DAYTON, Ohio — A Vatican investigation has triggered debate over an issue sensitive to the Catholic Church: Should nuns be allowed to speak out against Catholic teachings?
The Vatican has accused an organization of Catholic nuns of having “serious doctrinal problems” and promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith” and has appointed an American bishop to conduct a further assessment. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded the Leadership Conference of Women Religious has challenged church teaching on homosexuality,abortion and women in the priesthood.
The conference has about 1,500 members, whose congregations represent about 80 percent of America’s 57,000 nuns.
The Vatican’s move has annoyed some American Catholics who feel a strong bond with sisters who do much of the hands-on work in parishes. “They have landed on this with a lot more strength than they did with the priest sex abuse,” noted Father Patrick Tonry, 78, spiritual director for the Dayton office of the Marianist Mission.
The Vatican’s move has sparked fierce debate among Catholics about whether it is the church or the Americannuns who are overstepping their bounds. Is the church a patriarchal society that will not allow women to speak out, or are these nuns flagrantly flaunting church doctrine? The reaction among local Catholics has been wideranging.
“It’s not intended to be personal; it’s about the integrity of the doctrine, “ said Catholic author Gina Loehr, who has welcomed the Vatican probe. “People have the freedom to express their opinions, but there’s concern that those opinions aren’t given the stamp of official Catholic approval without demonstrating the consistency and authenticity of what the church has been teaching since the time of Christ.”
Sandra Yocum, chair of the religious studies department at the University of Dayton, marveled at the amount of publicity that has been generated about an organization previously little known even to many Catholics.
“You know it’s news when it’s on Stephen Colbert,” Yocum said.
American nuns are remaining largely silent on the issue, at the request of the conference leadership, which is speaking only through news releases. In their initial statement, the conference was “stunned by the conclusions of the doctrinal assessment.”
Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, the former bishop of Little Rock, is leading the investigation.
Religion, Pages 32 on 06/28/2012