[caption id="attachment_7423" align="alignnone" width="500"] Sister Pat Farrell (L), president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), and Sister Janet Mock, the executive-director, smile following a meeting with Cardinal William Levada at the Vatican June 12, 2012. The Vatican sternly told the leaders of American nuns who were accused of being too feminist and politicised that their group "remains under the supreme direction of the Holy See". The nuns, who requested the meeting to face Roman Catholic doctrinal officials over the accusations, said they would go back to the United States to decide their next move. REUTERS/Max Rossi[/caption]
By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Writer
In early August, a gathering of about 900 nuns in St. Louis passed resolutions calling for Congress to pass the Dream Act and to enact comprehensive immigration reform to reunite families and create a path to citizenship. They passed a resolution calling for the repeal of restrictive state laws that create fear among immigrant communities, and passed another that would commit lawmakers to end human trafficking.
They heard presentations on consciousness evolution in the face of global crises, and how religious life might evolve as it moves into the future. There were tools presented for navigating this brave new world, emphasizing nonviolence and solidarity with the marginalized.
Indeed, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious packed a lot into its three-day conference between Aug. 7-10, except what the Vatican wants them to spend more time on: speaking out against abortion, contraception and homosexuality.
Those issues were central to the Vatican’s three-year investigation of the organization, whose 1,500 members represent 57,000 women religious, or 80 percent of the entire population of nuns in the United States.
Released in April, the results of the doctrinal assessment were damning: Lead by former Portland Archbishop, now Cardinal, William Levada, the assessment by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith accused the group of serious doctrinal problems. The CDF said that by not actively advocating against abortion, birth control, same-sex marriage and the ordination of women, the women religious were in fact giving their approval of these hot button issues, and instead channeling their energies into social justice efforts. This “radical feminism” according to the assessment, was in conflict with the teaching of the church, and that the organization had to be reformed.
As a result, the organization has been ordered under the control of Seattle’s Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, who, along with two other bishops, will oversee the group’s reform for the next five years.
[caption id="attachment_7424" align="alignnone" width="500"] Cardinal William Joseph Levada, the former Archdiocese of Portland, gestures during a news conference at the Vatican October 20, 2009. He was the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Vatican's watchdog on Catholic doctrine, during its' investigation of the Leadership of Women Religious. REUTERS/Tony Gentile[/caption]
Conservative critics have called the LCWR a “rogue” organization, committed to “liberal social causes.” One cardinal has said that if it can’t be reformed, it doesn’t have a right to exist. Cardinal Levada has been quoted as saying the organization — now certified by the Vatican — could be decertified if it doesn’t conform. The LCWR says the assessment, “was based on unsubstantiated accusations and the result of a flawed process that lacked transparency,” and that the sanctions could compromise the groups ability to fulfill its mission.
At the end of their conference on Aug. 10, the nuns released their formal statement on the matter, affirming their voice in the future of the church: The organization will proceed with the discussions with the bishops as long as possible, “but will reconsider if LCWR is forced to compromise the integrity of its mission.” In fact, the membership’s directive to LCWR officers was that work with the CDF not distract from the work of the organization. It was a tepid commitment to work together, but only so far.
At stake is the future role of women not only within the Catholic Church, but also the role of Catholic women in doing social work already steeped in politics from Vatican City to Washington, D.C. The work of women religious is square in the crosshairs: women’s reproductive rights, same-sex marriage, health care equality and social justice for marginalized populations — all wedge issues in the presidential election.
“I’m not surprised that (the bishops) would attack LCWR,” says Jim Fitzgerald, executive director of Call To Action, which launched the Nun Justice Project, a campaign in solidarity with the LCWR. “The institutional church right now is really trying to purge in a lot of ways. I was surprised at the level and intensity of the attack. The document bluntly says rampant radical feminism had infiltrated LCWR. And specifically pointing out that while doing lots of good things, it has been spending too much time on social justice issues, and not enough time speaking out against same-sex marriage.”
Nun Justice — supported by the American Catholic Council, Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church and Catholics for Choice — is calling on the bishops to withdraw the mandate for reform, which it says threatens the nuns’ work in social justice. And they are joined by a chorus in support of the women religious. Nun Justice alone submitted 57,000 petition signatures to the U.S. bishops, and has organized prayer vigils and other events across the country, including several vigils outside St. Mary’s Cathedral in Portland.
The first men’s religious order to stand behind the women was the Franciscan provinces, who called the assessment’s tone and direction “excessive, given the evidence raised,” and contextually out of date with the “signs of the times.” Jesuit Volunteer Corps Northwest issued a statement in support of the LCWR and called on supporters of both organizations to write their bishops or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and to donate money to a community of local sisters.
Portland’s One Spirit-One Call, based out of St. Andrews Catholic Church, works for justice and equality of women in the Catholic Church, and has openly supported the sisters.
“The Vatican should be commending the sisters, not disciplining them, for carrying out the reforms of Vatican II to modernize and focus on social justice, caring for the poor and marginalized,” says Mary Ann Dickey, president of One Spirit-One Call. “We hope that the differences between the sisters and the Vatican can be resolved through dialogue. So far the Vatican has been more interested in handing down edicts than in dialogue.”
The mandated reforms of the organization include revising its statutes, the scope of the mission, and all plans and programs including General Assemblies and publications to ensure compliance with the Vatican. (All speakers, for example, will be subject to the approval by the bishops.)
The assessment called into question LCWR’s relationship with Network, one of two affiliations the bishops’ singled out, the other being The Resource Center for Religious Institutes, which provides the nuns counsel on canonical and civil law.
One major sticking point running throughout the assessment is LCWR’s tacit, if not explicit acceptance of the ordination of women as priests, a practice alive and well in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
What does this mean for the work of women religious in the Pacific Northwest? Perhaps not what the bishops’ intended.
“The Vatican, when they issue this doctrinal assessment, has grossly underestimated the power of women religious across this country,” Fitzgerald says.
Among the problems named in the report is the LCWR’s affiliation with Network, the group’s lobbying arm that is not connected to the Vatican. It was Network that came out strongly in favor of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act and helped garner support among the Catholic community for the health care reform bill, despite strong opposition to the Act by the nation’s leading Catholic body politic, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or USCCB.
It was also Network that organized this July’s Nuns on the Bus event, a multi-state tour by women religious in protest of the budget by Republican Congressman Paul Ryan. The nuns were speaking out against the Ryan budget because, they said, of the harm if would cause to people already suffering from poverty. The tour, which hit mostly Midwest states from mid June to early July, was denounced by the USCCB, who organized the alternative “Fortnight of Freedom” calling for the religious freedom they said was under threat by Obama’s health care reform efforts that included insurance for contraception.
The showdown between the nuns and the bishops has Network Executive Director Simone Campbell, who is also a nun, both angry and a little incredulous.
“While I laugh at its absurdity, it is serious, and it is indicative of the attitudes across the country,” says Campbell, “It perpetuates the idea that only certain issues are worthy of our advocacy, and those are principally around abortion, and that that’s the totality of a justice argument, even though the Catholic documents say clearly that’s not the case. And the other piece that’s so worrisome for me is that I know we were named in the Vatican document because of our stance on national health care reform. I wrote the letter that the Catholic sisters signed in support of the Affordable Care Act. And it was a position different from the bishops’. And the bishops seemed to be saying not only do they speak for faith, but they also speak for politics. And in a democratic culture, that’s wrong. In the monarchy, they can get away with it, but not in a democratic culture.”
Campbell sums up the reason behind the backlash against the nuns because, she says, the nuns won.
“It’s got nothing to do with faith — it’s all about power,” Campbell adds. “If their side had been successful in stopping the Affordable Care Act, this never would have happened.”
Fitzgerald notes the difference in perspective.
“(Women religious) look at that issue of life in its fullest,” Fitzgerald says.
“Whereas the institution looks at it in the most limited lens and quite frankly, the most political lens.”
Unlike the LCWR, Network isn’t under the Vatican’s authority. And the work being done on these issues will continue, regardless of any pressure from overseas, Campbell says. Likewise, one of the options for the LCWR is to recreate itself independent of Rome, as a non-canonical organization.
“I’m a person of faith, and I believe the Holy Spirit is alive and well and making mischief,” Campbell says. “What needs to get out, will get out. I’m only a piece of this puzzle.”
To better understand that puzzle you have to look back to the 1960s, a time when attitudes about women’s rights, sexuality and social justice changed dramatically. The changes were not lost on Pope John XXIII, who convened the Second Vatican Council, or Vatican II, in 1962 to examine the Church’s role in this new world. In summary, Vatican II was the Church’s answer to the social liberation happening all around it: “opening the windows and letting in fresh air,” as Pope John put it. Meanwhile, with the changing times, women no longer needed the church’s money, influence or authority to do the work they felt called to do. The habit became optional, and apparently for some, so did the institution.
The Vatican says it was the resulting new-age radicalism that has driven women away from sisterhood. When Vatican II adjourned in 1965, there were 180,000 nuns in the United States. Today there is less than a third that number, and most of those are over the age of 60.
Archbishop Sartain and the bishops working with him to reform the organization have said the assessment isn’t a critique of the work of the individual nuns, but of the organization of their leaders. However, in addition to the Vatican’s doctrinal assessment of the LCWR, the Vatican authorized a second, even broader review, called an apostalic visition, of individual orders and their policies. That concluded in January, with the results yet to be released by the Vatican.
Mary Jo Tully is the chancellor of the Archdiocese of Portland, and the first laywomen to hold that position. She played down the impact of the doctrinal assessment on the work of the nuns or any role the archdiocese would play in what she emphatically described as renewed dialogue between the LCWR and the Vatican.
“I cannot believe that it will change what the sisters do in this archdiocese,” Tully said. “And I cannot think that we would want it to.”
Still, the LCWR is the major, Vatican-founded, collaborative model to develop leadership among women in the church and the larger society. In addition to concerns over its lobbying arm, Network, and deciding speakers at LCWR events, the bishops have suspended use of the organization’s Systems Thinking Handbook. The handbook is described as a roadmap for creating systemic change and has been withdrawn from circulation pending further review by the bishops.
When Fr. Jim Galluzzo of Portland heard about the assessment, he channeled his anger through his artwork. He painted a series of images focusing on women’s role in the church, and intends to sell them to raise money for the LCWR. Galluzzo says his education from nuns changed the way he sees people. Like Simone Campbell with Network, he agrees with the political nature of the chasm between the bishops’ assessment and the work of the nuns.
“The sisters supported the health care act,” Galluzzo says “They came out again on the side of the poor and people not covered, and that was in conflict of the hierarchy who were not in favor of health care because they felt it was a religious issue.”
Galluzzo believes this is where the nuns actually have the moral authority: “Because they deal with the people,” Galluzzo says.
“Who are the first people who opened AIDS housing? Look at the people working down on Burnside, working down at the legal clinic at St. Andrews, working in the soup kitchens,” Galluzzo says. “The problem with the Vatican is they are out of touch. They’re not working with the people. They’ve never gone to a grocery store. They don’t know the price of milk. They’re taken care of.”
Father Ron Raab is the associate pastor for Saint Andre Bessette Church. Formerly known as The Downtown Chapel, St. Andre Bessette is where the intersection of the Catholic Church and homelessness is most pronounced and among the most profound in Portland.
Raab is the author of numerous books reflecting on faith and social justice, including his latest book, “The Work of our Hands.” Raab’s opinion is that regardless of the pressures from Rome, or the Vatican’s effort to roll back the modern Catholic model of social justice, the work will move forward.
“I think that the church itself, like everyone else, is afraid of poverty. People are afraid because they are afraid of losing everything. Poverty is such a threat to people,” Raab says.
That fear, says Raab, is what’s leading to the effort to rein in the work of the nuns back to Catholic dogma. The reality of poverty, however, doesn’t fit into a simple mold.
“I think that the Vatican and the larger church, the church in the U.S., they just don’t get poverty and the issues behind real people’s lives. And for some reason or another, especially in the United States, we’ve taken this pro-life thing to mean only one thing, when all these issues of life are happening.”
For Raab, one of the first lessons is to stop blaming people for poverty.
“I think that’s one of the biggest problems that we have because we blame people for their mental illness, for their generational poverty, for having been abused. So people in general think that those things can be fixed, and they cannot be fixed. So when you look at the issues in their lives, they’re not fixable, especially when we think their lives should be something other than they are. It’s not going to work,” Raab says.
One nun who declined to have her name used, said the work done on an individual basis with people in need will continue, and nothing is said or explicit that would give the church reason to come down on them.
“Because we’re careful. By design, we’re very, very careful,” she said. “What happens in my counseling office, nobody’s ever going to know, and I ain’t going to tell.”
But, she says, it’s work to keep it under the radar. “That’s the piece that’s just horrible to have to do. To mind, who am I talking to? Who is this going to get back to? There isn’t that freedom.”
One area that firmly divides the views of many women religious and the Vatican is the ordination of women to the priesthood. In 2010, the Vatican — ostensibly to update a decree on the handling of priests involved in sex abuse scandals — added the attempted ordination of women among the most serious crimes against the church, alongside pedophilia and heresy. It was already condemned by the church, but punishable by automatic excommunication by the women attempting to be ordained and by the bishop conducting the ceremony. No notice from the Vatican is necessary.
Yet beyond Rome, the Catholic Church is in motion on this issue. In May, hundreds of priests meeting in Dublin, Ireland, called for an end to compulsory celibacy for priests and for the ordination of women. The Church of England recently moved closer to approving ordained women priests in establishing options to accommodate traditionalists who want to exempt themselves from women in the pulpit.
And women priests are at work throughout the Pacific Northwest. From the first legal ordination in 2002 in Europe, women priests have been ordained around the world. The international movement, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, counts 130 women priests worldwide, 96 in the United States. Several have gone on to become bishops, ordaining more women into the priesthood.
Portland’s Suzanne Thiel is an ordained priest and the president of the West Region of Roman Catholic Womanpriests, an international movement within the Catholic Church. She says the people are the church, and the male clergy are, for the most part, out of touch.
“The Vatican hierarchy especially, but also our U.S. bishops as well, must continue to grow and change with the signs of the times,” Thiel says. “That means there must be room for dialogue and input from the non-clergy and especially from the voice of women on all matters of Church teachings. Women will no longer tolerate taking a second-class position in the Church’s leadership.”
Pastor Rev. Toni Tortorilla of Portland was ordained in 2007 and leads services for the Sophia Christi Alternative Catholic Community in Portland and Eugene. Like other women around the world who have been ordained, she has been automatically excommunicated, but the term doesn’t have the same impact today as it might have had 100 years ago. When she heard about the bishops criticism of LCWR’s support for women priests, she saw it as a deflection from the sex abuse scandal within the church hierarchy.
“I thought, oh, my God. Here we are in the middle of the worst scandal in history, the sexual abuse crisis, the bishops have absolutely no moral authority anymore, and now they’re going after the nuns? That is the group that does have moral authority in the church. There are lot of things said about nuns over the years, but one thing people know is that where social justice issues meet the road in the Catholic Church, the nuns are right there.”
Tortorilla, who has identified as a lesbian from an early age, says social justice has a very narrow identity within the church hierarchy — one focused on sex — that is abusive to the women and gay and lesbian members of church. Tortorilla doesn’t look at the consequences of this showdown between the nuns and the bishops in individual terms as much in the larger impact on the women’s movement within the church.
“Any advocacy for reproductive health for women or gay and lesbian issues is definitely in the crosshairs. Anything that works for women’s rights, and any issue that addresses women’s health, whether it’s psychological or physical, is going to be in the crosshairs,” she says. “It’s crazy. Making contraception into a political football that everybody has to deal with is, I think, abusive. ... Trying to insist that the Catholic population get behind the bishops on the contraceptive issue, when there are women sitting in the pews who are using contraception, and their husbands, their families need to be using contraception and they know it, that’s abuse. They’re not dialoging with anyone. They’re not asking what your story is. There’s no pastoral care involved. It’s top down and it’s abuse. That’s what I see.”
Tortorillo also used the example of Archbishop Sartain’s letter to priests instructing them to petition congregations against Washington’s gay-marriage proposal. “Then you abuse the gay and lesbian population within your congregation as well as within the whole state of Washington, and you use the pulpit to do it,” she said.
According to other media reports, at least seven priests have refused to circulate the petition in their parishes.
A request for an interview with Archbishop Sartain was not answered.
Several nuns were contacted for this story, and most declined to speak on the record, deferring instead to the statements from the LCWR, which is still in discussions with the bishops. One wrote that they had been asked by LCWR not to comment publicly on the situation. The LCWR has also declined interviews, with the significant exception of a July 17 interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with the LCWR’s president, Sister Pat Farrell.
In her keynote address to the conference, Farrell said this: “This is not the first time that a form of religious life has collided with the institutional Church. Nor will it be the last. ... The historical impact of this moment is clear to all of us. It is reflected in the care with which LCWR members have both responded and not responded, in an effort to speak with one voice. We have heard it in more private conversations with concerned priests and bishops. It is evident in the immense groundswell of support from our brother religious and from the laity. Clearly they share our concern at the intolerance of dissent even from those with informed consciences, the continued curtailing of the role of women.”
And while big picture politics are definitely in play, most in Portland agree that on the ground, the work of women religious will continue on course.
“I don’t think they will in any way be able to stop women religious work in the field. Their commitment to the poor, to those who are underprivileged those who are not honored — that’s their commitment to social justice,” Galluzzo said.
“We’re known for making lemonade out of lemons,” said one nun, who didn’t want her name used. “Just what the LCWR is doing now, we’re going to be doing on an individual level. Most of us have said it’s nothing new. They’re just coming down a little harder.”
Joanne Zuhl is the managing editor of Street Roots. You can write to her at joanne@streetroots.org.