It's o.k., I knew what you meant, but I just couldn't resist!
Posted on 06/28/2008 5:49:23 AM PDT by A.A. Cunningham
June 26, 2008
STATEMENT REGARDING THE CANONICAL DISCIPLINE OF SISTER LOUISE LEARS, S.C.
After a canonical process of several months, Archbishop Raymond Burke has, today, decided the case of Sister Louise Lears, S.C., a member of the “pastoral team” at Saint Cronan Parish, who was accused of four delicts, all connected with her encouragement of, promotion of and participation in the attempted ordination of two women to the Sacred Priesthood at a local synagogue in November of last year. Delicts, which must be published in the Church, are grave and external violations against the Catholic faith or moral teaching. A list of several delicts is found from cann. 1364 to 1399 of the Code of Canon Law.
The delicts of which Sister Louise Lears is accused are: 1) the obstinate rejection, after written admonition, of the truth of the faith that it is impossible for a woman to receive ordination to the Sacred Priesthood (cann.750, §2; and 1371, 1º); 2) the public incitement of the faithful to animosity or hatred toward the Apostolic See or an Ordinary because of an act of ecclesiastical power or ministry (can. 1373); 3) the grave external violation of Divine or Canon Law, with the urgent need to prevent and repair the scandal involved (can. 1399); and 4) prohibited participation in sacred rites (can. 1365).
Throughout the canonical process, Sister Louise Lears and her canonical advocate have been given ample opportunity to review all of the proofs and arguments in the case, and to respond to them. In other words, Sister Louise Lears’ right to defend herself against the accusations was carefully safeguarded.
Archbishop Burke thoroughly reviewed, with the help of two expert assessors, all of the proofs and arguments pertaining to the delicts of which Sister Louis Lears is accused. He has found Sister Louise Lears, S.C., guilty of the first three delicts. Because there is a question of the competence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the matter of the fourth delict of which Sister Louise Lears is accused, the Archbishop has referred the matter of the fourth delict to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
As a result of his judgment of the case, Archbishop Burke has also imposed the following canonical penalties upon Sister Louise Lears: 1) the penalty of interdict and 2) the prohibition of receiving any mission in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, effective immediately. Interdict prohibits the reception of the Sacraments. The prohibition of receiving any mission prohibits the holding of any Church position or the exercise of any apostolate of the Church in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis.
The penalties are imposed for the purpose of bringing Sister Louise Lears to repentance for the delicts which she has committed and to reconciliation with the Catholic Church.
Archbishop Burke expressed his sadness in imposing the canonical penalties which were necessitated by the refusal of Sister Louise Lears, even after repeated admonitions, to withdraw her statements and repudiate her conduct which have constituted grave delicts in the Church. The Archbishop asks all of the faithful of the Archdiocese to pray for the reconciliation of Sister Louise Lears with the Church.
Ping
Gee...
Maybe she could appeal to the Apostolic Signatura.
Oops...I guess she would still have to deal with Abp. Burke!
/shadenfreude
Sounds dignum et justum to moi!
Very important document ping!
I wonder where the Church in the US would be today if each bishop had used the processes which Archbishop Burke has used against this loopy nun, every time some wing nut religious or priest stepped over the line?
From where I sit over here in the East, this appears to be very encouraging.
Is there a future penalty for that Pfegler(sp?) guy up in Chicago?
Can anybody explain why he is allowed to go on as he does?
Delicious schaudenfrude, isn't it!
Well she could appeal. But that would be playing into that male controlled system, now wouldn't it? I suspect she'll use his appointment to this position as more 'proof' that women are needed more than ever and there's some grand conspiracy to keep them out. Of course, she conveniently forgets Church teaching and tradition and rules, vows she took long ago.
Can anybody explain why he is allowed to go on as he does?
Answer: Francis Cardinal George lacks cajones.
It is very meet, right, and his bounden duty . . .
If so, they seem to have jettisoned them with all the rest of what they term patriarchal oppressive hegemony
("Look, 'e's oppressin' me! E's oppressin' me! Oh! Come and see the violence inherent in the system! Help, help! I'm bein' oppressed!” . . . ")
But, that being the case, why don't ALL these fool women just sashay right over to the Episcopalians, who will welcome them with open arms and let them be 'ordained' to their hearts' content . . . ?
I think the reason is that they're really not interested even in their kooky idea of 'justice' -- they just want to trash the Catholic Church.
Schade = damage, injury, grief
Freude = joy, pleasure
I.e. joy in grief [of others] us. translated as 'malicious enjoyment'
- 10 years of German which I all too rarely get to use. All the Germans want to practice their English, and I talk German funny anyhow because my teacher was an Austrian from up above Graz (same general area as Ahnold). It's like learning to speak English from somebody in Lower Alabama.
If so, they seem to have jettisoned them with all the rest of what they term patriarchal oppressive hegemony
Hegemony, thank you, I couldn't think of the word! There is a convent near me. And the 'fruits' of their foray (encouraged by Erie Diocese's own Joan Chittester) into the hippie, new agey phenomenon du jour has all but left the community in ruins, dissent, and other nearby nuns as well. Diocesan wide. There are a few of the old school nun's left, most very old. Some middle of the road ones who wear the 'modern' habit of the 70's, below the knee, modified veil, emphasis away from 'oldfashioned' notions. And the rest, truly secularized. A real shame as they had a long tradition of fervent, fruitful service, now they've all but died out. And curiously one of their few new members in decades is more traditional and a great devotee of the late John Paul II. She's a breath of fresh air. It should be food for thought for them, but I'm not holding my breath. Think Reiki and enneagrams and 'centering' prayer (not St. Teresa of Avila style).
I think they took vows. As a kid in their schools, they taught us about the vows. They seem to have tossed them out in the 'spring time' of Vat II.
I think the reason is that they're really not interested even in their kooky idea of 'justice' -- they just want to trash the Catholic Church.
Exactly!! Remake it in 'their' image, share with us the 'progress' of other denominations.
I don't understand why these sisters don't SEE that the traditional orders - even the cloistered ones - are flourishing and their up-to-date, with-it, church-of-what's- happenin'-now orders are dying. Do they think that their vocations shortage is the same throughout the Church, and if so, why? If not, why can't they understand? Maybe they're just too old to change.
Oh, yes. Woo hoo.
I don't understand why these sisters don't SEE that the traditional orders - even the cloistered ones - are flourishing and their up-to-date, with-it, church-of-what's- happenin'-now orders are dying.
They don't want to hear about it. There is a push forward to 'fulfill' the teachings (out of context at the least) of Vat II. And after a tumultuous 12 or so years of priest changes and rulings, most just go along.
I know, it's frustrating. They see the nuns of EWTN (when shown) and how happy they are, how fruitful their groups. They are well aware of the discontent, but so enamored with the mission, the goal, they don't see. In my area some of the nuns were already older, longtime nuns when they took up the charge behind Joan and others to push for a 'modern' new church. They weren't too old to be fooled by the New Age, but maybe they're too old now to go back. They see their dying numbers, and think women priests are the answer. And where have the men gone? Bishop Sheen was right, when the women start coming into areas where men had an opportunity to serve, the men just stop. So their answer is women as priests? As the mother of a son, I hear/heard it all the time when the subject of vocations for our boys was dared to be brought up. Not my son, was the answer. One of my son's friends had been thinking, in jr high, of the priesthood, but dissuaded. These same mothers are EEM's, lectors, their daughters are altar servers, and they think 'why not' women priests. It's amazing at the turnaround in just a few short years since my diocese started 'allowing' girls to altar serve, in advance of Rome, in fact in all areas of Church ministry except ushering, men are outnumbered about 3 to 1. And a dissident priest who pastored us 12 or so years ago, sewing these seeds, promised us that in a decade or so, it would be just as he had lain the groundwork for. And it mostly is.
Vocations are hot in this archdiocese, but it's conservative and orthodox -- the South having mostly new young parishes I think is more likely to be conservative. They had to hire a new full time vocations director and he has two assistants.
We got one of the new young priests who was just ordained as our new parochial vicar -- our own "Father Crunk" (young, dynamic black priest) having been made chaplain of the largest Catholic high school in the area. The new guy (he's a little square-jawed Irish-American with a twinkle in his eye) is outrageously orthodox (I love it!) and he was in the military before, as he put it, "God whacked him upside the head with a two by four." So just because they don't answer the call out of high school doesn't mean it's no forever . . . .
Our director of altar serving had a unique solution. The program is run along military lines, with drill and ranks and promotions and stuff. The girls by and large don't like that stuff at all, if they stay in the program they know how to keep their heads down and let the leaders lead. My daughter stayed in the program throughout high school (my son is in an 'I don't believe in anything' phase which hopefully the Marines will knock out of him) but she is a quiet sort, not a girly girl, and I don't think her presence was a bad influence on anybody.
I hear about good things in the South in the Church, so dynamic, and orthodox! What a blessing for you all! I don’t know if it’s because there are so many families with 1 or 2 boys, or what. And yes I think that about my son’s friend, maybe someday... What a pleasure to be in such a diocese! Maybe here in Erie we’ll see the same rebirth. It will be a long road for them.
I think the South didn't suffer the same fallout from declining population and urban out-migration that the old parish populations in the Northeast did. Because we didn't HAVE very many Catholics here until the big boom in the 80s. I can remember when a Catholic was pointed out as somebody unusual around here, in high school I had one 'regular (Roman rite)' Catholic friend, another Maronite (Lebanese) Catholic friend, and an Eastern Orthodox friend, and that was fairly unusual.
Just goes to show (as I told our new priest last Sunday) that when you look back along the road of life, you can see how God was nipping at my heels to herd me into the Catholic Church even then, but like a particularly dense and silly sheep I didn't pay attention until 2003!
Our director of altar serving had a unique solution. The program is run along military lines, with drill and ranks and promotions and stuff. The girls by and large don't like that stuff at all, if they stay in the program they know how to keep their heads down and let the leaders lead.
I like the idea of that system. Haha, in my parish, I think it would probably be led by a woman and that would defeat the purpose! I'm torn on the idea of altar servers. I can see the positive, the idea that each gender has a purpose to fill and can continue through life. I can see how your daughter is positive influence in a positive setting. Here, I wonder if it's just another push for women as priets, as one priest even told a CCD class I work with that 'someday' you all can be priests. He's not here anymore. I can see it in context in your diocese, and distorted here. Unfortunately.
Obviously there's a danger in putting girls in the altar serving position. I liked the idea of one FReeper's parish, they put the boys in cassocks and the girls in beautiful dove-gray nun's habits with veils. They looked absolutely adorable.
Yes! Another 20 years of Pope B16 would be fabulous! As you might imagine, B16's election brought fear here. 'Rome' and the Holy Father are terms sometimes used sneeringly. Rome is just another nice diocese like Erie or Pittsburgh, and we owe our obedience to our own Bishop. I heard this just 3 wks ago in Mass. Oft repeated. And Pope JPII's passing was seen as an opportunity to revitalize Vat II (as interpreted by lefties to promote less Orthodox Catholicism) and I once again hear Vat II and spring time bandied about like it was when I was a kid in the 70's and it made it's way here. They are excited, and I really think that they think the faster they push it through early B16's time as Pope, the harder it will be to overturn and the more Diocesan faithful will protest. Yes, I guess the outflow out of the North in the 80's had the opposite effect up here. A friend of mine grew up in Philly knowing few other Catholics as well. Something odd to me. The cradle Catholics here seem determined to remake the faith.
And congratulations on joining in 03! What a wonderful thing for you and your family!
I liked the idea of one FReeper's parish, they put the boys in cassocks and the girls in beautiful dove-gray nun's habits with veils. They looked absolutely adorable.
What a great idea! LOL, I'll have to suggest it, if I get a chance, at one of the meetings. I don't expect it will fly, but just to plant the idea that there are separate, complementary purposes! Our new pastor will not be pleased, tho.
Can anybody explain why he is allowed to go on as he does?
Apparently the See of Chicago is vacant.
Or maybe the incumbent's head is.
I know, I know, Father Strum-a-Tune will have a cow. Probably because he's afraid of Sister Battleaxe, head of the Christian Education Committee.
It's o.k., I knew what you meant, but I just couldn't resist!
I know cloning is morally unacceptable, but can we xerox him?
Spell check will get me every time. ;-)
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