Vatican reprimands U.S. nuns over "radical feminist themes"

Tension has been building for years between America's Catholic nuns and the Vatican. Now, the Vatican has reprimanded some of the sisters. An investigation released this week accuses the nuns of challenging some of the fundamental beliefs of the church. CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports an American bishop has been appointed to bring the nuns back in line.

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The Vatican is accusing the largest organization of catholic nuns in America of falling out of line with church teachings -- while promoting "radical feminist themes".

The reprimand was aimed at the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, a group that represents most of America's 57,000 catholic sisters. The Vatican praised the nuns for "promoting social justice" but slams them for protesting church doctrine - on women's ordination and homosexuals. The Vatican also complains the nuns have been "silent" on issues like the right to life and abortion.

Vatican orders crackdown on U.S. nun group

The leadership conference said it was "stunned by the conclusions". Sisters close to the group - including Simone Campbell of the anti poverty group network- say the nuns frequently question church dogma, but have never preached defiance.

Is this a group of radical feminists teaching outside the doctrines of the church?

"Heavens no. That's ridiculous. There's no evidence of being unfaithful or being doctrinally out of step with the church . It's not there," said Campbell.

The Vatican specifically criticizes the nuns' leadership conference for public statements that disagree with positions taken by U.S. bishops."

Most notably, the conference did clash with the bishops on health care reform. The nuns were strongly in favor, the bishops opposed.

Father Robert Kaslyn of Catholic University

/ CBS

Spokesmen for both the Vatican and U.S. bishops declined comment. But Father Robert Kaslyn of Catholic University explained the leadership conference gets its authority from Rome - and isn't authorized to question the church or the bishops.

"As public representatives by their very existence they have an obligation to reflect fundamental church teaching on matters," said Kaslyn.

But for American Catholics, a crackdown on nuns has ignited an intense debates between those who say Rome has the right to demand conformity and those who see the Vatican trying to control religious women.

[Byrdele]

Everyone who enters a religious order in the Catholic Church takes a vow of obedience. Even the man we now call "pope" took such a vow. And he was tested to the limit. He never wanted anything else than to teach in Bavaria. He did not wish to be a bishop and he never wanted to come to Rome decades ago when Pope John Paul summoned him. But he did it, so I am sure he is not without understanding toward the nuns he has chastised (when we refer to the Vatican, the buck stops with the Pope). But this is the way of things. Anyone contemplating entering an order has time to actually live the life before committing oneself to it. If he or she cannot, he or she is free to leave before commitment and none the less is thought of him or her. It is a very demanding life and the Church understands that. I had a friend who almost became a priest and then changed his mind. He remained Catholic with no problems. And if someone over the years feels that he or she cannot maintain the vows, he or she can leave the order. He or she is not a heretic but is simply being honest. All of us who are Catholics know that the Church has never been a democracy. If that is what people want, they are free to attend a church that is more democratic. In the meantime, most of us simply want to worship according to our consciences and I personally wish that the naysayers in the Catholic church would express their faith elsewhere. Why cause tempests in teacups for the rest of us?

[injuntrouble]

The nuns should not worry about this reprimand. They should ignore the Taliban in the Vatican and continue with their good work. By the end of this year, the Christ will have returned openly to everyday life in the world. He will straighten out these bishops who think they are the boss and have the authority to speak for God. See www.christmaitreya.org for more info

[chaytahn]

Oh my... another Mayan 2012 worrier! Personally I believe Jesus Christ who said that no man knows the hour or the day of his coming. Guess that must make you God eh?

[tituslucretius]

servorum:

Your statement to petesis reminds me of an encounter I had in the locker room of the YWCA. This guy said to this other guy who was sitting in the hot tub "You could work out non-stop for 2 months straight and I would still look better than you" - then he left the room. After he left, I said to the guy in the hot tub "It's those estrogen injections that he has been taking".

Servorum: Denigrating someone else is no way to way to win an argument.

[tituslucretius]

oops that was the YMCA where that encounter occurred. I designed a YWCA, so I got confused.
Not the first time. It messes up the whole story - don't it.

[Ferndocker]

Many Nuns have left the Church over the last few decades. A good option for those who do not agree with the teachings and dogma.. Want to stay...remember that vow of obedience you all took. Certainly cannot find fault with those who have left the life...but you cannot have it both ways ladies!!

[chaytahn]

Amen. These people suffer from the view that they personally get to vote on Vatican doctrine. But the Church is not a democracy and never claimed to be. If you want to elect your pastor and vote on whether gays should be ordained then join a different religion. The Catholic church moves very slowly and probably won't change on any of this in my lifetime... which is a good thing. It gives a sense of stability in our rapidly changing world where eternal truths last longer then in the American democracy.

[Lindag10]

The older this pope gets, the more he seems to want to turn the clock back to undo all the reforms the Catholic church has made in the last 50 years. If he keeps this up he will drive ALL nuns out of the church and there won't be anyone left to do the "grunt" work that the nuns do (teaching, caring for the sick and poor, etc.)

[chaytahn]

The traditional orders are growing in numbers but the American liberal orders are declining. Maybe the Holy Father has it right and we need to return to the traditional teachings!

[KPeters_from_UK]

servorum April 21, 2012 5:18 PM EDT
In their own way they are not unlike the small minority of wayward priests who refused to hear the voice of Christ and His Church and then felt free to abuse young people, destroying young lives and families and causing such deep heartache in the Church.
y PoweredPresentations April 21, 2012 11:47 PM EDT
@servorum: you are NOT comparing these nuns with sick, twisted pedophiliac priests!
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Powered,
Chay and Servorum are strict conservative Catholics. What they have written is a true reflection of the beliefs - dare I say - of pre-Vatican II. The structure and authority of the Catholic Church is so incredibly opposed to any mode resembling democracy.It has a tradition of running a tight ship, a very tight ship. It was never comfortable with any internal or external criticism. When St Francis of Assisi began his ministry many Church officials were willing to condemn him. He was lucky he wasn't accused of heresy until a dream (politically conveniently) came upon Pope Innocent III.

I know that Chay and Servorum will stay fast in their belief that the Church is the Truth - an infinite Truth which never changes - and thus can never bend to popular demand. In their minds the Church of the 4th century is the same Church of the 21st. There are many Catholics who still believe that Vatican II was a mistake. Also many refuse to acknowledge that the Church does actually bend to popular demand such as proclaiming the Immaculate Conception as true dogma in the 1850's and their stance on Jews more recently.

In my mind I see the Church as any Universal entity from the stars to the mammals on earth, entities evolve and finally they become extinct. There will be a day when the Church finds their pews empty and then what? Will we have a hand full of men still clinging to the Church of the 4th century?

By the way, Chay you never did try to defend the quotes of the fathers of the Catholic Church in regards to their views of women. As the Church changed tier view of women? Or does the Church stand fast in the belief that women are to be blamed for the Fall?
Around 300AD Clement of Alexandria , " the consciousness of their own nature must evoke feelings of shame.." Shortly after, in Milan, St Augustine's Confession placed blame of the Fall on Eve - all women- and demonizing sex which helped classed women as the source of evil and temptation and therefore ensured women were viewed as negative human beings.

The sixth century Christian philosopher, Boethius, wrote in The Consolation of Philosophy, "Woman is a temple built upon a sewer." Bishops at the sixth century Council of Macon voted as to whether women had souls. In the tenth century Odo of Cluny declared, "To embrace a woman is to embrace a sack of manure..." The thirteenth century St. Thomas Aquinas suggested that God had made a mistake in creating woman: "nothing [deficient] or defective should have been produced in the first establishment of things; so woman ought not to have been produced then."

[KPeters_from_UK]

Serorum,
You have confirmed my assertions.

[AttyFAM]

by servorum April 21, 2012 4:33 PM EDT
It's about time the Church moved to set these nuns back on track, as they have been drifting doctrinally for many years.

Denying the literal Resurrection of Jesus Christ places one outside the Catholic Church and outside of the Christian gospel, as does denying the revealed truth of the Trinity, which some of these women have done in recent years.
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I guess you don't read well - or listen well, if you heard the NPR interview with one of the nuns representing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. They have not denied any doctrine of the Catholic Church. Nor have they spoken on matters of teaching of the Magisterium about abortion and homosexuality. They have remained silent. What they have done is treated women who have had abortions and gays and lesbians as normal human beings deserving of the same mercy as anyone else.

What is offensive is the Vatican putting a male bishop over this women's organization. The Vatican has yet to understand that women are the equal of men. In this, it is little better than Islam.

[AttyFAM]

Servorum -

Can you cite any authoritative source that the LCWR has denied any of the core beliefs stated in the Nicene Creed or any other central teaching of the Catholic Church? Not even the Doctrinal Assessment document from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the new name for the Office of the Inquisition) makes any of the claims which you made. So, I would conclude that it is you who have not done your homework.

[chaytahn]

People here have obviously not heard of some of the radical things done in America in the name of Roman Catholicism. The infamous "clown masses" in California where all the EME's and such dressed as clowns to make it more "friendly" to children. In the 80's American nuns were in El Salvador carrying machine guns and grenades to guard Nicaraguan depots...and freeing leftist government troops to fight the Contra's. More recently several leaders of American orders have endorsed Obamacare, endorsed abortion, and endorsed birth control. If you take an oath of obedience to the Bishop you ought to follow it or resign your position. That is a simple truth. Don't lie about the oath and claim it was only to God and not to the Bishop personally. Go read the actual words and you will see it is an oath of obedience to the Bishop! Like it or leave it :)

[AttyFAM]

by servorum April 21, 2012 4:33 PM EDT
It's about time the Church moved to set these nuns back on track, as they have been drifting doctrinally for many years.

Denying the literal Resurrection of Jesus Christ places one outside the Catholic Church and outside of the Christian gospel, as does denying the revealed truth of the Trinity, which some of these women have done in recent years.
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I guess you don't read well - or listen well, if you heard the NPR interview with one of the nuns representing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. They have not denied any doctrine of the Catholic Church. Nor have they spoken on matters of teaching of the Magisterium about abortion and homosexuality. They have remained silent. What they have done is treated women who have had abortions and gays and lesbians as normal human beings deserving of the same mercy as anyone else.

What is offensive is the Vatican putting a male bishop over this women's organization. The Vatican has yet to understand that women are the equal of men. In this, it is little better than Islam.

[jimjbear]

All Catholics should familiarize themselves with the Reformed Catholic Church---U.S Catholics in particular. I believe that most would find that they are performing their faith in a way that is much closer to RCC than the form of paternalistic Catholicism the Vatican is now spreading like a cancer into the souls of the innocent and helpless.

[chaytahn]

There is nothing universal or "catholic" about the Reformed Catholic Church. It is merely an excuse to elevate one's own values above that dictated by scripture, tradition and the Magisterium.

[petesis]

The catholic church is the oldest organized criminal institution going. As old as sin itself really.

[AttyFAM]

I thought he was saying that Adam founded the Catholic Church.

[petesis]

Really Servorum... what does the Roman Catholic Church have to do with Jesus? I will wait....

[petesis]

If you actually knew anything about the history of the catholic church, you would not be such a sanctimonious idiot Servorum. The apostles were Jews. They never set out to make a "christian" faith. They saw no need to change from being Jews... all this "catholic" stuff comes in centuries later. But you are not that smart as you demonstrate here quite readily.

[chaytahn]

Petesis....your comments about the apostles being Jews and not setting out to be anything but Jews denies some basic truths. How about all the work with the Gentiles? How about the audience that Luke wrote for? Clearly they saw the faith as something that was first for the Jews but had grown to be for all mankind. Matter of fact there are a few specific Gospel stories about that one including the fact that Peter died in Rome... where few Jews were permitted to live! The depth of knowledge you are claiming on this subject is starting to fall apart.