I was pleased and surprised to find out from youngest sister Kristin that our Deacon Dad has long been of the opinion that Catholic bishops should “get rid of those damned conical hats.” YES! While he’s conservative politically, and only watches FOX news, I now discover he’s right there on social issues with Catholic school principal Kristin, who proudly sports a button that says “I run with the nuns.”
Krissy told me that after the three nuns who had publicly asked and received an invitation to meet in person with Vatican representatives last week, the press clamored up when the nuns left the meeting, hungry for news. They refused to comment, saying only that they had now heard what the Vatican’s concerns were, and would take them back to their communities for consideration. On the other hand, when the old men came out, and the press asked them the same question, they said they had made their concerns known, but that they felt they had fallen on deaf ears.
Say wha?
Kris and I agreed: the nuns are grown-ups and the Vatican priests act like babies.
Somehow, I feel compelled to keep ferreting out info on the centrally controlled, secretive, labyrinthian, pedophiliac, mafia-like Catholic “church” that, I read somewhere (and posted, but where!) is one leg of a triumvirate running the world (City of London: financial; Vatican City: religious (i.e. brainwashing); City of Washington D.C., military).
Here’s a new one, on the intrepid American nuns who seem to be gaining courage, determination and imagination with every new Vatican outrage.
Update: Nuns On The Bus
By Rev. Dan Vojir (about the author)
The most frequent method in disposing of strong-willed or inconvenient women has been to send them to a convent: “Get thee to a nunnery” was a phrase that voiced exasperation and contempt for the “uppity” or unmarriagable female. Indeed, the restrictions of the confines of a prison with the inmates subservient to the dictates of a distant male hierarchy.
It was this image of total subservience that permeated western civilization’s psyche*, so ideas of leadership, authority or initiative were always relegated to the absurd. Mother Theresa aside, nuns have had exceptionally few chances to make a difference.
Nuns On The Bus by AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
The New American Nun and “Radical Feminist Doctrines”
As with all Catholic controversies these days, Pope Benedict XVI is at the center: from condoms to corruption, “Papa Ratzi ” has had a direct hand, especially in the realm of Church doctrine. Before becoming pope, Cardinal Ratzinger was, after all, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, rooting out heresies and advocating strict adherence to policy. So it comes as no surprise that Benedict disapproves of actions by nuns that the Church deems “inappropriate.”
And America’s nuns have been “inappropriate” for years:
[The latest, yet-unpublished] report approved by Pope Benedict XVI, claims that vast majority of American nuns are pushing “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” But rather than preaching against Church doctrine, the sisters are often just staying silent on the church’s pet issues of abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, and the ordination of women. Their silence is interpreted as endorsement so by not speaking out against such evils, the report says the sisters are effectively showing their approval.,
Deja vu : the same image crisis occurred with librarians decades ago as “book people” started exhibiting a very liberal streak – e.g. the fallout from carrying Heather Has Two Mommies was the image of the meek, quiet, benign little woman. Overnight, they turned into “radical feminists.” Now, like their librarian counterparts, nuns actively participating in social issues are painted as “commie pinko” rabble- rousers , as this tweet from an associate of NOM (National Organization for Marriage) can attest:
Because those “radical feminist themes” are actually akin to the dreaded themes of “social justice” feared by today’s Christian Right. The “silence” on gay issues and the rumblings of women in the clergy along with the Vatican’s own “war on women” threaten to undermine two misogynistic millenniums determined to keep women in their place: both the Leadership Conference of Women Religious LCWR ) and the National Coalition of American nuns have veered away from the issues of abortion and homosexuality in favor of taking overt action against issues like cuts in government programs for the poor and disenfranchised.
And then there’s Sister Margaret Farley:
Coming as it does in the wake of the rebuke delivered last month to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the censure of Sister Farley’s book, Just Love: A Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics, is enough to make one wonder if there are doctrinal risks taken simply by being Catholic while female. The Vatican has now censured Sister Margaret Farley and threatens dire consequences to the LCWR if it does not clean up its act: within the next five years it is instructed to formulate new rules and regulations – even a stricter dress code – to conform with what the Vatican deems “appropriate.” In other words, American nuns have to shut up and go back to the 15th century where they belong.
The LCWR , needless to say, is not taking this lying down and will soon come up with a strategy to counter the Vatican’s demands: a “nun war” may be looming.
Instead of nuns on buses, we may yet see nuns on tanks.
*Of course the image of the tough-as-nails teaching nun will always veer to the absurd as well: the most humorous novel to ever touch upon the subject of nuns – John Powers’ Last Catholic In America – exploded the myth of the quiet, acquiescent nun and portrayed her as a bully taking out her frustrations on every male ever created:
[Sister] Boom Boom Berbadine liked to grab guys by the ears and bang their heads against the wall whenever they annoyed her. Fortunately for Boom Boom, most of the kids at St. Bastion Grammar School weren’t too bright to begin with, so if there was any brain damage, it was years before anyone realized it. At the peak of her career, Boom Boom Bernadine got over-zealous and ripped an arm muscle while bashing some head against a banister. Never again were her hands to crunch a set of earlobes. The arm muscle refused to heal. For Boom Boom Bernadine, banging heads against walls was what being a nun was all about. She left the school, never to be seen or heard from again, though there are some graduates of St. Bastion’s who still hear her name whenever they brush their hair or other wise touch their heads.
http://thedevilanddanvojir.blogspot.com
Rev. Dan Vojir is has been writing/blogging on religion and politics for the better part of ten years. A former radio talk show host (Strictly Books ” Talk America Radio Network) and book publisher, Dan has connected with some of the most (more…)
