Vatican and Lcwr Dialogue Is Put to the Test

By Alessandro Speciale
Vatican Insider
August 21, 2013

http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/vaticano-vatican-suore-nuns-monjas-usa-estados-unidos-27274/

LCWR nuns during a demonstration

A Holy See representative is to meet with members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR)

The new climate of dialogue and trust which has settled in the Vatican since Francis arrival seems to have spread to the U.S., to the point of healing the split between the LCWR’s nuns and U.S. bishops, which had been worsening in recent years.

The Vatican appointed a commissioner to oversee the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in April 2012, when Benedict XVI was still Pope, after the nuns were accused “radical feminism” and of failing to obey church teaching on matters such as the possible ordination of women priests and contraception. Rome’s decision was met with indignation by a majority of faithful but was also supported by the more conservative sectors of U.S. Catholicism which have always accused the nuns of not contributing enough to the cultural battles against abortion and same-sex marriage. These issues have been top priorities for U.S. bishops in terms of public commitments.

During their annual assembly held in Orlando, Florida between 13 and 16 August, the LCWR extended an olive branch to the Archbishop of Seattle, J. Peter Sartain - the Vatican-appointed commissioner who was given the task of overseeing the group’s reform -, inviting him to speak at their meeting. The prelate promptly accepted the invitation and attended three closed-door meetings, the content of which was closely examined during the group’s plenary assembly. He also participated in a three-day meeting with the heads of the LCWR.

In a statement the LCWR said there was a deep and frank exchange of opinions between the group and the commissioner. Although Archbishop Sartain did not have time to answer all questions put to him but the nuns during their plenary assembly, he did listen carefully to their concerns and requests for information.

What seems to have emerged from the meeting in Orlando is a greater respect and mutual under standing, which should make it easier for the two sides to work together in the future. The LCWR statement described how the discussion between Archbishop Sartain and the LCWR leadership was extraordinarily rich and deeply respectful and helped the group to understand the archbishop better and vice versa. Although there is still uncertainty regarding the exact shape and form of the LCWR’s restructuring, the hope is that a dialogue of this depth will lead to a solution that preserves the integrity of the LCWR and beneficial for the Church.

The meetings between Sartain and the LCWR – which currently represents around 80% of the over U.S.’s 57 thousand women religious – were all closed-door meetings. But in a brief public statement, the Archbishop of Seattle stressed that the meetings between him and the women religious took place in a constructive climate of collaboration. “I am here this week with you yes as the apostolic delegate …and as the representative of Pope Francis. But I am also here as your brother and friend,” the archbishop said. During the mass he celebrated on occasion of the meeting, held on the Feast of the Assumption, Archbishop Sartain described the nuns as examples of submission to Him who created them.

In his concluding speech, the LCWR’s outgoing president, Sister Florence Deacon, described the 825 women religious who form part of the U.S. mission and their relationship with the universal Church as a “delicate weaving” “of our baptismal call as Christians to be women of the Gospel and a Divine call to express this baptism more fully by a public profession of the evangelical councils.”