Here is another topic I have resisted posting on for many weeks. Those of you who have been following Church news sources will know that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – a Vatican congregation appointed by the Pope to safeguard the faith from heresy – conducted an extensive study of the religious congregations and orders for women in the United States and earlier this year came back with a report that indicated serious concern about aspects of the life and work of our women religious. Many religious women reported a good deal of surprise and chagrin about this finding. The Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), which is an umbrella organization of papal origins representing a majority of the congregations of women religious in our country, has been in dialogue with the Vatican since.
A lot of uproar has ensued. A former colleague from the Gregorian University in Rome, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, is now heading a group to dialogue about this matter. Assisting him are two other bishops, one of whom is Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who, by the way, was a CDF delegate who oversaw the commission conducting the original four year investigation.
I think it is appropriate to hear directly from Bishop Blair about this issue. In line with this, I discovered this link to an interview of him by NPR. When you click on the link, you will be taken to a page on the top of which you can click again to hear the audiotaped interview. It is a bit lengthy, but worth, perhaps your time. After listening, leave a comment as to your thoughts.
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/25/157356092/bishop-explains-vaticans-criticism-of-u-s-nuns
