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Catholic Groups Praise U.S. Sister-Leaders

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For Immediate Release

April 16, 2015

Catholic Groups Praise U.S. Sister-Leaders in
Resolution of Unjust Vatican Mandate

Request similar dialogic processes be used in other Church disputes

Statement from the Nun Justice Project:

The Nun Justice Project is glad to see that the Vatican has removed their mandate against the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

Today’s joint statement is testimony to the dogged determination of LCWR sister-leaders to persevere in dialogue with those who unjustly maligned them. It is fitting that in the Year of Consecrated Life, Church officials have at last recognized the good works and impressive leadership of the sisters.

The Nun Justice Project believes that an apology should also have been given to the sisters, but the end of the investigation is a major step in itself. Since no previous Pope ever met with LCWR leadership it is hopeful that Pope Francis met personally with them today. May this meeting inaugurate new era of positive communication between the Vatican and women leaders in the Church.

“As usual, the living example of the women has inspired us,” said Erin Saiz Hanna, a member of the coalition, “The nuns responded to this show of patriarchal abuse by finding ways to resist its intrusion and transformed the process by modeling inclusive dialogue.”

“It is my hope that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will institute similar dialogic processes and procedures for addressing other disputed issues in the Church. said Francis DeBernardo, another coalition member.

Since the LCWR mandate was announced, thousands of Catholics have stood up to call for the end of this unnecessary and demeaning “investigation.” We are gratified that the immense worth of the work of women religious is being recognized. However, we also remain watchful since some still-to-be-implemented aspects of the joint statement could be interpreted as restricting the conscience rights of sisters.

Over the past five years, the Nun Justice Project organized massive support for women religious. Tens of thousands of Catholics petitioned the Vatican and participated in hundreds of public demonstrations, prayer services, vigils, and media events. Their voices have been instrumental in advancing due process, raising up women’s leadership voice and promoting justice in the Church.

For background on the Nun Justice Project’s work addressing the LCWR mandate visit nunjustice.org.

The Nun Justice Project is a grassroots movement supported by the following organizations:American Catholic Council, Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church, Call To Action, Catholics for Choice, CORPUS, DignityUSA, FutureChurch, New Ways Ministry, Quixote Center, RAPPORT (Renewing a Priestly People, Ordination Reconsidered Today), Voice of the Faithful, WATER: Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, Women’s Ordination Conference.

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Follow-up Reflections

American nun group questions
whether LCWR oversight is truly over

by Dawn Cherie Araujo

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Secrets of the Vatican

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book.Berry.RenderRender Unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church

by Jason Berry

“Catholic investigative reporter Berry has a long track record as a whistle-blower in recent Church scandals. Though there are more detailed and abstruse books about how the Vatican gets and spends its money, including about the Vatican Bank calamities of 20 and 30 years ago, Berry brings questions of Vatican financial impropriety into more recent times. He’s also a shoe-leather reporter rather than a forensic accountant, which means you don’t have to be a CPA to follow the story.”

book.Cornwell.ThiefA Thief in the Night: Life and Death in the Vatican

by John Cornwell

“Many readers know John Cornwell as the author of the controversial Hitler’s Pope, but 26 years ago he wrote this astonishing first-person memoir of his Vatican-approved quest to debunk the rumors that Pope John Paul I had been murdered in 1978 after a papacy of only one month. The rumors were wrong; the truth, including an eye-popping portrait of the Vatican as Cornwell found it, is more interesting.”

book.Follain.CityCity of Secrets: The Truth Behind the Murders at the Vatican

by John Follain

“In 1998, a vice-corporal in the pope’s Swiss Guard shot and killed his commander, his commander’s wife, and then himself, all inside the Guard barracks within Vatican walls. The rumors that swirled after this one ran the gamut from love triangle to international espionage, but British journalist Follain used his stint as Vatican correspondent to get as much of the truth as possible.”

book.Thayas.VaticanThe Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church

by John Thavis

“A veteran Vatican reporter’s backstage look at the headquarters of Catholicism, including a chapter on the infamous Father Marcial Maciel Degollado. What makes this book stand apart from the others on this list, though, is that it shows us the Vatican in the round, offering portraits not only of a notorious criminal but also of decent, hardworking clergy, unexpected eccentrics, infuriating Church bureaucrats, and the whole cast of characters to be found in one of the world’s most unusual places. In other words, unlike some other Vatican crime stories, this is fortunately not just Church-bashing in disguise.”