Sister Sharon Holland, a Catholic nun who grew up in Pontiac as a judge’s daughter and became one of the highest-ranking women at the male-dominated Vatican, is used to navigating conflict and controversy.

And there’s more ahead.

On Friday, Holland, 75, becomes the president of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), an organization representing most of America’s Catholic sisters that is under attack by Vatican overseers for being too liberal.

Observers say her 21 years of experience working as a Vatican-based canon lawyer — a legal expert trained in Catholic Church law — will assist her in the delicate, yet confrontational, discussions with Vatican representatives.

Holland is a member of the Monroe-based Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) and before she earned a Catholic canon law degree from Gregorian University in Rome, she once taught elementary school at St. Mary’s in Wayne as Sister Marie Russell.

The LCWR, which is holding its annual meeting in Nashville beginning Tuesday, is comprised of female religious leaders from orders across the U.S. The Leadership Council’s 1400 members represent some 80% of an estimated 52,000 Catholic sisters in the country. Holland, who declined to be interviewed for this article, will become LCWR’s president Friday.

Depth of knowledge of church law

The Vatican is continuing a crackdown on the LCWR initiated under Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. At the time, a report by three American bishops decried the group as promoting a “radical feminist theme,” not doing enough to promote church teachings against issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage and featuring convention speakers whose writings strayed from Catholic doctrine.

The face-off is coming to a turning point. The Vatican has ordered the nuns to vet with its overseers who the LCWR chooses to honor and have speak at future meetings. At this week’s gathering, the LCWR is honoring Sister Elizabeth Johnson, a theologian whose writings have been criticized by a U.S. bishops group.

Holland’s Vatican expertise will be key to resolving the dispute, said Sister Simone Campbell, who began the “Nuns on the Bus” tour and leads the Network social services organization that also drew the ire of Vatican watchdogs.

“What I admire about her are her depth of knowledge of both the church law, but probably even more important, church functioning,” said Campbell.

Holland’s “quiet demeanor allows her often to hear conversations where people may forget she’s around,” said Campbell. “I think she’s privy to a level of candor that is invaluable information on how to proceed. It’s abundantly clear that she wants to accomplish something and is all about what is effective in reaching those goals.”

For the past year, Holland has been the LCWR’s president-elect and participated in LCWR meetings about the Vatican’s criticisms. In April, Holland was among LCWR leaders who went to the Vatican to meet with church leaders. After that meeting, Holland and other LCWR leaders issued a statement acknowledging a deep split.

“During the meeting it became evident that despite maximum efforts through the years, communication has broken down and as a result, mistrust has developed,” said the statement. “Our attempts to clarify misperceptions have led to deeper misunderstandings.”

Among the congregations the LCWR represents are the Adrian Dominican sisters and the Farmington Hills-based Sisters of Mercy of the Americas.

Progressive activism

The Monroe-based IHMs have long been known for their progressive activism.

In 1976, the IHMs sent Holland to study church law at the Gregorian University. She was one of five women and the classes were taught in Latin, a language she’d studied only briefly at Pontiac Senior High School, Holland told the Free Press in a 2005 interview. She does not have a civil law degree, but her late father, H. Russel Holland, was an Oakland County Circuit judge.

Holland earned a bachelor’s degree in music and theology from Marygrove College, and a master’s in theology from the University of Detroit. When she became a canon lawyer, she also worked for the Archdiocese of Detroit in hearing requests for marriage annulments.

Holland worked at the Vatican from 1988 to 2009. As a section leader in the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Holland counseled orders of priests, nuns and missionaries on church law. She now serves as part of the IHM leadership team in Monroe.

Pope hasn't intervened

Conservative Catholics say the crackdown on LCWR is necessary.

Anne Hendershott, a sociologist and professor at Ohio’s Franciscan University, wrote for Crisis Magazine in May that the LCWR members were “like recalcitrant teenagers, taunting their teachers” by refusing to comply with their Vatican overseers.

Despite his outreach elsewhere to the Catholic faithful, Pope Francis has not halted the crackdown.

But the Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior analyst for National Catholic Reporter, ncronline.org, said he believes it’s not really the Vatican pushing the crackdown, but American bishops.

“I’m convinced that the Vatican investigation of LCWR was initiated by U.S. Bishops who complained that the nuns were not backing their political agenda against abortion, gay marriage and birth control,” said Reese. “The harassment of nuns will not stop until the U.S. Bishops say enough is enough, and it is time to let the sisters get back to their vital ministries serving the people of God.”