Strife Within the Family

By Sister Diane Dallemolle
New York Times
June 12, 2012

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/06/12/will-the-vaticans-crackdown-on-nuns-work/vatican-and-sisters-see-strife-within-the-family

I am a missionary sister of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Cabrini), a Catholic woman in the church called to carry out the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, according to the most pressing needs of the time in which we live. I am grateful to be a Catholic and to live within the life, including adhering to the traditions and doctrines of the church, which are deep and rich. These traditions have helped me and many others enter more deeply into a relationship with Jesus and with the many people with whom we work.

When I attended meetings held by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, sometimes I did not agree with what speakers said, but we were able to enter into many fruitful and thoughtful discussions. I found the organization very supportive and strengthening for the work in my own congregation and found the conference members to be women of integrity, prayer and deep commitment to the hierarchical church.

Of course, this is a group of highly educated women who are leaders, devoted workers on the front lines of difficult situations throughout the world, and avid students of both secular and religious sciences. It is to be expected that they would want to question and participate fully in the life of their church.

This way of living with questions and being questioning is not yet acceptable to the hierarchy. Perhaps it is threatening and the response appears to be very strong ... possibly even crippling to the Leadership Conference's life and goals.

But it is a moment in time, a moment in our history — and I have no doubt that God will bring good out of even this moment of suffering. It is just more difficult to accept and understand when the suffering is caused from within the family.

As for myself, l carry gratitude in my heart for the call to work in Swaziland at this time of the AIDS and TB pandemic, which has swept this small kingdom. At Cabrini Ministries in the Lubombo lowveld, we face material and moral dilemmas every day. We face sickness and death among the young and early middle aged, thousands of orphans in a situation of hunger, lack of employment and disintegration of families. We are doing our best every day to feed the hungry, educate families, shelter those without homes and care for the sick and dying. In other words, we are doing our best to be in the presence of Jesus, inspiring love, life and hope among our brothers and sisters. This is a goal that all Catholics — within or outside the hierarchy — should deem vital and of the utmost importance.