A #Nunstoo movement has gained momentum since Pope Francis last week admitted Catholic clergy’s sexual abuse of nuns. “There are some priests and also bishops who have done it,” the pontiff said last week in response to a journalist’s question during his return flight from the United Arab Emirates. Francis’s admission followed an outcry last Read more
Sister Mary Pellegrino, outgoing president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, says rather than focusing on dwindling numbers, women religious should focus on the communion they have with each other. She says just concentrating on dwindling numbers diminishes every vocation, the church and even God. The smaller numbers also “reflects our fears and our Read more
The Association of US Catholic Priests has written to Pope Francis protesting comments by the Vatican’s doctrine chief against some American nuns. On April 30, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith prefect Cardinal Gerhard Muller made blunt criticisms of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Among his charges were that the LCWR was promoting Read more
A coalition of 16 United States progressive Catholic groups has written to Pope Francis asking for a public apology to American nuns and a theologian. The Nun Justice Project wrote an open letter regarding recent comments by Cardinal Gerhard Müller to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. On April 30, Cardinal Müller, the prefect of Read more
A major leadership group of US women religious says two years of meetings with the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation has resulted in mistrust. The Leadership Conference of Women Religious said in a statement released on May 8 that communication had broken down with the congregation and, as a result, “mistrust has developed”. On April 30, at Read more
The Vatican’s doctrine chief has told the leaders of 40,000 United States women religious that they are in danger of moving away from the Christian faith and the Church. In Rome on April 30, Cardinal Gerhard Müller objected to a growing “focus of attention” within the Leadership Conference of Women Religious on a concept called Read more
The Vatican congregation that deals with religious life was not consulted over the decision to require the major group of women religious in the United States to reform its statues and programmes, the congregation’s head has revealed. Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Religious, said the lack of discussion over the action Read more
The light, clear tones of young women’s voices filled the chapel, their chanted prayers drifting across the wooden altar screen that shielded the sisters from the full view of those sitting in the pews. The sisters in this American convent belong to the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious — a national organisation that, Read more
Avoiding a direct confrontation with the Vatican, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States has opted for dialogue with the archbishop appointed to supervise a reform of the group. The decision to enter into a “conversation” with Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle was announced at the end of the LCWR’s annual assembly Read more
The recently completed “Nuns on the Bus” tour garnered a great deal of publicity for the sisters involved, who claimed they were making the trip to protest proposed federal budget cuts they say would hurt the poor. However, there were many more undercurrents to the nine-state, two-week trip than most people realize. The giant banner Read more