BLESSED TRINITY PARISH
CLEVELAND,
OH
From the Desk of Fr. Doug
May 27, 2012
What the Nuns’ Story is Really
About
Many of you have asked me to comment on the recent
investigation into the US nuns. Here goes. In short, the
Vatican
has asked for an investigation into the life of
religious
women in the United States. There is a concern about
orthodoxy,
feminism and pastoral practice. The problem with the
Vatican approach is that it places the nuns squarely on
the
side of Jesus and the Vatican on the side of tired old
men,
making a last gasp to save a crumbling kingdom lost
long
ago for a variety of reasons.
One might say that this investigation is the direct
result
of the John Paul II papacy. He was suspicious of the
power
given to the laity after the Second Vatican Council. He
disliked
the American Catholic Church. Throughout his papacy
he strove to wrest collegial power from episcopal
conferences
and return it to Rome.
One of the results of the council was that the nuns
became
more educated, more integrated in the life of the
people
and more justice-oriented than the bishops and pope.
They are doctors, lawyers, university professors,
lobbyists,
social workers, authors, theologians, etc. Their appeal
was
that they always went back to what Jesus said and did.
Their
value lay in the fact that their theology and their
practice
were integrated into the real world.
The Vatican sounded like the Pharisees of the New
Testament;—
legalistic, paternalistic and orthodox— while “the
good sisters” were the ones who were feeding the
hungry,
clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned,
educating
the immigrant, and so on. Nuns also learned that
Catholics
are intuitively smart about their faith. They prefer
dialogue
over diatribe, freedom of thought over mind control,
biblical study over fundamentalism, development of
doctrine
over isolated mandates.
Far from being radical feminists or supporters of
far-out
ideas, religious women realized that the philosophical
underpinnings
of Catholic teaching are no longer valid. Women
are not subservient to men, the natural law is much
broader than once thought, the OT is not as important as
the
NT, love is more powerful than fear. They realized that
you
can have a conversation with someone on your campus
who
thinks differently than the church without
compromising
what the church teaches. (For example, I could invite
Newt
Gingrich here to speak. You’d all still know what the
church teaches about divorce in spite of him) Women
religious
have learned to live without fear (Srs. Dorothy
Kazel,
Maura Clark, Ita Ford) and with love (Mother Teresa).
And
the number of popes and bishops and cardinals following
in
their footsteps, Jesus’ footsteps, is_____?
This is what annoys American Catholics. The Vatican
is
hypocritical and duplicitous. Their belief is always
that
someone else needs to clean up their act; the divorced,
the
gays, the media, the US nuns, the Americans who were
using the wrong words to pray, the seminaries, etc. It
never
occurs to the powers that be that the source of the
problem
is the structure itself. We can say that now with
certainty
as regards the sex abuse crisis. It was largely the
structure
of the church itself, the way men were trained and
isolated,
made loyal to the system at all costs and not to the
person,
that gave us the scandalous cover-up.
US nuns work side by side with the person on the
street.
They are involved in their everyday lives. Most
cardinals
spent less than five years in a parish, were never
pastors,
are frequently career diplomats.
Religious women in the US refuse to be controlled by
abusive authority that seeks to control out of fear.
They
realize that Jesus taught no doctrines, but that the
church,
over time, developed what Jesus taught in a
systematic
way. Nuns have always tried to work within the
system.
This time their prophetic voices may take them out of
the
system. They may take a lot of Catholics and a lot of
their
hospitals, schools, colleges, orphanages, prison
ministries,
convents, women’s shelters, food pantries and, of
course,
the good will they have earned over the centuries
with
them.
This investigation is not about wayward US nuns. It
is
the last gasp for control by a dying breed, wrapped in
its
own self-importance. It is a struggle for the very nature
of
the church; who we are, how we pray, where we live,
who
belongs, why we believe. The early church endured a
similar
struggle. The old order died. The Holy Spirit won.
Happy
Pentecost Sunday!
P.S. On Wednesday, May 30, there will be a prayer
rally
for US nuns at St. Colman on W
65
th St. All are invited and
encouraged to attend. The nuns were there for us. Let us
be
there for them.
BLESSED TRINITY PARISH
CLEVELAND,
OH
From the Desk of Fr. Doug
June 3, 2012
What the Nuns’ Story is Really
About
Part Two
I had no intention of writing a Part Two to last
week’s article but two things happened that inspired
me to do so.
The first was the overwhelming response to that
article. Apparently it went viral. Before Tuesday was
over I had heard from over 100 people from 20 states,
Victoria, Australia and Liverpool, England. The
article
touched a nerve, especially among women religious.
Their emails and phone calls were most moving. Some
were on the verge of tears, because “the
church” (translated, that means a male church
authority
figure) finally understood and was willing to put it
in
writing.
It turns out that the nuns want to be appreciated and
valued, just like the rest of us. But that is not why
they
do what they do and have done for so long. What was
most evident was that they frequently described their
treatment from clergy in language that reflects
abuse.
Yes, they feel support and appreciation from lay
people.
That message was strong. It was the local pastor,
the bishop or the Vatican that was portrayed as an
abusive
spouse. The investigation, the refusal to dialogue,
the confidential reports unable to be seen or
challenged,
the surprise announcement, these are just a
couple of things that scream dysfunction and abuse.
It
is a miracle so many have stayed. It reminded me of a
woman who stays in a bad, abusive marriage for the
sake of the children. The nuns have stayed for us.
They
have stayed for the illegal immigrant, the orphan,
the
prisoner, the young boy abused by the priest, the
third
grader that forgot her lunch bag, the adult that
could
not read, the lad that scraped his knee, the refugee
that
needed help with documents, the young woman who
needed a midwife, the littlest among us and the rich
and powerful.
Many lay people shared stories with me of their
struggle to remain Catholic. “Our church’s priorities
are in the wrong place”. “Stop with the attack on the
nuns and stop with the narrow-minded focus on
orthodoxy”.
“Jesus did not give his followers a litmus test
and neither should the Vatican”. More than one
layperson
said that the largest religious denomination in the
United States after Catholicism is ex-Catholics. When
will the Vatican address the
why
of that? Does the
Vatican really think people have left because our
church is not orthodox enough? Catholics have left
the faith in droves for a variety of reasons. In
Europe
only 3% go to Sunday Mass. When will the Vatican
get serious about this?
A small number of priests also contacted me. Most
said I was courageous (I am not) and if I needed
help,
three canon lawyers volunteered their services. I
told
them that would not be necessary. But what a sad
commentary that is on the state of the episcopacy in
the U.S. Priests live in fear of reprisals simply for
naming the obvious. Better check those readings from
Pentecost Sunday again. Twice the disciples are
gathered
in fear and twice the Spirit comes upon them to
help them get over it.
Actually, someone from the diocese did call to set
up a date to meet with me about beginning the Rooted
in Faith capital campaign. Although we are losing
part
of our parish and have no accurate data base, we meet
next week.
For many the real issue is: The ‘church as
institution’
is itself the problem. This oppressive structure
must go. A new one must take its place. The lust for
power and control hinders the Gospel. Simply put, a
church continues the work of Jesus. Nuns do that. The
Vatican sorely lacks. Our beliefs and the institution
are not the same thing.
Here’s a point that both lay and religious made.
Our clergy must speak out. We need their voices, the
only ones some people have. Some saw the coincidence
of my article and Pentecost Sunday and prayed
that the many tongues of pastors and vicars would not
remain silent. That would be awesome!
A second point I wanted to share was the Plain
Dealer article that quoted me. It was slightly out of
context. As I recall, the reporter asked me if I
thought
this attack on the nuns would cause people to leave
the church. I replied, “People have already left the
church”. In the article it sounded like people left
because
of the nuns, when in reality, Catholics have left
long before there was a nungate. (See above)
There were a couple of funny conversations I had
with some nuns from California. One said, “this may
be the issue that breaks open the old boys network...
imagine: "75 year old nuns divorce 88 year old
Cardinals." What headlines!” My favorite was the
comment by a priest from Yale. He said that if I got
sacked here, there was an opening at the Vatican for
a
butler and I would be the perfect choice.
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