A recent investigation by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith–according to Angela Bonavoglia of The Nation this body serves as “the modern-day vestige of the Holy Office of the Inquisition”
After giving an obligatory nod to the sisters’ good works in schools, hospitals and social service agencies, the CDF devoted the remainder of its Doctrinal Assessment to attacking the sisters for failing to provide “allegiance of mind and heart to the Magisterium of the Bishops”; focusing on the “exercise of charity” instead of lambasting lesbians, gays, and women who use birth control or have an abortion; refusing to accept the ban on women’s ordination; allowing “dialogue” on contentious subjects; and tampering with the notion of God the “Father” while promulgating other “radical feminist” theological interpretations. The CDF’s solution: send in three men, an archbishop and two other bishops, to take control of LCWR for five years.
It’s hard to think of a more effective combination of priorities to drive away thinking Catholics, and to drive away the relatively small number of nuns that remain. But then, who am I to judge the Catholics? I apparently share some of those same warped views as the nuns, especially that the primary mission of a church devoted to Jesus would be to work hard to emulate the teachings of Jesus rather than those things that were off his radar.
