- Home
- Pray with us
- Prayer in solidarity
Below is an extract from an email to our Community from an American Religious
The apostolic investigation (a year ago November) turned out to be a huge gift to our communities, because it pulled us into solidarity We decided we'd stand our ground and speak strongly and honestly about what we love about our communities and about how we are together. So it was MARVELOUS - our community spirit here was coming out of the walls , and that has been the experience of every community I've spoken with so far. The energy is HIGH, I believe, in all communities!!! - and for sure in ours.
BUT there has been outrage in all the papers over the whole thing - all eloquent. Hosts of articles coming from all directions. The Vatican has created a firestorm. Actually it makes me sad - it provides another reason for a great deal of anti-Catholic propaganda, and there's already more than enough of that.
But for nuns, the publicity is great. We are holy women, deeply committed, courageous, intelligent...etc etc.. Protests and banners started by lay people in very many places, men and women and even priests leaping to our support.
So my conclusion is: the Vatican has been a GREAT help in pushing us further in the direction we have needed to go. They are not hurting, rather they are helping us, and giving us great publicity. The Holy Spirit outwits us all, doesn't she?
A LITTLE BACKGROUND
From the BBC April 2012 - in summary:
The Vatican is taking action on a group of American nuns that it considers too radical.
It says the group is undermining Roman Catholic teaching on homosexuality and is promoting "feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith".
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is the largest organisation of Catholic nuns in the US.
An archbishop has been appointed to oversee its reform to ensure that it conforms to Catholic prayer and ritual. The review will include an examination of ties between the Leadership Conference and Network, a Catholic social justice lobby.
The Leadership Conference, which is based in Maryland, represents about 57,000 nuns and offers a wide range of services, from leadership training for women's religious orders to advocacy on social justice issues.
The full document from the Vatican is available on:
http://www.usccb.org/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageid=55544
other sites:
