage while weighing a broad range of social issues on Election Day.
In an "open letter to Catholic voters," the National Coalition of American Nuns provides an alternative to the church hierarchy's voter education efforts in Colorado and nationwide, said Sister Mary Ann Cunningham of Denver, a board member.
Opposing war and treating immigrants with compassion are included in a list of seven issues outlined by the group. Mary Ann Coyle and Anna Koop of Denver and Sallie Ann Watkins of Pueblo are the other Colorado nuns on the board.
The letter also states, "We encourage respect for the moral adulthood of women and will choose legislators who will recognize the right of women to make reproductive decisions and receive medical treatment according to the rights of privacy and conscience."
Cunningham said many Catholics disagree with the church's opposition to legalized abortion for "compassionate, faithful reasons."
Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput has urged Catholics to "act Catholic" when they vote or run for office and called opposition to abortion "foundational."
"We're supposed to vote as our conscience tells us, not as the archbishop's conscience tells him," said Cunningham, a member of the Sisters of Loretto. "I have great respect for the archbishop, but I think that's kind of treating us like children."
Jeanette DeMelo, spokeswoman for the Denver Archdiocese, said Chaput has highlighted a broad range of issues, all grounded in Catholic teaching.
"Archbishop Charles Chaput is not teaching his personal opinion," she said. "This is the church's teaching, and it is the responsibility of a Catholic to vote their conscience, but their rightly formed conscience, their educated conscience."
The nuns' letter also says citizens "in committed relationships - whether marriages or civil unions" - should have adoption, inheritance and other rights.
Colorado's Catholic bishops oppose a measure on the November ballot that would grant domestic-partnership benefits to same-sex couples, and they support a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between one man and one woman.
"I do value the voice of the church hierarchy," Cunningham said. "But I don't find anything in the Gospels about abortion or gay marriage."
How can the be Nuns if they have excommunicated themselves?
Is no one loyal to the organization they work for and/are part of anymore?
Thank you for the statistics. You DID make my day.
I had never heard of this organization before.
I will pray for their enlightenment!
And rightly. Because every reasonable person knows that, while 21st century issues can't be looked up in the concordance, what you're really interested in is Biblical principles, not one-liner proof texts.
They also know, as Catholics, t hat the interpretation or application of Biblical texts is not something which is infallibly determined by each believer acting on his own. Scruipture itself says that the Church--- the Church--- is the "foundation and pillar of the Truth."
If they want to know God's evaluation of abortion, they can literally ask the Church.
I stopped reading after:
"An organization of Catholic nuns whose leadership includes four Colorado women is urging Catholic voters to challenge church teachings against abortion and gay marriage while weighing a broad range of social issues on Election Day."
Nothing new here. Blah blah blah. I didn't notice any new postulants in the photo. Hmmm, I wonder why.
I thought religous took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Their remarks are certainly not obedient to church teachings (or to their bishop) and what's up with the jewelery? So much for poverty ...
I was watching a rerun of Mother Angelica Live the other day. It had been taped in 1994 and Mother was explaining that the Holy Father had asked that all religious go back to wearing the traditional habits, and that was why they were now wearning the traditional habit. Guess these gals lost the memo ...
I thought religous took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Their remarks are certainly not obedient to church teachings (or to their bishop) and what's up with the jewelery? So much for poverty ...
I was watching a rerun of Mother Angelica Live the other day. It had been taped in 1994 and Mother was explaining that the Holy Father had asked that all religious go back to wearing the traditional habits, and that was why they were now wearning the traditional habit. Guess these gals lost the memo ...
Sorry for the double post. My mouse is on the fritz.
I used to be a lay associate of the Order of St. Benedict, and I got a close-up view of this about 35 years ago. The OSB's and other "progressive" orders, in a rather evasive way, "kept" their vows but re-interpreted them. (This is comparable to "honoring" the Constitution as "a living document," ergo killing your baby is elevated from a criminal offense to a Constitutional right, etc.)
"Poverty" was transformed into "solidarity with the poor," often in an explicitly politicized way. It meant "the interesting poor." Poor blacks and Mexicans were interesting. Poor Cambodians and Vietnamese, refugees from Communist terror, were not interesting. Miskito Indians were interesting until Daniel Ortega decided they were counterrevolutionary, and then they were not interesting.
"Chastity" meant... hmm. As I recall, it meant being unmarried and having your primary "bondedness" to other women.
"Obedience" was primarily horizontal: solidarity with other progressive nuns; loyalty to your Prioress or Superior, especially if she was in conflict with Rome; scrupulous compliance with the new norms you just wrote last week, together with stern reprimands toward refractory traditionalists who didn't seem to be getting with the program. This punctilious form of "obedience" was salient during the Great Pronoun Reformation: "Mary Margaret, our new rubrics do not allow the use of masculine pronouns for the Divine! Holy Obedience!"
The only cheerful and encouraging thing you can say about this, is that it is suicidal.
These bringers of damnation need to kick their butts kicked out of the Church pronto.
LOL! I could have guessed ...
This story came up at the Archdiocese of Denver Respect Life Conference. Somebody asked Archbishop Chaput about it following his talk, and he suggested those in the audience write to the sisters, since they obviously don't care much about what he thinks.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.