"What the Nuns' Story is Really About" by Fr. Doug, a Courageous Priest Speaks Out in Solidarity for Nun Justice!

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of Catholic teaching are no longer valid.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.