Posted on 06/14/2012 2:28:58 PM PDT by NYer
.- Physicians who are also Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma are criticizing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and its defenders for using an impoverished “language of politics” instead of “the language of faith” in the dialogue with the Catholic hierarchy.
“There is no basis for authentic dialogue between these two languages. The language of faith is rooted in Jesus Christ, His life and His mission, as well as the magisterial teaching of the Church,” said the physician-sisters’ statement, which was issued after a June 2 meeting on the contributions of religious women in the healing ministry of the Catholic Church.
“The language of politics arises from the social marketplace,” they said. “The Sisters who use political language in their responses to the magisterial Church reflect the poverty of their education and formation in the faith.”
In April 2012, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released the results of a four-year doctrinal assessment which determined that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious exhibited a “crisis” of belief and “serious doctrinal problems.” The audit also found that letters from conference officers suggested the presence of “corporate dissent” from Church teaching on issues like the ordination of men to the priesthood and homosexuality.
The conference is made up of leaders from 1,500 women’s religious congregations. Those sisters represent some 57,000 American women religious.
In response, the conference’s board members charged that the assessment was “based on unsubstantiated accusations” and used “a flawed process that lacked transparency.” They said the report “caused scandal and pain throughout the church community, and created greater polarization.”
Critics of the Vatican assessment have found sympathy in major media outlets, some of which have depicted the action against the leadership conference as an attack on all religious sisters and nuns.
But the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma see things differently.
Sr. Jane Mary Firestone, RSM, an internist at Sacred Heart Clinic in Alma, Mich., who helped write her religious congregation’s statement, spoke about it with CNA. She said that there is no issue with people representing their perspective to the Church and stating where they see problems.
However, she said that critics of Vatican’s assessment are taking their action into “a political arena of demonstrations” and are “garnering support in a political sense.”
“That doesn’t feel very appropriate,” Sr. Firestone said June 13. In her view, the social marketplace uses “the language of majority rule” and does not necessarily have “a regard for authority.”
“They’ve taken this into the public political arena and it no longer stays in the dialogue of faith. Representation is always possible, dialogue is always possible, but it’s with the reverence towards the hierarchical Church.”
She said that the “language of faith” expresses belief in the Church and the authority of the Church. Catholics believe that when the bishops speak, they have “a different degree of authority” than when someone else does.
“In other words, the magisterial Church does direct for us the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as religious women,” she said.
Sr. Firestone said that while Catholics do not believe the bishops are canonized saints, they are “not just ‘a bunch of men.’”
Those who live as religious women should, “live in the dimension of faith all the time” and recognize when they fail to do so, she said.
Her comments echoed the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma’s broader statement. It said that a religious community’s charism is given to “enrich the Church” and the Catholic hierarchy must determine its authenticity. A woman religious participates in this charism and “cannot separate her work from the Church.”
The sisters praised “the generosity and service” of the religious women who preceded them and foresaw “great hope” for the future of religious life in the Church.
They said that this hope rests in remaining within “the deposit of faith and the hierarchical structure of the Church.”
“We cannot separate ourselves from sacred tradition or claim to advance beyond the Church.”
The sisters’ June 2 meeting also addressed statements from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, various news agencies and other organizations. The Sisters of Mercy said these have created “confusion, polarization, and false representations about the beliefs, activities, and priorities of a significant number of women religious in the United States.”
The Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma have about 100 members who work in hospitals and teach in seminaries and primary schools. The order, which was founded in 1973, runs clinics in Michigan, Minnesota and Germany.
Wow ... I never realized some of their members were also physicians. God bless them!
WOW! Different order of Sisters of Mercy! I am so used to seeing those sisters of that order NOT wearing their habits.
Average age guess — I see some dyed hair
77
Analysis: Dispute With US Nuns Began Decades Ago
Vatican: LCWR under direction of the Holy See; must promote doctrine "taught through the ages"
“The Biggest Distortion of All” [LCWR vs CDF]
Nuns Brace for Vatican Meeting
Catholic Identity Once Again
Crisis of sisterhood: ‘Radical’ U.S. nuns clash with Vatican doctrine guardians
Franciscan Friars Back American Nuns in Vatican Spat
Pastor Completely Loses It Over LWCR
Roman Catholic Womenpriests-USA stands behind LCWR
Nun Too Accurate Reporting
Sisters of Mercy President Defends Farley, Criticizes CDF
Major Vatican Assault Coming in October, Says Former Maryknoll Provincial
Vatican Warns Against Errors in Mercy Nun's 2006 Book on Sexual Ethics
Priests Come to Nuns’ defense
Leaders of U.S. Catholic Nuns to Address Vatican Reprimand About 'Radical' Feminism
Split over nuns' role plays out online (LCWR nuns complain about blogosphere)
ANOTHER WAY TO BEAUTIFY THE CHURCH or 10 REASONS NUNS SHOULD WEAR HABITS (Warning-graphic images)
Dallas bishop ‘communicating’ with nuns on their support for Gates’ global contraceptive campaign
When Reverend Mothers Cease Being Motherly
Nuns Issue Statement Defending Billionaire Contraceptive Campaigner Melinda Gates
Important Background Information About the CDF-LCWR Situation
Nuns Gone Wild: A Trip Down Memory Lane
Exhibit A for Explaining the LCWR Report
Vatican Crackdown on U.S. Nuns a Long Time Brewing
LCWR: getting to the truth of the matter (the blogosphere response to CDF document)
Radical feminist nuns’ group ‘stunned’ by Vatican criticisms, reform plan
Vatican announces reform of US women's religious conference (more details)
Citing doctrinal problems, Vatican announces reforms of US nuns' group
In hard-hitting document Vatican launches clean-up of feminist nuns in United States
LCWR Having a Bad Day. Vatican Names Archbishop Delegate to Continue Watching LCWR and Network
In the picture of the Sisters of Mercy of Alma? I think several of those women are in their 40s or younger, more in their 50s, and only a couple who look like they're in their 60s. This is a different group from the regular Sisters of Mercy, who probably ARE aging from a lack of younger novices.
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.