Investigating them for what?

Getting too uppity.

OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

Yeah. The National Catholic Reporter is all over this, since the nuns have been in disagreement with the bishops on a lot of stuff in recent years.

At some point I wouldn't be surprised to see the American Catholic Church sever itself from the Vatican: American Catholics have more in common with Episcopalians & British Anglicans than we do with the more traditional parts of the Roman Catholic Church.

Investigating them for what?

Getting too uppity.

Pretty much. It's supposedly a neutral study on the current state of the daily lives of individual women religious and of their communities in the US, in order to better address the needs of the communities, but nobody believes that and there's been *tons* of bitching within the Catholic press about it since it was first announced at least a year ago.

I almost wish the news about it hadn't leaked out to the general press -- as long as the pushback was coming from within it made the hierarchy's disconnect from our lives much clearer, and made those members of the hierarchy who were supposed to be leading the investigation very squeamish and willing to ask questions and join the pushback; there's a big part of me that's worried that with pressure and scorn from without - even as richly as it's deserved - the hierarchy is just going to hunker down and double down and whine about how misunderstood and persecuted they are, and the fence-sitters within the Church who'd been waffling on the investigation are going to side with the hierarchy out of sheer tribalism.

A plague on them all. Except the actual women religious, because nuns rock.

and the fence-sitters within the Church who'd been waffling on the investigation are going to side with the hierarchy out of sheer tribalism.

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

I earnestly hope not; but the humans, they are generally pretty disappointing.

Investigating them for what?

Getting too uppity.

Pretty much. It's supposedly a neutral study on the current state of the daily lives of individual women religious and of their communities in the US, in order to better address the needs of the communities, but nobody believes that

Okay, so I understand that it's not literally because nuns are getting too "uppity," but I'm still unclear as to what's *really* being investigated, since no one believes the "neutral study" cover story.

Are they acting independently of the Church? Advocating heresy?

My literal brain isn't really getting at the meaning, here.

It sounds to me that women religious are continuing to work with the poor and ill and needy, to spend their energy pursuing relief in those areas, and not withdrawing from giving visible support to agencies or organizations which also aid and support women who don't hew to the Vatican's draconian rules for women.

Geez, was that clear at all? Nuns are helping the poor, sick, and needy, particularly women, and spending their time and resources on those causes, *rather than* spending their time, resources, and energy on being vocal and public about the Vatican's positions on abortion, birth control, and the woman's place in the home and society.

At least, that's what I got from it.

It's not just your literal brain, it's really anyone's guess, but most likely it's that they are still living as if Vatican II meant anything. The NCR website loads incredibly slowly from my work computer, but I'll see if I can dredge up a couple of articles that give some kind of background. Back in a minute.

Didn't the nuns also come down on the side of pro-ACA because better health care coverage is good? ('Cause I remember being all Go Nuns, Go! when I read about it.) So it's not just a *rather than* issue, it's about siding with groups that address the needs of the poor, women, etc, even when those groups and agencies promote policies and agendas that go against the Church views on abortion, contraception, and same sex marriage.

Here's the NCR's most recent article on the most recent development; at the bottom of the article are links to the last couple of years' worth of articles on the investigation.

eta: Key quote (in the article, it includes links to the original documents):

The Vatican congregation's doctrinal assessment of LCWR started shortly after the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life announced a separate apostolic visitation of U.S. women religious orders. The results of that study were submitted to Rome in January.

In his letter Wednesday, Levada writes that Sartain's appointment is "aimed at fostering a patient and collaborative renewal of this conference of major superiors in order to provide a stronger doctrinal foundation for its many laudable initiatives and activities."

The document from the congregation re-emphasizes the reason for the doctrinal assessment, writing that Levada told LCWR leadership in 2008 that the congregation had three major areas of concern with the group:

•The content of speakers' addresses at the annual LCWR assemblies;

•"Corporate dissent" in the congregation regarding the church's sexual teachings; and

•"A prevalence of certain radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith" present in some of the organizations programs and presentations.