A Sister speaks for herself
Thursday, October 8, 2009
By Bryan Cones
Comments (19)
"Sister X" has spoken out in the pages of Commonweal regarding the Vatican "visitation" of U.S. women religious. Bravo to Commonweal for giving her so much space. The folks who, over the past couple of days, have campaigned to change the results of our poll question on uscatholic.org, and who have left, quite frankly, comments unparalleled both in their ignorance of women's religious life and the structures that govern it and their profound lack of Christian charity, would do well to read the testimony of this woman. Please don't skip the end.
My only regret for her, however, is the fact that she felt compelled to remain anonymous, for fear that no one in authority would stand up for her if she, too, fell under the inquisitorial spotlight for speaking truthfully from her heart. What kind of family have we become?
I've said it once (in my July column), and I'll say it again: These women don't deserve an investigation, they deserve a medal.
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So, are the men's religious
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, October 14, 2009So, are the men's religious communities of "brothers" also being investigated?
I haven't heard anything about it, if that sort of investigation has begun.
Why hasn't the USCCB requested the Vatican for that?
(Oh yeah, there are no women on the USCCB who might request such an equal opportunity investigation....and it appears that there is no ethic in the hierarchy for the words "equal opportunity" to start with....)
Good point
By Bryan Cones on Wednesday, October 14, 2009It is odd that the "quality of life" study has been restricted to female religious; their male counterparts are dwindling every bit as quickly.
Bryan Cones
Could this article be
By Anonymous (not verified) on Saturday, October 10, 2009Could this article be written with any more progressive bias?
The New Pharisees
By Anonymous (not verified) on Thursday, October 8, 2009So it's okay to investigate the sisters because some might disagree with some teaching? Does anyone investigate the priests who really had a lot to hide when they were preying on children? The hierarchy that was protecting them, not the children?
Does this remind anyone else of the Pharisees? Here are loyal wonderful women who have given all their lives in ways we can only imagine and smug know it all "Catholics" sit in judgment. The New Pharisees want a nice little Boy's Club that only includes themselves. i agree with Brian, give the nuns a medal!!!!
Does anyone investigate the
By GA Catholic (not verified) on Thursday, October 8, 2009Does anyone investigate the priests who really had a lot to hide...
What does that have to do with whether or not these women religious should be investigated? Nothing at all.
There was, in fact, a visitation of U.S. Seminaries. Unfortunately there was not a thorough housecleaning. They should have tracked down and removed all the homosexuals from the seminaries and eliminated those tools of the devil that have been barring devout and pious young men from the priesthood for the last 40 years. But still, visit the women religious too and root out their heretics as well. Leave no stone unturned.
Does this remind anyone else of the Pharisees? Here are loyal wonderful women
Are they loyal to Our Lord and His Church, or are they loyal to the devil?
Expecting Catholics to obey God's Law and assent to the divinely inspired doctrine of His Holy Catholic Church is not being a pharisee. Would you call God a pharisee? He Himself expects these things.
The law that Jesus gave is
By LittleBear (not verified) on Sunday, October 11, 2009The law that Jesus gave is not the doctrines that the Catholic Church developed. Secondly, you are too quick to equate Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity with the Catholic Church.
Jesus is sinless. The Church is certainly not. Study Church history and see the love of power, wealth that infested the Church at the highest levels and still does today.
The hierarchy needs a thorough house-cleaning. But since it 'calls the shots' nobody can do it. Except the laity, perhaps---the People of God. And they are,
with their feet. They are walking away---and taking their money, time and talent with them.
The Sisters don't need a visitation---they need Rome to get off of its high horse---and for it to sit in ashes and sackcloth.
You are obviously not a
By GA Catholic (not verified) on Sunday, October 11, 2009You are obviously not a Catholic, LittleBear. Catholics believe (because it is true) that Jesus Christ founded one Church on Earth to continue his salvific work and that church is The Catholic Church.
Nowhere did I say or imply that Jesus IS the Catholic Church. Of course not. Jesus FOUNDED the Catholic Church and continues to be the invisible HEAD of the Catholic Church. As to the presence of sinners in the Catholic Church; that has always been true and always will be true. First off, because it is sinners who need salvation, as Jesus Christ reminds us in Matt 9,12. Second off because Jesus tells us that the Church is not an assembly of the perfect, but a mixture of those who will be saved and those who will be damned, as he explains in the parable of the wheat and the cockle in Matt 14,24-30.
Certainly there are many, especially in these days, in the Catholic Church who will be damned -- both among the laity and the hierarchy. But this does not diminish from the Christ-given authority of the hierarchy to rule the Church.
If the so-called "people of God" are walking away from the Catholic Church, then they are doing so to their own damnation, for there is no other way to Heaven except through Jesus Christ and no other way to Jesus Christ except through His Catholic Church.
jesus founded the "Catholic"Church
By Valerie da Silva (not verified) on Monday, January 4, 2010The word "catholic"did not exist in Jesus'time---Jesus founded a church based upon the leadership of Peter---a good Jew----the word "Christian" was applied to the followers of Jesus for the first time in Antioch. The word "catholic"simple means universal---the group became a universal group as the teaching of Christ spread over the known world of the times---basically then the followers of Jesus were called "Christians" not catholic.
Sorry, that should be Matt
By GA Catholic (not verified) on Sunday, October 11, 2009Sorry, that should be Matt 13,24-30 above.
"Remove all homosexuals from
By JC (not verified) on Friday, October 9, 2009"Remove all homosexuals from the seminaries", Well first of all there is nothing to indicate that a homosexual cannot be a loving christian or a loving and well functioning priest. Second, if you were to remove all of the homosexuals for the seminary, just how many do you think would be left? The Church has always attracted gay and lesbians to their convents and seminaries, and, although there have been some problems - some very serious, on the whole, most have served The Church very well.
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