What began with Vatican criticism of the “secular mentality” and feminism of US sisters has ended in a Vatican report full of praise.
The report on the apostolic visitation of religious women in the United States, released Wednesday, thanks them for their selfless work caring for the poor and promising to value more their “feminine genius”.
Going out of its way to mend fences with the nuns, the Vatican report is remarkable for what it does not say.
No criticism of the nuns, no demands they shift their social justice focus, no condemnation of the previously highlighted secular mentality and feminist agendas.
While offering a sobering assessment of the state of religious women in the US, the report acknowledges the sisters’ positive contribution to the Church.
Women religious responded with gratitude.
The report is “not a document of blame… One can read the text and feel appreciated and trusted to carry on” said Sr Sharon Holland, president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, (LCWR).
“There is an encouraging and realistic tone in this report”, she said.
The report however saves some mild criticism for the sisters for not wearing a habit, saying some wish to be externally recognisable as consecrated, and asks them to further self-assess and “evaluate their actual practice of liturgical and common prayer”.
It also sounds a “caution to be taken not to displace Christ from the centre of creation”.
Writing in Religion News, David Gibson says there are three “takeaways” from the sisters report.
- Rome’s war on women is over – dialogue is preferred rather than confrontation
- The battle continues – there is another LCWR investigation being run by the very conservative Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the faith
- The church’s conservative echo chamber is broken – the conservative Cardinal Franc Rode was replaced by progressive Cardinal Braz de Aviz.
The change of leadership at the Vatican is clearly reflected in a different tone.
Two years after the visitation began, 2011, Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz was named prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Society of Apostolic life.
“We are putting more of an accent on going to them, not to identify mistakes or judge situations, but to listen to the sufferings, see the difficulties, listen to what they are going through,” the cardinal said.
The congregation wants “more of the climate of a family – I’m not saying this didn’t exist before – but we are emphasizing it more.”
Sources
Related Posts:
- Final report on the apostolic visitation of institutes of women religious in the United States of America
- Primer for the Vatican report on US nuns
News category: World.
